Peter Quince at the Clavier I Just as my fingers on these keys Make music, so the selfsame sounds On my spirit make a music, too. Music is feeling, then, not sound; And thus it is that what I feel, Here in this room, desiring you, Thinking of your blue-shadowed silk, Is music. It… Continue reading Wallace Stevens
She had the perpetual sense, as she watched the taxicabs, of being out, out, far out to sea and alone; she always had the feeling that it was very, very dangerous to live even one day. — Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway. (Harcourt, October 28, 2002) Originally published May 14th 1925.
When does night fold its arms over our hearts to cherish them? — Denise Levertov, fron “That Passeth All Understanding,” Oblique Prayers: Poetry. (New Directions, New York, 1984)
I could tell you my adventures—beginning from this morning,” said Alice a little timidly; “but it’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then. ― Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass. (Watermill Pr, November 1992) Originally published November 26, 1865 and 1871, respectfully.
Streets that I chanced upon, you had just walked down them and vanished. And sometimes, in a shop, the mirrors were still dizzy with your presence and, startled, gave back my too-sudden image. Who knows? Perhaps the same bird echoed through both of us yesterday, separate, in the evening… — Rainer Maria Rilke, from “You… Continue reading Rainer Maria Rilke
I am younger each year at the first snow. When I see it, suddenly, in the air, all little and white and moving; then I am in love again and very young and I believe everything. ― Anne Sexton in a letter to W.D. Snodgrass (November 28, 1958), Anne Sexton: A Self-Portrait in Letters. (Mariner… Continue reading Anne Sexton
Love’s merciless, the way it travels in and keeps emitting light. — Kim Addonizio, from “Stolen Moments,” What Is This Thing Called Love: Poems. (W. W. Norton & Company; unknown edition, August 17, 2005)
It is possible, of course, that I may exaggerate about them. I certainly hope that I do; for where there is no exaggeration there is no love, and where there is no love there is no understanding. It is only about things that do not interest one, that one can give a really unbiassed opinion;… Continue reading Oscar Wilde
Somewhere someone is traveling furiously toward you, At incredible speed, traveling day and night, Through blizzards and desert heat, across torrents, through narrow passes. But will he know where to find you, Recognize you when he sees you, Give you the thing he has for you? — John Ashbery, from “At North Farm,“ A Wave… Continue reading John Ashbery
I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I’ve still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. — HAL 9000, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick & Arthur C.… Continue reading Arthur C. Clarke
The Vale of Soul-Making 