Loosely Speaking

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Friday, July 11, 2008

It is Tolkien Time again...

This time the challenge was to write a poem about Nimrodel. In The Lord of the Rings, there is a tale told in a poem about the elf-maid Nimrodel beside whose waterfall the Fellowship rests for a while. She and her lover wandered in Middle-earth, then parted, meaning to reunite at the sailing of the last ship from Middle-earth into the West. But though they waited for her, Nimrodel never came to the ship. Amroth sailed but could not bear to leave her, and leaped into the sea to swim back to... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

This poem has come up in conversation here twice lately

so here it is in its entirety, a message apt when it was written on the eve of World War II and now, too. September 1, 1939 by W. H. Auden I sit in one of the dives On Fifty-second Street Uncertain and afraid As the clever hopes expire Of a low dishonest decade: Waves of anger and fear Circulate over the bright And darkened lands of the earth, Obsessing our private lives; The unmentionable odour of death Offends the September night. Accurate scholarship can Unearth the whole offence From Luther... Sign in to see full entry.

A change of pace...

I was running through some old files, and thought this might appeal... LOTHLORIEN: A Tribute to Tolkien The leaves shine like gold in the long light of autumn, adrift upon the last breath of summer, sailing, like kites cut free, taking their own sweet time to come at last to rest... Years and seasons without number crunch in their layers beneath the feet that wander, among the grey-like-silver trees that stand and sigh in autumn's scented air... as if remembering the past... A time there was... Sign in to see full entry.

How did we get to this point?

TAPS asked this, in her comment in the previous post. It's the essential question, if we are ever to turn it around, make a return to the world where most people are respectful to one another, live with a regard for health, and value things of real substance. I think the initial turn-around started in the 1950s and 60s, with the generation of post-war parents who, coming from a heritage of privation in the war years, and the Great Depression, delighted in giving abundantly to their kids, proud... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

It isn't just that we over-eat...

Our attitudes about food are a secondary problem: the first problem is the national attitude about indulgence. As if the best thing we can do for those we care about, including ourselves, is indulge the most childish of impulses and desires. We are a nation of dysfunctional children, our deepest needs neglected and ignored in favor of the most superficial gratifications. The few adults in the mix have to keep their heads down, and bear the disregard and distrust of the fun-loing majority. Talk... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

National obsession, national insanity

TAPS wrote today about our cultural/national obsession with eating. We eat because we want to. We might eat sometimes because we are hungry, but more often it is because we are bored, or lonely or suffering from some other kind of emotional hunger. There is great gratification in eating: flavors and textures delight our mouths, and when we are feeling powerless in other areas of life, there is tremendous satisfaction in crunching down irresistably on something hard or tough. And when we feel... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Against the Pane

I had not thought to love again with that dizzy daffy joy of joining at the heart and hand and sometimes hip-- I had believed I beat that beast, that hunger, that despair and disappointment when connection fails. I did believe that I no longer cared: Immunity attained, myself now proof against the sight of others drifting in the rosy joyful clouds, the bliss of knowing another, and being known accepted welcomed touched and moved, embraced, enjoyed... Apparently not. Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Sychronicity...

I was thinking about this, and then Shelly blogged about it... One, long,long ago, when I was in college--that's how long!--I was really sick with the flu, and lived alone then, so was in bed for about 3 or 4 days without company. In those few days I had the radio on a lot, and suddenly (and just for those few days) I had the ability to recognize a song by name within the first couple of notes--even songs I was not all that familiar with. It kept me amused and distracted, and even a little of... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

It's Canada Day!

There is an illusion that Canada is somehow like the little sister--or maybe more like the dowdy older sister of brash, vivacious, agressive USA! Like the sisters in Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen) Maybe it is not that far from the mark, considering how much the older sister actually has on the ball, in that story! Having lived for years just south of the border, with the occasional trips to Vancouver, or Victoria, or up through British Columbia and the Canadian Rockies to Alberta--Calgary... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Paleolithic Tregizmo

A friend of mine recently posted a poem on the theme of a stone age hunt, that made reference to the exigencies of winter. I was stirred by his imagery to carry on the story... Wind rises, the sun is pale; Leaves go brilliant and finally pall; Wise creatures burrow deep seeking the peace and safety of sleep and the snow begins to fall... The People see the summer fail and gather closer to the fire; Meat is smoked against the days when going to hunt no longer pays: The blue smoke rises ever... Sign in to see full entry.

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