I 

grew... 

my... 

flowers. 

Jen and I spent the time...

feeling chilly... 

getting terrible eye-bags.... 

chilling... 

and going totally insane.

dada

Last year, during one of our Chaucer seminars, while we were discussing the history of the church in the 14th century, the topic fell on Dan Brown's book (I don't even have to mention which one). My dearest tutor, who specializes in Old and Medieval literature (especially on Grail writings) said of it, "It's utter crap". whoa first time the uptight lady say crap ah

I guess she couldn't keep off the topic, and wrote an article a year later:
Demystifying the Da Vinci Code

Anyway, just watched The Da Vinci Code for 5 pounds (that's S$15). Royalties aside I went with 2 beautiful Austrian ladies who study lit. too and hence know the book is crap but think it's well written (controversies and action thrown in). I kinda wanted X-men 3 more (badly!) but they were hell-bent, oops, I mean seriously keen on watching ol' Da (and it was their last month in UK) so I relented.

Was actually quite good, and I liked the last part where...ok I won't say. I haven't read the book, so the movie was a good insight to what the whole hullabaloo was about. And of course, saying (and thinking) 'the Catholic Church is always right' (or always wrong) is never going to solve any problem for yourself or others if you choose to live in ignorance, so finding out more (I won't say 'facts', because that word has come under fire in the post-modern world) is pretty important.

On other fronts: man, time is a luxury. Met Dave today and he told me he has forgotten how to relax! Afterwards I spotted him round uni. leisurely walking. around. round. I always laugh talking to him. The first time we spoke in psychoanalysis seminar he told me he was from a town down south (named it), and I nodded my head off pretending I knew where that was. Then he asked suspiciously if I knew where and all I could do was grin, "er, no."

Katharina (one of the Austrian beauties) told me today she's a part-time instructor back home during the school holidays. At a ski resort, teaching skiing and snowboarding, earning 13 euros an hour. My mouth fell open. I told her we live on very flat land on the equator and humidty hits nearly 100%. This ticket attendent at the cinema tried to flirt with her as best as he could, "Screen 7 is on the left" and giving her eyes. We could only giggle at his originality.

After exams last Saturday, my friends and I stood outside the hall in grave shock and were still standing there after the whole cohort had cleared off. "Was that our last paper? For the rest of our lives?" I'm not sure I came to terms with it until Monday! In the end, most people wrote about Beckett (Angel, I wrote about Waiting for Godot in the end! wish I could have watched it like you did though) including myself - his plays are highly intense and on my list of favourite works.

Really proud of my bro., who got selected as one of two (having competed with those from RJ and HCJC) to attend a training camp as NASA, Texas, US. xiala...
And of Az the coach and the VJ soccer girls, who fought hard for their first cup and National Champion title!
And then, VJ choir emerged overall top choir in Italy and VJ band won a Gold at Hawaii (this one's for FF). As much as I'd hate to admit it, I wish I was back!

The strain of the past months is still fresh in my mind, so I know how tough it is for some of my friends who have yet to end. I am praying for them, esp. FF, JF, GS, CS, SH, JP, JY, JL(LB).

duchamp

Marcel Duchamp's Bicycle Wheel (1913). Today's question: is a bicycle wheel still a bicycle-wheel when the front wheel is taken of from the rest of the frame?






Has it not already lost it's (original/essential) purpose and hence cannot be called a bicycle wheel?

What is man if he does not follow his purpose? What is his purpose?

From Samuel Beckett's Endgame:
Hamm: Why don't you kill me?
Clov: I don't know the combination of the larder.
(Pause.)
Hamm: Go and get two bicycle-wheels.
Clov: There are no more bicycle-wheels.
When there were still bicycles I wept to have one. I crawled at your feet. You told me to get out to hell. Now there are none.



(Frances: sorry I've not elaborated about the Dali/Plato connection, was doing the essay and studying for exams...but the essay's finally completed and handed in! Will tell you more after this week i.e. after my exams)

I'm out of it, so so out of it.
I wanna fly away and never come back.

retort

AT THE SAME TIME one might question if the relationship (in Windstruck) was 'so wonderful' because it was short-lived. Where are the chores and bringing-up-baby and warts and sorts? Can 'love' really survive that? From howchamightcallydt -living- I tend to see that passion/mutual attraction is not enough, oppression and domination due to social ideology and patriarcal bias come into play, and when fools rush in all you get are foul-ups. or foul play (murdering partners; jealous spouses; long bottled-up psychological trama from domestic violence).

