The singer, the song, and the sung

Every Hour of the Light and Dark

 

To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle, every cubic inch of space is a miracle.

 WALT WHITMAN. Miracles.

 

Wild Geese

 

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.

 

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.

 Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Mary Oliver. Wild Geese. 

The sublime into the mundane

I downloaded a neat little app called Visual Poet onto my iPhone. It's not without its bugs (like the inability to work with the type), but the app does allow one to make these nice little photobooth-esque strips of poetry, all from your little 'ol phone.

I think it would be cool to print them on photo paper and make nice bookmarks with them. Be sure and check out Visual Poet's own site and on Tumblr. Some clever designers have used the app quite effectively for promo materials.

A ribbon of mountain air

Sometimes grace is a ribbon of mountain air that gets in through the cracks.

- Anne Lamott

Live inside that hope

 

The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what to hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Barbara Kingsolver

Behold this lovely world

©2008 Judith Nicholls, Beth Krommes

If today, 12.12.12., is the end of everything, and lately it's felt like it, it certainly is a beautiful day for it. The weather is sunny and crisp. My heart is so heavy today with the loss of a friend on Monday, but I look at this planet and say "behold!"

I love this beautiful picture book. The poems are from different cultures around the world and Beth Krommes illustrations are just wonderful. She creates her artwork by developing the images on scratchboard, photocopying the scratchboard and then filling in the photocopies with watercolor. It really is a stellar collection of poetry.

Above, above
All birds in air

Below, below
All earth's flowers

Inland, inland
All forest trees

Seaward, seaward
All ocean fish

Sing out and say
Again the refrain

Behold this lovely world.

- Mary Kawena Pukui

The 100 Most Beautiful Words in English

Ailurophile A cat-lover.

Assemblage A gathering.
Becoming Attractive.
Beleaguer To exhaust with attacks.
Brood To think alone.
Bucolic In a lovely rural setting.
Bungalow A small, cozy cottage.
Chatoyant Like a cat’s eye.
Comely Attractive.
Conflate To blend together.
Cynosure A focal point of admiration.
Dalliance A brief love affair.
Demesne Dominion, territory.
Demure Shy and reserved.
Denouement The resolution of a mystery.
Desuetude Disuse.
Desultory Slow, sluggish.
Diaphanous Filmy.
Dissemble Deceive.
Dulcet Sweet, sugary.
Ebullience Bubbling enthusiasm.
Effervescent Bubbly.
Efflorescence Flowering, blooming.
Elision Dropping a sound or syllable in a word.
Elixir A good potion.
Eloquence Beauty and persuasion in speech.
Embrocation Rubbing on a lotion.
Emollient A softener.
Ephemeral Short-lived.
Epiphany A sudden revelation.
Erstwhile At one time, for a time.
Ethereal Gaseous, invisible but detectable.
Evanescent Vanishing quickly, lasting a very short time.
Evocative Suggestive.
Fetching Pretty.
Felicity Pleasantness.
Forbearance Withholding response to provocation.
Fugacious Fleeting.
Furtive Shifty, sneaky.
Gambol To skip or leap about joyfully.
Glamour Beauty.
Gossamer The finest piece of thread, a spider’s silk.
Halcyon Happy, sunny, care-free.
Harbinger Messenger with news of the future.
Imbrication Overlapping and forming a regular pattern.
Imbroglio An altercation or complicated situation.
Imbue To infuse, instill.
Incipient Beginning, in an early stage.
Ineffable Unutterable, inexpressible.
Ingénue A naïve young woman.
Inglenook A cozy nook by the hearth.
Insouciance Blithe nonchalance.
Inure To become jaded.
Labyrinthine Twisting and turning.
Lagniappe A special kind of gift.
Lagoon A small gulf or inlet.
Languor Listlessness, inactivity.
Lassitude Weariness, listlessness.
Leisure Free time.
Lilt To move musically or lively.
Lissome Slender and graceful.
Lithe Slender and flexible.
Love Deep affection.
Mellifluous Sweet sounding.
Moiety One of two equal parts.
Mondegreen A slip of the ear.
Murmurous Murmuring.
Nemesis An unconquerable archenemy.
Offing The sea between the horizon and the offshore.
Onomatopoeia A word that sounds like its meaning.
Opulent Lush, luxuriant.
Palimpsest A manuscript written over earlier ones.
Panacea A solution for all problems
Panoply A complete set.
Pastiche An art work combining materials from various sources.
Penumbra A half-shadow.
Petrichor The smell of earth after rain.
Plethora A large quantity.
Propinquity An inclination.
Pyrrhic Successful with heavy losses.
Quintessential Most essential.
Ratatouille A spicy French stew.
Ravel To knit or unknit.
Redolent Fragrant.
Riparian By the bank of a stream.
Ripple A very small wave.
Scintilla A spark or very small thing.
Sempiternal Eternal.
Seraglio Rich, luxurious oriental palace or harem.
Serendipity Finding something nice while looking for something else.
Summery Light, delicate or warm and sunny.
Sumptuous Lush, luxurious.
Surreptitious Secretive, sneaky.
Susquehanna A river in Pennsylvania.
Susurrous Whispering, hissing.
Talisman A good luck charm.
Tintinnabulation Tinkling.
Umbrella Protection from sun or rain.
Untoward Unseemly, inappropriate.
Vestigial In trace amounts.
Wafture Waving.
Wherewithal The means.
Woebegone Sorrowful, downcast.

Why pretend?

Dr. Boli's Celebrated Magazine.

EDITED BY H. ALBERTUS BOLI, LL.D.

 

Brotips

I LOVE Brotips. Some very clever writing. And on the subject of over-used popular phrases, you're a tool if you say: "Really?","Seriously?","Just sayin'","Best. {Something}.Ever.", "Fuck yeah {whatever it is you like}.com", "{something something something},much?" and "Bitches be liking {whatever it is you think they like}."

The Perfect Tool Storm: "Really Kathleen? Seriously?? Come on!, bitches be likein' those phrases. Fuck-yeah-Brotips.com! Best. Blog. Ever. Just sayin'.

A Monday quote

“All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.”
― E.B. White