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


Friday 24 June 2016

Hard Light: Josephine Miles: So Graven and Made Shine

.

Supporters of the Leave campaign watched the results of Thursday’s referendum in central London
: photo by
Stefan Rousseau/Press Association, via Associated Press, 24 June 2016

Josephine Miles: So Graven

Simplicity so graven hurts the sense. 
The monumental and the simple break
And the great tablets shatter down in deed.
 

Every year the quick particular jig
Of unresolved event moves in the mind,
And there's the trick simplicity has to win.
 
Josephine Miles (1911-1985): So Graven, 1946, from Collected Poems 1930-83


 

Supporters of the Leave campaign watched the results of Thursday’s referendum in central London: photo by Stefan Rousseau/Press Association, via Associated Press, 24 June 2016

Feargazm | by ADMurr

Feargazm (Minneapolis): photo by Andrew Murr, 12 June 2016


A referendum results party on Thursday at the Lexington pub in north London
: photo by
Andrew Testa for The New York Times, 23 June 2016

Josephine Miles: Made Shine

This face had no use for light, took none of it,
Grew cavernous against stars, bore into noon
A dark of midnight by its own resources.

Yet where it lay in sleep, where the pillows held it
With the blind plaster over it and the four walls
Keeping the night carefully, it was undone.

Sixty-watt light, squared to a window frame,
Across a well of air, across wind and window
Leaped and made shine the dark face in its sleep.


Josephine Miles (1911-1985): Made Shine, 1939, from Collected Poems 1930-83 

 
 
 
A referendum results party on Thursday at the Lexington pub in north London
: photo by
Andrew Testa for The New York Times, 23 June 2016 


ITALY - The moon rises behind the volcano Stromboli as it spews lava. By @GABRIELBOUYS #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 22 June 2016 

World in focus — best photos for June 23, 2016

Solar Impulse 2, piloted by Swiss aviator Bertrand Piccard, is pictured before landing at San Pablo airport in Seville, southern Spain
: photo by Marcelo del Pozo / Reuters, 23 June 2016


COLOMBIA - A graffiti with a sentence that reads "Peace for the people" in Cali. By @LuisRobayo #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 22 June 2016 


AFGHANISTAN - A burqa-clad woman buys fruit at a busy market during the Ramadan in Herat. By @Arefkarimi #AFP
: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 22 June 2016 


Afghan refugees wait at the UNHCR registration centre in Pakistan's Peshawar, by @AFPphoto's A Majeed: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 23 June 2016


Trump is persisting with his attack on Muslims because it has proven be his strongest issue: image via Reuters Opinion @ReutersOpinion, 23 June 2016

2016-351 | by biosfear

2016-351 (West Oakland, California): photo by biosfear, June 2016

2016-359 | by biosfear

2016-359 (West Oakland, California): photo by biosfear, 11 June 2016

2016-358 | by biosfear

2016-358 (West Oakland, California): photo by biosfear, 11 June 2016
 
2016-368 | by biosfear

2016-368 (Berkeley, California): photo by biosfear, June 2016
 
Door and windows | by ADMurr

Door and windows (East Los Angeles): photo by Andrew Murr, 22 June 2016

Shallow | by ADMurr

Shallow. "I'm really shallow at heart." (Los Angeles): photo by Andrew Murr, 19 June 2016
 
Jeff Lawson, (C) Founder, CEO, & Chairman of Communications software provider Twilio Inc., takes a selfie photo during his company's IPO on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., June 23, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Jeff Lawson, (C) Founder, CEO, & Chairman of Communications software provider Twilio Inc., takes a selfie photo during his company’s IPO on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City: photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters, 23 June 2016

Jeff Lawson, (C) Founder, CEO, & Chairman of Communications software provider Twilio Inc., takes a selfie photo during his company's IPO on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., June 23, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid 

Jeff Lawson, (C) Founder, CEO, & Chairman of Communications software provider Twilio Inc., takes a selfie photo during his company’s IPO on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City: photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters, 23 June 2016

