simplicity..

"The art of art, the glory of expression
and the sunshine of the light of letters,
is simplicity."

Walt Whitman

photo by unknown

m

mist
misty
music
magic
mirth
muse
manna
mystery
maze
may
moon
mind

the intuitive mind..

"the intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. we have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”

albert einstein

~~~

the present
to live and give

b's

birds
bees
breeze
breathe
being
bebop
bossa
blake
bliss
blithe
bach
bergamot
burgundy
butterflies
beetles
bangles
banjos
bongos
billie
bessie
blossom
blue

favorite things ~ p

purple,
paisley,
poppies,
picnics,
poems,
pianos,
paints,
pinks,
paris,
prince,
polka dots,
polaroids,
propolis,
pomegranates,
pennsylvania,
pencils,
paper,
passion,
perfume,
promise,
prana,
peace

more favorite things

butterflies
ayurveda
khiel's
santa maria novella
ginger
cristal
meursault
wild roses
honeysuckle
cole porter
chet baker
nina simone
coltrane
dolly
joni
hemingway
nick cave
nick drake
repetto
amber
pearlgirls
cats

favorite things

sugar*spice
music
my guitar
spiral dances
music
leonardo da vinci
music
chaos theory
fractals
music
notebooks
orange blossoms

a Maze

these days
amaze
embrace
grace
rose
defiant
+

last fm

i came across this playlist a few days ago:
www.last.fm/tag/colucci/

my page:
www.last.fm/music/birdpaula/

write you a letter - a review

Apropos of writing.

by richard cutting


I was cruising along down 95 the other day, pretty happy after having been cast in a lead for this horror pic (never done one, so this will be interesting . . . .), and I am listening to Write You a Letter.

Now maybe it’s because I am back writing again (screenplay, story outlines, etc. for upcoming project), or whatever, but I became sensitized to the WRITING in that song . . .

This is very expert stuff - terse (good terse) and economical, like all good poetry, HIGHLY evocative for all five senses, temporally clever, and as a result, emotionally fragrant. Very, very good writing.

Particularly, I was blown away by what I believe is the chorus (?), comments below.

As shadows fall upon your face,

Do we evoke the time of day, or is the "shadow" an emotional reaction ? Delighted by the ambiguity and that it could be both.

What a wonderful image for the mind’s eye. It could be two lovers in Thailand or the East Village. Universal. Cinematic.

Something CAUSES shadows, a shift in lighting, or emotional weather . . . So which is it ?

And who will do what next to adjust to this change in "lighting" ? This is a moment hanging in the balance. We like the anticipatory nature of this finely drawn emotional moment between two people. Its temporal - time is hanging here.

Weather, lighting associated with weather changes, painting images of, and writing love songs about, those things . . . . It is all there. You force the listener's brain to open and process all these things, overlap them, play over the metaphorical notes. . . HAVE FEELINGS !! (I don't know if that is a federal crime yet, but I'll check and get back to you. . .)

I want to reach out to you and feel your sweet embrace.

Longing, yes, there is that. . . But what are we reaching ACROSS ??

The implication of course being that there is a GAP here in the first place. So there is a backstory here. You create another, and different, temporal reference. À la recherche du temps perdu. The relationship is of course established in the other lyrics. But a good sign of any poetry is that one stanza can stand on its own and give you a good feel for the whole.

And we know now who the initiator might be. You are the one who wants to make the move. To reach across the gap to the shadowed one and pull into embrace. Does that person in the shadows want you to reach across - again, nice creation of anticipation.

You call it a sweet embrace and in the subconscious nanoseconds of our minds we realize these two have embraced before and the woman remembers it as sweet. Does this shadowed person have the same recollection ? We don't know. Probably the speaker doesn't either.

There is tension there in the possibility of differences in remembrance - very A la Recherche du Temps Perdu.

NICE temporal work ! And so well drawn as an emotional memory so many have had. The listener simply cannot escape this kind of writing, especially wrapped as it is in the music that delivers it.

And if heaven is on our side,

Wow ! Now we are out of that moment of recall - the shadows, the gap and the embrace - and back to the woman writing her letter.

Ah, yes, back into a world where everyone thinks they are in control much more than they really are. She reminds us that many things must align for us to even draw our next breath. Unseen things aligning for or against our favorable outcome.

An infinitely recessive set of factors must collide just right and splay out in and around us to make our lives mesh in those certain ways. Because the butterfly effects are so many, and so intricate, we call it heaven aligning.

The scale and number of events both too big and too small for the mind to hold all at the same time. That this density of cause and effect have the most profound effect of all as to what happens, NOT our will. Whether we will fall in love again, let go, "just be friends," or come to some other point in the journey.

This is more than a flat statement of fatalism. If you slow the movie down and parse the language. Not to be too technical, but as a writer, you had choices and you made them.

"If" heaven is on our side - heaven has a CHOICE in the matter. There is conditionality.

Hmmmm, what exactly does heaven factor in as to whether it will be on your side or not ? Have you been naughty or nice ? Does putting these two back together create a combo heaven will then use for further machinations?

