Some overambitious and cheeky poetry for ya, with too many exclamation points. Ripped mostly from Dostoyevsky. The ideas seem a little simple and sententious to me, but I like the imagery. In the future I should maybe let it speak for itself a little more. In any case…
Lovely fall weather we’ve been having, and my motivation is at low ebb. The colors have never seemed so bright, fiction so engrossing, music so snappy, and academic reading so unappealing. You see my problem.
Music:
Sun Kil Moon: April
Slowdive: Souvlaki
Kings of Convenience: Declaration of Dependence
"At Ilyusha's Funeral"
The Captain:I remember he said to me:
“Father, when my grave is filled up
Crumble a crust of bread over it,
So that the birds will alight above me,
And when I hear them, they will cheer me up.”
Alyosha:What a wonderful idea! We must remember
To scatter breadcrumbs over his grave often.
The Captain:Every day, every day! I will not forget!
From the sleep of death may he hear them,
Hear their light scratchings and the beating
Of their wings: swiftly may the earth
Carry its gentle message down
By vibrations: may it be like a tuning fork,
Like a struck fork may the earth carry it down to him.
Come, fly down, birds! Fly down, sparrows!
Alyosha:Like the wings of the mother hen shall their wings
Be to him, who gathers her brood beneath her.
Like the wings of a mother hen, softly beating
The quiet earth.
The Captain: May it carry faithfully its message!
Let not its hardness betray my son, or leave him
Alone in the darkness, in the silence six feet down.
For it is not all hardness and indifference.
Alyosha:No – it feels and vibrates, it groans in travail
With your son. It waits with him in eager longing.
It will not betray him, though it is hard.
Have I not myself lain upon it and kissed it?
Have I not watered it with my tears?
For if we fall to the earth in weakness
We are raised in strength. So shall he be raised.
The Boys:Father, when our graves are filled up
Crumble thy bread upon them, and
Come! fly down, birds! Fly down, sparrows!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Jenni woke me up this morning all excited about some baking she wanted to do. She had about four different things she wanted to try and was on her way out to the store to pick up some things she’d need. Not really a bad way to start the morning. Domestic excitement. The cooler weather is here, with the accompanying air of excitement and energy coming in the open windows. It was ten so I thought it was a good time to get up. I had some oatmeal and tea and watched a trailer online for the new Belle and Sebastian record. Very invigorating. People out there being creative, chasing their ideas down, getting things done. Their new album sounds very promising by the way. There’s no more indie hip band out there than Belle and Sebastian… and they do it by being pretty doofy.
So now Jenni’s pirouetting around the kitchen making breads and whoopie pies while I sit on the couch getting up my motivation to do some work. We had “The Fellowship Of The Ring” on earlier, a cassette version of some old British guy reading it. I like it quite a bit, and on nice cool mornings it’s just the thing. It was the “flight to the ford” part. I always like the travelogues best. Something about the mundanity, the suggestion of all those hours spent just walking, the changing terrain, pending danger.
Had a long social day yesterday. Worked early, then church, and lunch with church folk. Went to Jeff’s in the afternoon for beer and more church society. Listened to baseball on the radio driving to get Jenni from work, and went to the Greeners to watch Inspector Lewis. Pleasant but tiring. Wrote to Muffy last night, told him all the big news. I think about him quite a bit, and hope he’s doing well.
“Though I fall I’m safest here”
Watching:
Mogwai “Burning” Sweet Lord…
Listening:
Mogwai “Hawk is Howling”
Sun Kil Moon “Tiny Cities"
Sun Kil Moon “Ghosts of the Great Highway”
Starflyer 59 “Play the C Chord”
