A Mouthful of Cake-poem
Brides and grooms
shove fists full of white icing
into each other’s mouths.
The video implores,
“Eat cake.
Be sweet. Be sweet.”
When there was no bread
She said
“Eat cake.
Be sweet. Be sweet.”
Dates and sugar
Coconuts and mangos
Arrive in the boats
The sailors say
“Eat cake.
Be sweet. Be sweet.”
When this life is done with me
That may be the time to
have my cake
and eat it too.
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Tags: Poetry
A dream of a boat
Noah and Ahab float away on a raft
Gulliver is in charge now
But how does it begin
The end is there
I write this poem backwards
A soup bowl of quantum level chaos
I began to wail.
“Why haven’t I been given the standard instructions regarding the life rafts?!”
I reported on deck but the captain said
“You’re on your own matey.”
Then he chuckled.
So I napped in the deck chair ‘neath the silvery moon.
A big black dog howled from the next chair.
I told him to shut up.
He whined.
I apologized.
Soft rain and laughter coming from on high.
Note: This started as a Facebook status update after listening to Patti Smith Babelogue
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Tags: Poetry
Our river of dream
Awake with the leaping fish
Glint catches the eye
Beneath the settled stillness
We look for another glimpse
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Tags: Poetry
I just watched the movie Across the Universe directed by Julie Taymor. Excellent. It is a love story with a serious social context drawn from the 1960s and from Beatles songs. When I started watching it there seemed to be some overwrought elements, too many visuals and tricks and so forth but as it went on the artistry of it became more evident.
I’ve always liked Julie Taymor’s work especially on Titus for which she wrote the screenplay and directed. Of course this was based on the Shakespeare play Titus Andronicus. What a vision this woman has. No wonder considering her background in theater, costuming and all other areas of drama.
I just read her bio on the Internet Movie Database and then it really struck me why her work resonates so much. Her travels to Asia, most notably India and Japan as well as her interest in puppetry from Indonesia are all things with which I am familiar.
Just wanted to make a short note here that her next production of The Tempest has gone to post-production. If it contains the high-concept artistry of her other work I can hardly wait to see it.
Check out her work some time and get a fresh view of what contemporary film can be about.
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Tags: Film
Haikus and Tankas – 33 of them
On this blog I collect my literary work. Recently I did a post on my Buddhist blog of Haiku and Tanka poems as a response to a certain piece of Buddhist writing . While they have a specific context which you can read about in the original post they do stand alone as Haiku and Tanka poems so I am reproducing only the poems themselves here.
In fact outside of their original context they have even further meanings which surprised me as I read them. That’s one thing that always stuns me about the writing process. The original impetus can become lost or combined with other inspirations and the results resemble none of those inspirations and become something of their own. Something other than the sum of their parts.
33 Poems About Sitting Instructions
-some poems about meditation
Poets make castles
A world or the universe
Tiny paper gods
A silver dollar
Signals a helicopter
Sent for the rescue
Someone said plainly
to eff the ineffable
An interesting practice
Alan Watts (1961) wrote, it involves trying to speak the unspeakable, scrute the inscrutable and eff the ineffable. Wiktionary
Rooms here are many
The first thing to discover-
How to lock the door
The grocery list
Does not include chips, ding-dongs
Tiramisu or Shiraz
Chasing the sardines
Minds fanning like outspread nets
Fishing in shallows
Without any choice
Not two or ten thousand things
Litter the pathway
A bird on a wire
Sings the same shrill melody
As when on a branch
My two hands are cleaned
Before preparing our food
Both help cut onions
In India the left hand is used for washing the genitals with water after using a squat toilet. The right hand is used for eating food.
The conductor shouts,
“Stop the train. We have arrived.”
The platform empty
A photo album
Bulging overstuffed pages
Is set on the shelf
There’s always a path
That veers into the forest
Leaves cover the way
Going forward or backward
Direction not to be found
A carpet of grass
And a rounded mushroom top
Look. The Cheshire Cat
An arch of the spine
Subtle bridge of antique bone
Cantilevering
Across the rushing waters
Traffic humming. Dive. Dive. Dive.