Know why K-dramas move women so? 'Cos they find in them princes that don't exist. (same goes for anime) I must admit I have fallen under the illusion. I'm not saying that gentlemen don't exist; they do. I'm saying that women are at fault too for being complicit with the heartaches they experience. Don't fall in love with love.

I watched Windstruck today. again.

It must have been some kind of meant to be when I couldn't catch it with dre, 'cos it made me end up buying the vcd.

I think...some people cry more at the movies as they get older. Because they've have been through more, seen more, felt more. And they understand. Understand what it means to lose, to hurt, to be at fault, to regret, to love.

I still feel it, that..hole. I don't think it will ever go away. But suddenly, I want to say, 'I want to believe again. Even though it's going to hurt when I lose, even though it's going to be rough in between. I want to believe again.'

awwwww

Fab-biang sent me a whole series of pictures, explaining why we should be appreciative of things, even those that seem terrible...I thought this was the cutest. maybe because the kid is some of us at this period of time...all the best to all those who are!

stop me before I do something rash.
like shave off my eyebrows

wow, it's so interesting looking back and realising what a ku-tu I once was, and how much I've learnt the past 3 years, about loss and betrayal and gossip and holding on and loving and giving it up (to God). Especially when you see others going through things where you mentally check off "that's my Stage 1 in the growth process of university life. welcome to Stage 2". I don't say that in a malicious way, because I know what it feels like and have done the same things; in fact, it is a little sad knowing what's coming next- not so much in what's going to happen, but what one learns. But knowing that it is necessary and part of pruning makes it worthwhile. Here's me wishing strength.

Just heard this song today, and it's....
a love song
a very touching love song

I Need You
By LeeAnn Rimes

I don't need a lot of things
I can get by with nothing
Of all the blessings life can bring
I've always needed something
But i've got all i want
When it comes to loving you
You're my only reason
You're my only truth

I need you like water
Like breath, like rain
I need you like mercy
From heaven's gate
There's a freedom in your arms
That carries me through
I need you

You're the hope that moves me
To courage again
You're the love that rescues me
When the cold winds, rage

And it's so amazing
'cause that's just how you are
And i can't turn back now
'cause you've brought me too far

The before-mentioned problem-question was stuck in my head 'til past 2am so I didn't get any sleep til then. Set my alarm clock for 8.30am (which is, of course, any idiot's definition of impossiblity) and got up long enough to switch it off when it rang. after a few minutes (what felt like it), I got up and groggily looked at the clock. 15 minutes to 3pm! A terrible moment: my head was blocked with the problem that has to materialize into 5000 words by the 12th (or rather, panic was blocking my head), I felt drained and sick and blah, and I missed mass. I pulled up the duvet and hid.

Some (more) moments later, I decided to get up and face reality, and saw it was 10am.

*scratches head*

It must have been 9.15am I misrecognized (which Freud or Lacan, I can't remember, believes we all do when we look into the mirror, so I don't feel so bad)

problem question

frog-style, dog-paddle, breast-stroke, sink
my head is swimming
how do I link this:

STRANGER:
To distinguish the name from the thing, implies duality.
THEAETETUS:
Yes.
STRANGER:
And yet he who identifies the name with the thing will be compelled to say that it is the name of nothing, or if he says that it is the name of something, even then the name will only be the name of a name, and of nothing else.
THEAETETUS:
True.
Sophist (Part IV)by Plato (tr. B. Jowett)

to this:


Metamorphosis of Narcissus 1937 Salvador Dali

Question mark.

