flung in front of the moon
today, time is a blur of sloppy legs and soft ground beneath my feet. i slept too late, and now i am psychologically downtrodden. how silly. sometimes i awake in the morning and feel half asleep all day. the causes of course are many, but usually directly related to a lack of sleep and an overabundance of tossing and turning, which is usually related to too much heart and brain activity. i suppose we really must allow our world to stop if we are to sleep. or at least slow down greatly. sometimes mine is like a stairwell running away from me in the other direction. it reminds me of the escalators in Prague, which were sooooo steep and sooooo fast and sooooo utilitarian. so communistic. i am often amazed by the simple ways in which political ideology represents itself. so no bike ride for jefferson today. the streets are wet and the eyes groggy. i drift and drift.
they waited all day for the sun to appear. then, late in the afternoon, like a good prince, it showed itself for a few minutes. blazing high over the benchland that lies at the foot of the peaks behind their borrowed house. then the clouds were drawn once more. they were happy enough. but all evening the curtains made melancholoy gestures, swishing in front of the open windows. after dinner they stepped onto the balcony, where they heard the river plunging in the canyon and, closer, the creak of trees, sigh of boughs. the tall grasses promised to rustle forever. she put her hand on his neck. he touched her cheek. then bats came from all sides to harry them back. inside, they closed the windows. kept their distance. watched a procession of stars. and, once in a while, creatures that flung themselves in front of the moon.
~ray carver
Posted by jeff pitcher at January 27, 2004 02:23 PM
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Shumoto - do you think it's perhaps also all that tea you're drinking that is keeping you up, depriving you of sound sleep? I've drunken tea, jasmine in particular as it is a traditional Vietnamese accompaniment to meals, since I was 4 or 5. Until this day, I still have not developed an immunity to its caffeine, whether it be tea or coffee. Perhaps it's the intensity in which I drink my beverages that makes the immunity impossible.
Beautiful clipping by Ray Carver, BTW. I like the stars & moon.
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CUP OF JOE
I like my men like my coffee – strong & bold. Intense. No weak ones, watered down, without character, sitting on burners all day, brewed carelessly, mindlessly, found in masses at 7-11 stores.
Serve ‘em in Tall cups, please; no short ones for me, thank you. And fresh ones, too, please, not too old, for what good is a rich cup of coffee if too old? Sometimes I prefer to take a cup of joe straight black, other times, lots of cream. Occassionally, one cube of sugar, a subtle hint of sweetness that carries me throughout the day. Other times, no sugar at all so that I taste all its bitterness which vaporizes, leaving a slight acidity, a sour state, before it cools off into the soft, natural sweetness that it truly is underneath it all.
I sip and sip my coffee until its caffeine floods my bloodstream, pulsates in my veins, drives & fuels my thoughts.
Whether black or creamed, sugared or not, cool or hot, this I unfold, that my joe always, must always be served strong & bold.
Posted by: Brina at January 29, 2004 12:14 PM
JP: Ray Carver is always a bonus, thank you
Brina: I don't take men, but I do take coffee. After reading your post, I need to have a cigarette...
Posted by: ChinRingDingO at January 29, 2004 02:55 PM
My favorite coffee/gender metaphor:
I like my coffee like I like my women:
Lukewarm and bitter.
Posted by: summer at January 29, 2004 03:17 PM
Summer: I can be bitter. Lukewarm...I can try.
Chin: I wait anxiously for the samplings of your voice. I love lounge-bluegrass. I sing, too, but I don't believe in recording my voice. "Live" is the only I go. If we ever meet in person, I will sing for you...if you wish.
Posted by: Brina at January 29, 2004 04:44 PM
~sigh~ something to look forward to...
Posted by: ChinRingDingO at January 29, 2004 04:57 PM
Brina~ There's enough bitterness in the world. Isn't that why we seek refuge here?
(But I still think that saying is hilarious.)
Posted by: summer at January 29, 2004 05:35 PM
