The Chatelaine's Poetics

MY EYES CONTAIN SO MUCH WATER

So "Memoirs of a Geisha" was totally YAWN-inducing but, with hindsight, seems appropriate to be the movie we saw last night. We actually meant to see "Narnia" but 'twas sold out on Main Street St. Helena. So we drove into the city of Napa and the geishas were playing. Fine.

Yawn.

Hours after we'd left the movie theatre, it was flooded through.

And several times in the movie, people would look into the main geisha character played by Zhang Ziyi and keep spouting off:

Your eyes contain so much water.

BRING IT ON, NOAH!

Water has decided to imitate Moi blather...and now Napa Valley is flooded.

From the mountain, I overlook water water water dot dot dot.

Fortunately, I'd prepared for this event by shopping for it.

Oh yeah, her grumpy angels riposte. What groceries did you stock up?

The Chatelaine opens the fridge door to confirm, and affirms: In preparation for the flood, I have a banana cream pie as well as a Boston cream pie!

The angels hold their spit as there's enough water about. Instead, they just rain down dirty looks.

Oh, please, the Chatelaine cheerfully replies. I am always prepared, food-wise, for natural disasters.

What does that mean? the Angel with eyes of night asks.

Well, there'a always a case of Ramen noodles in the cupboards! AT 11.1 cents per package, mind you! If I win Lotto and become a gazillionaire, there'll still always be tons of Ramen in the house. That's what it means to be a poet!

TWO PERCENT MATTERS AS MUCH AS THE AVANT GARDE MATTERS IN ANY ART

Municipal solid waste is but a mere 2 percent of total garbage. With that statistic, one might easily rationalize slip-ups in sorting trash. But it's all connected -- I suspect that the kind of mindset that makes us more conscious of each piece of paper or plastic not being recycled is also that kind of consciousness that someday would allow grass roots rallies of huge conglomerates to cut down on unnecessary packaging and marketing.

This trashy stuff is on my mind as we've just arrived from a dangerous car ride from the city of Napa; we drove down the Silverado Trail which sort of parallels Napa River and already sections of the road were pooled over. It's anticipated that Napa River will overflow its banks in less than 4 hours. And as I discuss on moi latest post at Moi's Trashy Blog:

"We’re flooding here in Napa Valley. It’s our own taste of the effects of global warming – the tsunami, hurricanes and now increasingly intense rainy weather. I relate the flooding waters to this Trash Project as I know that while I try with recycling, there's still a lot of paper and plastic (especially plastic!) that I trash instead of recycle -- and as Elizabeth Royte addresses in this excerpt from her book GARBAGE LAND:

“I believed that making new things from old things saved natural resources, including vast amounts of energy. But I knew also that individual recycling efforts were puny compared to the larger world of waste. Of all the waste generated in the U.S. -- including mining and agricultural waste, oil and gas waste, food processing residues, construction and demolition debris, hazardous waste, incinerator ash, cement-kiln dust, and other categories too rarefied to describe -- municipal solid waste represented a mere 2 percent. Two percent!

“…In a 1996 In These Times article called ‘Pavlov’s Pack Rats,’ Joel Bleifuss wrote, ‘In many ways, recycling can be seen as a perverse form of penance in which individual recyclers absolve themselves from participating in an environmentally destructive culture.’ Bleifuss called the penance perverse because it wasn’t individuals producing garbage but corporations – the soda bottlers, the catalog companies, the toy manufacturers, and the food packagers.

“I didn’t completely buy Bleifuss’s argument. No one had held a gun to my head and forced me to buy a plastic wind-up fish for my daughters. I did choose naked green peppers at the co-op over plastic-wrapped peppers at the supermarket, but the choices weren’t always so easy. Who made a wind-up fish that biodegraded? Or sold printer cartridges without a blister pack? Too often, our only choices were between one overpackaged, poorly made product and another. I came down somewhere in the middle of the argument: individuals could not shirk responsibility for the waste that passed through their hands, but neither were producers blameless. I had begun my travels in trash writing letters to manufacturers about excessive packaging, single-use products, and Frankenstein designs. None had responded. I knew it would take laws (like landfill bans on single-use beverage containers and mandates for recycled content), sharp penalties and massively collective consumer action to induce change Still, no matter how trivial my kitchen recycling operation might appear, I considered it a moral act. It reminded me of the connection between my daily life and the natural world, from which every bit of the stuff arrayed about me had come.”

MOI WOULD HAVE BEEN RAVISHING IN RED VELVET, BUT SPT'S POETS' THEATER WILL STILL JAM...BOREE!

Those of you who are obsessed with Moi -- and I don't blame you -- may have noticed that I'd recently eliminated reference on the left hand column under "NEXT READINGS/EVENTS" to a play I was supposed to be doing with Michelle entitled "Love(r) For Sale: A Tango Deconstructed By E-BAY." 'Twould have been for Small Press Traffic acclaimed annual Poets' Theatre. Too bad as I'd been planning to wear strapless red velvet, satin-strapped high heels (ye olde "fuck me shoes" as a prior century saying went), thigh-high slits....mayhap twirling a rose between my teeth dot dot dot

But lookit, I -- unlike sooooooo MANY people we know (wink) -- am always willing to give up the stage. So, replacing moi would-be Tango will be this equally hot play:

The Laureate
Written, performed and directed by Michelle Bautista with Rona Fernandez, Caroline King, Rhett Pascual and Dennis Somera

Here's an appetizer from it:

Scene 1: Canon Headquarters
[a dungeon at the Canon, an evil conglomerate of baddies out to destroy all poetry not to their liking. In the center, Allegorical is tied up. Two villains, Point Blank and Blockhead lurk around him.]

Narrator: The Laureate's sidekick, Allegorical, has been captured by The Canon, a consortium of evil doers out to eliminate all poetry not of The Canon's liking. Leader of the Canon is Point Blank with his crony, Blockhead.

Point Blank: There is a new Laureate in town. We want her name. You know her name!

Allegorical: I am a frozen lake in the middle of winter. My mouth is outer space. I will never be crickets at night nor the birds at dawn.

