7.6.2021 – youthful glimmer of

youthful glimmer of
the divine was small-scale, a
desire just to shine

Adapted from the book, Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan (1999 – Random House) A biography with fictional elements by Edmund Morris and the passage:

Possibly Dutch’s youthful glimmer of the divine was small-scale, a desire just to shine at whatever he did. Yet qualities of brightness, elevation, fortification, and encirclement, common to Parzivalian metaphor, are combined in the one adult vison he admitted to, that of the “Shining City on a Hill.” However derivative of Saint Matthew and John Bunyan, it is a haunting image, and nobody who researches his pilgrimage can fail to feel the compulsion it exerts on him.

7.5.2021 – you are a blackguard

you are a blackguard,
liar, hypocrite, stench in
honest man nostrils

Maybe it is the way Henry Fonda says it but this is one of the best name-callings in all of the movies.

After Lieutenant Colonel Owen Thursday examines items for sale in the local reservation store, he says to the store manager, “Mr. Meacham, you’re a blackguard, a liar, a hypocrite… and a stench in the nostrils of honest men. If it were in my power…
I’d hang you from the nearest tree, leave your carcass for the buzzards.
But as you are a representative of the United States government…
I pledge you the protection and cooperation of my command.
Good day, sir.

Wish someone, anyone had the standing and the place and the nerve to say to this one feller much in the news today.

Not that I think he would understand it but it would be nice to hear someone say it to him.

From the Movie Fort Apache, with Henry Fonda and John Wayne, directed by John Ford, 1948.

7.4.2021 – draw line under past

draw line under past
outer transformation
spur an inner one

Adapted from the book, A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary (2009, Vintage Books) by Alain de Botton, and the passage:

Though he was being paid to shine shoes, he knew that his real mission was psychological. He understood that people rarely have their shoes cleaned at random: they do so when they want to draw a line under the past, when they hope that an outer transformation may be a spur to an inner one. With no ill will, nor any desire to taunt me, he would daily assure me that if he ever got around to putting his experiences down on paper, his would be the most fascinating book about an airport that anyone had ever read.

Part of the series of Haiku inspired by from A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary (2009, Vintage Books) by Alain de Botton. I discovered this book entirely by accident. When searching for books online, I will use the term ‘collections’ and see what turns up. I figure that someone who has taken the time to gather together the etexts of any one author to create a collected works folder is enough for me to see what this author might be all about.

In this case I came across the writing of Alain de Botton. I enjoyed his use of language very much. Much of the words he strings together lend themselves to what I do.

As for his book, I recommend it very much though written in 2009, it misses the added layer of travel under covid but still the picture of the modern airport is worth the read.

7.3.2021 – has been tried tested

has been tried tested
relied upon as one of
the best of its kind

Adapted from the preface of the cookbook, The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) by Mrs. F.L. Gillette.

It reads:

The book has been prepared with great care. Every recipe has been tried and tested, and can be relied upon as one of the best of its kind. It is comprehensive, filling completely, it is believed, the requirements of housekeepers of all classes. It embodies several original and commendable features, among which may be mentioned the menus for the holidays and for one week in each month in the year, thus covering all varieties of seasonable foods; the convenient classification and arrangement of topics; the simplified method of explanation in preparing an article, in the order of manipulation, thereby enabling the most inexperienced to clearly comprehend it.

7.2.2021 – something bothering

something bothering
far corners his mind something
casting a shadow.

Adapted from the book, Noah’s Compass (2009, Alfred A. Knopf) by Anne Tyler, and the passage:

He stood back against the door, however, with his hands pressed behind him. There was something bothering the far corners of his mind, something casting a shadow.

Part of the series of Haiku inspired by from Noah’s Compass (2009, Alfred A. Knopf) by Anne Tyler. Anne Tyler is an American novelist, short story writer, and literary critic. She has published twenty-three novels, including Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (1982), The Accidental Tourist (1985), and Breathing Lessons (1988). I came across Noah’s Compass as an audio book when living in Atlanta I commuted 1 hour each way. As the book had to deal with memories and memory loss and it involved someone my age, I was taken with the book. I have enjoyed reading most of Ms. Tyler’s work. Accidental Tourist maybe better known for the movie which I also recommend.