memory & desire

The Circle: Ghostly Orange

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This post has been removed at the author's request.

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Sunday - November 29th: Guest blogger Jane Sibbett opens the Circle

Monday - November 30th: Guest blogger Wendel Meldrum

Tuesday - December 1st: Roxana Villa

Wednesday - December 2nd: Guest blogger Ida Meister

Thursday - December 3rd: Memory and Desire, Heather Ettlinger

Friday - December 4th: Memory and Desire

Saturday - December 5th: Guest blogger Jade Shutes

Sunday - December 6th ST. NICOLAS DAY: Painted Threads, Judy Coates Perez

Monday - December 7th: Indie Perfumes, Lucy Raubertas

Tuesday - December 8th: Scent Hive, Trish

Wednesday - December 9th: Olive Bites, Catherine Ivins

Thursday - December 10th: Perfume Smellin' Things, Tom

Friday - December 11th: Lillyella, Nicole

Saturday - December 12th: The Non-Blonde, Gaia

Sunday - December 13th: Portland Examiner, Donna Hathaway

Monday - December 14th: Xenotees, Noelle

Tuesday - December 15th: The Beauty You Love, Lee

Wednesday - December 16th: Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom, Mrs. B

Thursday - December 17th: The Artful Gypsy, Wendy Amdahl

Friday - December 18th: Perfume Shrine, Helg

 Saturday - December 19th: Notes on Shoes, Cake & Perfume, Wendy

Sunday - December 20th: Grindstone Girl's Daily, Kathi Roussel

Monday - December 21st WINTER SOLSTICE: Perfume Smellin' Things, Beth

Tuesday - December 22nd: Guest blogger Davis Alexander

Wednesday - December 23rd: Guest blogger Greg Spalenka, Artist as Brand

Thursday - December 24th: Fringe, Dennice Mankarious

Friday - December 25th: Asking Leah, Leah

Photos:

• ADVENTure Blog-o-Rama banner by Roxana Villa

My Aunts        

- by Adam Zagajewski -
Translated by Clare Cavanagh

Always caught up in what they called
the practical side of life
(theory was for Plato),
up to their elbows in furniture, in bedding,
in cupboards and kitchen gardens,
they never neglected the lavender sachets
that turned a linen closet to a meadow.

The practical side of life,
like the Moon's unlighted face,
didn't lack for mysteries;
when Christmastime drew near,
life became pure praxis
and resided temporarily in hallways,
took refuge in suitcases and satchels.

And when somebody died--it happened
even in our family, alas--
my aunts, preoccupied
with death's practical side,
forgot at last about the lavender,
whose frantic scent bloomed selflessly
beneath a heavy snow of sheets.
Don't just do something, sit there.
And so I have, so I have,
                    the seasons curling around me like smoke,
Gone to the end of the earth and back without sound.

        From Without End: New and Selected Poems
        by Adam Zagajewski,
        Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2002.
        Electronic text via The Academy of American Poets

Barter

- Sara Teasdale -

Life has loveliness to sell,

      All beautiful and splendid things,

Blue waves whitened on a cliff,

      Soaring fire that sways and sings,

And children's faces looking up

Holding wonder like a cup.

Life has loveliness to sell,

      Music like a curve of gold,

Scent of pine trees in the rain,

      Eyes that love you, arms that hold,

And for your spirit's still delight,

Holy thoughts that star the night.

Spend all you have for loveliness,

      Buy it and never count the cost;

For one white singing hour of peace

      Count many a year of strife well lost,

And for a breath of ecstasy

Give all you have been, or could be.

Copyright information unavailable. Electronic text from Poetry Out Loud.

Click here to listen to "Life's Loveliness," as performed by the Stetson University Women's Choir. Music by David Childs.  Copyright Santa Barbara Publishing (Links open in a new window.)

XXXVIII

- E. E. Cummings -

yes is a pleasant country:
if's wintry
(my lovely)
let's open the year

both is the very weather
(not either)
my treasure,
when violets appear

love is a deeper season
than reason;
my sweet one
(and april's where we're)

From E. E. Cummings: Complete Poems 1904-1962, Liveright, New York, 1991. George J. Firmage, ed.

The Circle: A Silken Thread

My Aunts        

- by Adam Zagajewski -
Translated by Clare Cavanagh

Always caught up in what they called
the practical side of life
(theory was for Plato),
up to their elbows in furniture, in bedding,
in cupboards and kitchen gardens,
they never neglected the lavender sachets
that turned a linen closet to a meadow.

The practical side of life,
like the Moon's unlighted face,
didn't lack for mysteries;
when Christmastime drew near,
life became pure praxis
and resided temporarily in hallways,
took refuge in suitcases and satchels.

And when somebody died--it happened
even in our family, alas--
my aunts, preoccupied
with death's practical side,
forgot at last about the lavender,
whose frantic scent bloomed selflessly
beneath a heavy snow of sheets.
Don't just do something, sit there.
And so I have, so I have,
                    the seasons curling around me like smoke,
Gone to the end of the earth and back without sound.

        From Without End: New and Selected Poems
        by Adam Zagajewski,
        Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2002.
        Electronic text via The Academy of American Poets

Impressions of Peace

Barter

- Sara Teasdale -

Life has loveliness to sell,

      All beautiful and splendid things,

Blue waves whitened on a cliff,

      Soaring fire that sways and sings,

And children's faces looking up

Holding wonder like a cup.

Life has loveliness to sell,

      Music like a curve of gold,

Scent of pine trees in the rain,

      Eyes that love you, arms that hold,

And for your spirit's still delight,

Holy thoughts that star the night.

Spend all you have for loveliness,

      Buy it and never count the cost;

For one white singing hour of peace

      Count many a year of strife well lost,

And for a breath of ecstasy

Give all you have been, or could be.

Copyright information unavailable. Electronic text from Poetry Out Loud.

Click here to listen to "Life's Loveliness," as performed by the Stetson University Women's Choir. Music by David Childs.  Copyright Santa Barbara Publishing (Links open in a new window.)

A Deeper Season

XXXVIII

- E. E. Cummings -

yes is a pleasant country:
if's wintry
(my lovely)
let's open the year

both is the very weather
(not either)
my treasure,
when violets appear

love is a deeper season
than reason;
my sweet one
(and april's where we're)

From E. E. Cummings: Complete Poems 1904-1962, Liveright, New York, 1991. George J. Firmage, ed.