*****

Elizabeth Treadwell, SPT's Director had earlier emailed out this notice, which I correct and replicate below for, as Elizabeth puts it, "those who like to plan ahead."

Poets Theater Jamboree 2006 -- January 13, 20, 27
All seats $10 to benefit Small Press Traffic; seating is first come, first served. We hope to see you here!

Poets Theater features poets as writers, directors, producers, and actors. This year's Jamboree is curated by Del Ray Cross, Brent Cunningham, Kevin Killian, Rodney Koeneke, Eileen Tabios, Konrad Steiner, & Stephanie Young.

Friday, January 13, 2006 at 7:30 p.m.:
Entre acts: Jon Brumit playing his Typewriter-Piano, Electronic Jingletron, and other Instruments of Delight

"Asphodel In Hell's Despite" by John Wieners, directed by Kevin Killian

"Who is the Real JT LeRoy?" Written & directed by Mattilda (a/k/a Matt Bernstein Sycamore)

"The Laureate" Written & directed by Michelle Bautista. Curator: Eileen Tabios

"A Play, A Play" by  Paolo Javier, directed by Del Ray Cross. Curator: Del Ray Cross

Scenes from "The Lady Contemplation" (1662) by Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, directed by Elizabeth Treadwell

"A Vinculum" by Chris Vitiello, directed by Mary Burger


Friday, January 20, 2006 at 7:30 p.m.
Neo-Benshi Night: Move Over Silver Screen
With Mistress of Ceremonies Roxi Power Hamilton

Presented in association with SF Cinematheque, Neo-benshi is the result of the dalliance between poets and moving pictures from which is born a new breed of entertainment. Restoring cinema to the theater and casting the movies away from their original dialog, nine writers re-adapt films to their own intent. Subtext and potentials are revealed in the performances to scenes from the following features (all titles ?are anagrams to protect the guilty).

"Fall Down & Bounce" (1972)" A well-loved fire and slice samurai adventure adapted from a well-known "japanese manga" benshi: Leslie Scalapino

"No to Torture Inflicted" (1939)" Romantic comedy sparring Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy and Eve Arden.?benshi: Alan Bernheimer

"My High: The Death Thing" (1954)" A transpacific flight of both colorful and renegade passengers.?benshis: Dodie Bellamy, Colter Jacobsen & Kevin?Killian

"Ahem, Conspiracy!" (2000)" Macabre tale of a crazy criminal investment banker.?benshi: Ronald Palmer

"It's Sweet & So Dry" (1961)" A celebration in dance and song of tense race relations. benshi: Dennis Somera

"An Horseman's Option" (1952)" A strong woman cornered in the seedy English countryside. benshi: Tanya Brolaski

"By Bob" (1973) From Bollywood, the sweet agony of love bridging the castes. benshi: Summi Kaipa


Friday, January 27, 2006 at 7:30 p.m.
3 Short Pieces from "Doings" by Jackson Mac Low, directed by Brent Cunningham

"Hard to Kill: The Selfish Gene Thinks Outside the Box" written & directed by Sean Finney

"Donning Cheadle" written & directed by Geraldine Kim

Short Dramatic Monologue by Margaret Tedesco

"The Late Education of Sasha Wolff, Or, The Son and Heiress" (An Excerpt) written & directed by Shonni Enelow

"Poet's Survivor" written & directed by Neil Alger

MEN ON MEN

I also recently relished e-reading

Tom Beckett on Barry Schwabsky (and, indeed, Tracey Baran)

and

Roger Pao on David Lehman

I recommend clicking on the linkies; I didn't post this just to be able to post its title ya know.

SPINNING GARBAGE INTO GOLD (A BASEBALL POETICS)

Yep. I knew it would happen, thought didn't know when. Note to Navel: it happened at 11:30 a.m. while shopping for Benadryl for moi itchy dawg Gabriela, and lilac roses for Moi truly.

By which I mean, I just got, er, received the idea for the "form" that would allow me to spin my garbage lists into a future book project, this one reflecting my continued explorations of autobiography when the "auto" part is so fluid.

Some people write poems with much intelligent notions on how to shape them into poems. Moi just spew out words and then the form arises. Coz my poems' field is, yep, that Field of Dreams.

RECENT RELISHES
I suspect the reason I can read so much is because I drink so much.

Well, not really. It just sounded good there, for a mo dot dot dot


BOOKS & SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
TOWARD THE YEAR 2006, broadside-card by Sheila Murphy (thanks Sheila; and I heartily second all the blog raves about it)

A DOG IS LISTENING, memoir by Roger A. Caras

ELEPHANTS & ANGELS, poems by Rena Rosenwasser

DOOR TO DOOR, poems by Robert Thomas

FEBRUARY HOUSE: THE STORY OF W.H. AUDEN, CARSON MCCULLERS, JANE AND PAUL BOWLES, BENJAMIN BRITTEN, AND GYPSY ROSE LEE UNDER ONE ROOF IN WARTIME AMERICA, journalism by Sherill Tippins

SATURNALIA, broad-side card by Mark Lamoreaux

HARPING ON: Poems 1985-1995, by Carolyn Kizer

TRILL & MORDENT, poems by Luisa A. Igloria

ANIMAL SENSE, poems by Diane Ackerman

NELSON & THE HURUBURU BIRD, poems by Mairead Byrne

SAFE IN HEAVEN DEAD: INTERVIEWS WITH JACK KEROUAC, Ed. Michael White

THE TATTOO ARTIST, novel by Jill Ciment

PLAN B: FURTHER THOUGHTS ON FAITH, memoir by Anne Lamott

TIME WAS SOFT THERE: A PARIS SOJOURN AT SHAKESPEARE & CO., memoir by Jeremy Mercer

WINERY DOGS OF NAPA VALLEY, photography by Andrea Jacoby & Heather Zundel; text by Elaine Riordan

HAPPY DOG: HOW BUSY PEOPLE CARE FOR THEIR DOGS by Arden Moore & Lowell Ackerman

BENEATH THE SNOW, THE BADGER'S STEADY BREATHING, bookmark-broadside by Jane Hirshfield

