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Thursday 19 May 2016

Wallace Stevens: Forms of the Rock in a Night-Hymn

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A police car explodes after being set on fire during an unauthorized counter-demonstration against police violence on May 18, 2016 in Paris
A police car explodes after being set on fire during an unauthorized counter-demonstration against police violence today in Paris, as Police across France demonstrate today against the “anti-cop hatred” they say they have endured during a wave of anti-government protests since early March: photo by Rielle Sicard/AFP, 18 May 2016

A police car explodes after being set on fire during an unauthorized counter-demonstration against police violence on May 18, 2016 in Paris

A police car explodes after being set on fire during an unauthorized counter-demonstration against police violence today in Paris, as Police across France demonstrate today against the “anti-cop hatred” they say they have endured during a wave of anti-government protests since early March: photo by Rielle Sicard/AFP, 18 May 2016

World in focus — best photos for May 18, 2016

A police car burns during a demonstration against police violence and against French labour law reform in Paris
: photo by Charles Platiau / Reuters, 18 May 2016

The rock is the gray particular of man's life,
The stone from which he rises, up -- and -- ho,
The step to the bleaker depths of his descents ...

The rock is the stern particular of the air,
The mirror of the planets, one by one,
But through man's eye, their silent rhapsodist,

Turquoise the rock, at odious evening bright
With redness that sticks fast to evil dreams;
The difficult rightness of half-risen day.

The rock is the habitation of the whole,
Its strength and measure, that which is near, point A
In a perspective that begins again 
At B: the origin of the mango's rind.
 
Wallace Stevens (1879-1955): Forms of the Rock in a Night-Hymn, from The Rock, 1950, in The Rock (1954) 
 
TOPSHOT - An overloaded car travels through the Assaga refugee camp in Diffa on May 17, 2016, close to the Niger-Nigeria border.  Chief of Humanitarian Operations of the UN, Stephen O'Brien, vowed on May 17 to raise funds at the next World Humanitarian Summit for "significant" help to the more than 240,000 refugees displaced by Boko Haram in camps in south-east Niger. / AFP PHOTO / BOUREIMA HAMABOUREIMA HAMA/AFP/Getty Images

An overloaded car travels through the Assaga refugee camp in Diffa close to the Niger-Nigeria border: photo by Boureima Hama/AFP, 18 May 2016

TOPSHOT - An overloaded car travels through the Assaga refugee camp in Diffa on May 17, 2016, close to the Niger-Nigeria border.  Chief of Humanitarian Operations of the UN, Stephen O'Brien, vowed on May 17 to raise funds at the next World Humanitarian Summit for "significant" help to the more than 240,000 refugees displaced by Boko Haram in camps in south-east Niger. / AFP PHOTO / BOUREIMA HAMABOUREIMA HAMA/AFP/Getty Images

An overloaded car travels through the Assaga refugee camp in Diffa close to the Niger-Nigeria border: photo by Boureima Hama/AFP, 18 May 2016 

World in focus — best photos for May 18, 2016

An overloaded car travels through the Assaga refugee camp in Diffa, close to the Niger-Nigeria border
: photo by Boureima Hama / AFP, 18 May 2016
 

Hundreds missing after heavy rain triggers landslides in Sri Lanka - in pictures

Sri Lankan commuters drive through floodwaters along an expressway in the suburb of Athurugeriya in the capital Colombo
: photo by Lakruwan Wanniarachchi / AFP, 18 May 2016


Hundreds missing after heavy rain triggers landslides in Sri Lanka - in pictures

Sri Lankan commuters drive through floodwaters along an expressway in the Colombo suburb of Athurugeriya: photo by Lakruwan Wanniarachchi / AFP, 18 May 2016

World in focus — best photos for May 18, 2016

The area where a landslide struck in the village of Aranayake in central Sri Lanka
: photo by President’s Office / AFP, 18 May 2016 


Hundreds missing after heavy rain triggers landslides in Sri Lanka - in pictures

Sri Lanka’s disaster management centre said that 114 homes have been destroyed and more than 137,000 people have been evacuated to safety
: photo by Eranga Jayawardena / AP, 18 May 2016 


World in focus — best photos for May 12, 2016

A picture taken with a slow shutter speed shows a performer singing and dancing on stage during a media call for Singin’ in the Rain at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Melbourne: photo by Tracey Nearmy / EPA, 12 May 2016

Workers sit as they take a break near a banner of a new apartment in Jakarta, Indonesia, May 18, 2016. REUTERS/Beawiharta

Workers sit as they take a break near a banner of a new apartment in Jakarta, Indonesia: photo by Beawiharta/Reuters, 18 May 2016 

Workers sit as they take a break near a banner of a new apartment in Jakarta, Indonesia, May 18, 2016. REUTERS/Beawiharta

