Leonard Cohen’s Poem: It Was Almost Like The Blues
Posted: September 3, 2014 Filed under: people, poetry Leave a commentI saw some people starving. There was murder, there was rape. Their villages were burning. They were trying to escape. I couldn’t meet their glances. I was staring at my shoes. It was acid, it was tragic. It was almost like the blues.
I have to die a little between each murderous thought. And when I’m finished thinking I have to die a lot. There’s torture and there’s killing. There’s all my bad reviews. The war, the children missing. Lord, it’s almost like the blues.
I let my heart get frozen to keep away the rot. My father said I’m chosen. My mother said I’m not. I listened to their story of the Gypsies and the Jews. It was good, it wasn’t boring. It was almost like the blues
There is no G-d in heaven. And there is no Hell below. So says the great professor of all there is to know. But I’ve had the invitation that a sinner can’t refuse. And it’s almost like salvation. It’s almost like the blues.
See below to hear Cohen perform the poem/song in concert.
Ernest Hemingway: Revealing, New Edition of The Sun Also Rises
Posted: August 31, 2014 Filed under: people, writing Leave a comment
Simon & Schuster has published a new edition of Hemingway’s first novel, which includes generous portions of early drafts, deleted passages, and self-musings about the role of the author’s voice in a novel. Here’s an article from The New Yorker looking at how the editing process, with crucial suggestions from Scott Fitzgerald, saved the book’s structure and offered warnings about inserting Hemingway’s authorial presence directly into the story.
Tomdispatch: The Website We All Need
Posted: August 27, 2014 Filed under: states of mind Leave a comment
Here’s the website that I’ve been looking for…it draws events together in articles that outline (the most we can hope for) how our intwined world has lurched into a frightening brew of churning events that largely eludes comprehension.
Leonard Cohen: Still Writing and Rolling
Posted: August 25, 2014 Filed under: music, people, poetry Leave a comment
The poet Leonard Cohen, one of the originals who came out of the ’60s, is still writing and performing at 80 years old. A poem/song from his new album is linked here.
The Ghost of Poetry
Posted: August 25, 2014 Filed under: people, poetry 2 CommentsIn 1968, Roger Waters of the rock band Pink Floyd borrowed lines from the poetry of Li Ho as lyrics for the song “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” from the band’s second album A Saucerful of Secrets. Li Ho died at 26. His mother said, “This boy will spit out his heart.” One of the “crazy poets” of the T’ang era, his poetry avoided the traditional Chinese metaphors, opting for lines which jumped from his tongue. More of his poems are here. For a good article on T’ang poetry, Li Ho, and others, see Eliot Weinberger’s article here.
The Southern hills, how mournful!
A ghostly rain sprinkles the empty grass.
In Ch’ang-an, on an autumn midnight,
How many men grow old before the wind?
Dim, dim, the path in the twilight,
Branches curl on the black oaks by the road.
The trees cast upright shadows and the moon at the zenith
Covers the hills with a white dawn.
Darkened torches welcome a new kinsman:
In the most secret tomb these fireflies swarm.
Anthony Bourdain: Good Interview On The World and Reality
Posted: August 7, 2014 Filed under: interviews, people, states of mind, Uncategorized Leave a comment
Anthony Bourdain has helped put much needed reality into the world of television, with his shows No Reservations and Parts Unknown, while his books deliver good writing and interesting takes on life. Here’s a good interview with him on Blogs of War. Check it out here.
A quote from the interview:
“My crew has NEVER been treated so well – by total strangers everywhere. We had heard that Persians are nice. But nicEST? Didn’t see that coming. It’s very confusing. Total strangers thrilled to encounter Americans, just underneath the inevitable “Death To America” mural. The gulf between perception and reality, between government policy and what you see on the street and encounter in people’s homes, in restaurants – everywhere – it’s just incredible. There’s no way to be prepared for it.”
The Art of Governing
Posted: August 6, 2014 Filed under: people, states of mind Leave a comment
Confucius, born 511 B.C.
In a country well governed,
poverty is something to be ashamed of.
In a country badly governed,
wealth is something to be ashamed of.
– Confucius
Suetonius, Tacitus, Livy: Life Lessons
Posted: July 29, 2014 Filed under: people, states of mind Leave a comment
Suetonius
“Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.”― Suetonius
Tacitus
Fear is not in the habit of speaking truth; when perfect sincerity is expected, perfect freedom must be allowed; nor has anyone who is apt to be angry when he hears the truth any cause to wonder that he does not hear it. – Tacitus
Livy
He was always before men’s eyes; a course of action which, by increasing our familiarity with great men, diminishes our respect for them. – Livy
Red Pine: A Timely Interview On Release Of Yellow River Odyssey
Posted: July 25, 2014 Filed under: articles, books, buddhism, interviews, people, photography Leave a comment
The Sinosphere blog of The New York Times has published an interview with Bill Porter, who also publishes translations of Chinese texts under the pseudonym of Red Pine, upon the release of his Yellow River Odyssey, a travel journal written just prior to China’s emergence into the modern world. His extensive photographs of the trip capture a China that has largely disappeared. Many of Red Pine’s books are now bestsellers in China, after being translated from English into Chinese, including his translations and commentaries on Buddhist poems and sutras. The interview is by China correspondent Ian Johnson, and can be read here.
Yellow River Odyssey is published by Chin Music Press.
Confucius: Rectify The Language
Posted: July 20, 2014 Filed under: articles, books, people, writing Leave a comment
Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918) was an American historian and member of the Adams political family, being descended from two U.S. Presidents.
I’ve still not let go of reading and rereading new and old essays of Vidal. He’s fearsomely prescient and usually right in interpreting US history and forecasting where the world is heading, in some cases fully 40-50 years before recent events and popular opinion confirmed and caught up with him. Here he is in the essay “The Day the Amercan Empire Ran Out of Gas (1986)” from Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia (2004).
“When Confucius was asked what would be the first thing he would do if he were asked to lead the state – a never-to-be-fulfilled dream – he said, ‘Rectify the language.’ This is wise. This is subtle. As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: You liberate a city by destroying it. Words are used to confuse so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their interests. Finally, words must be so twisted as to justify an empire that has now ceased to exist, much less make sense. Is rectification of our system possible for us? Henry Adams thought not. In 1910, he wrote: ‘The whole fabric of society will go to wrack if we really lay hands of reform on our rotten institutions.’ Then he added: ‘The whole system is a fraud, all of us know it, labourers and capitalists alike, and all of us are consenting parties to it.'”
Is it really too late to right the system more towards the people rather than the oligarchical class? I hope not, but certainly effort is all and it could make a difference as it has throughout America’s history. US history is nothing if not a sustained attempt by hardy souls to come closer to a more egalitarian, just society not controlled by an elite, wealthy oligarchical class. A wise Jewish saying from The Sayings of the Fathers, a compilation of the ethical teachings and maxims of the Rabbis of the Mishnaic period, offers sage advice:
“It is not your responsibility to finish the work of perfecting the world, but you are not free to desist from it either.” – Rabbi Tarfon, Pirke Avot 2:21.
the roy hamric journal 