A cloud sky dusk

becomes self-reflection,

with mountains.

Fog bank mind begins slowly rolling in.

Memory's final calls of the evening

echo, subsiding. 

Swift, swallow, bat, all skimming air as I prepare supper.

Moths are dark among the chard now,

last hoverflies land upon hard-centered spent flowers, 

that I wait to cut away, in the half-light.

Honey bees, pollen-thighed, have entered hives

 while fireflies, small in number but here

give hope to all inconsistencies of midsommer.

 

Expectancy.

 

There will be brood for another year, in summer, with clouds,

and gratitude.

 

____________

 

Heat-scorched leaves of plectranthus

underneath them

safe young leaves -

plants sacrificing to protect new growth

 

Catepillars up here 

burnt crisp.

I get mad at them when eating my plants, 

but feel bad for the burned.

 

 

This new day

I pray "write",

tired as I am 

of new days.

Might be possible

to live unknowing, 

and forward.

This new day

I write "prophecy and description

will remain unfixed, with

no assigned qualities".

 sillage (lingers)

 

spillage (spills)

 

tillage (cultivates)

________________

amphora

(tall, too, a neck, contained)

between

anaphora

(repeated beginnings)

epistrophe

(and ends and ends and ends) 

___________________

tersa (late summer)

in midsummer

a person (one)

versa (turned)

_____________________

 

 

many years ago, I grew this

 

 

قطة a cat

 

 

 

remembering this desert cat

that 

in Al Ain

foraged dusk

for

sustenance

 

 

 

 

 

 

tied wood,

hung,

but nailed to

the mind -

a kind of

cruel

animation of

a god's death -

no less than 

Osiris

or 

Saturn's

children

grey monk's coat

patched (im)perfection

_______________

every morning water

myself

plants

lizard

understand the green feeding of hungry insects

________________

back to work 

feel more complete

meeting myself

in paper

paint

set lid of cool water

under the cosmos forest

for ryu

my little dragon

______________

above

a swift swallow

a swift swallowing flight

might also flee a kite

________________

Portuguese study 

cleansed me

of all

but English

I 

protesting

begin

building

back

all the bits and pieces

of every tongue

that

makes me

 

older

now

harmed and unharmed

as finite is

yet within

exist

eternities

that 

forgive

white jade

white jade

Years ago, a close friend visited a couple she had met through work. She managed a used bookshop, and they often came in to buy, browse, and chat about books. They were private people, spoke little about themselves, so she was surprised to receive an invitation to visit them at their home for lunch.  On a weekend afternoon a few weeks later,  took the bus from the city to their neighborhood. They lived in a nondescript condominium in a modest suburb of San Francisco. Greeting her warmly at the door, they asked that she remove her shoes, offering her a pair of house slippers. The small white foyer opened out into a large, vaulted, white room. Drawn white curtains covered a large window. White carpeting covered the floor. Two white leather sofas and three simple low tables floated in the center of the space. There were no visible lamps or bricolage, no plants, paintings, photographs, nothing colorful or alive. My friend then found herself involuntarily gasping. Against the longest wall in the room stood three very large lit display cabinets, made entirely of glass. These housed a remarkable collection of white jade. 

tenement shop in chinatown of the most respected jade dealer in California

 

pena (asa) - milvus milvus

how to be in a garden

 

every day 

step into them -

years 

and weather.

Learn pause.

Accept what you cause-

change

failure

more change.

Still.

Understand

your  plant influence

is limited

easily circumvented

by birds, insects, storms, seasons.

Everything green isn't about you.

Surrender to what delights.

Most growth

accepts death

and fallow.

Notice

how

shallow

shadows

extend

to summer's cosmos

nodding

to autumn

and ends.

 

presently

grey

becomes

blue

Noting

outer

changes

within.

 paywalls will destroy you

in the rain

ripened in the rain

the beach is empty

and at the center

of my thoughts

_________________

night heron

pond hem

_________________

spools of thread

grandfather in the family shop

mouth full of tacks

spitting profanity

and father having none of it

but the comaraderie

the blue bowling shirts

said M&S Upolstery

across the back

 

Seamstress

Ellen, order of the eastern star,

married to master mason Emile

 

(banned in January 1934)

freemasons

     

1 pé, terra  baixa manpo tie (10,000 passos conscientes)

 

2 affirmation

 

3 música

 

4 cozinha

 

5 silêncio

 

6 apparition

 

7 barrulho

 

8 ceilindo

 

9 não existe

 

 

 Chang Tsu does not tire though he walks a thousand miles

All differences have disappeared there. My will has no destination and I do not know where I come from or where I go; I do not know where it ends.

