w.f.t.'s comments (member since Sep 08, 2007)

w.f.t.'s comments from the Constant Reader group.

I watched the Youtube video on CFS. I loved the music. Very nice. There were many things that people had said they would like to do in answer to, "What would you do tomorrow if you were completely well?", that I too would like to do. "Praise God," stood out as the one thing of most significance.

Farewell,

Dashicus Maxicus Aurelius

William Hazlitt, from his essay, "On The Aristocracy of Letters,"

"The only impeccable writers are those who never wrote."

Three cheers for wandering minds! I'll drink to that

"There's a Lizard In My Shoe - The Secret Life of Beej" "sounds like a strange type of foot fetish!"

That's very funny! What was I thinkin? Sorry, I could not be of more help. No matter, I'm confident you will do well "blogging." Sincerly, my best wishes.

But thanks for the laugh with your reply. Sweet.

I'm thinkin, "There's a Lizard In My Shoe - The Secret Life of Beej."

dash

Oh yes Sharon, "How wonderful the Lord is." I am pleased you desire to see spiritual things and live in His Communion. Drink it in, to the full, and enjoy such pleasures with all that is within you.

I am glad Raphael visited you. However, I'll take your word for the whole matter thus far and abstain from reading your book - nothing personal (I've read many such books). If I ever see it at a used book-bookstore, and the price is right, I'll think about buying it just because of our discourse and friendship on CR.

Farewell,

dash

"Here [the contemplative state:] everything is God. God is everywhere and in all things." —Madam Guyon

The Angel, Wikipedia, shall explain all things Apocrypha at the following site:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocrypha

farewell,

dash

Yes, Abraham did interact with angels on more than one occasion - and it seems he derived great benefit from each encounter. Correct, KJV does not have "Tobit," among other books which, as I understand, have come to be known as the Apocrypha - not to be confused with the X-Files version.

farewell,

dash

I have read, and studied the Bible (KJV) for over 30 years and I was not aware that Heb. 13:2 referred to the Archangel Raphael. The Bible records a number of instances where people have met with "angels unawares," and it is safe to conclude the verse is not strictly referring to any one particular instance. The Greek word for angel in this passage is "a messenger." But it is safe to conclude it is a messenger from God with a message from God and a mission to help God's people (Heb. 1:14 "Are they [angels:] not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?"), rather than someone proclaiming, “I just saved a bunch of money by switching to Gieco.".

Farewell,

dash

Hebrews 13:2

"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."

Of this particular “angel,” I can honestly say, I have “seen an angel” - not once, but many times. But it was only in retrospection of said occurrence that I understood what happened. I could give many examples.

And yes, Sharon, mark it down as a maxim - an adage, a proverb, a …saw, “Happy…. is the dog in the shopping cart.”

Farewell,

dash

It depends on one's definition of an angel.

farewell,

dash

I've not read anything (to my knowledge) by Kafka or Pessoa, so I can't comment on their fragments. But often poetry comes in fragments. Long compositions like those composed from a pouring out of thought as experienced by Wordsworth and Coleridge on occasions, seems the exception.

"But turn the fragment into a poem, and it has some shape and character and a little more weight."

It does seem there is a utilitarian aspect to poetry making it possible to convey ideas, feelings, and thought in a "concentrate" (just add water).

Remembrances are not necessarily linear with regards to time, and the poem in question is certainly a "temperance of things past," though only a flash of thought - a brief moment in Berry's life.

I've noticed some very poetic prose which is not "fragmentary," that could easily be worked into poetry. Taken from "Cities of the Plain," by Proust:

"I had the joy of thinking that if my gaze could not reach her, still, traveling farther than my vision, that strong and gentle sea breeze which was sweeping past me must be flowing down, without anything to arrest it as far a Quetteholme, until it stirred the branches of the trees that bury Saint-Jean de la Haise in their foliage, caressing the face of my mistress, and must thus be extending a double tie between her and myself in this retreat indefinitely enlarged, but without danger, as in those games in which two children find themselves momentarily out of sight and earshot of one another, and yet, while far apart, remain together."