And besides this infinitesimal problem, a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Alex (Chomp Chomp is a goooood place), a salivating mouthful of praise for Cheryl's wonderful pics (tell me where and when you will be in Italy! I might be there around then too!), a miss-you-too-poke for Jo, and a I-left-a-message-on-your-blog to Frances *hee*

but you

Your love is amazing, steady and unchanging
Your love is a mountain firm beneath my feet
Your love is a mystery, how you gently lift me
When I am surrounded
Your love carries me

I've moved my desk so that now I can sit at it and look out from my window, small as it is (the desk, the window, me). From where I am the afternoon's clouded sunlight falls in just enough to create a dim embrace around my shadow and I look out at the slowly blossoming tree in my neighbour's backyard. It looks like a cherry tree, really, because its branches reveal more clusters of red buds every passing spring day. But then I've just looked it up on Google images and what people call cherry trees appear to be lighter pink with many more petals. Still, I may be right as time passes and people, i mean things grow and everything changes. 'but you...', reminiscing a Take That song.

Yes, but You.

Descriptions

Descriptions of modern life always cheer me up:

"Life is slow dying" (Nothing To Be Said, Philip Larkin)
A really good poem, I didn't realise its gravity until today.

Clov: He's crying.

Hamm: Then he's living. Did you ever have an instant of happiness?

Clov: Not to my knowledge.

(Endgame, Samuel Beckett)

An excerpt from The Reprise of Dodoism:

A: Why does that matter? Why does the fact that you got tripped and jeered at and beaten, just smacked in my opinion, lead you to think you had a bad day? If I did the same to you tomorrow, and the day after, and the rest of the week, would you moan about it as you just did? No, you would thank the heavens when it didn't drop on Chicken Little's head. You would begin to think: wait, the tripping and jeering and beating does not make me a sad person. I choose to feel upset about what happens around me, and hence label my day 'terrible', 'the worst', or what have you. If you'd just choose otherwise.

Q: It's starting to rain.

A (sadly) : I know.

tutors

They're both middle-aged doctrate holders. D.R. One was conveying his excitement for Heavy Metal Machine (Smashing Pumpkins, FF enlightened me) to an avid fan of Lou Reed halfway during seminar yesterday, while the other belted out "Wake up kids /We've got the dreamers disease" just now (New Radicals, whew I got this one).

whatever happened to Amelia Earhart?

how do you stop murder of 30 000 from your coffin cage?

does anybody know the way to Atlantis?

the danger of rhetoric is getting lost in it, and never waking.

umoja

Yesterday saw our very last concert for the year...noooo!
filled with an unwillingness to part

from them. The Umoja Gospel Choir.

Every Thursday (barring the flu bug) for the past 2 years has been filled with 2 hours of note-coordination, joking banter, the mutual struggle for harmonic resonance, playful tunes from Sound of Music during break-time, stressful before-performance tension, uplifting soulfulness that put a rhythm back in the week, walks home after practice in dejected "we can't put it together", sessions when four become one, miraculously pulling it off and getting a rousing response (and participation!) from the audience, giving the congratulatory high-five and grin and thumbs-up after successful we are marching in the light of God and hallelujah for the joy.

the greedy sister looks at her brother's parisian food with covetousness
last week

me and my favourite brother :)

there's no place like home there's no place like home there's no place...

shucks. didn't work. I need red high-heels. gracie? :p

My Obssessive Compulsive Order ( I refuse to acknowledge I have a disorder) has returned (or rather, I have returned to it), so I constantly check, re-check, re-re-check...but then what gives me the idea I will get it at 11pm? useless

Hemorrhage is 81 on my list of 'recently played' so at least I've come that far. =) Honestly, I've forgotten the reason for previous repetition...ah, now I remember. But it has become a distant memory, like afflictions big and small, and this one was but a nick.

Try some happy songs (funny, the moment you say happy it loses some of it's meaning) - one step at a time, one hope then another, who know where this road may go? yes, let this be a sign, let this road be mine, let it lead me to my past, and bring me home at last...

