Please note that the poems and essays on this site are copyright and may not be reproduced without the author's permission.


Monday, 22 April 2013

Bugs ate this lake clean


.



Tessellated pavement sunrise landscape, Hobart, Tasmania: photo by JJ Harrison, 28 January 2009



Being
is dying
by loving

*

To live in the world as it is
& save your soul too
is a lot to do

*

Bugs ate this lake clean.


from TC: Bugs ate this lake clean, in The Paris Review # 51 (Winter 1971)




Fortesque Bay, Tasmania, sunrise: photo by JJ Harrison, 7 July 2009


Mortimer Bay, Tasmania: photo by JJ Harrison, 29 September 2009

13 comments:

TC said...

In case anyone's wondering what happened to those hungry bugs, after they'd cleaned up the lake...

I swallowed them!

STEPHEN RATCLIFFE said...

Tom,

"to live in a world as it is" (perhaps on such a lake)


4.22

light coming into sky above still black
plane of ridge, shadowed green of field
in foreground, wave sounding in channel

set out beneath what I know,
field which the world

means “abstract,” that just
there, white or green

silver edge of sun above shadowed ridge,
blue whiteness of sky across from point

TC said...

Steve,

You may read "lake" here to mean "lagoon".

Ooh those bugs... now you see 'em, now you don't

VINCENT FARNSWORTH said...

hurrah

VINCENT FARNSWORTH said...

Meanwhile...
Hey Tom a poem has made the news. How often does that happen?

The news http://www.salon.com/2013/04/22/amanda_palmers_trollish_dzhokhar_poem/

The poem
http://amandapalmer.net/blog/20130421/

Mose23 said...

You need one of those handy Jain facemasks, TC.

Hanson at this very moment burrowing under my skin. It isn't pretty.

The thought of things stripped down to some empty state of hygiene gives me the horrors. That last stanza set against the preceding two is fearful and seriously funny.

Marie W said...

So Tom you are also a weatherman? :-)) that was a funny video. Bugs are ravenous, but look, heavy clouds are already forming above the lake. The forecast says rain, surely.
Tasmania is looking gorgeous today!

vazambam (Vassilis Zambaras) said...

You ate the bugs? I don’t know about that but I can tell you I’ve had my share while biking—mouth agape taking in the scenery—though Vincent Price probably has the last say on this subject.

TC said...

The teenybopper midgeswarm has now receded.

This frog has come up with the perfect de-bugging tactic.

Revenge of the Clean Lake Amphibian

vazambam (Vassilis Zambaras) said...

Smart-ass kid getting some cheap thrills—serves him right--but he should’ve had one of these no-nonsense critters running the show!

Nin Andrews said...

Oh the bugs are coming soon to our still waters . . .

Marie W said...

Am I allowed a hahahahahaha on this blog, Tom? That was a hilarious video!! (the frog)

TC said...

That frog definitely had the last laugh.