THE PRISON ANGEL: MOTHER ANTONIA'S JOURNEY FROM BEVERLY HILLS TOA LIFE OF SERVICE IN A MEXICAN JAIL, journalism by Poultry Prize winners Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan


WINE:
1988 Ch.Lafite
1990 Barolo Parusso Bussia
1989 Ch. Cantemerle
2003 Schloss Schonborn Rhein-gau-Riesling Beerenauslese
2002 Turley Zinfandel Napa Valley Hayne Vineyard
1994 Clos Martinet Priorat
1993 Ravenswood Russian River Valley zinfandel

somewhat from the series "Poetry Economics: A Moronic Oxymoron"
MOI LEGS ARE ALWAYS CROSSED, HOPING MOI BOOKS HAVE LEGS

I know of a poetry publisher who's sent out royalty checks for as little as three bucks. It could be worse: I know of a poet who's earned negative royalties -- where, due to returns, the poet owes the the publisher money. Which is all to say, I just received a royalty check from moi beloved New York publisher, Marsh Hawk Press -- whoooooeeeee!

Of course, no one's ever gonna get rich on poetry book royalties snort snort. But royalties at least are some small proof that a poetry book continues to generate interest long after its release; most poetry books' sales drop significantly after their first year from release. And I'm gratified that Reproductions continues to flash its heels. (It's too soon for my other Marsh Hawk book to show royalties.)

Looking at my royalty statement, Reproductions is probably like many other poetry books in that -- in addition to sales from Amazon and directly from me -- sales were due to relatively few sources, in my case ONLY 13 sources (although "source" here, if a wholesaler/distributor, can represent more than one sales avenue). The distinct majority of book sales came from Small Press Distribution (thank you teachers who used it as a text), and proves again the value of having an organization like SPD.

Still, looking at those 13 sources cited in my royalty statment -- pause to wallow in that phrase "royalty statement" -- I am intrigued by some unexpecteds. Like "County of Erie" -- how'd those denizens come to be interested in lil ol moi? But I'm also heartened dot dot dot grateful. Thankee Pennsylvania.

Another way, of course, to know if a book's got legs is if people keep responding to it. So I thank Ernesto Priego for recently translating one of the poems in moi Menage A Trois. Gracias. And I replicate to file it into my blog that is also a file cabinet:


Crepúsculo

Mientras Gabriela Lee a Baudelaire (II)

Recuerdo los campos de arroz
a veces melancólicos bajo el crepúsculo

a veces un reflejo resplandeciente
de la puesta de sol y su rubor de señorita-

En San Francisco y la ciudad de Nueva York
donde el cielo es una presencia

fui testigo "a través de una ventila
o entre dos chimeneas"

la compresión visual ofrece una "idea
más profunda de la infinitud

que un gran panorama
visto desde el tope de una montaña"-

Podría seguir, pero los poemas largos:
"son el recurso de aquellos

que no pueden escribir poemas cortos"-
Como uno "que ha amado tan profundamente

el perfume de una mujer", observo
tristemente, "tú siempre estás armada

para apedrearme
junto con el mundo"-

HYPOCRISY POETICS

Whilst blog-jogging for a few minutes this morning, I read of two guys (and of course it'd be guys) from different parts of the "poetry world" excoriating blogs for this same reason:

Blogs threaten their perceptions of how Poetry should be (including how Poetry should behave).

Of course this is not how they articulate it. Of course.

Mostly, ANYTHING GOES in blogs. Whenever anyone critiques a medium where said Anything Goes, take a closer look at that person. It's usually someone who's frustrated that he (including his ilk) is (are) not in control.

from the ever-beloved "Achilles and Gabriela Series"
X-MAS TREE POETICS (AN ART CRITICISM)

Here at Galatea, the Xmas tree remains up until the New Year:



And, this time, I'm not just posting this to offer yet another photo of moi beloved dawgs (Gabriela on left and Achilles on right) along with a drunk, I mean, blurry-faced Chattylaine. Gather round, Peeps, for a serious disquisition on poetics:

First, notice how the tree doesn't seem to be standing straight, a la this diagram dot dot dot



What may not be obvious in the photograph -- hence the diagram (brilliantly drawn by yours truly) -- is that the trunk is solid and straight, notwithstanding how the tree looks a bit askew. And this relates to how, the poet need not walk the straight path or can be all multiplicitous and varied (like the tree ornaments); it’s all okay as along as the center holds.

I’m not going to define the “straight path” since that, like a poem, can have a different meaning per peep. I can suggest, though, that the “center” here refers to form.

Moreover, the asymmetricality of the tree does not prevent it from being effective or being a source of pleasure. Similarly, I hope to create effective or pleasure-providing poems without worrying about perfection (e.g. symmetry). Indeed, it's possible that one of the paradoxes of that slippery eel that is Poetry is that if you find a poem effective/pleasurable as is, then the poem inherently becomes *perfect*.

Note that there is no angel atop the tree. As this is a poet’s tree, all angels fall (and some of the ornaments towards the bottom of the tree are angels). But as angels descend, they sometimes take on a variety of disguises to hide their wings, such as that elf in the background.

Some things remain constant, though. So atop the tree are the stars, or rather a swirling galaxy or Milky Way as denoted by the circular strands.

There is no single decorator’s theme to the tree. The ornaments range over a surfing Santa to a few teddy bears to a German Shepherd riding a red car sportscar to Captain Kirk to a silver deer’s head. This is because poetry can be about anything or everything.

It is appropriate to have a deer's head (as well as a bunny wabbit) on the tree since herds of deer (and jackalopes) bound throughout Galatea's mountain. And a poem often relates to or reflect place.

The ornaments range from abstract (e.g. colored globes) to those with figurative references, in the same way that poems can be shaped elliptically or narratively.

Pomo even rears its at times bankrupt head via the Xmas tree ornament of a dot dot dot Xmas tree (to the left of the Chatelaine’s lovely head).

Of utmost importance is how there are circles of light where the dogs' eyeballs should be. This -- like moi blurred face -- is not a result of the hubby's incompetence at photography (hah). My face is blurred because a poem always transcends the poet's autobiography. And dogs -- like poems -- allow Moi the Poet to offer the best parts of my"self" dot dot dot hence the circles of light as (my) more effective poems often illuminate (in ways that I did not anticipate at the time of making the poems).