I actually can't wait to watch Tristan and Isolde. Found out it is an adaptation of Thomas Malory's (15th century) Le Morte Darthur, an Arthurian romance alongside the love triangle of King Arthur, Guinevere and Sir Lancelot. The movie also features Gavin Degraw's We Belong Together (he was in London last nov. but tickets were sold out fast, then went on sale on ebay for a hundred pounds, dang)
more (see trailer and mv; the series of pics when u first open the site totally obscures the storyline)

MIA til monday!

good stuff!
The Great Pretender (by the Jon Frederick Band), Kingdom Hearts style!

ecdysis

We are separate. Between stands a thin withered screen
Alice's mirror, though in that glass lie a thousand oceans
Now, you think the image above the mantel is me
But you're mistaken
As you stare into the eyes of what you want to see

I am not so distant as to have deserted you
Though you will berate me for my cruel heart
Mariner will I play and bless
From my cold lofty perch behind bars

Because I have left a film-cracked membrane behind
When you used to beat me til my heart bled
When you bound me so I could not shed

You will not penetrate our Chinese silk screen.


written 120306

management

you're kidding, right?

today's reading:

Matthew 5:43-48
Jesus said to his disciples: "You have learnt how it was said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes the sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike. For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect."

how do we walk the line that speaks up for injustice while loving the perpetrators?

I'm going to play Hemorrhage until the word 'hypocrite' comes unstuck in my head.

There really is no point fuming against a mask of lies. If anything, I'm just giving it the fuel to breed contempt. But what does one do with the hideous rising cauldron? Shout "Woe to you, you hypocrites!", or proclaim ""But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you". It's so much easier to toot the tooting toot. But easy does not always lead to the truth.

As I watched the prosecution of John Procter I felt bile rising to my throat. Persecution, death, injustice, built on the lies of an imagined witch-hunt. The worst part was knowing the events took place, and 19 from Salem died because they refused to pronounce an allegiance to Satan, a proclamation that would have saved their own lives. So they held fast to the Truth, no matter who else knew it. And then, so did one famous man before them.

Will you die for the truth?Will I?

don't fall away and leave me to myself

don't fall away and leave love bleeding in my hands

inspiring. the man, the music.

the video. full circle of life

scabs fall off sometime

same difference!

either I can't make up my mind, or my mind was already made up from the start

FF cooks yummy intoxicating pasta...thanks gal for doing the same tonight! Last night we re-lived 1998 by watching The X-Files and smouldering ScMuldering

The Royal Courts of Justice 

Sightseeing in London! 

trying to duck (obviously unsuccessful) from Jenny's shot. Us outside the London School of Economics...somewhere on their huge campus at least 

walking in memphis 

posing like a typical tourist 

just personal preference: let's not label

Can somebody who has no inclination towards any beverage with a % sign on the bottle and booming loud music sandwiching gyrating bodies please put up their hand?

sheesh it's stifling in here

Don't remember where I've stopped on the series...plus my DVD seems to have a problem? Is yours working Poon? bah...as you can see I prefer vividly coloured wallpapers to Oscar Wilde's rant on why socialism is better than democracy. 

cool!!! more of Magritte!

Esp. like 'The Lovers'.
we see not what we love? or we love not what we see?

There's a link to Kooning....hahaha his name always cracks me up (think Singlish)

Wicked!

you know how I sometimes insert certain song lyrics in my entries?

A lot of them come from the musical Wicked, a fascinating musical which chronicles the build-up to Dorothy's adventures in Oz, with its underlying message of how a good intention was turned on its head and an intrinsically good person labelled evil by society (The green wicked witch of the west). From what I've read it is a very touching story, and more so the pieces from the musical. (the singing is wonderful!) I have long longed to watch it performed on Broadway.

And then I saw this!!

Wicked musical confirms transfer
Wicked, the record-breaking Broadway musical about the witches of Oz, has confirmed the dates that West End audiences will get a chance to take a look at one of American theatre’s biggest phenomena. Wicked will open at the Apollo Victoria on 27 September following previews from 7 September. Booking will open to the public at 9:00 on 5 March. Casting is expected to be announced by mid-May.

argh!! It opens in September!!! If I could just fly....

If you're interested, some other links to follow:

Wicked UK (London)

Ticketmaster

the problem with passion is

the problem with passion is, when you see something that touches you deeply, you begin to desire it greatly. When I see the grace of theatre, a vibrant myraid of colourful hues, the aching echoes of beautiful voices, I can't help but yearn, nostalgic, and long for.....for... something. So when all three elements conspired to present themselves in the form of Moulin Rouge to the unwitting girl looking for mere dinner-time entertainment, I was enthralled.

