Chrysanthemum Girl

I only write poetry when I feel inspired.

I was inspired over Christmas. This one I wrote for Simon, who wanted to put beautiful music to it.

Somewhere between the mountains

And the bed that I have made

I have found a place to lay my head

And forget the comfort of your shade

Where the children with the chalk

Draw your eyes into my dream

Where I cannot walk

Where I cannot scream.

It is where the sidewalk ends

and the cold winds advise, 

And the children with the chalk

Scratch life into our eyes. 

Dusty hope and vertigo lend

Our petrified gazes to lock:

See our astonished reflections,

See your petals in the rock.

They drew your face on hardened earth

Green and gold and rose transcend

To flowers of an afterthought

And inside my soul suspends.

A crooked grin and aspirations

To have you and to hold.

And to be satisfied with what you cannot give

And with what I cannot behold.

Somewhere between the mountains

And the bed that I have made

I have found a place to lay my head

And forget the comfort of your shade

Where the children with the chalk

Draw your eyes into my dream

Where I cannot walk

Where I cannot scream.

Forgetting that I need you

The pride resigned by grief

The storm comes forth and raises 

Reality against belief.

Blink back the glassy tears

that erode apart your soul.

Until the rain washes you away

My Chrysanthemum Girl.

Chrysanthemums are important to me. They were on the coffin of my grandfather when he passed away several years ago. I remember them being in the garden. I remember autumn mums in our own garden. I always knew the seasons were changing when the autumn mums started popping up in our gardens - beautiful fiery red and golden petals that mimicked maples.

Word of the Day: Counter-productive

Quote of the Day: Awake my soul.

Thought.

I have the pleasure of introducing Canadian Council Poet, Lorna Crozier, to Redeemer next Thursday. I've been listening to interviews done with her this evening, and I've come across some interesting things.

In her 2007 interview with Ian Ferrier, she says,
"I don't think anyone has to go to school to be a writer...but if you want to be a writer, you need to be an avid, avid reader."

Wise words.

Word of the Day: Carrots

Quote of the Day: "But what about the Hemlock!?! Hemlock doesn't just disappear like that!" David

The Socrates and Plato Predicament

Warning: There is an excellent chance you won't understand what this blog post is about, and if you don't, that is because my brain functions oddly, not because you are unintelligent.

Except you, Craig.

: )

This is Socrates. Socrates is the first known philosopher. He is a man of great intelligence. In my mind, until today, he was a real person, a human being who lived, breathed, thought, and had his philosophy written down by Plato. I accepted this, I didn't question it...

Last year I had a really bad philosophy professor. I would have appreciated coming out of that class with a mid understanding of what different philophers talk about. I mean, I paid him money to teach me, and he didn't. Capitalism in education failed me... anyways...

Then, today, Dr Faber, my English Prof who is teaching the course on Literary Theory, started the course off with two writings of Plato. For those of you who are not familiar with Plato, The Republic (one of his most well known works) is a dialogue between Socrates (who was Plato's teacher) and other various characters. The Republic is an analogy of the perfect society. Plato talks about many things. Mostly just ideals about how his republic would be (or Socrates' republic... it gets muddled there in my head.) including how he feels about poets. To Plato, the poet is an imitator, and the imitator takes the focus away from the Forms, because we humans are dumb and don't understand anything. And, because we humans are not philosopher-kings, we don't have a direct link to the Forms and therefore can't be trusted with imitations because we're just that stupid.

And then it occurred to me.

What if Socrates is nothing more than a figment of Plato's imagination? He was a character in an analogical writing to make a point.. After all, we don't have any writings that are specifically Socrates'. All his ideas are portrayed through other philosophers of later times, and his cause of death was this: he was killed because he was accused of corrupting the youth with ideas...

However, the most evidence we have on his life is through Plato...

And another thing, Socrates (through Plato) was super against written word (not to mention mass production) because we mere humans would focus on the word, therefore being corrupted and led far away from the Forms. Which would likely mean that, and I'm just throwing this out there, that Socrates would not have appreciated Plato publishing his thoughts and ideas about Life, the Universe, and Everything.

And if that's not enough, Rene Magritte taunts you with his 'pipe'.

Yay literary theory!

And for your viewing enjoyment...

Word of the Day: encomium (means speech or writing that praises someone formally)

Quote of the Day: "I'm reading Plato! That used to be, 'I'm eating Playdo!' " -Aaron Vedder

Facts of August

My apologies, dear readers. I have been posting sporadically over the summer months and it needs to be corrected. So, in honour of August's first post, I have a bunch of facts about August.

1) August was named after Caesar Augustus. The month was originally 29 days long, but 2 days got added because Caesars feel pretty good about themselves. (I would too, if I was the ruler of the Roman world.)

2) Cleopatra was born in August.

3) My little sister was born in August. She's turning 18 on August 11. It's kind of a big deal.

4) Apparently there were a whole bunch of really important battles fought in August. They must have been important, considering I did not recognize any of the names of these battles, nor the dates they were fought on.

5) Apparently, August 5th is Beer Day. A day to celebrate beer. Just what this world needs.

6) Everyone's favourite french dictator was born on August 15th, 1769. I want to say Europe would never look the same, but its geography hasn't changed much. Apparently Napoleon was pretty short. Though, he can't be too bitter, he did get ice cream named after himself. Exile paid off after all.

7) August is Cataracts Awareness Month, Happiness Happens Month, Get Ready for Kindergarten Month, and my favourite: Panini Month.

8) Hawaii became the 50th US state in August.

9) In common years, no other month starts on the same day of the week as August, except on leap years. Then, August has to trade its individuality in so that February can be extended.

10) August means "defined" or "imposing".

And there you go!

Now for something I like to call 'Alex Reads Twilight'.

MCC: 54

Word of the Day: Confused

Quote of the Day: ... Actually, today is quoteless. Instead I will leave you with these wise words. Bonus points if you can tell me who said it without looking it up. :D

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

On Poetry

Oh, Canadian Poetry. I am so glad that he was able to visit RUC.

Word of the Day: Emerging

Quote of the Day: "You know the day's not over, right. There can still be funny things!" Amanda

Mosby

Spiced Chai sings softly beside the plant named Mosby.

Modernity is the only period in which cannot agree even on fundamentals.

And all the while, the novel sitting at my feet screams,

"Do not take me literally!"

Word of the Day: volunteererization

Quote of the Day: "Dear Sex. Please come back to me. Love, Erica." (Erica Akers)

2am Postage

I really shouldn't stay up as late as I do.
Just a thought.
That I shared with you!

The End.