An alternative explanation to those pools where the doggie eyeballs should be is that they look like mirrors. Well, poems often end up making their readers/recipients look (inward) at themselves.

Let’s see. What else can Moi make up? Oh yeah dot dot dot

The gifts: Poetry is a gift to both the poem’s maker and its recipient(s). But the gifts are wrapped. In order for the gift’s recipient to know the content, the recipient must go to the effort of unwrapping it. Similarly, poems are often best enjoyed when they are not received passively but instead become spaces for interactive engagement with their readers (or viewers, if a vizpo). What you get out of Poetry is often what you put in.

Last but not least, the tree is not fake. It requires constant watering by the poet. As you all are smart peeps, I know I need not wax further on the importance, poetics-wise, of constant, devoted watering.

P.S. Occasionally, feel free to water with other source of nutrients besides H2O dot dot dot like wine. Poetics can be unpredictable; certainly, there’s no reason poetics should be boring.

LAST (WEEK'S) CALL!

Three poetry projects with December 31, 2005 deadlines:

The Blurbed Book Project -- send a blurb and help influence my future book! OPEN TO ALL.

The Holiday Hay(na)ku Poetry Contest -- OPEN TO ANYONE NOT ALREADY PART OF THE FIRST HAY(NA)KU ANTHOLOGY

Meritage Press' Fifth Annual "Babaylan Speaks" Poetry Contest -- OPEN TO ALL FILIPINO POETS

Dot dot dot

I DON'T WANNA TRASH ITALO CALVINO

but, still -- from moi Trashy Blog:

From Elizabeth Royte’s GARBAGE LAND:

"Eventually, Calvino came to realize that so long as he was contributing to the municipality’s waste heap, he knew he was alive. To toss garbage, in his view, was to know that one was not garbage: the act confirmed that 'for one more day I have been a producer of detritus and not detritus myself.' Riffing on death and identity, Calvino referred to the men who collected his garbage as 'heralds of a possible salvation beyond the destruction inherent in all production and consumption, liberators from the weight of time’s detritus, ponderous dark angels of lightness and clarity.'”

I don't know -- isn't it rather sad to rely on one's garbage as proof that one is alive?

You wanna feel alive? How's about sex! Chocolate! A dog wagging its tail at you! Your baby opening its eyes! Opening your eyes to begin the day and seeing your lover's smile! Or ducking to survive a bullet! Or heart attack! Or car accident!

Garbage? You wanna feel alive? Try Poetry!

WHEN DIAMONDS GET SOOOOO 20TH CENTURY...

Among the holiday gifts received by your Chatelaine this year was the 20-volume

OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY

I've often said, as a poet, one of my goals is to subvert the English dictionary. But, Dude, that was a metaphor -- a joke even! I would never diss anything given as a gift, including bling bling!

And when I hadda lug 'em up to the writing studio, Dude -- they squashed moi wings!

A PINOY SAVED "MISS AMERICA"? I WAS TALKING ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE WHEN DISCUSSING TRANSCOLONIALISM!

Recently, Miss America, an institution in the pageant world, was in danger of going off the air. No television station wanted it due to poor ratings. Country Music Television (CMT) saved Miss America from near death. I read about it in the New York Times. I busted up laughing. True to form, look who is saving the Miss America pageant from going under.

"No one within CMT lobbied more forcefully to get Miss America than Paul Villadolid, an MTV alumnus who is vice president of programming and development at CMT. Like the country channel itself, Mr. Villadolid would seem to be an unlikely suitor for Miss America: the son of Filipino immigrants...."
--From the NYT

I hadn't known poet-novelist-playwright-activist Noel Alumit was blogging; he's my newest blog link.

Gladys, do you know Noel? Meet each other since, Gladys, he seems purr-fect for your upcoming Beauty Conference (he already lives in L.A.!), or at least to add his beautiful post to your list. (I also did catch Noel's referenced play "Master of the (Miss) Universe" and 'twas fabuloso!)

Anyhoooooot dot dot dot

LASH THE LONG-LASHED MOI, WHY DONTCHA!

And then there's Krip Yuson, one of the Philippines' leading contemporary poets, who shouts out his Holiday Greetings this way dot dot dot

IN MY BIRTH TONGUE

we express holiday greetings this way:

Naimbag a Pascua ken Baro a Tawen

(for which I'm thankful to stellar poet and fella Ilokana Luisa A. Igloria for reminding Moi).

ON CHRISTMAS EVE, I AM REVEALED

This is not the first time one of these quizzes reveal Moi nature: Moi wings! Peeps -- you just gotta believe! And I must, too. Flutter, flutter:


You are an angel. You are really pure hearted and
kind. You are also really popular, but not in a
snobby sort of way.

If you were an anime girl what would you look like? (great pix)
brought to you by Quizilla

UNLIKE MOI TRASH, NO SHEDDED SKIN IN THE HAY(NA)KU ANTHOLOGY!

21 envelopes from received holiday cards
--from my Dec. 23 garbage

Whilst I was trashing an AWP poster, Harry Stammer was not trashing:

"I just finished the “the first hay(na)ku anthology.” It’s wonderful, marvelous, and not shedding skin. Jean and Mark did a great job as editors. My favorite piece is by Karri Kokko on page 49. Please find the time to buy a copy. See: http://www.meritagepress.com/haynaku.htm"

Thankee Harry (I amended the link to make it more direct). Now back to sifting Moi garbage.

TRASHY MOMENT

Since moiself is Moi's favorite subject, Moi was rifling through yesterday's trash and realized, Huh: the future really was in plastic!

LET'S CUT TO THE CHASE: WHAT ARE YOU DRINKING?

Ron Silliman's post today re the "sociology of poetry" is worth reading, and not just because it mentions Moi. It and the comments following upon it are way more interesting than the 3 yawn-some words within the scare -- I first typed "square" -- quotes.

It's a multilayered post, so I only want for now to comment on the one aspect of it about which no one but Missy WinePoetics can ever address: the all-important wine aspect.