It wasn't my first time watching it, and one might have anticipated an expectent boredom about a film seen twice, but that longing was inescapable

I

Never knew I could feel like this

Like I've never seen the sky before

Do you know? When you experience the golden entrance of the horizen, and

make a wish that it be shared

I love you until the end of time

wonder beauty truth

resonating across

stormy blue oceans

dimensions, time

the rising Divine

tremulous fingertips

Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place

Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace

Conquerable in transcendence: hope.

Spun with a silvery thread, inseparable: love

Death seems like the perfect ending. Come what may.

Lit: an inexplicable existence within

Rene Magritte, Le Mois des vendanges
(The Month of the Harvest)

A feast for the eyes, don't you think?

A living illusion

That thing that fulfills our needs and wants, provides the image we want to project, becomes us - don't we just have to have it? The definition of what we wear/utilise/purchase becomes the definition of ourselves, the item we consume a tell-tale sign of our identity. Is that really true? Should we really believe a brand of an automobile makes the driver a suave, sophisticated gentleman/woman, when all it might indicate in reality is $$ (which might imply sophistication - it is not inherent along with wealth), or falling COE prices? That a washing liquid can strengthen the bonds within families? That a type of hoop-cereal encircles strong emotional ties between youth and age?

In this light I find myself rolling my eyes. yeah right it's true. And go on consuming branded goods.

That's what branding is all about. No, not 'selling', some over-the-counter influential speech that results in the presentation of paper wads which magically transform by immutable law into a product, a good (this noun even has dual identities- it is also an adjective that adorns the buyer). It's the 21st century baby, and branding is it. A perpetual blinding of the consumer.

What spurred the above was a link on Esper's blog, which I followed today: 'The Persuaders'.
It might actually peel back the veil. Have a look, see what you think.

Naomi Klein's (author of No Logo) comment was most impressive: "When you listen to brand managers talk you can get quite carried away in this idea that they are fulfilling these needs for community and narrative and transcendence. But in the end it is a laptop and a pair of running shoes and they might be great but they're not actually going to fulfil those needs; which serves them very well because that means you have to go shopping again." (Chapter 2: Emotional Branding)

Another interesting read on the topic is Roland Barthes Mythologies, an argument that de-mystifies the glossy cover of advertisment and media. The way he describes the covert strategies is so fluent and fabulous you can't help laughing at one's foolish self in the culture of consumption.

I know who the meanie is!!!!

Beware! This be he.......
see, who's threatening who?

To the horrible meanie who won't give me the present:

ALL THE BEST for your remaining 4 days!
(no no I'm not going to fly home just to kill him....)
YOU know what I mean lah!
Check re-check re-re-check the deadline!! hee ok just trying to scare you.
Are you all free after that? Does it mean you've got your degree before me? noooooooooooo!

shoooooo quuuuuuute!

introspective introjection

She's just from a different world
(or so I say)
I don't have the cash, sass (ass?) to cut it

Blithe smile, lithe limb
She who's winsome, she wins him
Gold hair with a gentle curl
That's the girl he chose

Am I jealous?
no. It's just that....

Don't wish, don't start
Wishing only wounds the heart

You are resilient. This is your secret weapon.
You don't let much get you down and like the
energizer bunny, you keep going and going and
going.....

91 other people got this result!
This quiz has been taken 253 times.
36% of people had this result.

What is your secret weapon? Cool pics!

I'm only putting this quiz up because resilient is the word that sticks after you've watched 'The March of the Penguins'. The journeys the male and female penguins take for the survival of their child is simply impressive... Interesting (and apt) this picture was put with it.

On another note, all the quizzes I take seem to come out with unexpected results. I don't think I'm brown, peter or resilient. I either need to severe all faith in such quizzes or re-evaluate who I am. Maybe both are in order.

in narnia

You are Peter, King Peter the Magnificent.
You are bold and brave and fight for justice.

296 other people got this result!
This quiz has been taken 791 times.
37% of people had this result.

Which Character from Narnia Are YOU?
brought to you by Quizilla

Hmm....I didn't expect to be Peter. Thought maybe...Susan? She's so fearful of moving into the unknown...

For you are holy
For you are holy
For you are holy, Lord

~Blessed, Hillsong

For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. (2 Timothy 2:11-13)

How amazing is that...to have someone remain with you, even after you have commited adultery. I know I won't be able to...can man's capacity to love encompass that?

shite (the Irish way which sounds more 'posh'), I'm Leonardo too.

