from Howard Nemerov's essay, "On Poetry and Painting, with a Thought on Music"

"Both poet and painter want to reach the silence behind the language, the silence within the language. Both painter and poet want their work to shine not only in daylight but (by whatever illusionist magic) from within; maybe even more from within than by daylight, for many of their works in times now past had not the object of being viewed in daylight but went to do their magic in caves, in tombs, among the dead, and maybe as a substitute for daylight."

Oh holy shit that's beautiful.

They did what now?!?

From the what-the-hell aisle of news stories:

"In what is being heralded as a "first-ever procedure," surgeons removed a healthy kidney through a donor's vagina, the Johns Hopkins Medical Center has announced."

-- from CNN.com

Quietly, I worship Charles Wright

AFTER READING TU FU, I GO OUTSIDE TO THE DWARF ORCHARD


East of me, west of me, full summer.
How deeper than elsewhere the dusk is in your own yard.
Birds fly back and forth across the lawn
                                                       looking for home
As night drifts up like a little boat.

Day after day, I become of less use to myself.
Like this mockingbird,
                             I flit from one thing to the next.
What do I have to look forward to at fifty-four?
Tomorrow is dark.
                      Day-after-tomorrow is darker still.

The sky dogs are whimpering.
Fireflies are dragging the hush of evening
                                             up from the damp grass.
Into the world's tumult, into the chaos of every day,
Go quietly, quietly.

Superbowl Recap...

That was a great game. But this picture of Auden watching the pre-game (he went to bed right after kick-off) is even better.

More to come later, should time allow.