For which, I first need to quote from Seth Abramson's post that instigated Ron's post:

"Think, for a moment, about Ron Silliman's excellent and erudite blog. The denizens of the poet-blogger community frequent that blog as though it were a central hive for all things literary or theoretical or literary and theoretical, yet for me it engenders more questions than it answers, and not because I have any complaint or contention with its author whatsoever (he is used, here, as a foil only, and he should know that); what I want to say, then, is that the appearance of sensibility on Silliman's blog is, to me, the final proof of its senselessness.

"That it is so sure of itself, yet so manifestly exists inside an enormous vacuum--in the space where pragmatism meets ideology and loses both itself and the other--is at once terrifying and mystifying to me.

"After all, why should Silliman be a kingmaker?"

*****

I don't actually believe Ron is a king- or queen- or god-maker in poetry. If he were, I'm sure I'd be read beyond this blog (wink dot dot dot have I mentioned lately that I got books available for sale?). Anyway, Abramson is allowing himself, a la Star Wars, to be overcome by chaos when he starts prattling that blather about Silliman as kingmaker. Seth, dear, what Ron is is simply the twin brother to Robert Parker, the wine critic.

Judging wine is as "chaotic" (to use Abramson's term) as determining quality or success et al within the poetry world. But at least Ron's biases, like Robert Parker's, are known. Thus, when one reads both Ron Silliman and Robert Parker, you can do so with adjusting their opinions based on their known biases.

I appreciate that type of honesty in critics -- where first they let their subjectivities be transparent before they offer their opinions. Even when Ron is wrong (wink again), his approach offers more integrity than some BIG NAME or BIG INSTITUTION deeming some poet to be fabulous simply because said BIGGIES say so; now that's a really small approach.

(By the way, a lot of oenophiles take pot-shots, too, at Robert Parker whose bias toward "big reds" is well known.)

But there is of course something else going on with Ron. I believe him when he says that he keeps trying to "re-examine [his] beliefs as a poet". And that's why, though I pay attention to both, I don't prefer Robert Parker over Ron Silliman. Over time, the former gets more drunk while the latter gets more lucid. (Here, I should interrupt to make transparent one of my subjectivities: over time, I get more senile.)

And this is Missy WinePoetics, reporting.

WELL, WE ALWAYS KNEW I BE TALKIN' TRASH IN BLOGLAND

One thing I don't monitor -- which technically I should -- for this project is the number of toilet paper used [thus, trashed] although, at one point today, I did think of that TV sitcom (whose name I can't recall) where one character was shown haranguing his roommates for using too much toilet paper. Not even for Poetry shall I go here…

Dot dot dot

THE WOLF CRIES "SHEEP"!-ISH

I see that Bino also serigraphed Veronica. Bootiful. But see how Ver's reproduction is more modest in scale vs MINE, per prior post? Now I swear, tho, that that's how I received the image to post here. That's a statement made in vain (pun intended) as who's not gonna believe Moi ain't Modest?

THE ART OF MOI

Raining, raining, raining. Cats and dogs. And moi cats and dogs are all a-twitter with cabin fever. Interesting how I don't suffer much from cabin fever now that I got the internet dot dot dot coz 'tis how I get:

Wow. This is quite a holiday giftie from poet-novelist-artist-cultural activist-handsome (as in hot) Bino A. Realuyo. I'ma talkin' the "Eileen Serigraphs" as he channels Warhol and Lichtenstein : :



Salamats, Bino! I shall gaze upon this Art everyday dot dot dot as lovingly as I gaze into any of Moi mirrors.

THREE (OF COURSE, 3) UPDATES RE HAY(NA)KU

OH YEAH. Poet and art aficionado Joan Zimmerman has set up a Poetry-Form Page for the Hay(na)ku.

Thankee Joan!

**********

I'm preparing packages to send copies of Hay(na)ku anthology out to creative writing students at UTA (Texas) and "Asians in the U.S." class at Hunter College (New York). Makes me purr! Oh ye Teachers: SPD is carrying copies for your class use!

**********

I found the interview with Noah Eli Gordon muy interesante over at the Here Comes Everybody Blog. And when he got to the last Q&A, it spurred a hay(na)ku:

10. What is the relationship between the text and the body in your writing?

That’s simple: I am destroying the body in order to bring out the text.

Which spurred me to respond with a hay(na)ku:

Die
we do
as much as

we
live. Then
we write: right

what
we lived
when we write.

I ADMIT I'M ... TRASHY!

Because I can never have enough blogs, I've created a new blog devoted to monitoring my daily garbage:

THE CHATELAINE'S GARBAGE

To explain, the Blog's explanation: "Because I am my poetics, I'm going to track my daily garbage. It might also help me dump less on others."

To further explain, here's that blog's inaugural post:

AFTER CREATION, TRASH
William Rathje, founder of the University of Arizona's Garbage Project, which was established by archaeologists to study both human discard habits and the inner dynamics of landfills, insists that refuse reflects truth. Garbage sorting reveals that "what we do and what we say we do are two different things."
--from GARBAGE LAND by Elizabeth Royte

It only took me going onto Page 4 of Elizabeth Royte's GARBAGE LAND: On The Secret Trail of Trash (Little Brown, New York, 2005) to conceive of this new blog. I've barely began the book but I know that Royte began tracking her garbage.

So I decided to do the same ... because I'm a poet and just to see what happens.

*****

Meanwhile, from Page 22 of Royte's book:

"Since 1960, the nation's municipal waste stream has nearly tripled, reaching a reported peak of 369 million tons in 2002. That's more stuff, per capita, than any other nation in the world, and 2.5 times the per capita rate of Oslo, Norway. The increase is due partly to increased population but mostly to the habits of average residents, who now throw out, says the EPA, 4.3 pounds of garbage per person per day -- 1.6 more pounds than thirty years ago. According to the Congressional Research Service, the biggest producers are California, followed by New York, Florida, Texas and Michigan. BioCycle magazine and the Earth Engineering Center of Columbia University reported in their "State of Garbage in America" report for 2003 that every American generated 1.31 tons of garbage a year. Slightly less than 27 percent of the aggregate mess was recycled or composted; 7.7 percent was incinerated; and the overwhelming majority, 65.6 percent, was buried in ahole in the ground."

