[update] you are like me, whether or not you admit it; -- oh am i?
MOONBEAM
Louise Glück
The mist rose with a little sound. Like a thud.
Which was the heart beating. And the sun rose, briefly diluted.
And after what seemed years, it sank again
and twilight washed over the shore and deepened there.
And from out of nowhere lovers came,
people who still had bodies and hearts. Who still had
arms, legs, mouths, although by day they might be
housewives and businessmen.
The same night also produced people like ourselves.
You are like me, whether or not you admit it.
Unsatisfied, meticulous. And your hunger is not for experience
but for understanding, as though it could be had in the abstract.
Then it's daylight again and the world goes back to normal.
The lovers smooth their hair; the moon resumes its hollow existence.
And the beach belongs again to mysterious birds
soon to appear on postage stamps.
But what of our memories, the memories of those who depend on
images?
Do they count for nothing?
The mist rose, taking back proof of love.
Without which we have only the mirror, you and I.
No more books this month. No new ones unless they are borrowed from generous friends. Not until my next payday at least, and only if I have cash leftover.
Wuh. My vices, why must they be so expensive? And that, I quote directly from Khan insane_orange who posted the same thing on my Facebook Wall not too long ago.
It's been something of an eventful week (and then some). Was running around the city all of last week. Had half a day of work on Thursday, after which I hightailed it to Taft to catch the Dharma Lecture "Buddhism in the 21st Century". The speaker was a Buddhist nun. Very interesting discussion. Lots of references to 2012.
Hung out at Buko for awhile afterwards with the usual suspects and left shortly thereafter to meet Pam izkariote at Greenhills. I spent the whole afternoon and early evening there. It was nice. The fact that hanging out like this is going to be a weekly thing is something I really look forward to.
Friday was running to DLSU to pay for residency and then running back North to Ateneo to meeting new people. Filed for a leave on that day because I knew that I would need an extra day to pay and because Mysterium's Reiki talk was something I really wanted to see for myself. Got to (again), have lunch with Pam. :) She looked v. girly. It was fun.
Saturday was me at High Street with Mom homesong, Dad and the babiest!brother, Neal. Nate opted to stay home and study/finish "Wendy's Song" (which I am eager to play around with, harmony-wise) while we went to check out CARA's Adopt-A-Cat event. Nope, weren't able to take any of the babies home (Dad, as usual; no cats at home and all that jazz) but we were allowed to look around and the ladies of CARA were really, really nice. Seeing Neal smile and take pictures of the cats made me smile.
I hope they set up another event like this. And I hope more people eager to take home the adoptees learn about CARA. They were all very, very beautiful and looked clearly well-cared for. The fact that they are significantly larger than any of the street cats we stumble upon is also not lost on me.
Got to see Pam (Hee hee~ THRICE IN ONE WEEK \o/), khursten and Yukeh yukitsu - the latter two I have not seen in awhile (briefly sitting at the smocket the day I was at Ateneo does not count seeing Khursten, even if it could, I simply refuse to) :D They got to bring home cats. Beautiful ones at that. :) It's lovely to hear all about how their babies are settling in over on Plurk.
In any case, came home with new additions to my bookshelf (lo, behold my spoils of war):
1001 Nights of Snowfall was on the Christmas wishlist I gave to my parents just as we were hitting the stores for last-minute holiday shopping. Sadly, it wasn't in stock then, but Mama told me to have it reserved at FB Greenhills. When I saw it (post-squeeing over the fact that Dee prolixbrevity and his brother Darren were at FB High Street also) I caved and decided to get it then and there. There is only so much time one can spend reading scans, and besides, I really, really wanted it. In the same way I really, really wanted my Brian Froud books and Gaiman's Endless Nights.