Workers sit as they take a break near a banner of a new apartment in Jakarta, Indonesia: photo by Beawiharta/Reuters, 18 May 2016  

epa05313534 A photograph made available on 18 May 2016 shows substitutes reacting after their team-mates scored a goal during the first school football tournament, in the rebel-held city of Douma, Syria, 20 April 2016. Twelve teams took part in the first school football tournament that started on 16 April 2016. Ten days later the tournament was postponed after the fragile ceasefire between the government and rebel groups was breached by a wave of violence and several parts of Eastern Ghouta were targeted by government shelling. The final match was held on 14 May and al-Hekma school team snatched the title after beating al-Rowad school.  EPA/MOHAMMED BADRA
Substitutes react after their team-mates scored a goal during the first school football tournament, in the rebel-held city of Douma, Syria: photo by Mohammed Badra/EPA, 18 May 2016

epa05313534 A photograph made available on 18 May 2016 shows substitutes reacting after their team-mates scored a goal during the first school football tournament, in the rebel-held city of Douma, Syria, 20 April 2016. Twelve teams took part in the first school football tournament that started on 16 April 2016. Ten days later the tournament was postponed after the fragile ceasefire between the government and rebel groups was breached by a wave of violence and several parts of Eastern Ghouta were targeted by government shelling. The final match was held on 14 May and al-Hekma school team snatched the title after beating al-Rowad school.  EPA/MOHAMMED BADRA

Substitutes react after their team-mates scored a goal during the first school football tournament, in the rebel-held city of Douma, Syria: photo by Mohammed Badra/EPA, 18 May 2016

World in focus — best photos for May 15, 2016

Boys listen to their coach during a school football championship in the rebel-held town of Douma, eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta
: photo by Bassam Khabieh / Reuters, 15 May 2016


World in focus — best photos for May 18, 2016

Kurdish mourners gather around coffins in Sarikamis, on the outskirts of Diyarbakir: photo by. Ilyas Akengin / AFP, 18 May 2016 

that which is near: point A


World in focus — best photos for May 18, 2016

Members of the Chinese honour guard stand at attention during a welcoming ceremony for Mozambique’s President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing
: photo by Mark Schiefelbein / AP, 18 May 2016

World in focus — best photos for May 18, 2016

Models pose by an old sandstone chapel during a fashion show for label Romance Was Born on the waterfront of Sydney Harbour during Australian Fashion Week
: photo by Jason Reed / Reuters, 18 May 2016


Graduating students from Barnard College during the Columbia University 2016 Commencement ceremony in New York May 18, 2016. Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college. Founded in 1889, it has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900.  / AFP PHOTO / TIMOTHY A. CLARYTIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images

Graduating students from Barnard College during the Columbia University 2016 Commencement ceremony in New York. Barnard College is a private women’s liberal arts college founded in 1889: photo by Timothy A. Clary, 18 May 2016

Graduating students from Barnard College during the Columbia University 2016 Commencement ceremony in New York May 18, 2016. Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college. Founded in 1889, it has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900.  / AFP PHOTO / TIMOTHY A. CLARYTIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images

Graduating students from Barnard College during the Columbia University 2016 Commencement ceremony in New York. Barnard College is a private women’s liberal arts college founded in 1889: photo by Timothy A. Clary, 18 May 2016

Pakistani boys cool themselves off during a heat wave in Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Various parts of the country continued to experience an intense heat wave, with the temperatures reaching 49 degree Celsius (120 Fahrenheit) in Larkana and other cities. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Fareed Khan/AP
Pakistani boys cool themselves off during a heat wave in Karachi, Pakistan: photo by Fareed Khan/AP, 18 May 2016

Pakistani boys cool themselves off during a heat wave in Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. Various parts of the country continued to experience an intense heat wave, with the temperatures reaching 49 degree Celsius (120 Fahrenheit) in Larkana and other cities. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)  

Pakistani boys cool themselves off during a heat wave in Karachi, Pakistan: photo by Fareed Khan/AP, 18 May 2016

Queen Elizabeth II leaves Buckingham Palace, London, ahead of the State Opening of Parliament. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

Queen Elizabeth II leaves Buckingham Palace, London, ahead of the State Opening of Parliament: photo by Dominic Lipinski/PA, 18 May 2016

Queen Elizabeth II leaves Buckingham Palace, London, ahead of the State Opening of Parliament. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday May 18, 2016. See PA story POLITICS Speech. Photo credit should read: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
 
Queen Elizabeth II leaves Buckingham Palace, London, ahead of the State Opening of Parliament: photo by Dominic Lipinski/PA, 18 May 2016


Mangoes #9a: After the Fruit Bats: photo by Like Jazz, 4 January 2010


Mango trees during a storm, Srimongal, Syrhet, Bangladesh
: photo by s_karr, 13 May 2009

4 comments:

Sandra said...

oh the rock !!

Hazen said...

‘The difficult rightness of half-risen day.’ The truth of this fits well in the mind and on the ear. The contrasts in these posts, Tom, remind me of Arcimboldo’s portraits of the human head, made up of fruits and vegetables. Yours provide a sobering portrait of the asylum in all its, ahem, variety. Today’s tour of the planet winds up with the Queen Mum wistfully staring out, as though at those storm-tossed mangoes in the former colonies.

Hanford Woods said...

Tom
Wonderful to see old Uncle Walnut back in your good graces. I remember your "13 Ways of Looking at a Shitbird", kind of made Stevens a guilty pleasure for me, as though something in the work wasn't to be touched. Still, I went on reading him, kind of like Beckett, the less I understood him the closer I figured I was getting to the heart of him. But maybe he never was in your bad graces and I was misreading your poem. And I had always hoped that it was Ted Hughes' "Crow" that you'd go after.
Again, such an amazing combination of word and image, and thanks for including the Queen Mum, though you could have whited out the old Nazi, her husband, in the background.

TC said...

Thank you Sandra, Hazen and Hanf. Definitely if it's not the colonies we're forever in then it must indeed be the asylum.

The old nazi can at least hold his head upright we must give him that much, we of the increasingly incapacitating neck wattles who would have been kings.