Let the mind arise, conceive a fellowship that requires neither membership nor kinship. (b-c han)

"Not all negativity is destructive. Not infrequently forms of negativity such as hestitation, pausing, boredom, waiting, or rage prove constructive though they're threatened with disappearance in the course of society's increasing positivization." Byoung-Chul Han

 

o  p  e  n  n  e  s  s 

doesn't need to be fixed

 

 

 so much removed

nothing excepted

from circular -

this mad dog biting its tail

I want it to

disappear

this privileged insanity

knowing full well

it never has

and it will not now

 notes on damp

Damped off

or penetrating

falling 

from failing or rising

seeping

creeping

from the mushroom mother

as

dampened enthusiasm for

more rain.

Reservoirs rise again.

Moistened skin

softens.

Damp distresses

are useful too

if you wish to eliminate something.

Seepage.

Wrinkles away.

Wet.

Yet

there are differences.

Mould

unlike dew

you view with distrust.

cloud grey and wet

allow habits to nest

give mind rest

to think

notas

boço

bolo

boca

 

clown

cake

mouth

________

holes

assessed

suggest

memory palaces 

as imperfect

matchless

ruins

we walk

past

remnants

all the time

________________

inscrutable haze

impermeable hills

accepting otherness 

_________________

pré-fascista

a european point of view

1754-63 the Seven Year's War

________________________

 

Bienale Pavilions of

Ireland

Portugal

stolen land, landed, landless

land mother, restoration, restitution

________________________

mottanai

______________________

pensar, sentir

ponte qual deste sal

passaro passado quintada cravel

siri-miri (euskuldora)

os pinheiros, os penheiros

sono (   ) pinheiros

o que sons?

O que palavras?

smentes, barcas, pedras

________________________

Que ponte de sal

passam os pássaros

a caminho da Quinta da Cravel!

Siri-miri (em euskuldora).

Está a chuviscar entre os  

os pinheiros, os pinheiros,

os pinheiros adormecidos.

Que sons?

Que palavras?

O que chega aqui,

trazido pelos pássaros

e a maré salgada

de longe, de muito longe

senão o mais simples, o mais vulgar
das coisas -

sementes, barcos, ossos e pedras.

____________________________

What a bridge of salt

the birds pass

on their way to Quinta da Cravel!

Siri-miri (in euskuldora).

It's drizzling among the  

the pine trees, the pine trees,

the sleeping pines.

What sounds?

What words?

What comes here,

brought by the birds

and the salty tide

from far, far away

but the simplest, most ordinary
things -

seeds, boats, bones and stones.

_____________________

a raposa disse
quando tiveres mais de sessenta anos pensa em mim
os meus doze anos passados entre as tuas peónias

the fox said

when you are over sixty think of me

my twelve years spent among your peonies.

______________________

 red kite

attacked in flight

_______________________

 

Irma Boom

Eleanor Pritchard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parallelia bistriaris - maple looper moth

 

ondas

the sanctity of privacy

takes precedent over

an endless stream of contingency 

an endless stream of contingency 

an endless stream of contingency 

an endless stream of contingency 

an endless stream of contingency 

an endless stream of contingency 

an endless stream of contingency 

an endless stream of contingency 

an endless stream of contingency 

an endless stream of contingency 

an endless stream of contingency 

an endless stream of contingency 

respect tokens of

 

 

            Keep your center empty and quiet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 "Chinese art has a functional relationship with nature, not a mimetic one. It is not a question of depicting as realistically as possible but of operating exactly like nature. In nature, successive variations ...produce something...clearly without any kind of genius."

Byung-Chul Han

 

Plato's Ideas, twice removed imitations

Aristotle's Poetics, the mechanisms of hands and mind

Nature as asian abacus - round numerations

 

"Towards a voluntary emptying...

Conceive a fellowship that requires neither fellowship nor kinship"

"Capitalism does not love the empty or the quiet"

"Keep your center empty"

B-C Han

 

 

 

 

 

 

continue

creating

for audience

of one

or more

solitude

is discovery

more important

less said

 

uma traça, Coleophora badiipennella pale elm-case bearer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

37.011 BF497

Coleophora badiipennella

(Duponchel, [1843])

---

Wingspan 9-11 mm.

