monoceros blogsI should be writing about lines in Carmen but I got up this morning (late, I might add, with less time to work now) and listened to The Writer's Alamanac, and today's poem moved me in very many ways. Sometimes I get so tired of using the word "beautiful." Sometimes I think too many things are beautiful in this world, and that I'm terribly cheesy. I let myself get swept up in a good melody and never seem to stop gushing when I'm excited about something that could be as small as a leaf. And I tell myself I need to stop being so dreamy. But I ignore my own censure every now and then; beauty always makes the day better and here it is in the form of a poem.
In the Middle
of a life that's as complicated as everyone else's,
struggling for balance, juggling time.
The mantle clock that was my grandfather's
has stopped at 9:20; we haven't had time
to get it repaired. The brass pendulum is still,
the chimes don't ring. One day you look out the window,
green summer, the next, and the leaves have already fallen,
and a grey sky lowers the horizon. Our children almost grown,
our parents gone, it happened so fast. Each day, we must learn
again how to love, between morning's quick coffee
and evening's slow return. Steam from a pot of soup rises,
mixing with the yeasty smell of baking bread. Our bodies
twine, and the big black dog pushes his great head between;
his tail is a metronome, 3/4 time. We'll never get there,
Time is always ahead of us, running down the beach, urging
us on faster, faster, but sometimes we take off our watches,
sometimes we lie in the hammock, caught between the mesh
of rope and the net of stars, suspended, tangled up
in love, running out of time.
~ by Barbara Crooker from Yellow
Posted by Monoceros at December 1, 2004 8:25 AMit's beautiful... if i may use the word! :C)
Posted by: tiggie at December 1, 2004 1:52 PMI was searching Yahoo! for the lyrics from Andrew Lloyd Weber's new song, "Learn to be Lonely," when I came across your log. I found the lyrics I was looking for and then I began to read your daily entries.
Something about the things you say and the way you say them just captured me. I have found myself in a whole different world than the one I was in when I woke up this morning. Yesterday I was having problems deciding who I am and what is the point of this life, and now I have been caught up in writing so beautiful that it seems that everything makes sense to me.
You have true talent in writing. It seems that you can make any words and story beautiful. The poems, songs, and photographs you borrow and use captivate me and send me into a whole different place and time. Your personal stories get to me somehow, as well. I love the way you described the rice cooker incident.
I have no idea who or where you are, but simply reading your work allows me some kind of hidden connection to you and makes me feel as if I am looking through a window into your soul; I feel as if I have known you forever.
The way you view life - everything is beautiful and you believe you say it too much - amazes me. I wish I had the gift to see things that way. Things in life are way too complicated, and you seem to have a simple outlook on the complicated things, making everything seem simpler. Did that make sense?
Well, I am positive I am boring you, so I will let you be. I hope you don't mind if I read you entries daily, because I find something in them that is so... hard to explain.
If you care to do so, feel free to e-mail me at any point.
Posted by: Carri at December 2, 2004 11:01 AMof course you may use the word, tiggie! anyone who visits here is allowed to. =) glad you liked the poem too.
Carri, wow, thank you for being so honest. I don't often have drop-in visitors say such heartfelt things about my blog. I'm having a really difficult time right now - am mentally and physically exhausted from graduate school - and having a complete stranger write such a kind and thoughtful response really makes me feel better. You're more than welcome to read anything that's here. And I'm glad that the poems and pictures move someone other than me. Oh, one more thing, I have never found praise to be boring! =)
Posted by: monoceros at December 2, 2004 4:23 PM