Monday, November 30, 2015

A Quick Hello

Still Flowers, 2015

Hello. I hope you are well.

Have I shown you these sunflowers? Quite amazing, aren't they? They make me think of time and its passing.

Yesterday, while riding a bus, I spotted the poet Jack Hirschman on a street corner. He was scribbling notes into a tiny journal. I'm always so excited when I see him out in the world. My first thought was that I'd witnessed part of his poetry writing process, but on further reflection I realized he might have been adding to his grocery list.

I wonder how long I'll remember this scene, a poet on a street corner. How long will I hold on to these fallen sunflowers?

What are you thinking about this last day of November?

12 comments:

  1. I saw this photo on your instagram feed and wondered what those things were. At first I thought they were dried up bee hives, then I thought they were hedgehogs. So strange what one can see in a photo...
    Sunflowers are better.

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    1. Sunflowers are much better than sad little hedgehogs. Sorry about the confusion. I can see how the objects in this photograph might transform, depending on the viewer, like different people see different things in the same cloud.

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  2. Cool picture--I've been into looking at all the flowers gone to seed this fall. Lovely images in your words too.

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    1. Thanks, Jennifer. Beyond happy you did not see hedgehogs in the photo. ;)

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  3. Some flowers go to seed much gentler than others. I think, though, you might hold on to the the poet on the street corner image for a while.

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  4. I've been thinking about my body as my home -- and what about it is weak and strong, about how my internal image is different than what I see in the mirror, and different still than what I see in a picture. I've been moving more and sitting less, reading more and writing less. And I've been thinking that all of this is okay -- necessary, even.

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    1. I can relate to much of your thinking here, Rachael. As I learn to listen to myself more and trust myself more, your believing all of your recent thoughts are okay leads me to believe they are too.

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  5. Hi Denise, Like Magda, I did a double-take. The browned and fallen sunflowers (especially the one further back) looked a bit like a little hedgehog that had passed on.
    Appropriate post, considering Time and its passage---
    Here it is, December 2nd. Oddly, my first recognition today was that it was my grandfather's birthday. He died many years ago--1966, I was barely 12---but was born this day in 1886. Now, we are bumping up on 2016. There's an arc--or a whirl--of 130 years.

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    1. Oh, the hedgehog again. Sigh... So sorry to have had anything to do with that image flashing through your mind. It's interesting, the things that stay with us. I'm sure your grandfather would be so pleased to know you thought of him on his birthday. 130 years. Wow. Yesterday my husband mentioned knowing me for 16 years and that number shocked me. I so clearly remember meeting him. It's hard to believe so many years have passed. And one day, if we are lucky, someone will be thinking of us, years after we've left this place.

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  6. So glad for your 'hello' here. It made me forget the things that chose to haunt my mind today. And for an instant I saw George Wendt walking through Fells Point and the guy who played a key character on Deep Space Nine at the Chelsea market. And now a deep breath as I sit in the dark illuminated by the light of my laptop. I will turn on the lights and pour myself a glass of gin and try to remember other things I had forgotten.

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    1. I hope your stroll down memory lane was enjoyable, Tracy.

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