'if' ...

soon ... eventually

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 05:03:54 GMT

soon ... eventually

Eventually she stopped death outside. Never again would they add pillows to prop up her misunderstandings. No more negativity. Who had been more noble? Firmly rooted to the earth, one must act. I will transcend this way, where I lie, a miraculous mystery. - See: Writings :: note :: ... a counterpoint to this soon by Crag Hill ... find this type of juxtaposition/playing fun ... hope it doesn't offend ...

11:03:54 PM comment [] . . Open firefly

Seoul Writings III

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 05:13:48 GMT

Seoul Writings III

1. Doksu To Labor Pomp & Protest 28/7/09 We catch the last moments of the splendid changing of the guards at Doksu Palace. Colourful flags of Dragon & Phoenix snap in the procession. Protesters camp outside city hall while bored police stand ready with sheilds.A long white proclamation banner heralds discontent. From the human rights office hangs a stark multi-storied banner demanding the Premier fulfill his election promise to make Seoul more handicapped accessible. A stately building surrounded by wooden benches & a spacious courtyard is the Ministry of Labor. Two mythical beasts guard the entrance & Harubang watches over the parkade. The gorgeous night sky illuminates the tranquil clouds. For the sake of memory peace reigns for all the silhouetted foot soldiers of the night. 2. Insects on Line 6. 29/7/09 Have you ever had a huge snake wrap itself around you or held a blue silvered beetle in your hand or watch a gecko climb up your arm. I have and wonder how the snake, beetle & gecko feel. Did they feel muscles tighten & tense or a tickling of the skin or a slight moisture? Would they ask if I am rich or do I miss steak? Do they have dreams? Would they like to be a broadcaster or a scientist? Would they smile & wave goodbye from a crowded Metro car. They did. 3. Pansori 30/7/09 Climbing four floors of sweat shops we enter a new world on the final fifth floor. Unfolding is a House Concert sposored by Korea Seodosori Music Research & Preserve, Inc. Ass. Traditional drums and instruments are randomly displayed. A collection of pots fills the walls of one side wing & chests, hats, & traditioal furniture are displayed In the other side wing. The main room is open with a floral screen backdrop surrounded by ninety floor chairs. We are in a living shrine. A twelve year old girl begins the concert. Her intense concentration, precise practised fan gestures & gently forming tonseong cry bring tears to my eyes - this is the river of culture. The evening is precious. The flow between performer, drummer & audience is a joyous exchange of focus, laughter, clapping, sing-a- long & rapture. A considerable display of technique transforms into the direct energy of sharing probing the space where tradition & the intensely private artist associations broaden into meditations on the everlasting themes of the human condition - love, life & death. 4. Pyeongchon / Elder Brother 31/7/09 A ride to the outskirts of Seoul exposes the relentless pace of the inhabitants of this metropolis. At Anyang we are met with a unique blend of casual, quiet dignity & respect. The bamboo rice meal & the various delicate seafood dishes suits the occassion. Afterwards, as is my habit, I gaze intently outside the taxi & Metro windows like a knife cutting through water (possibly to clean the knife) searching to discipher a code for this inner disarray & carefully inspect domains of the frozen heart. I grind my teeth on the ten thousand poem stones, as is my habit. "We all wish to become something. You to me and I to you wish to become an unforgettable gaze." - from Flower by Kim Chun-Su (trans. by Kim Jong-Gil) 5. Yumyeongsan I 1/8/09 Night drive on the highways winding to the top. Backtrack as pavement crumbles & collapses. It is easy to backtrack with a will to meet. Tents on tents jostle for space like Metro passengers at rush hour. Walking the path four seek refuge. We stir the water with rocks splashing our desires. We squat as patient companion frogs full of anticipation. We plant seeds guided by the forest caretaker's soft words. We call for good spirits through blades of grass. We float our dreams of innocence in shallow stream pools. At night we dream our dreams of experience. The future swings lightly. 6. Yumyeongsan II 2/8/09 Wake up. Wake up souds the plaintive cry. It is time to run under the bridge. Back & forth a hundred times they cross like an exorcist expelling hungry ghosts. The water is cold & the deep valleys catch the wind. Later the Shaman teacher laughs & sings for joy. He is happy to be surrouded by friends. We drink to each others prosperity. 7. Seoul Plaza 3/8/09 Love is a poweful addiction. I danced with the National Changgeuk Company of Korea. A moment in their performance of 'Romeo & Juliet' actors move out into the audience to gather participants for the festival where the two lovers first meet. As sky meets earth I spread my arms like wings to lightly tread the grass. Then make a bridge for a star crossed lover to cross - she smiles. The night lights of the sky scrapers carve a plaza of Pansori tragedy Tear the sheet of life to feel the division. For whom do we weep? 8. Children's Grand Park / Youra 4/8/09 The splendour of youth. Carefree enthusiasm with knowing sensibilities. Ride life to the extreme. Don't stop. Repeat the good times. Make friends. Say yes to your guardians. Play hard, play serious, play fun & play often. Have dreams. Ask questions but more importantly watch closely. Look for the new. Remember the old. Help each other. Make today the best day of your life. - See: Writings :: note :: ... summer travels ...

