Enclose me in your gentle rain.
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Enclose me in your gentle rain.
Posted at 08:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Leaf-keep, un-sibyl; if the soulHas the weight of a swallow, what lessHas the weight of a sip? You equalThis riddle, unposed in your dishAs a hand at rest in a lap. Held to,You hold back what can't bePrevented, what's no more palatableFor that: the unfine; formerly, our future.
Joyelle McSweeney.
Posted at 07:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted at 07:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Does he look like the kinda guy who'd put doo doo in the capsule?
Posted at 08:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
I can play songs in my headYes I can perfectly replicate(the) full-onorchestralevery note(when the lights / do down / in the city)yet I cannotcompose, for exampleand though when I was young I believedthat the fullness meantI could recreate the soundsI heard in my head with my mouthI learned through painful iterationpainfully unsatisfactoryshameful the renditionso partialalmost unrelatedthe qualities are: note tone scale register vocality musicalityincapacitypainfully shy of representationis there anyone?who is a record player
Rebecca Wolff.
Posted at 07:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Freshness of the truth after 800 years?
Saint Francis identified for himself and proposed to his brothers a sure way to adhere to the Gospel: poverty!
“The friars do not appropriate anything, neither house, nor place, or anything else. And as pilgrims and strangers in this world, serving the Lord in poverty and humility, let them go for alms with confidence” ([Regula Bullata] chapter vi, 1-2).
In the mind of Saint Francis, poverty has the flavour of a privilege, an honour, a grace; it is certainly not a reason for shame!
The profound reason for this choice, in fact, is not primarily of an ascetic or penitential nature, but is Christological.
“Nor should they be ashamed, because the Lord became poor for us in this world” (cf. chapter vi, 3).
Everything contributes to following Jesus, to becoming conformed to Him, to sharing the same life as Him: “This is the sublimity of the highest poverty!” (cf. chapter vi, 4).
The charm of the holiness of Francis of Assisi lies entirely in his surprising resemblance to Jesus, which he developed with an authentically evangelical life.
In his rule he has traced a path for us that is safe and not subject to the wear and tear of time, because both he as a figure and his Holy Rule enjoy the freshness of the simple and wholesome truth.
Weird, no mention of dung.
Posted at 04:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
As good a gentleman as the emperor.
Posted at 08:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Protesting Rosalynn Carter's memorial is a curious choice, given her husband's historical stance on the subject of Israel/Palestine. https://t.co/ucH1D2wL6e pic.twitter.com/FiAwMzlrqt
— Magdi Jacobs (@magi_jay) November 28, 2023
Just a few quick things. First off, it doesn't appear to me that anybody is protesting the Carters themselves, so Jimmy's policies aren't really at issue (although what they're demanding is definitely aligned with what he stands for).
That said, I will note that we often do, in fact, "protest" (it's kind of a loaded word, so maybe 'demonstrate' is more apt in context) even our own allies as we're trying to push a particular issue to the fore, trying to create the space for them to do the right thing. And, of course, it's better to "protest" where folks are present to receive the message. Lotta elites in attendance today, and even the ones out of government retain some influence, so they are all part of the target audience.
Demonstrative funerals are also a thing (this isn't really that, just thought I'd mention it because death itself is often political). To repeat: you go where the spotlight is for such actions.
Only problem I see is that we once again focus on a tactical issue while bombs are falling, and we don't generally have protests during quieter times for things like a Department of Peacebuilding, which could enable longer-term strategic approaches to mitigating conflict in non-violent ways. Poor Representative Barbara Lee keeps introducing bills to create one; I know you don't necessarily want to dilute your demand(s), but I wish more demonstrations/activists would broaden the ask and support her efforts instead of lurching from crisis to crisis.
Selah.
Posted at 04:58 PM in Pax Americana | Permalink | Comments (0)
He drops the silver chain of sound.
Posted at 08:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Whose father begged for mercy in the kitchen?Whose memory will frame the photographand use the memory for what it wasnever meant for by this girl, that old man, who wascaught on a ball field, near a window: war,exhorted through the grief a photographrevives. (Or was the team a covert branchof a banned group; were maps drawn in the kitchen,a bomb thrust in a hollowed loaf of bread?)What did the old men pray for in their housesof prayer, the teachers teach in schoolhousesbetween blackouts and blasts, when each word wasflensed by new censure, books exchanged for bread,both hostage to the happenstance of war?Sometimes the only schoolroom is a kitchen.Outside the window, black strokes on a graphof broken glass, birds line up on bare branches.“This letter curves, this one spreads its brancheslike friends holding hands outside their houses.”Was the lesson stopped by gunfire? Wasthere panic, silence? Does a torn photographstill gather children in the teacher’s kitchen?Are they there meticulously learning war-time lessons with the signs for house, book, bread?
Marilyn Hacker.
Posted at 07:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
I guess the Xmas season has officially begun:
Originally established in 1995, the Naval Infantry Day commemorates the November 27, 1705, decree by Russian Tsar Peter the Great to create the first regiment of “sea soldiers” – forefathers of the Russian naval infantry.
The modern iteration of the naval infantry originates in the tumultuous years of World War II when many Soviet ships were either sunk by Nazi German forces or pulled far back to protect them from Nazi aircraft, explained Viktor Litovkin, a retired Russian Army colonel and military analyst.
While these vessels were either permanently or temporarily taken out of the fight, their crews were not: having retained their trademark naval fatigues, these men battled the Nazi invaders on the ground, quickly earning a reputation for courage and utter contempt of death.
