Poem in Your Pocket

Here's my (Jill's) poem in your pocket. Mom is kindly typing this in for me because I'm a luddite and she is a kind, generous person.

Often I Am Permitted To Return To A Meadow

as if it were a scene made-up by the mind,

that is not mine, but is a made place,

that is mine, it is so near to the heart,

an eternal pasture folded in all thought

so that there is a hall therein

that is a made place, created by light

wherefrom the shadows that are forms fall.

Wherefrom fall all architectures I am

I say are likenesses of the First Beloved

whose flowers are flames lit to the Lady.

She it is Queen Under The Hill

whose hosts are a disturbance of words within words

that is a field folded.

It is only a dream of the grass blowing

east against the source of the sun

in an hour before the sun's going down

whose secret we see in a children's game

of ring a round of roses told.

Often I am permitted to return to a meadow

as if it were a given property of the mind

that certain bounds hold against chaos,

that is a place of first permission,

everlasting omen of what is.

~Robert Duncan

Poem in Your Pocket Day

Ok, here is my poem in my pocket for today. I hope someone else will share one!

One need not be a Chamber—to be Haunted—
One need not be a House—
The Brain has Corridors—surpassing
Material Place—

Far safer, of a Midnight Meeting
External Ghost
Than its interior Confronting—
That Cooler Host.

Far safer, through an Abbey gallop,
The Stones a'chase—
Than Unarmed, one's a'self encounter—
In lonesome Place—

~Emily Dickinson

Story People

I love Story People. If you haven't seen them you can view their site by clicking here. They are the creation of artist Brian Andreas. I was in a shop in Old Sacramento a while ago and saw his stuff there. The first thing I saw was a sculpture with a story called More Fair on it and I stood in the store and cried. The store owner said that was ok, a lot of people did when they saw it. A friend bought the Impossible Position print for me and after I came home & looked at the website I ended up ordering Flying Woman. It was difficult to choose & I now have a whole list of stories that I want!

Anyway take a look at the website. You can read random stories and you can subscribe to a story a day in your email. I did that & it's pretty fun to read them every morning.

Little Boxes

I found this week's quote (To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. e.e. cummings)  a few days ago online. I can't remember what I was looking for when I came across it (not unusual for me, I'm always finding what I wasn't looking for) but I really liked it & added it to the blog. I keep thinking about it - which I guess is the point! Anyway it made me think about the song Little Boxes which you can listen to in the video clip below. Between the quote, the song and the movie, Bread & Tulips, I've been thinking a lot lately about expectations and being what you want and weird stuff like that!

We all, to some degree aren't ourselves. We try and be what we think other people want, to fit ourselves into the box we're told we belong in by our families and society. I think some people get into their box, get comfortable and happily live their entire lives that way. Some poke their heads out and duck back fast because it looks dangerous outside. Most of us are comfortable a little bit out of the box so long as we know it's there in case we need it. Then there are those people who consciously say forget it, tear the box apart and get on with their lives. Generally those are pretty interesting people to know. Rarer though are the people who don't even know there is a box. You can't put them in it because they can't see it. Those people don't have to fight the battle of being themselves - they just naturally are.

Somehow, and it's awfully odd given that I'm a person who clutches her little box with great passion, I managed to give birth to one of those people who just don't get it. If you know Jill, you know what I mean. She is always herself. I find that quite amazing. Parents, if they are wise (not that I'm claiming to be), learn from their children. I've learned a great deal from Jill not least of which is that it is ok to be who you are.

Are You Ready?

Thursday, April 30th is the 2nd national Poem in Your Pocket Day. Choose a poem you love, keep it in your pocket and on Thursday share it with as many people as possible. If you aren't ready with a poem yet and need some ideas you can check out Poets.org.

Since this is a blog & I can't see everyone who reads it, it would be really cool if you shared your pocket poem by posting it here Thursday!

Bread and Tulips

If you haven't seen this movie I'd recommend doing so. I don't watch movies very often but I was house sitting this weekend and being away from home sometimes causes one to do wild and crazy things. The homeowners had a huge (okay 3) stack of netflix movies and Bread and Tulips was one of them. It sounded good so I started watching. Well it turns out the movie is in Italian with English subtitles. I hate watching movies with subtitles so I very nearly turned it off. Fortunately I decided to keep watching for a few minutes & then I was hooked. I have to admit that by the end of the movie I had pretty much forgotten it wasn't in English because I enjoyed it so much!

I don't want to give away the story so here's a quick overview. Rosalba Barleta is on vacation with her family and gets left behind by the tour bus. She ends up in Venice and decides to stay there for awhile. She finds a job and begins to make a new life for herself. Meanwhile her husband hires a plumber as a PI to track her down. It sounds like one of those mid-life crisis, someone finding themselves movies and in a way it is but it's more than that also. One reviewer said it was like Rosalba had spent half of her life marking time in a world with which she felt no connection. Then she finds herself in a world that makes sense for her. We should all be so lucky.

That's all I'm going to tell you so get the movie! It really was great. As I said I don't watch a lot of movies and usually the ones I watch I'm not all that impressed with. I really liked this though. It won 9 Italian Academy Awards and a bunch of other film awards. So you don't have to just take my word for it!

Silent Sunday