Kindle

Random quote of the day:


“The book which comes alive is the book which has been penetrated through and through by the devouring heart. Until it is kindled by a spirit as flamingly alive as the one which gave it birth a book is dead to us. Words divested of their magic are but dead hieroglyphs."

—Henry Miller, “Living Books,” The Books In My Life, Volume I






(This passage is about John Cowper Powys who is not widely read these days. I think Lawrence Millman has it right in this essay from The Atlantic Monthly: you'll either hate Powys or fall in love with him. I belong to the latter group, although I haven't read everything of his as brave Mr. Millman has. I approach Powys's work with both trepidation and fascination, and often have to pause, put the book down, and do deep-breathing exercises to restore my sanity. But, oh my! He's certainly worth a try because he is an absolute and wonderful original.)




( Illustrated version. )

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Minamata Pietà

W. Eugene Smith took a very famous photograph:



Tomoko Uemura in her Bath, Minamata, Japan, 1972*

I saw it for the first time when quite young and it moved me to tears. I wanted to write a poem about it, so I did, but it was never quite right. I fussed and fiddled incessantly for years—until one day I realized that it was never quite right because the photograph said everything that needed to be said. Beyond words, it needed no filtering of language. All understanding existed right there in that mother's face.

Back in that day, before the realization, I had such faith in the power of words that I thought they could do anything, could describe all things, solve all problems. I still employ language because that's what I do, and there is great power in well-wrought words. Powerful fiction, speeches, essays, conversations can move us and convince us, open our minds to new possibilities. But I've come to believe that words cause as many problems as they solve. They are used to justify selfishness, greed, and corruption; for obscuring truth as often as enlightening; for bullying, berating, and terrifying.

And some things are simply beyond words.

Yes, you can use them to change hearts and minds, but words alone won't accomplish that change. It must have its own motion, already begun. Words can, at best, nudge the motion further along or crystallize some half-formed feeling that's already happening and seeking its justification and focus. Some things, like genuine change and unconditional love, exist only in the mystical realm of the human heart, which has a language all its own.

And that language is no language at all.






*You can read about the poisoning of Minamata here.

Please help if you can

The lack of a comprehensive health care plan in the US of A fails again. Case in point.