Preparing the tents
Carnival of thought goes calm
Work to be done first
Holding timelessness
In elegant folded hands
Fingertips sparking
An old leaning shed
Provides a little refuge
When propped up just so
A stake in the ground
Pounded down with diligence
To tie a wild horse
Perspective drawing
Lines, planes, angles, points all joined
The picture complete
Eyes open mouth closed
Listen to the bumblebee
Outside the window
As it taps incessantly
Wanting to be admitted
Nasal rasp and whine
Breathing with influenza
Not exactly soft
I have the flu as I am writing these poems
When planting a tree
The gardener digs a hole
And settles the roots
Stationary things
Provide a leverage point
For the fulcrum tilt
Physics is not a subject
Without any awareness
Jump up from a seat
And risk a broken body
The ceiling is low
Upstairs or downstairs
The house is inhabited
And the lights burn bright
On a humid day
Though beads of sweat sting the eyes
They remain open
Dust from open windows flies
A fan hums in the corner
Traveling around
Here and there, getting nowhere
To sit and to know
Check the ticking clock
There may be some small spaces
Lost between minutes
The photographer
Must lower the camera
To replace the film
Nothing is hidden
Compass and map are options
For other journeys
The books are in boxes
In some garage or attic
Their words all consumed
The mind’s committees
Will never agree on terms
That mean surrender
Inheritances
Are not merely on paper
But in memory
…
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Tags: Poetry
Movie Rules
When I was taking some writing classes years ago, including screen writing, I also took some courses in film analysis and criticism. Ever since then my movie watching experience has involved analysis of things going on beyond the story. That is, certain patterns, cliches and repeating events have become evident. So I’ve decided to make note of some of these Movie Rules. Like any rules there are exceptions but in general terms the following apply more often than not.
Grease Monkey Rule
When a man has grease on his face a woman will soon touch his face. And if she is wearing white she will kiss him and not get dirty.
Law of Minor Accidents
Where a character has a minor accident near the beginning of the film that character will be the victim in a life threatening situation but will not be killed if the minor accident was due to his own clumsiness.
Law of Military Genius
The most intelligent/humane character in any military situation will either die or go insane, even temporarily.
The Law of Self-Indulgent Wealth
Wherever an ostentatiously rich man appears he will be involved in shady business activity. Wherever an ostentatiously rich woman appears she will be unfaithful to her husband. Neither will spend money on anything other than themselves.
Law of Eccentric Benevolence
This is somewhat related to the previous. Wherever a rich person does give money to help others they will be portrayed as eccentric if not mad. Any other sort of giving behavior will always involve an audience.
The Bed Skirt Rule
When a woman with a tight skirt on lies down on a bed a man will stand at the foot of the bed and he will have previously revealed unpleasant character traits. The man will not be the woman’s husband but either a boyfriend or relative. This is also applicable to couches but with less frequency. Variations include the picnic blanket and the beach towel.
The Tribal Oral Imbibation Rule
When any tribal people appear there will be at least one shot of some of them engaged in some activity of oral imbibation such as eating, drinking or smoking.
The Stoned Villain rule
Villains always alter their states of consciousness with either alcohol or drugs.
The Law of the Human Appliance
a) No currently replaceable body part, by transplant or artificial means, is ever portrayed as having any special power.
b) Where parts become replaceable in reality they fall out of favor with movie makers.
Law of Extreme Latitudes
There will either be a wise-man mentor or a madman loner in any remote place like the tundra, jungle, desert or dense forest.
Table Cloths Rule
Wherever a male and female encounter one another in a restaurant with white tablecloths they will likely become lovers.
Law of the Female Decoration
Wherever there is clear water, particularly if it is blue, including at a pool, beach, fountain, waterfall, fish tank, pitcher or even large glass of water a female with large breasts wearing something very form fitting or revealing will soon appear in such a way that she becomes part of the set decoration.
Ok so these are the things I have noticed so far. Actually it was several years ago that I wrote these things out and only just found them as I was going through some old papers. I think there are a lot more of these “Laws” that could be delineated and if I come up with a few more I’ll put them here as well.
So what have you noticed in film?
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Tags: Criticism, Film, Popular Culture, Psychology
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