I want to send all my best wishes for the upcoming year. May we all enjoy many many more sing-a-longs and special musical moments together.
Enjoy the spring like weather while it last and see you all soon.
All the best
Stay safe and healthy
Magdalena
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Pussycat Diaries
We've been exchanging our thoughts on a poem that was submitted by Wendy. The comments themselves have formed their own compelling narrative. The poem is at the BOTTOM of the post. Thanks to the many who contributed. Comment is free.
Having uttered those very words often in the past 50 years, and having heard many, many, many others utter those very words, I can onlyconclude that either we are a naturally poetic species, or perhaps we are like birds who undergo hormonal changes from the influence of climate and day length, causing us to congregate at bus stops and utter this seasonal call. -Maria
I am deeply moved by the high calibre thought and feeling that went into this poem and your responses. I believe you are both right. Yes, it's cold and the poor thing is near frozen and cannot help but be both aware and responsible for its own survival. Only by taking action and skedaddling over the fence beyond its left shoulder will it arrive at the barn that is warm, thereby assuring its future cathood. But, it then must reflect upon the past ordeal to come to clarity concerning its very existance, and continue on. To paraphrase JFK: ich bin ein pussycat. -Mitch
Stunning. A see a great future for this poet... -Sudhir
Ah, yes, creative cats those humans...I was about to attempt to write something profound but am still enjoying thetime spent with a little guy who has just made contact with the sound of crunching snow under his boot and thewonder of snowflakes falling from the sky...is amazed by fire trucks roaring by...has three cats at home...one whodoesn't mind it's tail being tugged or it's fur being pulled...quite a remarkable cat this one...a one for the team cat.That's what this cat with the hat remind me of...that and Dr.Zeuss books I read as a kid. The jingle of a sleighbellin the store run by his Mom make a sound invoking the story of Santa busy with his elves and Mrs.Klaus at the NorthPole loading the sleigh up, feeding the reindeers who by now are chomping at the bit for their nocturnal journey round the world...sorry all, I did try to contribute philosophically but all I can think of on that plane is how eachsnow flake is different and apply the metaphor to humans. That and how Inuit have 1,000 different names for snowconditions and textures...part of an ancient tradition of navigating the artic. P.S. Did you see that full moon out there tonight!!! Cheers fellow poets, Peteyhoo.
I think you have totally missed the point. The poem's ambivalence masks a darker message, that perhaps awareness and responsibility are NOT enough, and there is an ineffable urge to chaos that exists in all of us. It is only through ACTION that we define ourselves, our own lives are the EVIDENCE allowing us to stand unbowed before GOD. We need more work of this nature, art that is not AFRAID to take on the outmoded, obsolete, curmudgeonly, archaic, calcified, osteoporosis-ridden thesaurus-derived mores that have so hobbled our culture.
-Glen Gary
shit THAT was funny -Magdalena Diaz
How did I get this e-mail? And I don't know what poem youse talkin' about. But there sure is a lot of intellectual , philosophic ramble that 's too much for my simple mind , especially doing e-mail. -Harve
There are so many layers implicit in this pictorial/verbal poem. Oxymorons are demonstrated -- first linguistically by the close placement of "shit", usually warm, and "cold", then pictorially by the warm hat on the head while leaving the body cold. The latter shows the cruelty of humankind that is more interested in making a cute statement than in attending to the poor kitty's suffering in a cold, and very windy environment -- so windy, that the kitty's belly is mirroring the movements of the wind. This is just a microcosm of humankind's selfish treatment of other living creatures. Taken to its extreme, it is demonstrated in another forwarded email that is currently circulating: the mass killing of our friendly dolphins on a blood-soaked Danish beach. To segue from your comment about ACTION, who of us will run out to rescue this poor kitty from its awful environment, or clothe it, if our self-interest requires its presence there?
-Esther
Hi, Glen. As a lover of great literature and movies, I thought you might enjoy the poem at the bottom of the page. Here's commentary, 1st from Bryan and then from my brother Brian.
-Wendy
........a brilliant marriage of Haiku and Minimalism; a short stroke long on genius. - Bryan
A very profound and moving poem. Its ostensible declarative simplicity masks the speaker's ambivalence towards man's ontological status. The progression from the warm and familiar to the frozen and alien dramatizes in three short words the entire history of the universe, and stands as a deeply troubling critique of man's presumption of certitude and permanence.
