dreamscapes

had wild dreams last night...bold colors and beautiful but creepy characters and nonsensical-whimsy... thought this poem, and the image, would be appropriate...

The Surrealist Learns To Fly

BY JENNIFER O'GRADY

Occasionally he wakes, finds
the cool cube of his room
delirious with colors: blaring
daffodils and rigid roses,
petals a soft, translucent red

like the inside of an eyelid.
By the window, a clock's
expressionless face near glossy skins
of magazines, a telephone
the color of frozen milk

or silence, the color of old.
He is melting, his bones
grown paper-light, they travel
over the bed's pale hills, the woman
who's come to wash him.

The ceiling is a landscape
bleeding white as he floats
through the muted winter sky,
a boundless symbol of nothing.
The woman draws the blind.

ebb and flow...

change is the constant...but all is part of the whole...





hour-glass

by martin sorescu

do i slowly empty
or fill myself?

the same flow of sand,
whichever way
you turn it.










[a trio of butterflies at the sourland mountain preserve yesterday]

a little wisdom from goethe...

i love this...and continually see it proven true....

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness concerning all acts of initiative and creation. There is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then PROVIDENCE moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.WHATEVER YOU CAN DO OR DREAM YOU CAN BEGIN IT. BOLDNESS has GENIUS, POWER, and MAGIC in it. BEGIN IT NOW!" ~J.W. Goethe

be a rebel WITH a cause

woke up in the sweltering stickiness of this once-more horrifyingly humid morning that promises a prison of plus-100 degree temperatures...found myself feeling trapped in this even in the early dawn half-light...opened my journal and ferociously, defiantly wrote this affirmation:


I AM NO SLAVE

spidering out from this statement, i expanded this idea...:
[i am no slave] TO THIS HEAT
TO EXPECTATIONS
TO FEAR
TO THE PAST
TO HABIT
TO DOUBT
TO "THEM"
TO MYSELF
TO WHAT "IS"
TO BULLSHIT
ETC
ETC
ETC
ETC

and finally:

I HAVE CHOICE. I CREATE MY REALITY.


what is on your FREEDOM list? what are the attachments, the weights to which you feel bound and enslaved? ARTICULATE them, CONFRONT them, DEFY them, DISSOLVE them. NOW [even if this takes air conditioning or stripping down and running naked through the sprinkler, in the case of the oppressive weather!;}]

and here is a little piece of wisdom to illuminate this idea further...the first part is from a gem of a book that i've discovered recently-- it stands as part of a series called "girlosophy"...this particular title is "the soul survival guide" and i recommend it EMPHATICALLY to every woman-- from her early teens upward in years...it's not only GORGEOUS but wholly inspiring...--the second portion is a quote that author anthea paul includes in her text.

"The HUNGRY SPIRIT is a rebel with a cause. If you want to know the meaning of your life, you are going to have to design a higher purpose for it. The spirit within is hungry and you must feed it something more than mere existence for it to flourish. BELIEVING in something and ACTING on that belief will nourish your soul...

'sow a thought, and reap an act,
sow an act and reap a habit
sow a habit and reap a character,
sow a character and reap a destiny' [huston smith, 'the religions of man']'"


so go shake your chains, because they only exist as long as you believe in them; you, not they, shape your destiny.

independence day

the ideal. an imagination working toward realization....

something for which to strive, something to celebrate.

happy for our independence, and our simultaneous inter-dependence...happy 4th....


America
by Walt Whitman

Centre of equal daughters, equal sons,
All, all alike endear'd, grown, ungrown, young or old,
Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich,
Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love,
A grand, sane, towering, seated Mother,
Chair'd in the adamant of Time.

insect instrumentals in playful poetry ...

in buffalo today...enjoying the sweetness and the songs of sheer summer...

here's a poem in honor of a little creature who contributes to this season's audible essence...




r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r
by E. E. Cummings

r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r
who
a)s w(e loo)k
upnowgath
PPEGORHRASS
eringint(o-
aThe):l
eA
!p:
S a
(r
rIvInG .gRrEaPsPhOs)
to
rea(be)rran(com)gi(e)ngly
,grasshopper;


try to read THAT one aloud! ;)

why i have a facebook account...

so today i am celebrating the wonders of FACEBOOK-- i really never thought i'd ever say something remotely close to this! HOWEVER it is through this ingenious thing that i have gotten back in touch with one of the most influential and inspiring people in my academic and professional life-- ms. janice arrowsmith, my 9th grade english teacher! now, for those of you who know her, this fact speaks for itself in explaining WHY i might be so excited! however, for those of you who have never had the privilege of meeting this exceptional lady and taking her class, i can offer you a little bit of a window into it with the following link...


http://www.powersentences.com/

EXPLORE! you will NEVER need to consult another source to answer a grammar question again! AND PLEASE, for your own benefit, LISTEN to the clips of ms. a herself reading our POWER SENTENCE CHANTS! i've taught these to some my own english students, and use them myself EVERY DAY!

i LOVE technology! :P