.
Calidris alba at Ocean Beach in San Francisco: photo by Mila Zinkova, 16 March 2011
.......................in the head
.......................in the head
................................beaches
........................slow clouds, the dark
A multicolored, long Perseid meteor striking the sky just to the left of the Milky Way: photo by Mila Zinkova, 2009
Raindrops falling on water: photo by Juni, 2004
Larry Eigner: the rain and the stars, from The World and Its Streets, 1977
8 comments:
Reading and viewing this reminds me of the words (rendered in a number of versions) that Dom Perignon supposedly spoke when he first tasted champagne: "Come quickly, for I am drinking the stars".
Curtis,
Had he been sipping on a day of storms like today, what he might have said was, "Come quickly, for I am drinking the dark stars".
That's really good (but I am sorry about the terrible weather). It snowed here last night, which was extremely odd after last week's mild and on one day absolutely balmy weather. I really loved the Larry Eigner poem and the images you paired it with. Last year, in a sort of adventurous mood (and after having misread a wine list), I tried what was supposed to be a top example of a red sparkling wine made by methode champenoise from Australia. I didn't like the flavor very much, but the dark stars were present and accounted for.
Larry's work is so vast--thousands of poems--that we may never be "familiar" with all of them. After having typed and typed and typed them over and over, and proof-read them again and again, I still "discover" some that I can't remember.
As you well know, having "caught" me once before....
The lesson--or one of them--is that every day there can be this little (or large) epiphany, inspired by nothing but just looking out the window. It's a gift.
Gift, epiphany, window to inner and outer constellations, portal to beaches and dark stars, trigger of inexhaustible suggestion -- it is remarkable what poetry can create "without ever leaving home".
(By the by, speaking of beaches... eternity and infinity may be the ultimate context and location here, but to be a bit more specific to the moment, as Larry's poetry always seems to ask of us, that splendid top Mila Zinkova shot of Ocean Beach, in case the fine print of the caption may have slipped past unnoticed, was taken just last week, amidst the current spell of storms.)
Tom,
the rain and the stars
. . .
slow clouds, the dark
Thanks for this and yes, "every day there can be this little (or large) epiphany, inspired by nothing but just looking out the window. It's a gift."
(Rain clouds still against ridge over here, but planet was out above the horizon, and the moon too, what a surprise!)
Tom, thanks for the Eigner, I feel like every day I need my shot of his poetry. Someone (Curtis?) should make a blog for his poetry and post one poem a day on until they've all been posted and than recycle them one a day forever.
Post a Comment