A cycle rickshaw puller sleeps by the roadside in Ajmer, in the desert state of Rajasthan

A cycle rickshaw puller sleeps by the roadside in Ajmer, in the desert state of Rajasthan, India: photo by Himanshu Sharma/Reuters, 23 June 2016

A cycle rickshaw puller sleeps by the roadside in Ajmer, in the desert state of Rajasthan
 
A cycle rickshaw puller sleeps by the roadside in Ajmer, in the desert state of Rajasthan, India: photo by Himanshu Sharma/Reuters, 23 June 2016 

Displaced children, who fled from Islamic State violence, and the needy receive free food distributed during the fasting month of Ramadan at a restaurant in Baghdad, Iraq, June 22, 2016. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad     TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Displaced children, who fled from Islamic State violence, and the needy receive free food distributed during the fasting month of Ramadan at a restaurant in Baghdad: photo by Ahmed Saad/Reuters, 23 June 2016

Displaced children, who fled from Islamic State violence, and the needy receive free food distributed during the fasting month of Ramadan at a restaurant in Baghdad, Iraq, June 22, 2016. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad     TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY     .

Displaced children, who fled from Islamic State violence, and the needy receive free food distributed during the fasting month of Ramadan at a restaurant in Baghdad: photo by Ahmed Saad/Reuters, 23 June 2016

Indian pedestrians carry a dog as they make their way past others sheltering in a pavilion during a heavy monsoon rain downpour in Shimla on June 22, 2016.     At least 93 people have been struck by lightning and killed in India over the past two days, disaster management officials said, as annual monsoon rains swept the country. Lightning strikes are relatively common in India during the June-October monsoon, which hit the southern coast earlier this month, but this week's toll is particularly high.  / AFP PHOTO / STRSTR/AFP/Getty Images

Indian pedestrians carry a dog as they make their way past others sheltering in a pavilion during a heavy monsoon rain downpour in Shimla, India: photo by AFP, 23 June 2016 

Indian pedestrians carry a dog as they make their way past others sheltering in a pavilion during a heavy monsoon rain downpour in Shimla on June 22, 2016.     At least 93 people have been struck by lightning and killed in India over the past two days, disaster management officials said, as annual monsoon rains swept the country. Lightning strikes are relatively common in India during the June-October monsoon, which hit the southern coast earlier this month, but this week's toll is particularly high.  / AFP PHOTO / STRSTR/AFP/Getty Images

Indian pedestrians carry a dog as they make their way past others sheltering in a pavilion during a heavy monsoon rain downpour in Shimla, India: photo by AFP, 23 June 2016 

World in focus — best photos for June 23, 2016

Pakistanis wade through flood water in Lahore
: photo by Arif Ali / AFP, 23 June 2016


World in focus — best photos for June 23, 2016
 
Nepali women cry over the coffins of relatives who were killed when a suicide bomber struck a minibus in Kabul
: photo by Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters, 23 June 2016


 
  A woman from Falluja sits in the half-built structure she and her four children call home at a camp in Amiriyat Falluja, a government-held city in Anbar Province: photo by Bryan Denton for The New York Times, 22 June 2016

 

A woman from Falluja sits in the half-built structure she and her four children call home at a camp in Amiriyat Falluja, a government-held city in Anbar Province: photo by Bryan Denton for The New York Times, 22 June 2016 
 
 
A member of the Iraqi security forces in Falluja made his midday prayers near the front lines: photo by Bryan Denton for The New York Times, 22 June 2016

 

A member of the Iraqi security forces in Falluja made his midday prayers near the front lines: photo by Bryan Denton for The New York Times, 22 June 2016


 The Iraqi counterterrorism forces moved through the heavily damaged Shuhada neighborhood of Falluja: photo by Bryan Denton for The New York Times, 22 June 2016

 

The Iraqi counterterrorism forces moved through the heavily damaged Shuhada neighborhood of Falluja: photo by Bryan Denton for The New York Times, 22 June 2016


