E.E. Cummings, Zen Pencils, Rhapsody in Blue - #19 - 1/22/2020
· E.E. Cummings poem.
[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]
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 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)
· Zen Pencils is a great website from this illustrator that I learned about a few years ago. Someone I know (they’re in this group, so I won’t give away too much info) is going through a hard time with work, friends, relationship, etc. There is this Zen Pencils poster inspired by Neil Gaiman that I found a while back that hopefully gets across a message of hope: https://zenpencils.com/comic/50-neil-gaiman-make-good-art/ Make good art. I suggest to that friend, if they’re reading this, that maybe poetry would work best for them. Who knows. Get out a pencil and notebook. And start writing. Forget form, weight, brevity, assurance, or idiosyncratic language, you’re not going to show it to anybody – so simply write for your own sake. And after writing your feelings on paper that cannot be described through prose, you’ll eventually get a little better each and every day. I’ve had this talk with my roommate the other night. Out of all the hobbies you could think of, many, if not all of them, leads to acquiring wealth and suddenly your hobby turns into a side hustle. Comedy, like I’m doing, will someday in the future turn into a full-time job for me. Calligraphy, you can make money off. Boating? Money can be made there. Writing scripts/novels/prose/play? Eventually it can turn into money. All hobbies, when you think about it, can lead to money. Except for poetry. No poet, in the history of the art, has been rich off poetry. None. Much less make any money at it except for selling a few books and there – that eventually get donated to the library. They do it because they like it, not for financial gain. So try it out and don’t tell anybody you’re doing it. I tried to write some poetry, it’s fun. Try it.
· Rhapsody in Blue is a very silly classical song. Apparently… it was named after the opera. And the opera failed miserably at the time. So bad, critics, the NY Times, everybody said it sucked. It wasn’t until a lot later that everybody realized, “Hey, it’s actually kinda good.” Now it’s one of the great American Operas. Anyway here’s the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFHdRkeEnpM