Desiderata

Go placidly amidst the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. 

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. 

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. 

Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism. 

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. 

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. 

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. 

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. 

Strive to be happy.

-Max Ehrmann, 1927
(Thanks for the reminder, Auntie!)

What's It Like?

These are a set of 33 poetry chapbooks that I designed, illustrated, and hand-bound for David Bateman, a spoken word poet and performance artist based in Toronto.

Come see David's poetry reading (and purchase a chapbook!) tonight:

The Beautiful and the Damned

Zelda's, 692 Yonge Street (upstairs)

7:00pm

Vowels

A Black, E white, I red, U green, O blue: vowels,

I will recount some day of your latent births:

A, black velvety jacket of sparkling flies

That buzz around cruel smells,

Gulfs of shadow; E, whiteness of vapours and of tents,

Proud spears of glaciers, white kings, quivering umbels;

I, reds, spat blood, smile of beautiful lips

In rage or in the raptures of penitence;

U, waves, divine vibrations of verdant seas,

Peace of pastures dotted with livestock, peace of the furrows

Which alchemy prints on broad studious brows;

O, sublime Clarion full of strange foreign sounds,

Silences crossed by Worlds and by Angels:

O the Omega, the violet ray of Her Eyes!

-Arthur Rimbaud, 1872

X

The Letter X

The letter X,

for explicit sex,

for the ghastly formula,

the buried treasure,

the missing number,

the undisclosed measure,

the crossroads,

the crossed heart,

the cross,

the illiterate signature,

the inferior brand name,

the typing over mistakes,

the inebriate’s eyeball

or the fish-market fish’s,

the incorrect answer,

the life-saving stitch,

the whirlybird,

the anonymous grave,

the secret plan,

the forbidden planet,

the unknown man,

the number ten,

multiplication,

shorthand for Christ

and all that’s hidden,

the target the bomb misses,

the poison bottle,

the liquor keg,

the divorced, the former, the past,

and at the last,

at the end of the letter,

written, perhaps unbidden

kisses.

-Mark O’Donnell

Imaginary letters

A is the roof, the gable with its crossbeam, the arch; or it is two friends greeting, who embrace and shake hands;

D is the human back;

B is the back on the back, the hump;

C is the crescent, the moon;

E is the foundations, the pillar, the console and the architrave, all architecture in a single letter;

F is the gibbet;

G is the french horn;

H is a facade with two towers;

I is the was machine launching its projectile;

J is the plowshare and the horn of plenty;

K is the angle of reflection equal to the angle of incidence, a key to geometry;

L is the leg and foot;

M is a mountain or camp with tents pitched in pairs;

N is a a gate with a diagonal bar;

O is the sun;

P is a porter with a load on his back;

Q is a rump with a tail; R is the porter resting on his staff;

S is a serpent;

T is a hammer;

U is the urn, V the vase, which are easily confused

(Y is a tree, a fork, the confluence of two rivers, a stemmed glass, a man with arms up-stretched);

X is crossed swords, a battle: who will win we do not know, so the mystics made it the sign of destiny and the algebraists the sign of the unknown;

Z is lightning, the sign of God: That is what the alphabet contains.

-from an essay by Victor Hugo, date unknown

Truth is sadder than fiction

There's this woman always on Yonge Street

She's probably in her 40s

She has brown hair

She's less than 5 feet tall

She has a plastic cup full of pens that she sells for 25 cents each

The other day I saw her - she always has this permanent, reluctant smile

and I said, "She probably puts on a brave face to keep from crying"

Today, I saw her walking up Yonge Street

Crying.

My heart sunk to my stomach

it was terrible

I can barely write about it

I didn't know what to do - I couldn't exactly approach her - it is Toronto, after all

it looked like she had lost everything

(she had her cup of pens, that was somehow reassuring)

It was like hopelessness, emptiness, with a little bit of fear, and the added intensity of not wanting it to show

as I passed her, I saw her take one of those deep, tearful inhales of the crisp Toronto air

like when you're crying and you can't get enough in your lungs

It was awful.

-

I don't normally like to get preachy or sentimental, but this sad moment stood out as a reality check moment.

Be thankful, everyday, for what you have. Because there's always someone who has it worse than you.

Have a great weekend.

CR

Poetry Friday

In the Beginning was the End.

And God saw the Beginning and the End and was pleased.

And He asked the Beginning and the End to separate.

And they said No.

Then God was not pleased and threw a tantrum,

And said Why Not?

And the Beginning and the End said We Cannot.

And God said What Will You Do Then?

And the Beginning and the End said Just Watch Us.

-Gwendolyn MacEwen

"Genesis 2" (from Afterworlds)