(fyi: from a Winnipegger)
I found this beautiful winter poem and thought it might be a comfort to you. It was to me, and it's very well written.
(And Here It Is!)
"WINTER"
"SHIT, It's Cold !"
The End
Having uttered those very words often in the past 50 years, and having heard many, many, many others utter those very words, I can onlyconclude that either we are a naturally poetic species, or perhaps we are like birds who undergo hormonal changes from the influence of climate and day length, causing us to congregate at bus stops and utter this seasonal call. -Maria
I am deeply moved by the high calibre thought and feeling that went into this poem and your responses. I believe you are both right. Yes, it's cold and the poor thing is near frozen and cannot help but be both aware and responsible for its own survival. Only by taking action and skedaddling over the fence beyond its left shoulder will it arrive at the barn that is warm, thereby assuring its future cathood. But, it then must reflect upon the past ordeal to come to clarity concerning its very existance, and continue on. To paraphrase JFK: ich bin ein pussycat. -Mitch
Stunning. A see a great future for this poet... -Sudhir
Ah, yes, creative cats those humans...I was about to attempt to write something profound but am still enjoying thetime spent with a little guy who has just made contact with the sound of crunching snow under his boot and thewonder of snowflakes falling from the sky...is amazed by fire trucks roaring by...has three cats at home...one whodoesn't mind it's tail being tugged or it's fur being pulled...quite a remarkable cat this one...a one for the team cat.That's what this cat with the hat remind me of...that and Dr.Zeuss books I read as a kid. The jingle of a sleighbellin the store run by his Mom make a sound invoking the story of Santa busy with his elves and Mrs.Klaus at the NorthPole loading the sleigh up, feeding the reindeers who by now are chomping at the bit for their nocturnal journey round the world...sorry all, I did try to contribute philosophically but all I can think of on that plane is how eachsnow flake is different and apply the metaphor to humans. That and how Inuit have 1,000 different names for snowconditions and textures...part of an ancient tradition of navigating the artic. P.S. Did you see that full moon out there tonight!!! Cheers fellow poets, Peteyhoo.
I think you have totally missed the point. The poem's ambivalence masks a darker message, that perhaps awareness and responsibility are NOT enough, and there is an ineffable urge to chaos that exists in all of us. It is only through ACTION that we define ourselves, our own lives are the EVIDENCE allowing us to stand unbowed before GOD. We need more work of this nature, art that is not AFRAID to take on the outmoded, obsolete, curmudgeonly, archaic, calcified, osteoporosis-ridden thesaurus-derived mores that have so hobbled our culture.
-Glen Gary
shit THAT was funny -Magdalena Diaz
How did I get this e-mail? And I don't know what poem youse talkin' about. But there sure is a lot of intellectual , philosophic ramble that 's too much for my simple mind , especially doing e-mail. -Harve
There are so many layers implicit in this pictorial/verbal poem. Oxymorons are demonstrated -- first linguistically by the close placement of "shit", usually warm, and "cold", then pictorially by the warm hat on the head while leaving the body cold. The latter shows the cruelty of humankind that is more interested in making a cute statement than in attending to the poor kitty's suffering in a cold, and very windy environment -- so windy, that the kitty's belly is mirroring the movements of the wind. This is just a microcosm of humankind's selfish treatment of other living creatures. Taken to its extreme, it is demonstrated in another forwarded email that is currently circulating: the mass killing of our friendly dolphins on a blood-soaked Danish beach. To segue from your comment about ACTION, who of us will run out to rescue this poor kitty from its awful environment, or clothe it, if our self-interest requires its presence there?
-Esther
Hi, Glen. As a lover of great literature and movies, I thought you might enjoy the poem at the bottom of the page. Here's commentary, 1st from Bryan and then from my brother Brian.
-Wendy
........a brilliant marriage of Haiku and Minimalism; a short stroke long on genius. - Bryan
A very profound and moving poem. Its ostensible declarative simplicity masks the speaker's ambivalence towards man's ontological status. The progression from the warm and familiar to the frozen and alien dramatizes in three short words the entire history of the universe, and stands as a deeply troubling critique of man's presumption of certitude and permanence.
(fyi: from a Winnipegger)
I found this beautiful winter poem and thought it might be a comfort to you. It was to me, and it's very well written.
(And Here It Is!)
"WINTER"
"SHIT, It's Cold !"
The End
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