'Tis well to be bereft of promis'd good,
That we may lift the soul, and contemplate
With lively joy the joys we cannot share.

~Coleridge, This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison

lead me to you

On my 'mandatory' blog surf of friends' sites before I face the daily uphill drudge of preparation for the exams, I didn't get past the first one

"We are called by God to be faithful, not successful."

A single line that put into perspective all I've been struggling with, all I've been trying to do on my own, all I've been worrying about and losing nights of sleep over. me me me

"I will take care of you, I have your best interests at heart, I know you through and through. And that's why you can trust that I will hold you in the palm of my hand"

That's what I heard when I read the line: the reason why we can be faithful, why we can receive and let go of success, why we don't have to wait until we attain something to rest. I think it doesn't mean to stop working...rather to remember that our lives hold a larger purpose which we cannot lose when we are faithful. All things work together for the good of those who love God.

I guess if we knew all our successes and failures at the start how can life be exiciting?

Then, as if on cue, the theme song for Hercules plays over my headphones:
And a voice keeps saying this is where I'm meant to be

But to look beyond the glory is the hardest part

For a hero's strength is the measured by his heart

~Go the Distance

on vocals

I'm my best friend's groupie!
She sings sooooo well....and I'm so proud of her.
If you like acapella (or smooth grooves), ask me play her recordings for you; she's too shy to send them out in mass.

Lovers are very special people
They're the luckiest people in the world
With one person, one very special person
A feeling deep in your soul
Says you were half, now you're whole
~People

Audrey sang the solo for this piece, and I've been playing it over and over...
Her group, Vocollision, has great blending, good arrangement, and the best sop! (haha maybe i'm partial)
You can always engage them to sing at functions =)

In His Time

Am Dm7 G7 C
In His time, in His time,
Dm7 G7 C C7
He makes all things beautiful, in His time,
F G7
Lord, please show me everyday,
Em Am
As You're teaching me Your way,
Dm7 G7 C
That You do just what You say, in Your time.

In Your time, in Your time,
You make all things beautiful, in Your time.
Lord, my life to Your I bring,
May each song I have to sing,
Be to You a lovely thing, in Your time.

©1978, Maranatha! Music
Words and Music by Diana Ball

thoroughly thoroughly enjoyed reading Jo and Hil's blog entries for the new year. didn't see why they had to worry it was something cliche: I haven't seen anyone else give out awards. On top of the enjoyment, respect for their being unafraid. Unafraid of being who they are, unafraid of leading, unafraid of speaking out, unafraid of planning for the future.

unafraid, a.
[UN-1 7.]
Not afraid; undaunted, undismayed. Also const. of.

Not merely not afraid despite fear, but undaunted. Mark of a hero.

Mel, your true color is Brown!

You're brown, a credible, stable color that's reminiscent of fine wood, rich leather, and wistful melancholy. Most likely, you're a logical, practical person ruled more by your head than your heart. With your inquisitive mind and insatiable curiosity, you're probably a great problem solver. And you always gather all of the facts before coming to a timely, informed decision. Easily intrigued, you're constantly finding new ways to challenge your mind, whether it's by reading the newspaper, playing a trivia game, or composing a piece of music. Brown is an impartial, neutral color, which means you tend to see the difference between fact and opinion easily and are open to many points of view. Trustworthy and steady, you really are a brown at heart.


LOOK at the picture!!!!! ahhhhh!

one art

oh. i just recalled 'lust' is a four-letter word too. It's not what I had in mind.

on other things:
Watching "In Her Shoes" reminded me about the depth and beauty of poetry. Perhaps we sometimes need to be reminded of what we already know.
This one caught my throat, as Cameron Diaz was reciting it:

Elizabeth Bishop
One Art

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

imagine

When was the last time I felt this?
An ancient dragon raises its head
And breaks the calm of a still deep
Scales resplendent, a painted grin pulled back
Knives for fingers, Forks for feet
Hate for love- too much want
Spawns an ugly brood
Known better as a four-letter
In the dreadful sea of seven
All this gore beneath the maw
When was the last time I felt this?

written 040106