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Hey, I'm still alive
*looks around*
God, what an unholy mess.
*redacts rest of commentary*
The subject line's from "Monday," by The Regrettes. An upside to having a dental appointment this morning was catching mid-morning tunes at WNXP, ranging from ELO's "Showdown" and Prince doing "When You Were Mine" to Rex Orange County's "Keep It Up" and some bangers not on the playlist.
Recent reading included the 2021 Rattle Young Poets Anthology. I particularly liked Natalia Chepel's "Semantics," and her bio.
A friend sent me Alexander McCall Smith's What W.H. Auden Can Do for You a few eons ago, and this passage stood out to me a few weeks ago:
Another thing I liked about this morning's outing was being behind a car with a microscope decal and the plate "GUTGIRL."
God, what an unholy mess.
*redacts rest of commentary*
The subject line's from "Monday," by The Regrettes. An upside to having a dental appointment this morning was catching mid-morning tunes at WNXP, ranging from ELO's "Showdown" and Prince doing "When You Were Mine" to Rex Orange County's "Keep It Up" and some bangers not on the playlist.
Recent reading included the 2021 Rattle Young Poets Anthology. I particularly liked Natalia Chepel's "Semantics," and her bio.
A friend sent me Alexander McCall Smith's What W.H. Auden Can Do for You a few eons ago, and this passage stood out to me a few weeks ago:
I find Auden's life absorbing because it is very unlike the life of those poets who appear to have done nothing but frequent academia. How can one write convincingly of life if one has seen only so small a slice of it? Hemingway asked that question and went off to preclude its application to him by hunting and deep-sea fishing, all fueled by copious quantities of whisky. Auden spoke in his earlier poems of the truly strong man but well understood that one did not become truly strong by doing the sort of things recommended by Hemingway. Rather, he traveled; first to Berlin, where he spent a great deal of time catching up on sexual opportunities harder to encounter in the more prudish climate of England. Berlin was all about sexual freedom, but it was also about politicization, and by the time he returned to England, his previously proclaimed views on the separation of poetry and politics had changed. Then there was the trip to Iceland he did with Louis MacNeice, the trip to Spain during the Civil War, and the journey to China to investigate the conflict with Japan. These were not the actions of a man who intended to live his life in a literary ivory tower; these were the actions of a man who was struggling with a central moral question that most of us face: to what extent should we seek private peace or follow public duty? The world is a vale of tears and always has been. We may withdraw from it and cultivate a private garden of civility and the arts--a temptation that is often strong; or we may face up to uncomfortable realities and work to bring about justice in society. Auden's life and example illustrates the struggle between these two options; significantly, it offers comfort for us whichever way our choice may lead us.
Another thing I liked about this morning's outing was being behind a car with a microscope decal and the plate "GUTGIRL."
no subject
That is an outstanding quote about Auden.
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Tombs of the sorcerers shatter
And their guardian megalopods
Come after you pitter-patter?
How will you answer when from their qualming spring
The immortal nymphs fly shrieking,
And out of the open sky
The pantocratic riddle breaks: --
"Who are you and why?"