Some Words I Like

desultory
disheveled
ramshackle
cantankerous
cranky
exotic
toxic

Grumpy and Happy But Not a Dwarf

I’m grumpy because I have hurt my back again. Ironically, I hurt it while doing one of the exercises I do regularly to strengthen my muscles so I won’t hurt my back—aaaaarrrrrgh.  If this happened to somebody else I would probably laugh, but since it’s me I don’t think it’s funny yet.  Maybe tomorrow.  Obviously this is not a terrible affliction, and it is getting better each day. But I don’t like to hurt even a little bit, and I am entitled to be grumpy, and I am. 

I’m happy because the wonderful gift I was given [see January 8 post] has come to fruition and is still continuing. Let’s see, what’s a metaphor for that? How about this: I have been thirsty for just the right kind of water. Often I carry a bottle of water around with me in case I want it, but if I leave it in the car and it’s sunny and hot outside it will get all tepid and gross. Plus, what if I have forgotten my bottle and there is no water fountain around and I am soooo thirsty. But now, lo, I have remembered that I have a perpetual hidden spring of cool water inside me. Unfortunately I forget about it a lot of the time.

Here’s something amazing: I subscribe to an online series called ‘Joe Riley’ jnriley@comcast.net [Panhala]. Today’s poem, from the Selected Poems of Denise Levertov,  is called “Of Being.” It could be called “Happy.” Here is an excerpt:

Of Being

I know this happiness
is provisional. . . .

but ineluctable this shimmering
of wind in the blue leaves:. . . .

this need to dance,
this need to kneel:

this mystery:

Notice the colon at the end. I don’t think that is a typo—I think Levertov is reminding us that, yes, when we’re in the mystery we don’t know what’s coming next but we do know it’ll be something.

Get ready–here’s a tone change:

As to the dwarf part of the title, I am not now nor have I ever been a dwarf. I am a tall person. (However, I am getting shorter as the days go by.)  Plus I don’t have much in common with Snow White but I do like to take naps.

The Spirit of Liberty

The spirit of liberty is the spirit that is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the mind which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women.
          (Judge Learned Hand, The Spirit of Liberty, 1944, quoted in Roger Angell, This Old Man)

Short

Dear friends, I have been given a gift—a wonderful gift—that requires the attention and energy I would otherwise be spending on this blog. So my entries for a week or so may be sporadic. And short.

Now that I think about it, my entries are often short, aren’t they . . .

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Yes.

Eleven Pipers Piping

Hello to all on the 11th day of Christmas.  Just for fun, here’s part of a Billy Collins poem I just discovered.

Hippos on Holiday

is not really the title of a movie
but if it were I would be sure to see it.
. . . .
I would drink my enormous Coke.
I would be both in my seat
and in the water playing with the hippos,
which is the way it is
with a truly great movie.  

It’s the same way with a truly great book too, don’t you think?  Or sometimes even with a mediocre one . . .