The art of Georgia O'Keeffe"Let the beauty we love become the good we do." - Rumi (Persian Mystic)
"Nobody sees a flower -- really -- it is so small it takes time -- we haven't time -- and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time." - Georgia O'Keeffe (20th Century artist)
"I cannot believe that the inscrutable universe turns on an axis of suffering; surely the strange beauty of the world must somewhere rest on pure joy!" - Louise Bogan (American 20th century poet, 4th poet laureate of the Library of Congress)
I think she is replying to Buddhism which has a strong argument that the world indeed turns on an axis of suffering and illusion. I personally wobble in my pose in between.
I do have music that is my own, and yet for the last while I have left music behind. This is the price of time and energy. I don't have enough of either. These days the blog is more important. It is the nature of my life that periodically my other interests get in the way of my music. I have always been able to set music down, even though my relationship with music has been very deep in much of my life. My last lover was perfect for this. She encouraged my music so effectively that I improved markedly under her gentle leadership. She had musical skill herself and led the church music program in the church we both attended, plus running one community choir and assisting with another. However there is always a price. During that four years and more I wrote very little. I am writing once again but not participating so much in music.
This poem is exactly what it seems to be, except I could be writing of the goddess as easily as some woman, and none of my former lovers exactly fit this particular bill while a stand of trees near a glade is nowhere nearby now nor has it been for most of my life.
I Want You Back
Music so distant
in the empty air - still it
reaches into me
as if the sound was
my own.
I wait in my stand
in the late fall woods.
The sun dappled weeds
in this glade give off a scent,
dry as if a desert.
I know this music
as I know you, how you kiss,
love me in the dark.
September 13, 2009 3:52 PM
I love this Christopher, it is beautiful and so are you...
ReplyDeleteThis has the feel of the gods about it. They always seemed to be lying in wait for one another or to capture mortal women. Of course, the logical progression is to write about turning into somethiing else once captured...
ReplyDeletejessie, how kind of you to tell me this. Most of my readers while they come by say nothing at all these days. I don't mind. This is the normal lot of published writers. Feedback beyond steady readership is always welcome. You are always welcome.
ReplyDeleteKaren, I walked away from finishing this post feeling like I had put on my big kid underwear, that this is a post by and for grown ups. The trouble with that is it took too much time and puzzlement as posting goes for me. I can't take that much time all the time. So I have to get quicker in displaying myself as all grown up.
This one is beautiful and very touching. I'm sure I've been there, at least once!
ReplyDeleteI haven't done the rounds for a while so I have some catching up to do here...
If you are like me you can't catch up. I assume we who post are all alike in this one respect, we hope to be seen. We do all this to be seen. Now we have a global platform. We are visible world wide. We no longer rely on our neighbors and friends so much, but the real question is, will we be satisfied if we are not told we are seen? And some of us want to be paid...:D
ReplyDelete