 

Locally distributed throughout much of Europe.

 

The adults fly in June and July and occasionally come to light.

The larva constructs a case from a fragment of a leaf of the foodplant, elm (Ulmus), after mining a narrow gallery.

It occurs around the edges of woodland and prefers saplings to mature trees.

 

new path past urban gardens 

scrap gates

pole beans 

things repurposed

old roses as walls

path through eucalyptus

empty fields

a rooster

dogs

stones with bricked-in windows -

convent or quinta

enclosure of native pines

nudging tobacco

still more beans

and

a

small orchard of peaches

 

 

riachos

riachos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

streams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

more atmospheric rivers

 eu descobri estou a falar sem verbos

ele diu eu falar bem mas uso uns adjetivos incorretamente
ele disse que eu  falo bem mas uso alguns adjetivos incorretamente
Espero aprender a conjugar os verbos
ela usou muitos verbos e conjugou-os

Muitas vezes penso tangencialmente quando falo e complico demasiado as coisas

Byoung-chul Han, o filósofo, disse: "Aprende a ser um idiota”

 I found out I'm talking without verbs

he said i speak well but i use some adjectives incorrectly
he said I speak well but I use some adjectives incorrectly
I hope to learn how to conjugate verbs
she used a lot of verbs and conjugated them

I often think tangentially when I speak and overcomplicate things

Byoung-chul Han, the philosopher, said: "Learn to be an idiot".

None of us are ourselves

We are ourselves

mulheres a fazer o que lhes apetecer

women doing as they please (whatever they feel like)

 

 

  

from Karun Thakar’s extraordinary collection of textiles and objects.

勿体無い

 

Mottainai 

 

(もったいない)

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.eleanorpritchard.com/journal/2023/7/28/a-question-of-mottainai

 

this is

 

 

this is

 

ikigai

生きがい

a reason to live -
kuntsugi 

金繕い

(my) precious scars
wabi sabi

侘び寂び

recall pleasure in the impermanence of things
mono no aware

物の哀れ

(reminding me I) resonate with pathos 

kaizen

改善  (かいぜん)

(while) continuously improving
kokoro

心  (こころ)

my heart, and the mind contained within it
ganbaru

頑張る (がんばる)

(I remain) standing firm, doing my best
kizuna 

絆  (きずな)

to strengthen trust and mutual support  (among those animated and inanimate)

shouganai 

しょうがないalways mindful of what is uncontrollable 

 

 

dias 

de poeira

de pó 

noites

de estrelas

de estrelas cadentes 

two languages

three

we learn ten

then

when the sun sets

a final forgetfulness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cut and corn worms

a cabbage moth

lymantria dispar

noctua pronuba

under earth

into water

flushed, 

failing to fly-

even these

mourned for

 

Apenas, ainda

Um interior que não pode ser contido, uma expansão interior
Estou a expandir-me impulsivamente

Estou a empurrar

Estou a puxar

Não sou uma força original ou primário, mas certamente complementar.

 

 

___________________________________________________________

 

Can we be transformed at all stages of life?

 

I donate my body to the air, to rocks, birds, and trees.

I donate my eyes to the rain,

My ears to the clouds.

I want to hear the cries of dry hands, paws, hooves,

Find stone clouds I can push against and break into storms.

 

Dedicate yourself to these reparations in thought and deed.

Reseed and water this tender wounded place we call earth. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discourse on dreams by a celestial bear.

 a book, a book

we sold the books to leave.

we grieved.

more books, more books

we sold those books for a home,

retreated to rooms leaf-lined,

an evergreen existence,

we thought.

death arrived,

proved our dreams deciduous.

I gave our books to libraries then,

when I knew to pursue

a more navigable life, 

but far away.

Now

I ask more books to stay, to share my solitude. 

I watch

a dawn downpour

spill into

trailing echevaria

already soaked in 

peacock calls.

Below me grey walls

where someone unshutters

a single window.

Within it, dark,

nearly invisible,

the stark image

of a single arm

rising and falling

rythymically

as it pushes past a shadow curtain.

There is attached to this arm

a stare I feel but I cannot see.

It unnerves me.