Sunday, March 20, 2005

Two from William Carlos Williams "Spring and All" By the road to the contagious hospital under the surge of the blue mottled clouds driven from the northeast--a cold wind. Beyond, the waste of broad, muddy fields brown with dried weeds, standing and fallen patches of standing water the scattering of tall trees All along the road the reddish purplish, forked, upstanding, twiggy stuff of bushes and small trees with dead, brown leaves under them leafless vines-- Lifeless in appearance, sluggish dazed spring approaches-- They enter the new world naked, cold, uncertain of all save that they enter. All about them the cold, familiar wind-- Now the grass, tomorrow the stiff curl of wildcarrot leaf One by one objects are defined-- It quickens: clarity, outline of leaf But now the stark dignity of entrance--Still, the profound change has come upon them: rooted, they grip down and begin to awaken "A Sort of a Song" Let the snake wait under his weed and the writing be of words, slow and quick, sharp to strike, quiet to wait, sleepless. --through metaphor to reconcile the people and the stones. Compose. (No ideas but in things) Invent! Saxifrage is my flower that splits the rocks. 11:01:15 AM    comment []

"The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month." (H. Van Dyke, Fisherman's Luck) We awoke this Sunday morning to a chill gray and a biting wind and a dust of new snow that sublimed by 9 a.m. mr. cummings said that spring is like a perhaps hand, and Thomas Nashe that Spring the sweet spring is the year's pleasant king Then blooms each thing, then maids dance in a ring Cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we to-witta-woo! ... And speaking of snakes, here are some inspiring springy images from The Universal Tarot, paintings by Maxwell Miller: And the fecund Empress herself, patient, certain, ever pregnant, with her toadflax leaves and her sweet thoughts: "The Earth Mother has her dark aspects, too, like the Great Sea. Demeter mourned for three winter months every year; her folly was resistance to change, and nature is change.... Spring follows the bleakest winter, and the green leaves seen here represent dominion from spring to autumn.... The green leaves of nature's early blossoming, they fall as spring rain" (Miller). Today we make soft cookies. A walk is planned for the top of the ridge. 10:48:28 AM    comment []