Mercy Thompson: Homecoming was, on the other hand, something I've been debating over for months since I heard that Pat Briggs decided to venture into graphic novels. That it is the prequel to the MT series put it up on my must-have-pls list. For a long time though (because I've been spying it on the shelves for awhile now) I would hold back because (a) it was in hardbound and that meant = expensive, and (b) while I may adore the books and scour every single bookstore to acquire the copies I need, I'm not as... attached to the comic?
I never said it made sense.
I am, however, glad that I bought it. :) Texted Bunny soloproject straight away of course because I think it is safe to say that she adores this series as much as I do and would be excited to see it, what her being an artist and far more into comics than I am. :) I liked being able to open it up and quickly show some pages to Dee though. Have already promised to lend it out when I see him next. :)
(I have a lot of smileys on this post. Whut.)
Monday meant Megamall with Rikapi redmoonmurder. General bonding time because she doesn't have work on Mondays and I wanted to have someone I could hang out with after work. I wasn't feeling my very best so we sat down for a late lunch (for me) and a 9 oz. cup of DQ each before heading to the home section of the mall so I could buy a second pllowcase for my v. v. large square pillow (its blue-black and velvety, and I love that Punch loves it as much as I do).
We'd met earlier at Powerbooks - or rather, I arrived and then she arrived. I was sitting right infront of the Poetry shelf debating which of Louise Gluck's books I ought to get. I normally take refuge in music, but that hasn't been working too well for me so I've turned to poetry instead. Besides, I've been meaning to add more poetry books to my personal library, and if I don't start now when do I expect to?
The Seven Ages is a beautiful collection. Beautiful in the sense that she seems to be fighting against something in each one. I wish I could explain it better and cite lines and verses to justify this thesis of sorts, but I'd need to sit down and really map my thoughts out. Perhaps, though, it might have something to do with lines such as the ending of "Stars" (my favorite so far)--
I was brave, I resisted,
I set myself on fire.
Another favorite is the one entitled "Fable" at the very end. She has two others with that same title, but the one I'm talking about is short one that packs a punch. I'll post it up here one day. It seems premature to share it right now.
Feeling better than I did this morning, so I think I'll stop here for now.
Louise Glück
The mist rose with a little sound. Like a thud.
Which was the heart beating. And the sun rose, briefly diluted.
And after what seemed years, it sank again
and twilight washed over the shore and deepened there.
And from out of nowhere lovers came,
people who still had bodies and hearts. Who still had
arms, legs, mouths, although by day they might be
housewives and businessmen.
The same night also produced people like ourselves.
You are like me, whether or not you admit it.
Unsatisfied, meticulous. And your hunger is not for experience
but for understanding, as though it could be had in the abstract.
Then it's daylight again and the world goes back to normal.
The lovers smooth their hair; the moon resumes its hollow existence.
And the beach belongs again to mysterious birds
soon to appear on postage stamps.
But what of our memories, the memories of those who depend on
images?
Do they count for nothing?
The mist rose, taking back proof of love.
Without which we have only the mirror, you and I.
No more books this month. No new ones unless they are borrowed from generous friends. Not until my next payday at least, and only if I have cash leftover.
Wuh. My vices, why must they be so expensive? And that, I quote directly from Khan insane_orange who posted the same thing on my Facebook Wall not too long ago.
It's been something of an eventful week (and then some). Was running around the city all of last week. Had half a day of work on Thursday, after which I hightailed it to Taft to catch the Dharma Lecture "Buddhism in the 21st Century". The speaker was a Buddhist nun. Very interesting discussion. Lots of references to 2012.
Hung out at Buko for awhile afterwards with the usual suspects and left shortly thereafter to meet Pam izkariote at Greenhills. I spent the whole afternoon and early evening there. It was nice. The fact that hanging out like this is going to be a weekly thing is something I really look forward to.
Friday was running to DLSU to pay for residency and then running back North to Ateneo to meeting new people. Filed for a leave on that day because I knew that I would need an extra day to pay and because Mysterium's Reiki talk was something I really wanted to see for myself. Got to (again), have lunch with Pam. :) She looked v. girly. It was fun.