We are implying that heaven has a STAKE, because heaven CARES enough to take "sides."

Heaven has a will and a way here. All its own, and today it is focusing on you ! So not only is there conditionality, but that conditionality implies intelligence.

A will and a way more powerful than that of you and me. Huge unseen forces. It is tidal, yet unlike the ocean, it has awareness and a choice as to where it throws its weight around. There is a whimsical humility here that is very appealing to all but the most neurotic.

The speaker seems OKAY with the presence of a greater and sentient tide. A nice point of view in a relentlessly driven and neurotically controlling world.

And her POV doesn't abdicate responsibility for individual action. It just creates awareness of the blend of heaven's role and that of our own will and actions. Yes, a BLEND, as in we are part of heaven too, even as it acts upon us as an outside entity at the same time.

This is very Zenny, CERN particle collider awareness if you're looking closely enough. Okay, maybe I AM crazy and with too much free time ! ;-)

And of course there is the Shakespearean notion that heaven would concern itself with even the matters between two lovers. Every sparrow, every blade of grass. . . . Always such a loving and lovely message whether delivered subliminally or overtly ! I think I am on the verge of tears, actually, every time I think of this 'every blade of grass' idea - a loving sentience so powerful at every scale.


Then let us fall into grace.

Oh my. We don't create grace. We don't move into grace. We don't feel grace. We don't come into grace.

We FALL INTO grace.

Now what kinds of things fall ? That's what I ask myself. Chips fall where they may. The sky "falls." Things fall into place. Pennies fall from eyes.

And of course, the reference you may be playing with here: falling from grace

This notion of bodies in motion. Not necessarily downward motion. In this instance one gathers motion toward an emotionally coherent and reassuring resting place. A falling motion toward rightness. So you have this idea of the potentially chaotic action of falling, because falling is always attended by a certain unpredictability, juxtaposed with a "right" final outcome: grace.

And now "grace." Loaded word. A word, frankly which most poets, let alone the general population, don't handle too well.

One of my FAVORITE words though !

So I am very attuned to how people treat it. And it is treated well here, metaphorically respected in its many-sidedness. Few words have so many talents. And it is used with such dignity !

Not so egotistical as to think I have it all in my head at any given time, I had to go to the dictionary on this one, and get the full rap again on grace to remind myself of why I love it so, and why I say it is "loaded." (below)

Grace

favor or good will.

a manifestation of favor, esp. by a superior: It was only through the dean's grace that I wasn't expelled from school.

mercy; clemency; pardon: an act of grace.

a pleasing or attractive quality or endowment.

elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action.

favor shown in granting a delay or temporary immunity.

an allowance of time after a debt or bill has become payable granted to the debtor before suit can be brought against him or her or a penalty applied: The life insurance premium is due today, but we have 31 days' grace before the policy lapses. Compare grace period.

the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God.

the influence or spirit of God operating in humans to regenerate or strengthen them.
a virtue or excellence of divine origin: the Christian graces.

Also called state of grace. the condition of being in God's favor or one of the elect.

moral strength: the grace to perform a duty.

a short prayer before or after a meal, in which a blessing is asked and thanks are given.

(usually initial capital letter) a formal title used in addressing or mentioning a duke, duchess, or archbishop, and formerly also a sovereign (usually prec. by your, his, etc.).

Graces, Classical Mythology. the goddesses of beauty, daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, worshiped in Greece as the Charities and in Rome as the Gratiae.

Music. grace note.

to lend or add grace to; adorn: Many fine paintings graced the rooms of the house.

to favor or honor: to grace an occasion with one's presence.

fall from grace,

Theology. to relapse into sin or disfavor.

to lose favor; be discredited: He fell from grace when the boss found out he had lied.

have the grace to, to be so kind as to: Would you have the grace to help, please?

in someone's good (or bad) graces, regarded with favor (or disfavor) by someone.

with bad grace, reluctantly; grudgingly.

In the end, what is so very lovely about this song is that she clearly wants the relationship to be, yet she realizes she must allow grace to happen on its own. So she writes a letter describing all that it could be, including a happy ending (a playful nudge at her own willingness to play games with herself). While she waits for grace to happen or not. To kill time, to come to grips, to find peace, while waiting, living amidst the emotional vapors of a relationship with someone she clearly can't get off her heart and mind.

Weather. Painting. Song writing. Letter writing. Grace. Hanging in mid-air, time-wise. Sweet dreams of faith and trust.

This is as good a poem as has ever been written to music. It rouses every sense. It sparks emotional recall. It is elegant. And because of these many things - it works!

Richard Cutting, 2007

petals

petals unfolding
no holding inside
flower of knowing
flower of going


@pm