A building that collapsed from heavy bombardment in the Shuhada neighborhood of Falluja. Dust being whipped up adds to the apocalyptic feel in some parts of the city.: photo by Bryan Denton for The New York Times, 22 June 2016



A building that collapsed from heavy bombardment in the Shuhada neighborhood of Falluja. Dust being whipped up adds to the apocalyptic feel in some parts of the city.: photo by Bryan Denton for The New York Times, 22 June 2016


The federal police fired artillery toward Islamic State-held areas of Falluja. Many ISIS fighters fled once it became clear that the loose, pro-government alliance of soldiers, policemen, Shiite militiamen and Sunni fighters was winning.: photo by Bryan Denton for The New York Times, 23 June 2016



The federal police fired artillery toward Islamic State-held areas of Falluja. Many ISIS fighters fled once it became clear that the loose, pro-government alliance of soldiers, policemen, Shiite militiamen and Sunni fighters was winning.: photo by Bryan Denton for The New York Times, 23 June 2016


Iraqis who were displaced by fighting in Anbar Province wait in the midday heat for a United Nations aid delivery at a camp in the Abu Ghraib district of Baghdad Province on Monda
y: photo by  Bryan Denton for The New York Times, 22 June 2016

 

Iraqis who were displaced by fighting in Anbar Province wait in the midday heat for a United Nations aid delivery at a camp in the Abu Ghraib district of Baghdad Province on Monday: photo by  Bryan Denton for The New York Times, 22 June 2016


AFGHANISTAN - Boys study the Koran during Islamic holy month of Ramadan at a mosque in Jalalabad. By @NoorulllahShirz: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 23 June 2016

World in focus — best photos for June 23, 2016

Afghan boys study the Quran at a mosque in Jalalabad
: photo by Nootullah Shirzada / AFP, 23 June 2016
 
World in focus — best photos for June 23, 2016

 Deer stags with growing, velvet covered antlers are seen in a forest in Hungary: photo by Attila Kovacs / EPA, 23 June 2016

World in focus — best photos for June 23, 2016

Kyrgyz boy Azat Shajbyrov reacts as a baby falcon swoops over his head
: photo by Igor Kovalenko / EPA, 23 June 2016



Chinese enthusiasts practicing yoga at Futian sports park in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong province: photo by(AFP, 21 June 2016


Muslim students practice yoga at the N H English Academy in Mira Road, Mumbai, India, on June 20. The United Nations has declared June 21 as the International Day of Yoga after they adopted a resolution proposed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.: photo by Divyakant Solanki/EPA, 20 June 2016


Hundreds of yoga lovers practice yoga on the world's largest glass and titanium saucer-shape sighting platform in a scenic zone in Beijing, China: photo by Lao Cai/EPA, 20 June 2016


Participants perform yoga during International Day of Yoga in New Delhi, India: photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters, 21 June 2016

 

Indian schoolchildren participate in a yoga session at a school in Chennai on June 20, the eve of International Day of Yoga. Some 4001 schoolchildren participated in the demonstration.: photo by Arun Sankar/AFP, 20 June 2016

4 comments:

VINCENT FARNSWORTH said...

keep smiling, indeed

Sandra said...

lovely...yes !

David Federman said...

Your uses of Josephine Miles are wise and welcome. "Made Shine" has become so terrifyingly eternal--although I'd like to think the poetess didn't intend it to be so. There seems to be a long-standing global narcolepsy to fascism throughout the West. Yet the meeting with East is going to be inevitable--just more savagely so. Even God is praying to God for answers. Or maybe post-Sufi 'moi' just thinks Allah's all-abiding containment and confinement has grown to black-hole magnitude--keeping in the light whose only source now seems to be that 60-watt bulb shining across the street from the sleeper. I wish our mutual friend Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore were still here to pray for us. Nothing could shake or cost him his habit of prayer.

TC said...

Thanks very much, friends.

David, I don't know where we are going to get the light we need any more, now that Abdal-Hayy has passed. His memory a blessing to everyone... of so few people alas are we able to say that and really mean it.