I know that is a long bit, but it has always fascinated me as being very poetic.

farewell,


dash

Hey Candy,

Hi. If I could spell I would have said "awakening," not an "awaking." Sorry. And I think I should precede many of my statements with the word "perhaps."

farewell,

dash

The line, "The first time I remember waking up..." is not the same as the line, "And I woke up...".

Though this poem, cannot be compared to a "Sonnet," or some other "form," it is, in it's own right, another "form" which has, (regardless of our taste in "forms poetical"), become regarded as authentic poetry. I too, Michael, noticed the poems lack of a "rhyme scheme," and any consistent iambic pattern in the lines. But Mr. Berry's muse is a subtle one, and I see nothing "spare," as Ruth notes, in this poem.

It is a poem about an "awakening," and therein lies a rich tapestry of thought that is, perhaps, more complex than the succinctness of the story and quickness of its reading, might at first suggest.

This poem, like a fleeting remembrance, certainly is a fleeting read. I can't help reading it through to the end very quickly. I think Keillor would read it like this:

The first time,
I remember,
Waking up,
In the night,
Was in the winter time.
When I was about six.
Papa had sent,
the tobacco crop,
to Louisville; that night.
Talking and wondering
What it would bring............

(and ending)

in the dark that night
................. with out
................................ a
.................................... dime.

disclaimer:

I very much like Keillor, Berry, Berry's first name, and his poem, "the first time I remtember waking up".

Right now, I'm reading how to make a superior gin & tonic, with Tanguera and Schweppes tonic water . A lovely Saturday, and I'm smoking a pork loin (I hope I don't offend and Jewish people out there) while listening to music I've collected at Half Price Book Store here in Kansas City Mo. My current play list includes (now playing),Sheryl Crow's "My Favorite Mistake," Alanis Morissette, "You Oughta Know," Amy Winehouse, "Tears Dry On Their Own," Nikka Costa, "Push and Pull," Amy Winehouse, "Wake Up Alone," Alanis Morissette, "All I Really Want," and “One Hand In My Pocket,” Winehouse, "Just Friends," Duffy, "I'm Scared," - a bunch of female vocalist, all dedicated to the Mark Sandford "affair." I just love that guy. He is so "sensitive." He "loves," not just "lusts." God bless im. Forgive me it's the G&T's on a Saturday. "When will we get the time to be just friends?"

farewell,

dashicus macimus aurelius

"It's never too late for Matisse!" made me think of (perhaps because I have not had breakfast and because the Matisse is a plater of fruit), "There's always room for Matisse" a take off from the old Jello ad. (Oh never mind.) Happy Birthday Ms. Pamela.


Dottie: not reading a thing. Am on face book with a picture of me eating a madeleine. Heard about Proust's birthday on a daily radio show I listen to on Kansas Public Radio hosted by Garrison Keillor, called the Writer's Almanac at

http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/in...

for those interested. July 9 had a bio of Barbara Cartland. I thought the following was amusing:

"She dictated all her novels. She claimed that this was one of the secrets to her success. She said, "When you dictate, you tend to tell your story in nice short paragraphs. My readers detest long paragraphs." She would dictate from a chaise longue, with a rug at her feet and her pet Pekinese curled up next to her. It took her an average of one week to complete a novel. By the time she died in 2000 at the age of 98, she had sold more than 1 billion books."

Farewell,

dash

Today is the birthday of Marcel Proust, July 10.

I'm always looking over everyone’s comments, but rarely do any reading. I think I've read one book in the last year - "The Amenities of Book-Collecting And Kindred Affections," by A. Edward Newton. Not exactly Constant Reader fodder. Mr. Newton confirmed one of my suspicions regarding an essay of Lamb's titled "Dream Children, A Reverie," when calling it one of Lamb's "daintiest essays, perhaps the most exquisite essay in the language...". Ah, but this style of essay is passé these days.

farewell,

dash

Well I'm ashamed of myself for not seeing this display since I live in KC! I shall make it a quest!

farewell,

dash