*****

Of course, I also hope this project helps me be a better environmentalist. So, in addition to the category of "Trash", I've categorized out "Saved for Re-Use" and "Recycled or Re-used". (Speaking of "Re-Use," I hadn't realized how often poets -- moiself included -- re-use book mailers until I started focusing in on my garbage!)

I used to believe -- I still do -- that Ted Berrigan statement of how a poem is a poet's best self. But I also now want to use poetry to become dot dot dot a better person. And that, too, is a poetix!

FREEING POETICS FOR THE UNANTICIPATED

I was just asked -- and agreed -- to contribute to an academix textbook. The editors said that it's "scholarly" in tone but that I need not use "scholarly" language. Now, is it me or dot dot dot I feel I've been noticing for a long while now a loosening of said formal lingo in not just scholarly tomes but criticism. (I hesitate to call it trend, tho, just coz I don't feel I read enough scholarship or criticism.) I think it's all for the good -- why write something that often gets unreadable? Besides for tenure, that is.

It's pleasing to see more and more people continue to get how the offering of the personal ain't necessarily a ruining of the intellect. I mean, of course it can be, but not to the extent that so-called scholarly language or formal criticism self-create their own barriers to readers. What's the big deal of intellect without a sense of empathy, such as understanding the basic: masturbation, including the verbal, is inherently an isolated act?

Which is why, I liked the caveat of this Call by the *academic textbook* editors as regards scholarly language. Which is why my working title is "_____ Poetics". I inserted "poetics" in there to allow Moi full freedom in what I will later blather because my poetics includes what I cannot anticipate. Which is to say, I may not know why I'm a poet but I know this much: it's not to be dot dot dot boring.

IF YOU WANNA MOVE TED KOOSER, PUT UP THE SIGN "PULLET SURPRISE"!

Furthering on from moi prior post, with equally modest aplomb, I link right back at Allen Bramhall re poetry marketing dot dot dot. (I'ma thinking on going on a "dot dot dot" excess for a bit to get that "to wit" excess that's been going through moi brain like that tune, "It's A Small World, After All..." and sorry if I just put said tune in yours). But see, this topic is so ineptly handled by bookstores and so worth reconsidering that I'm not just gonna link to Allen's blog but I'ma gonna replicate how he's watching moi back here -- and coz he riffs out just dot dot dot hilarious:

"there's nothing better than linking to someone who just linked to you, and I do so with modest aplomb albeit also as if I've been in the endzone before. so thanks to Eileen Tabios for instigating this excess. dot dot dot. I used to work in a wine store, in fact they let me make displays and create signage and woohoo. I never gave it the rocket science treatment, but still, I thunk about it. so I can criticise the situation. you see the gears working at B&N, with lots of room for Eragon and Hairy Potter, highlights beamed on Jessica Simpson's latest philosophical disquistion, perhaps a cookbook or 3000 to catch the eye, what has William Shatner written another book? and so forth. when it comes to the world of poems for sale, it's a matter of letting the big poetry cartels dictate. way too much poetry lite, like that one: Most Famous American Poems, or some title like that. quality assured poems, as you grit your teeth. a Ted Kooser book was stacked near that end display looking more like a discard (Ted who?) than something exciting and worthy of Christmas of Hannukah overkill. I'd've stuck a sign saying Pullet Surprise on the stack. for those who wanted to get their kid something certifiable. if you wanted to move them books, that is. in other sections of the store, you know why the book is there: Tom Brokaw wrote it, or the cover's cheesy, or Oprah blurbed on it, or the words Stephen King are readily apparent: you know the drill. but in the po section, and it surely is po', you wonder who slept with who to get some of these books on the shelf. I'm not talking qualitative, I'm talking marketing, the lifeblood exercise. it's not like you can't entertain people with Koch and O'Hara. there was a handful of copies of In Memory of my Feelings which, after Beth efforted to remove the plastic wrapper, proved to be O'Hara plus art from famous 60s artists. you only knew this was prime stuff from the $90 price tag. why not underline its yumminess? Lorine Niedecker's was available and her work, if not pizzazzy in the sense that Jennifer Aniston is pizzazzy, is clear and resilient for any honest reader. like, you can read her poems and not feel like they didn't teach you how to read, even tho they did. Bloom's anthology is clearly a piece of crap, he should fire whatever grad student made that selection. it gears up in handy form a good sense of how damn boring poetry is. I'm not talking crummy writing, I'm saying the collection asserts nothing but the bad side of tenure. poetry as the cod liver oil of literature. and so forth. and yet, people want to buy poetry books for their sensitive children, or for their sibling who came back from college all a-buzz, or simply for that certain someone adventurous enough to read something other than the televised brands (did I see some tome cowritten by Ed Asner, a defense of liberalism? you bet I did!). Cambridge still has its sacred Grolier Bookstore, a poetry bookstore, which sounds good but the shopping experience suggests gulag. so B&N, which in its corporate soul just wants to see books fly out the door, should be at least a chance, but it lags with the poetry field. B&N is an egalitarian place: if the product can be productive, it fits. but the store itself should offer some thinking into the mix, instead of waiting for a snob like me to come sniffing. I saw maybe 5 poetry books that I'd get if I had Johnny Damon's potential contract. honest to gosh: too many slump poets, and too little interest by the people in charge of adding sizzle to the steak. how unAmerican. it's a Pickett's charge you suggest, Eileen, but you got the energy. I got your back, for what it's worth."

*****
TEE HEE AND BWA HA HA HA dot dot dot!

ATTENTION BOOKSTORE OWNERS: NEED A POETRY CURATOR?

COZ IF YOU DON'T KNOW DIDDLY ABOUT -- INCLUDING HAVE HAD NO DIDDLY INTEREST IN -- POETRY, WHY NOT HAVE MOI STOCK YOUR BOOKSHELVES?

