Eclipses and Ellipses

Put your ear to a life, any life, and there it is, the tell-tale tremolo, slur and slap of the unexpressed....Language makes me a stranger to my own life, forcing me to speak from both sides of my mouth. --Susan Mitchell, "Self-Portrait with Two Faces"

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

A Woman Painted on Leaf

Eavan Boland


I found it among curios and silver
in the pureness of wintry light.

A woman painted on a leaf.

Fine lines drawn on a veined surface
in a hand-made frame.

This is not my face. Neither did I draw it.

A leaf falls in the garden.
The moon cools its aftermath of sap.
The pith of summer dries out in starlight.

A woman is inscribed there.

This is not death. It is the terrible
suspension of life.

I want a poem
I can grow old in. I want a poem I can die in.

I want to take
this dried-out face,
as you take a starling from behind iron,
and return it to its elements of air, of ending-

so that Autumn
which was once
the hard look of stars,
the frown on a gardener's face,
a gradual bronzing of the distance,

will be,
from now on,
a crisp tinder underfoot. Cheekbones. Eyes. Will be
a mouth crying out. Let me.

Let me die.

posted by the city reader @ 1:47 AM   1 comments

Sunday, February 12, 2006

A Valentine Poem...

"I Love You Sweatheart"
Thomas Lux

A man risked his life to write the words.
A man hung upside down (an idiot friend
holding his legs?) with spray paint
to write the words on a girder fifty feet above
a highway. And his beloved,
the next morning driving to work...?
His words are not (meant to be) so unique.
Does she recognize his handwriting?
Did he hint to her at her doorstep the night before
of "something special, darling, tomorrow"?
And did he call her at work
expecting her to faint with delight
at his celebration of her, his passion, his risk?
She will know I love her now,
the world will know my love for her!
A man risked his life to write the world.
Love is like this at the bone, we hope, love
is like this, Sweatheart, all sore and dumb
and dangerous, ignited, blessed--always,
regardless, no exceptions,
always in blazing matters like these: blessed.


posted by the city reader @ 1:04 AM   0 comments

I wanna go Elsewhere!

(from the blogs of Jeline and PJ)

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Your personality type is RLUEI
You are moderately reserved, moody, unstructured, egocentric, and moderately intellectual, and may prefer a city which matches those traits.

The largest representation of your personality type can be found in the these U.S. cities: Albuquerque/Santa Fe, Salt Lake City, Charlotte, Richmond, Denver, Providence, Louisville, Washington DC, Austin, Harrisburg, San Antonio, Baltimore, Indianapolis and these international countries/regions Bulgaria, Canada, Brazil, Poland, Finland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Hungary, Germany, France, Argentina, Portugal, Thailand, Switzerland, Spain, Russia

What Places In The World Match Your Personality?
City Reviews at CityCulture.org

posted by the city reader @ 12:36 AM   0 comments

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Dec 2004 poem published in the Inquirer last Sunday (yehey!)

Letter

Was she thinking: grief
is a letter you mail to yourself

once the turnstile’s been turned
x or so number of times

at the train station? The delay
is necessary, is chosen in advance

for a day like this, when she pushes
the door open into a room

made immaculate, and relatives
made inquisitive, by an infant’s

early death. The father lets out
facts one at a time: heart failure.

Two days of life. Less than one hour
for the cremation. The periods

like steel clicking into place.
She hears the footsteps of a man

who hands the ashes back
in a white envelope, to the mother

who accepts it with the calm
of a commuter holding a ticket

to a train ride that will carry her
farthest from the right address.

posted by the city reader @ 12:14 AM   0 comments

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Sitting Here in Limbo

Kanta na lang tayo, habang nagpapalipas ng oras. Kinanta ito nina Jimmy Cliff, Fiona Apple, at Grateful Dead, pero paborito ko pa rin ang version ng Tuck and Patti:

* * * * *

Sitting here in limbo, but I know it won’t be long
Sitting here in limbo, like a bird without a song
Well they’re putting up resistance
But I know that my faith will lead me on

Sitting here in limbo, waiting for the dice to roll
Sitting here in limbo, got some time to search my soul
Well they’re putting up resistance
But I know that my faith will lead me on

I don’t know where life will lead me
But I know where I’ve been
I can’t say what life will show me
But I know what I’ve seen
Tried my hand at love and friendship
Some of that has passed and gone
This little girl is moving on

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the tide to flow
Sitting here in limbo knowing that I have to go
Well they’re putting up resistance
But I know that my faith will lead me on

Sitting in limbo
Sitting in limbo

posted by the city reader @ 9:07 AM   0 comments