Nature cast in green, white and blue

Secret lagoon
Originally uploaded by jhhymas

Continuing with part 4 of

POETRY LESSONS by Gu Cheng

4.
Because of my deep needs, I often travel the far edges of society.

There in front of me are plants, clouds and the sea—nature cast in green, white and blue. The purity of these colors wipes away the dust of the everyday world, letting my mind recover its senses.

Is this something I am learning for the first time? No, it seems to be a recollection of an earlier time, as if before I was born I was one of them. I once was curved like the tusk
of a mammoth, once as innocent as a leaf, once as minute and happy as floating plankton, that free . . . .

I want to thank nature for letting me discover myself, discover the story of all things of the world, living and not. I want to thank it for giving me an endless supply of poems and songs.

This is why in the midst of the battle with reality, in the midst of the howl of the grinding machines, I can still say in a sweet quiet voice:

I’m yours.
----- Gu Cheng

I'll give you the last part tomorrow. Then I'll write about Gu Cheng a little and about this poem. Good nIght!

Blue float

Blue float
Originally uploaded by jhhymas

This is what Davy Rothbart has to say about copyright issues on the FOUND items he has published in his books and magazines.
"We have been very vigilant to change the names and other identifying info on every note and letter in the books to protect people's identities. The last thing we'd want is to put someone in an awkward or embarrasing position! And Simon & Schuster lawyers asked us to include only excerpts of longer letters to protect against intellectual property issues. Sometimes I found this difficult and frustrating, since I really am not sure that someone's chain of Post-Its needs intellectual property protection, but we were always able to figure out something that worked. I was lucky to work with two lawyers for the FOUND books -- Steve Chung and Peter Karanjia -- who really had a deep understanding for the project and could help me conjure up creative solutions for minimizing the risk to S&S without sacrificing the quality of the finds."
Isn't it delightful to think that your grocery list is copyrighted as soon as you write it down?? And it you remember to renew your copyright, you protection can now last nearly forever. . .
So this lovely blue glass float is mine, mine, mine. . .
I am trying to write a poem about colors, here is one, blue, but I have not gotten very far with the poem yet. Good night.

San Diego Birds

San Diego Birds
Originally uploaded by jhhymas

In a blog about memory,sometims you have to go backwards. This is from a long-ago trip to San Diego's Wild Animal Park. It's a view from the train. I love all the bird shapes and even the funky blue color, caused I suppose, by the film and the shadowed light. Or by cheap developing from a slide, I seem to remember. I thought it was a great photo at the time, but now I have gotten better. I particularly loved the egret shapes in this, but the other birds are great, too. It was a long time ago, and with my special friend, Diane.

I found an amazing blog today that makes me embarrassed to be doing this one. The author is a poet and reviews operas, books and other things from Washinton, D.C. Another blog is a cooperative effort by several people and the things they put up are really substantial and interesting. When I learn how to make links, I want to link to blogs like these. Good night!