How funny -- in both amusing and interesting sense -- to read Allen's post today stemming from a visit to BarnesandNoble. Literally 2 minutes prior to clicking on his blog, I was thinking about going to a local bookstore here and offering to curate a poetry section. Allen's post affirmed my POV of, Yeah, I'd include this book, can pass on that book, would stock that book coz it's (incomprehensibly) popular and a buying public is a buying public....etcetera etcetera etcetera....

But seriously, is there somethin' in this idea? I could even email lists to bookstore owners so I need not curate for just the ones in moi mountainous locale? I mean, why not? Most bookstores' poetry shelves only illustrate how little attention, care or knowledge is paid beyond the cursory? At least this poetry curator cares...!? Well? Bookstore owners, line up here to reply!

MESTIZAJE --> MODERNISM

An art critic as well as a poet, John [Yau] has a long history of collaborations with artists -- he's even been known to marry them -- but more significantly, unlike other poet/art critics who've taken a more straightforwardly pragmatic attitude toward their seemingly divided loyalties, he'a always been determined to get a historical and critical fix on the value of poet-artist collaborations; as long ago as 1984 he edited a special section of Artforum on the topic. The fact is, a certain mestizaje between poetry and art turns out to be, if you examine the matter closely enough, practically synonymous with modernism -- despite, say, Clement Greenberg's diatribes against literariness in art and cheerleading for modernism's supposed tropism toward "purity of medium." Poets and artists are both fascinated with their respective mediums alright -- but not necessarily out of any concern for purity. They'd just as soon pervert a medium as showcase its chastity.
--from Barry Schwabsky's Introduction to ING GRISH

The boldface statement there are my boldface coz I consider such an important point. Moi also favors that impure purity of poetry.

And here are more recent relishes:

BOOKS:
ING GRISH, poems by John Yau and artwork by Thomas Nozkowski

HOUSE MADE OF DAWN, broadside by Guillermo Juan Parra

SELECTED POEMS 1966-2006, poetry manuscript by Carl A. Gottesman

CORRUPTION, poems by Camille Norton

A NOISY NIGHTINGALE UNDERSTANDS A TIGER'S CAMOUFLAGE TOTALLY, poems by Anne Tardos

SUBJECT TO CHANCE, poems by Matthew Thorburn

DEFENSELESS WATERS, poems by Francisco Valenzuela

THE PINES, VOLUME ONE, poems by Brandon Shimoda and Phil Cordelli

THE PINES, VOLUME TWO, poems by Brandon Shimoda and Phil Cordelli

FOR DESPAIR, poems by Barry Schwabsky

TARANTELLA, poems by Rebecca Loudon

LEAVING YUBA CITY, poems by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

THE SUMMONS, novel by John Grisham

KILLING RAIN, novel by Barry Einsler

WINES:
2001 Comte Lafon Mersealt Perriers
1990 Ch. Petrus
1853 Whitwhams King Pedro V port
1990 Chapoutier Monier De La Sizeranne Hermitage
1998 Torbreak "The Steading" Barossa Valley
1985 La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 904
1998 Turley Zinfandel Howell Mountain
2002 Dutch Henry chardonnay

ANOTHER HOLIDAY DE (OR IS IT, RE)CONSTRUCTION!

And in response to Dan Waber's

$ M A S

the fabulous, multitalented artist Keith Bates posts from England:

TWO POETS DECONSTRUCT "XMAS"

Got a brilliant postcard recently from Dan Waber where the first letter (is that a letter?) is in red and the rest in green:

$ M A S

I shared the concept with Eric Gamalinda who also appreciated, and then wittily replied, Too bad there ain't

M A S $$$

his way. Indeedy, Indeed.

HEAR YE, HEAR YE!

There are three fun matters with December 31, 2005 deadlines:

The Blurbed Book Project -- send a blurb and help influence my future book! OPEN TO ALL.

The Holiday Hay(na)ku Poetry Contest -- OPEN TO ANYONE NOT ALREADY PART OF THE FIRST HAY(NA)KU ANTHOLOGY

Meritage Press' Fifth Annual "Babaylan Speaks" Poetry Contest -- OPEN TO ALL FILIPINO POETS

Join Moi parties, Peeps. Moi goblets ever overflow with gooooood whine!

PURRRRRRRRR

Because Merriam Webster's "Word of the Day for December 16" is:

ailurophile \eye-LOOR-uh-fyle\ noun
: a cat fancier : a lover of cats

I can post a pix of moi beloved cats: Missy Scarlet at top and Artemis at bottom (they just tortured a teensy country mouse and left it behind on rug to scare humans who initially assumed the grey little thingie was one of their cat toys):



Merriem-Webster also helpfully asks: Did you know?

Although the word "ailurophile" has only been documented in English since the 1920s, ailurophiles have been around for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians were perhaps history's greatest cat lovers, pampering and adorning felines, honoring them in art, even treating them as gods. But the English word "ailurophile" does not descend from Egyptian; rather, it comes from a combination of the Greek word "ailouros," which means "cat," and the suffix "-phile," meaning "lover." If Egyptian cat-loving sentiments leave you cold and you're more sympathetic to medieval Europeans, who regarded cats as wicked agents of evil, you might prefer the word "ailurophobe" (from "ailouros" plus "-phobe," meaning "fearing or averse to").

YOU, DEAR ONE, ARE NOT THE EXPERT

I am. So let Moi speak:

It's always interesting to watch (well, it's often boring but I still watch coz I consider such witnessing part of my job) how people debate how one should be a poet (or writer or artist). As if there's any one way. As if there's a right way.

Boring peeps, my point is you can share what your process is, if you want. (By "process" here, I mean to include how you choose to live your life and not just the seemingly more direct approach of it all beginning when you physically begin to write.) But can you please share your process without dismissing how others do it? They're not the same thing.

And, ultimately, of course, the results are what count. For instance, I greatly admire Wallace Stevens but I ain't about to start selling insurance. I admire those French poets not because they lived such "Bohemian" lives but because, first, they wrote some great poetry. Later, I may or may not check out their process to glean what insight, if any, such provides on how they created those results. But that's after I felt they first wrote great stuff.