Posted at 04:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
O demobilized for a moment, a world is made human,Returns to a time that is neither the present or then,But a garland of clippings and wishes of who-knows-when,A time of its own creation, a thing of acumenThat keeps us, like movies, alive with a purpose, asideFrom the play-acting truth of the newsreel in which we have died.
Karl Shapiro.
Posted at 06:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
What can I do, I'm the only thing I really have?
Posted at 08:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sombre the night is:And, though we have our lives, we knowWhat sinister threat lurks there.Dragging these anguished limbs, we only knowThis poison-blasted track opens on our camp—On a little safe sleep.But hark! Joy—joy—strange joy.Lo! Heights of night ringing with unseen larks:Music showering on our upturned listening faces.Death could drop from the darkAs easily as song—But song only dropped,Like a blind man's dreams on the sandBy dangerous tides;Like a girl's dark hair, for she dreams no ruin lies there,Or her kisses where a serpent hides.
Isaac Rosenberg.
Posted at 06:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Another heartache, another failed romance, on and on.
Posted at 08:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
she left in a whisper
without a trace
yet i remember
a last hungry kiss
her golden face
d.a. levy.
Posted at 06:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
RMJ on the Litany of Thanksgiving:
I can think of churches where I'd be surprised to hear such humility...Especially in these words:
For all the blessings of civilization, wise government and legislation; for education, and all the privileges we enjoy through literature, science, and art; for the help and counsel of those who are wiser and better than ourselves,We despise Trump's narcissism and Musk's egotism, but are we culturally really that far removed from them? I know people who aren't at all egotistical or convinced of their own importance. But our culture teaches us we should be, and many of our churches gladly reflect that culture. Imagine them, instead, emphasizing this teaching...
The world may tell you “Be nice, be kind, be thoughtful,” but will it teach you the virtue of humility? When was the last time any public figure or forum praised “all the privileges we enjoy through literature, science, and art; for the help and counsel of those who are wiser and better than ourselves"?
...And yet here is a prayer of the church offering thanks for “all the privileges we enjoy….” We in our lives; enjoy. Who even speaks of “we,” anymore, except to exclude and draw boundaries and set ourselves apart?
Apropos of my post the other day.
Selah.
Posted at 03:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
I go to the mountain sideof the house to cut saplings,and clear a view to snowon the mountain. But when I look up,saw in hand, I see a nest clutched inthe uppermost branches.I don’t cut that one.I don’t cut the others either.Suddenly, in every tree,an unseen nestwhere a mountainwould be.
Tess Gallagher.
Posted at 06:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
I got to scream and shout it!
Posted at 09:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
words whispered to a child under siege pic.twitter.com/sNhUoV8OKE
— Joseph Fasano (@Joseph_Fasano_) October 17, 2023
Posted at 08:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Decided to go for a comfort watch (I said what I said) of The Name of the Rose. One scene in particular always makes my bile rise, with Venerable Jorge's speech distilled from this passage in Eco's tome:
[T]he work of our order and in particular the work of this monastery, a part—indeed, the substance—is study, and the preservation of knowledge. Preservation of, I say, not search for, because the property of knowledge, as a divine thing, is that it is complete and has been defined since the beginning, in the perfection of the Word which expresses itself to itself. Preservation, I say, and not search, because it is a property of knowledge, as a human thing, that it has been defined and completed over the course of the centuries, from the preaching of the prophets to the interpretation of the fathers of the church. There is no progress, no revolution of ages, in the history of knowledge, but at most a continuous and sublime recapitulation.
Benedictine Jorge is not alone in his anti-intellectualism, as Franciscan Ubertino de Casale admonishes William of Baskerville (Connery in the movie):
[Y]our masters at Oxford have taught you to idolize reason, drying up the prophetic capacities of your heart...Mortify your intelligence, learn to weep over the wounds of the Lord, throw away your books.”
There is a tonal difference between the two monks, with the former just being a humorless old fuck, while the latter is gentle, loving, and (relatively) non-judgmental. Regardless, I guess we could boil these attitudes down to Ecclesiastes 1:18:
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
I mean, it's not entirely untrue. I'd much rather wallow in ignorance sometimes, given the state of the world. But it's probably no surprise that I'm more inclined toward Brother William, and think books (even the Internet!) are pretty good on balance. What's more, consider what William says about fellow Franciscan and scientific philosopher, Roger Bacon, during his friendly debate with Ubertino:
[He] spoke clearly and calmly of the Antichrist, and was aware of the import of the corruption of the world and the decline of learning. He taught, however, that there is only one way to prepare against his coming: study the secrets of nature, use knowledge to better the human race. We can prepare to fight the Antichrist by studying the curative properties of herbs, the nature of stones, and even by planning those flying machines that make you smile.
That makes me think of Proverbs 18, which suggests (the way I read it) that we ought to work together in community, and with humility, to learn how to get along in the world (whilst not heeding fools). Particularly, verse 15:
The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.
Or to put it another way:
Those who are wise eagerly search for knowledge. By paralleling "heart" and "ears," the verse stresses the full acquisition of knowledge: the ear of the wise listens to instruction, and the heart of the wise discerns what is heard to acquire knowledge.
I might also add that in a Republic such as ours, acquisition of knowledge is of foundational importance, which is why authoritarians hate it as much as Jorge does.
Selah.
Posted at 07:05 PM in Media & Entertainment | Permalink | Comments (0)