Saturday was me at High Street with Mom homesong, Dad and the babiest!brother, Neal. Nate opted to stay home and study/finish "Wendy's Song" (which I am eager to play around with, harmony-wise) while we went to check out CARA's Adopt-A-Cat event. Nope, weren't able to take any of the babies home (Dad, as usual; no cats at home and all that jazz) but we were allowed to look around and the ladies of CARA were really, really nice. Seeing Neal smile and take pictures of the cats made me smile.
I hope they set up another event like this. And I hope more people eager to take home the adoptees learn about CARA. They were all very, very beautiful and looked clearly well-cared for. The fact that they are significantly larger than any of the street cats we stumble upon is also not lost on me.
Got to see Pam (Hee hee~ THRICE IN ONE WEEK \o/), khursten and Yukeh yukitsu - the latter two I have not seen in awhile (briefly sitting at the smocket the day I was at Ateneo does not count seeing Khursten, even if it could, I simply refuse to) :D They got to bring home cats. Beautiful ones at that. :) It's lovely to hear all about how their babies are settling in over on Plurk.
In any case, came home with new additions to my bookshelf (lo, behold my spoils of war):
1001 Nights of Snowfall was on the Christmas wishlist I gave to my parents just as we were hitting the stores for last-minute holiday shopping. Sadly, it wasn't in stock then, but Mama told me to have it reserved at FB Greenhills. When I saw it (post-squeeing over the fact that Dee prolixbrevity and his brother Darren were at FB High Street also) I caved and decided to get it then and there. There is only so much time one can spend reading scans, and besides, I really, really wanted it. In the same way I really, really wanted my Brian Froud books and Gaiman's Endless Nights.
Mercy Thompson: Homecoming was, on the other hand, something I've been debating over for months since I heard that Pat Briggs decided to venture into graphic novels. That it is the prequel to the MT series put it up on my must-have-pls list. For a long time though (because I've been spying it on the shelves for awhile now) I would hold back because (a) it was in hardbound and that meant = expensive, and (b) while I may adore the books and scour every single bookstore to acquire the copies I need, I'm not as... attached to the comic?
I never said it made sense.
I am, however, glad that I bought it. :) Texted Bunny soloproject straight away of course because I think it is safe to say that she adores this series as much as I do and would be excited to see it, what her being an artist and far more into comics than I am. :) I liked being able to open it up and quickly show some pages to Dee though. Have already promised to lend it out when I see him next. :)
(I have a lot of smileys on this post. Whut.)
Monday meant Megamall with Rikapi redmoonmurder. General bonding time because she doesn't have work on Mondays and I wanted to have someone I could hang out with after work. I wasn't feeling my very best so we sat down for a late lunch (for me) and a 9 oz. cup of DQ each before heading to the home section of the mall so I could buy a second pllowcase for my v. v. large square pillow (its blue-black and velvety, and I love that Punch loves it as much as I do).
We'd met earlier at Powerbooks - or rather, I arrived and then she arrived. I was sitting right infront of the Poetry shelf debating which of Louise Gluck's books I ought to get. I normally take refuge in music, but that hasn't been working too well for me so I've turned to poetry instead. Besides, I've been meaning to add more poetry books to my personal library, and if I don't start now when do I expect to?
The Seven Ages is a beautiful collection. Beautiful in the sense that she seems to be fighting against something in each one. I wish I could explain it better and cite lines and verses to justify this thesis of sorts, but I'd need to sit down and really map my thoughts out. Perhaps, though, it might have something to do with lines such as the ending of "Stars" (my favorite so far)--
I was brave, I resisted,
I set myself on fire.
Another favorite is the one entitled "Fable" at the very end. She has two others with that same title, but the one I'm talking about is short one that packs a punch. I'll post it up here one day. It seems premature to share it right now.
Feeling better than I did this morning, so I think I'll stop here for now.