Sunday, February 18, 2018

Assume the Frigid Shapes of Silence and Build New Winters



Earthgirl, Planet, and I were treated to dinner last night in West End, was snowing on way down, photos from passenger seat by Earthgirl, who gave me bobbing Olive two giftmases ago. Photo one taken Cathedral Heights, two and three Glover Park and Georgetown respectively.

Mocomofos, Rasika is excellent Indian, though I don't know it's worth making reservations months in advance (required): our friends grabbed 530 February 17th back in early November - it was the first available opening.

Think I saw, from across a large room, the Treasury Secretary. Judging from the suited hulks hovering nearby, probably. I doubt he needed make his reservation in November. I glared at him, observed only by the hulks, over my sweet potato samosas. Revolution!









SESTINA: TRAVEL NOTES

Weldom Kees

Directed by the eyes of others,
Blind to the long, deceptive voyage,
We walked across the bridge in silence
And said “Goodnight,” and paused, and walked away.
Ritual of apology and burden:
The evening ended; not a soul was harmed.
     
But then I thought: we all are harmed
By the indifference of others;
Being corrupt, corruptible, they burden
All who would vanish on some questioned voyage,
Tunneling through the longest way away
To maps of bitterness and silence.
    
We are concerned with that destructive silence
Impending in the dark, that never harms
Us till it strikes, washing the past away.
Remote from intrigues of the others,
We must chart routes that ease the voyage,
Clear passageways and lift the burden.
    
But where are routes? Who names the burden?
The night is gifted with a devious silence
That names no promises of voyage
Without contagion and the syllables of harm.
—I see ahead the hands of others
In frantic motion, warning me away.
   
To pay no heed, and walk away
Is easy; but the familiar burden
Of a later time, when certainties of others
   
Assume the frigid shapes of silence
And build new winters, echoing harm,
May banish every passageway for voyage.
    
You knew before the fear of voyage,
You saw before the hands that warned away,
You heard before the voices trained to harm
Listeners grown weak through loss and burdens.
Even in city streets at noon that silence
Waited for you, but not, you thought, for others.
    
Storms will break silence. Seize on harm,
Play idiot or seer to others, make the burden
Theirs, though no voyage is, no tunnel, door, nor way.


6 comments:

  1. Photo Two would make a terrific Earthgirl painting IYAM.

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    1. Yes! She thought so too her first time through the photos.

      Reminded us both of her yellow blaze painting from this past Fall.

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    2. 1)i like the dashboard cat buddha bobble thing

      2)another thing i liked in the quasi-buddhistic area - and also to do with eating, such as high officials do with bodyguards in restaurants - the following paragraph from dan harris's book 'meditation for fidgety skeptics'

      Elasticity is a key concept from behavioral change research. Scientists call it 'psychological flexibility'. A related example that Jeff [Warren] uses, when it comes to his diet, is the '80/20 rule': 80 percent of the time he eats healthy food, and the rest of the time he eats whatever he wants. This way, he rarely feels deprived. It's like a steam-release valve. I liked this concept so much I instituted my own version: the 6/40 rule.


      2a)the above pertains to the often-encountered concept that we are being reprogrammed, with the added angle that it refers to self-administered reprogramming






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    3. another animal-themed dashboard ornament -

      Slicey the Pig

      https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0083Y5RA8/ref=psdc_2514571011_t2_B00NKPLNFS

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  2. Ah, Capital One. Senior Executives at my Place Of Witless Labor were employed there in the Go-Go Lil' Boots Bush years, where they excelled at offshoring and being "business leaders". After coming to us they wanted to do similar things, but were prevented and had a Sad, though they continue being paid lebenty septobazillion dollars more than the average worker, because freedom. Capital One!

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  3. mistyping in my 11:20 comment yesterday spoiled dan harris's joke - it should have been the 60/40 rule - as no doubt becomes clear upon reflection - my apologies

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