a quiet good friday... reading student papers... reading other things... a bit of time online... quick chat with two nieces... annoying the cat with a goopy eye... some music... some laundry... some praying... some dinner... some of this...

student papers say things like

Pleasure is pre-dominant throughout the novel. Edna is constantly searching for a way to achieve pleasure and her experiences with it undoubtably produce the same emotion in the reader...

you see it was such a good day... not even that unbalanced my fine fellow feeling... i recognize that we've all got to write a mountain of nonsense... that the gold nugget might be discovered therein. i have built many a mountain...

other things read... a bit of andrew delbanco's Required Reading... i'm looking for a novel to assign for summer reading for next year's ap lit class. it's got to be great... not yet filmed... and not yet cliffed... that's a big order, i know... also read a bit of gertrude stein... her fine austerity fits the day. no... i wasn't reading the warm, cuddly prose of The Autobiography of Alice B.Toklas... i was reading a piece called Patriarchal Poetry... which says things like

Never which when where to be sent to be sent to be sent to be never which when where never to be sent to be sent to be sent never which when where to be sent never to be sent never to be sent never which when where to be sent never to be sent never to be sent which when where never to be sent which when where never which when where never which to be sent never which when where to be sent never which when where to be sent which when where to be sent never to be sent never which when where to be sent never which when which when where to be sent never which when where never which when where which when where never to be sent which when where.

hardcore stein... you see... i read it out loud... you must read it out loud... and push your fingertip along the page word by word... and even then you stumble... but in your ear you hear a strange music... astonishing rhythmic shifts and swoops... forget about sense for a moment (that irritable chasing after sense) let the music happen and... strange enough... the sense arrives gently... or not at all... but you just don't care... still... it's not for everybody... probably not for you...

online i'm trying to reorganize my mail setups... a new mailbox just for lists... i'm trying to read some blogs... some good stuff there... then taylor pops onto IM... and then robin shows up... and then

i'm off to a quiet small good friday service with bob and dom...just the three of us... bare bones liturgy... perfect for the day and the time... just us...

then dinner... spaghetti marinara, salad, de-caf cappuccino... not too sparse.. and guilty for that... reminded that i've never been the good (or even the bad, for that matter) ascetic soul... that i remain a weak brother... unworthy of the carmelite calling... ghost-haunted... rule-haunted... silly person in a serious world

music... this opera (arias duets & what-not) anthology has all the best parts... low: things we lost in the fire... staying power

so the cat's got this thing where her eye... one or the other on various days... runs and runs... so she shakes her head to clear it and this matter flies out everywhere... kind of gross... so i follow her around for a while with a bit of tissue... wiping the eye and wiping the eye... that was earlier... seems better now... i've read that it's normal... tear ducts get clogged... something like that...

tomorrow i'm off to the southland... four hours south... four hours by car south... petersburg... four hours by plane would put me... where? mexico city? i'll take petersburg... and the lovely people there... they seem to understand my odd language... well... with only a little translation... from time to time...

happy easter to all... may you be finding a bit of new life where you need it most...

The seed is in the ground.
Now may we rest in hope
While darkness does its work.

Wendell Berry

 

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