11:13:48 PM comment [] . . Open firefly

Seoul Writings II

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 05:09:23 GMT

Seoul Writings III

11:13:48 PM comment [] . . Open firefly

Seoul Writings I

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 05:14:41 GMT

Seoul Writings I

1. Dangsan: Day One 12/7/09 the green & wood embrace & edge tongues of form reach for expectant joy 2. Dangsan: Skies open 13/7/09 Hard rain through night. Tiny districts folded within each other like streams pouring souls to the Han. 3. Mapo-gu, Sungsan-1-dong (Family visit) 14/7/09 Rabbit wanted to eat tiger. Brother tiger had been kind showing pictures of when they were babies. Instead rabbit climbed his mothers back & clung tightly most of the night. 4. Insa-dong (Inner district) 15/7/09 Shadow birds converge on blue pots as red women divulge secret worlds. The trickster monk cries "Come, come hold the paper." Sketches a show - we are all poor artists. 5. Insa-dong (Inner district) Part 2 16/7/09 Be free whisper all the quiet places of beauty. We are serious & socially responsible. We scream in tender silence our love for our community. We are the outliers. Share the dream. Outside people jostle for every inch in the heat. 6. North Korean Studies (Gyongnam) 17/7/09 Books, books & books with wings. Refugees in order. Where's number 23? Hands of the blind anticipates building memoirs of flight. Do you study to forget? The night dreamers never forget. 7. Inchon & Wolmi Islands 18/7/09 The loving pre-teen & pre-old spirits welcome us through the islands. The caring brother & sister's hands guide passages from ancient parks to ocean shores. Gulls dance truth & reconciliation on the sea breeze remembering the napalm & strafing. Give thanks with paper crane in pocket & shik hae in backpack. 8. KoreaHouse Sijo 19/7/09 At foot of Namsan mountain family of twenty feasts. One of the six martyred ministers watches warily. Heat of day cools hidden passions blessing youngest sister. - See: Writings :: note :: ... a type of documentation of summer travels in Korea ...

11:14:41 PM comment [] . . Open firefly

Shadowy Line

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:06:56 GMT

Shadowy Line

... the movement of an artist from the world of practice often comes with great mourning & even greater reflection ... Pina Baush preserved her dignity and spirit with considered if not miraculous attention ... others not so ...

... the present media frenzy surrounding MJ allowed me to reflect on an aged post: "it is impossible not to contemplate with a shudder the shadowy line between art, ecstasy and psychosis."

. . . Cox in his "documentary" about the Russian born dancer Nijinsky The Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky is quoted: "Nijinsky was a beautiful spirit. He went mad because of his love of mankind. We live in a world that has gone crazy - it is no wonder that souls like Nijinsky go mad.' Words as if spoken towards any artist humbled by their own demons & excesses of a hungry sensibility, extreme traumatic periods & victim of time and place.

... further darker evidence:

"Once we commit ourselves to a passion, noble or sordid, it is of no importance, we are certain to proceed from torment to torment. The very aptitude to endure them shows that we are predestined to suffer. We love only because unconsciously we have renounced happiness. The Brahmanic adage is irrefutable: 'Each time you create a new tie, you drive another pain, like a nail, into your heart.' - Everything that fires our blood, everything that gives us the impression of living, of being a part of being, inevitably turns to suffering. A passion is in and of itself a punishment. The man who surrenders to it, even if he supposes himself the happiest man in the world, expiates by anxiety his real or imagined happiness. Passion attributes dimensions to what has none, makes an idol or a monster out of a shadow ..." (Cioran | The Fall into Time |On Sickness p.137)

- See: Memorium

:: note ::... connections between Nijinski & Michael Jackson may seem tenuous but a spirit tortured not ...

10:06:56 PM comment [] . . Open firefly

mÈtis nation

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:36:39 GMT

mÈtis nation

John Ralston Saul makes the declaration we are a "métis nation" pointing as much to national identity as to a roadmap for our future. CBC Radio rebroadcast (originally aired in April '09) the 2009 UBC-Laurier Institution Multiculturalism Lecture The Aboriginal Peoples and New Canadians: The Missing Conversation (available for four weeks as July 13 podcast). His coterie:

"It's crucial that all Canadians cultivate an understanding of our Aboriginal heritage, and the role Aboriginal people played in the development of Canada," says Beverly Sabourin, Vice Provost (Aboriginal Initiatives) at Lakehead University. "Understanding our common history and our respective roles will help guide us into the future, allowing all of us to collaborate in building a "fair country."(Lakehead U Talk)

"In one of the strongest and most convincing passages in the book, he argues that the 'single greatest failure of the Canadian experiment, so far, has been our inability to normalize - that is, to internalize consciously - the First Nations as the senior founding pillar of our civilization. In such a normal situation, we would ask for their advice as a matter of course, look for the input of our First Nations on all the great questions of the day.'(Literary Review of Canada)

His critics:

"... extremely frustrating for a Canadian scholar"(Matthew Hayday | Pample the Moose)

"Saul deals well with a number of "truths" but his notion of "fairness" brims with misplaced self satisfaction."(Joerge Dyrkton)

Allan Gregg in conversation: John Ralston Saul - A Fair Country - See: Politics :: note :: ... insightful on the days before July 1 ...

7:36:39 PM comment [] . . Open firefly

testing

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 04:40:47 GMT

testing

Puzzles within puzzles. Last days to first ... look for a completely different thought somewhere in another time which passes between neither in ending or beginning ... see the connections ... an encounter with a word, a gesture ... a cut-up, a collecting, a re-start, getting on the wavelength ...
- See: Terms
:: note :: ... the village idiot/grasshopper/pilgim has spoken ...

10:40:47 PM comment [] . . Open firefly