Sunday, July 07, 2013

Since The Majoriy Of Me (Philip Larkin poem)

Since the majority of me
Rejects the majority of you,
Debating ends forthwith, and we
Divide. And sure of what to do

We disinfect new blocks of days
For our majorities to rent
With unshared friends and unwalked ways,
But silence too is eloquent:

A silence of minorities
That unopposed at least, return
Each night with cancelled promises
They want renewed. They never learn.


P.S. I came across his name while taking online course ' The Art of Programming Concert'. This particular poem struck me most.

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

Loved the subject! Easy read, lots of characters...great story.

Existential Psychotherapy by Irvin D. Yalom



My sister mentioned Irvin Yalom in my conversation about existential issues.
It was his novel 'When Nietzsche Wept' that she recommended to me, but I was very excited to find his non fiction work 'Existential Psychotherapy' and it did not disappoint.

Viktor Frankl



His book 'Man's Search for Meaning' was not an accidental choice for my reading after Hemingway's short story 'Clean Well-lighted Place'. I wish I knew about logotherapy when I was a teenage. Great insight info existential therapy.

Tuesday, April 02, 2013

Screw It, Let's Do It (Richard Branson)



I picked this book out of boredom, there was nothing else to read. Surprisingly, it kept my interest longer than I anticipated.

Spiderweb (Kay Ryan poem)

From other
angles the
fibers look
fragile, but
not from the
spider’s, always
hauling coarse
ropes, hitching
lines to the
best posts
possible. It’s
heavy work
everyplace,
fighting sag,
winching up
give. It
isn’t ever
delicate
to live.


P.S.  have discovered Kay's poems today reading blog ' The Improvised Life'. I like the structure, the words she chooses and invents, and a room they leave for the reader to react in their personal way.

Monday, March 25, 2013

In the subway



I was riding the subway today and was thinking about how much it changed for the last few years.

People with books in their hands always draw my attention. I peek at the titles, google them and read some of them too. Now we've got Kindles, Kobos, iPads and you never know what captures their reading mind today.

Few years ago you could see posters with poems of the winners of Young Poet competitions from all over Canada. It was the best advertisement I ever saw. Some poems where so sophisticated that it was hard to believe that a 16 year old kid wrote it.  Some of the poems I memorized, they were so beautiful!

Today, you still see posters about literary works. But they all have one thing in common: erotic content. Why is this subject became prevalent? What does it say about us today?

If you take a snapshot of the subway interior and us, riders, would that be an accurate reflection of our society?

Sunday, March 17, 2013

I Know Why The Cage Bird Sings

The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and is tune is heard
on the distant hill for the caged bird
sings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breeze
an the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom. 


(Maya Angelou)

Saturday, March 09, 2013

Love of poetry

My new friend has recently confessed that he did not like poetry. The rest of the day I thought about people and how different their reaction to poetry in general was and is.
What makes those lines that someone strung together stop our hearts?
How do we learn this beauty?
When does the journey start?

I remember my high school days and a young teacher of math. She always struggled with us. With young age cruelty we deliberately ignored her, talked and yelled, walked and giggled. In one of those classes, desperate to restore the order, she took a stand in the middle of the room and suddenly started reciting a poem.

Идут белые снеги
Как по нитке скользя....

She kept reciting, line by line. We froze in awe. It was a poem about philosophy of life. None of us could really relate to that subject. But we were smitten by the beauty of rhythm, the love in her voice, and a discovery of something new in us.

Friday, March 08, 2013

Poems by e e cummings



Edward Estlin Cummings (1894-1962) wrote poems in an unusaual way: capital letters in the middle of words, unexpeted line breaks, misplaced punctuation marks, interrupted sentences and even individual words.He signed his poems by writing his name in lower case and without periods.



Here are some of my favourites...


i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)


love is a place...

love is a place
& through this place of
love move
(with brightness of peace)
all places

yes is a world
& in this world of
yes live
(skilfully curled)
all worlds


Now i lay(with everywhere around)...

Now i lay(with everywhere around)
me(the great dim deep sound
of rain;and of always and of nowhere)and
what a gently welcoming darkestness--

now i lay me down(in a most steep
more than music)feeling that sunlight is
(life and day are)only loaned:whereas
night is given(night and death and the rain

are given;and given is how beautifully snow)

now i lay me down to dream of(nothing
i or any somebody or you
can begin to begin to imagine)

something which nobody may keep.
now i lay me down to dream of Spring