Bharat jiva

Today I read Bharat jiva by kari edwards. This beautiful, evocative, deeply conscious book, a long poem, delves into language in an intimate but also earnestly, powerfully public way. There is an insistence in the poet's voice, a human cry for a human world to hear human utterances.

I confess I was in and out of the text, sometimes immersed, sometimes at a distance. edwards' words, for the most part, worked a magical number on me, and wherever I found myself in relation to them, I was always in awe of this wonderful creation.

My copy is now filled with pen marks and underlinings, as so many moments captured me in a way I wanted to hold on to. "there is nothing else but reiterative/mornings and days with varying permission"

Much of the text is printed in block style, so I am not sure how to quote with the line breaks. I will share a section that seemed particularly special and important, but realize it looks very different on the page:

"and again in the usual word place, can we
please, please, watch the thing that slowly
breaks the finger, moves along the body,
records codes, repeats to someone for some
kind of salvation?"

Doctor Zhivago

Yesterday I watched the two-part 2002 BBC/PBS mini-series version of Doctor Zhivago. I was skeptical, who could and why try to improve on the Omar Sherif 1965 epic?

But this one, starring Hans Matheson, Keira Knightley, was wonderfully acted and the epic was just as sprawling and intense. The love story had similar power (maybe the 1965 version conveyed that better, I'm not sure). There were more characters, more developed tertiary characters, and the violence and turbulence of the times seemed more realistic and scary and dramatic. I really liked it!Watched the whole thing in one sitting and was bawling at the end.

Waifs and Strays

I was moved, gently transported by Micah Ballard's collection of poems, Waifs and Strays. The lines have an effortless flow to them. There is an intimacy here that is patient and does not overwhelm. I was also drawn in to a distinct sense of place, and recalled my days living in the Mission of San Francisco.

I really enjoyed the collection. My favorites tended to be the sonnet-length ones, though the longer ones were engrossing and captivating. I will quote here in its entirety one that I particularly like:





The Pines of Rome

Like orbs
An eventual eternity
Silver mirrors
& a punch mark in the celluloid
A sonic flashback
To perpetuate myths with Barbara Stanwyck
You see tanks & airplanes
Visiting troops to slip the veil
Multiple exposures
Ethereal & out of focus
Then you buy something invisible to wear
& bring your own life
A seamless narrative of voiceovers
Immediate means
Bright deliriums known by none

Dear Nobody: The True Diary of Mary Rose

I just finished reading Dear Nobody: The True Diary of Mary Rose, edited by Gillian McCain and Legs McNeil.

This is the collection of diary entries by a teenage girl suffering from Cystic Fibrosis in the late 1990s. Her writing is raw, powerful, angsty. Not always polished, but always full of emotion.

Mary Rose's life is a chaos of drugs and alcohol, a blur of other teens that are sometimes her friends but mostly not. She writes with anger and pride and dismay, but what comes across most is her loneliness. It is heartbreaking to read her entries and not be able to reach out to her.

It is also interesting to see her writing become more developed as the years go by. I found myself becoming more and more drawn in, more and more appreciative of her unique voice.

One entry I want to share:

"Dear Nobody,

Love is the creator of hate and the daughter of disappointment, as no two people could hurt each other more than two people in love. Don't put too much LOVE into love. Love is a whore to poets, musicians, songwriters, an artists; they use it as fodder to sell their frustrations and personal impotence -- and love is TOO BIG a responsibility. No human can live up to the capacity of love's expectations. A person will build you up so high, but once you are elevated, it's all the harder when you both fall. You become something to that person which is impossible to live up to. Love has power, not the lovers."

Live from Moisture Fest in Seattle via Concert Window

Last night was so fun. I was sitting staring at my computer with nothing to look forward to when I got an email inviting me to a "concert" that evening. A "Concert Window" concert via the Internet. It was so cool! I got to watch Christine Lavin, Raun MacKinnon Burnham, Larry Murante, Scott Katz, Mark Ettinger, Matt Price, Stuart Zobel and Emily Groff perform fun, beautiful and unique folk music for 90 minutes. All in the comfort of my own home. What a great concert experience. No bathroom lines. And terrific musicians, great sound, great songs, lovely voices, amazing lyrics. I'm going to be downloading a lot of music today from itunes....

I think this is a great way to share music.

The Iceman Interviews

Yesterday I watched The Iceman Interviews on HBO. The Iceman is a former hit man for the mob who killed over a hundred people and felt no remorse. During the course of his interviews he spoke slowly and deliberately, maddeningly slowly actually, describing his crimes with precision but without emotion. The documentary included biographical footage of him growing up in difficult circumstances in New Jersey and having a traditional and seemingly happy marriage and home life until the authorities captured him in the 1980s. I found this documentary to be disturbing and frustrating. Frustrating because there is no answer as to why he became who he was, how he could do what he did.

Paul Taylor Dance

An amazing evening last night. Paul Taylor Dance at Lincoln Center! I love this company, which I had seen perform a few years ago at Lincoln Center Out of Doors on a sweltering night.

Last night's program was so great. It began with what turned out to be my favorite dance, "Airs" a crazy beautiful ethereal dance in eight parts choreographed to music by Handel. It was so elegant and graceful and perfect. The audience went mad with applause at the end.

I actually hated the second dance, "Fibers". Mainly it was the music, by Schoenberg. It just grated on my so much. And the strange robotic costumes and robotic movements. I thought all of us were in misery waiting for it to end, but when it did the audience seemed to have liked it very much and there was robust applause.

Then there was a fanciful, silly, frothy, fun confection of a dance, "Troilus and Cressida, (reduced)". And finally the magnificent and rousing "Mercuric Tidings" which I enjoyed as much as "Airs". It was an energetic, athletic, and exhilarating crowd-pleaser. Great way to end the evening.