Hmmm. Actually, that's not true. I generally am interested in process -- including process by those who don't end up being effective in their writings. Maybe because both sides teach me something of how I may or may not want to approach things. But I digress...where was I?

Oh yes. The point: let's not get all dismissive or sniff-sniff-sniffley about other people's processes -- a basic point but one I make since some blather on poetry blogland in recent weeks seems to be erring (pun intended) on actually criticizing those who choose to make more of a (self-exposed) commitment than others. Ironic, eh.

*****

And just because someone criticizes your path doesn't mean you should respond by criticizing their way. Process, Dear One, ain't where the standard exists.

HEAVEN IS ... WHERE?!

May I introduce you to one of Moi Doppelgangers:



courtesy of Angelina Jolie's tattoo and Gura Michelle's mischief.

What's not shown (and of course it wouldn't be since Moi subject is always Poetry) is that tattoo against my inner left thigh...of a ziggurat, due to "Vulcan's Aftermath."

Which is also to say (I'ma so deep), Eros is the path to Heaven.

GRACE- AND GRACIAS POETICS

Here is the hubby.

Which is to say, I have nothing to blog-spout ... and so it's a good thing we just released THE FIRST HAY(NA)KU ANTHOLOGY as such allows me to blog by just mentioning others' reactions to it. To wit:

Wow! The Hay(na)ku makes it into the Dutch language! Which Rochita prefaces by saying:

I think what makes this form [hay(na)ku] so appealing is how it lends the writer wings and allows a person ( like me) to transcend barriers of language. I found myself entering spaces I'd stopped dreaming of, like this space of writing something in Dutch. My first effort...years ago...put a temporary stop to any writing because I imagined that my inability to write in Dutch meant I would never be able to write anything worth reading anyway. // Wrong!

And so Rochita writes the first Dutch Hay(na)ku; as she puts it, "passion / becomes common"....or, in Dutch:

passie
wordt gewoon

And the celebration of THE FIRST HAY(NA)KU ANTHOLOGY continues with Ernesto Priego who writes a moving hay(na)ku -- thank you, Ernesto -- that I blog-file via replication here:

SEED & TREE

("Because we met at dusk"
-Allen Ginsberg)


Dar
las gracias
means giving nothing

but
the Grace
with a capital

Gee,
the utter
fabulous, unprecedented joy

of
receiving this,
a new book,

a
new, yet-
not so new,

gracious,
inebriated, not
imagined, thought before;

if
you really
think about it

nothing
but resulting
from true friendship,

that
of poetry,
the old communion

of
strangers, all
in love indeed

with
capital letters,
simple yet profound,

seed
& tree,
potency & outcome,

the
bridge that
crosses unfathomable abysses

countries
islands, languages,
lines, stanzas, all

run
over by
intense, honest emotion:

the
priceless gift
of this poetry,

printed,
in leafs,
estas hojas blancas,

este
libro, what
can be hold,

like
hands in
a sisterly, brotherly

handshake,
even more:
a heartfelt embrace.

*****

Muchas gracias, Ernesto. It's always a Joy to see where you take this form.

KARRI KOKKO MAKES ME WANNA COMMIT ADULTERY

with his "Love Letters" series -- I partly sense from his vizpo the fragility of that wedding ring. That is, make me get hitched again but this time to Finnish, now that I've wedded English. After all, I'm Filipino.

OH COME ALL YE FAITHFUL

88) feeling "yes" on the lips
--Dan Waber

If you write hay(na)ku, you can't suck! Well, except in, you know.... Anyhoot:

Oh come all ye faithful fans of "OH"! Like Dan Waber who said he realized only after reading through THE FIRST HAY(NA)KU ANTHOLOGY how "hay naku" in Filipino works something like the English "Oh". Which is nifty for Dan who is a self-professed big fan of "Oh"!

Oh? So what does all this mean? Well, here is Dan Waber's very nifty poem

a thousand ohs

1) the once or twice a year when the sky is so blue it makes your tear ducts wince
2) the accidental but suddenly hilarious misreading of billboards
3) emptying the holepuncher
4) untwisting the phone cord
5) the smell of pencil shavings
6) shoes that slip on easily, yet fit snug
7) the impossibility of matching different whites
8) starting to stretch because you think you need it a little and discovering midstretch you needed it a lot.
9) soupsteam
10) when all the change in your pocket is exactly what you need
11) the touch and scent of mimeographed paper
12) click echo of one's own steps
13) feeding and being fed from fingers
14) a really good exclamation point
15) waking up with no idea where you are and not being afraid
16) finding smiling pictures you never knew were taken
17) connecting with another person, and seeing in their eyes that they felt it too
18) so lost in a thought that you're startled out of it
19) finding and giving a perfect gift
20) the unexpected wrenching of a grudging compliment
21) opening a new can of coffee
22) when a written word brings a physical response
23) finding the thing you were searching for, right where you were sure it would be, after looking exactly there three times previously
24) when the morning sun turns the usually pale wisps of coffee steam into dense white plumes
25) being rewarded for a willful suspension of disbelief
26) closing a book and wanting there to be 100 more pages, at least
27) a paradigm shift
28) realizing you forgot something and not having to go back because someone else remembered for you
29) watching a dream crumble while you let it go
30) forgetting your own name
31) licking the batter from the beaters
32) being paid, even a pittance, for words
33) when excitement makes you clap your hands
34) slipping between sheets within minutes of shaving your legs
35) picking the right title
37) being the bearer of good news to the bearee
37) realizing you can still sing along to a song you haven't heard in years
38) finding paper money in forgotten pockets
39) driving a long, long way
40) blurting
41) squeal of delighted surprise
42) what a touch can say
43) when a dreaded thing turns out to be not just not-as-bad-as-thought, but an actual good thing
44) when a thing done on purpose has the desired effect
45) when the table goes silent because all mouths are savoring
46) blowing out the last of the light
47) an apt turn of a phrase
48) finding something new in something old
49) when hands unexpectedly meet halfway
50) picking up the phone to call and the person is already on the line
51) kneebuckling
52) when the heat kicks on
53) an inviting whisper so soft the message comes through from tone alone
54) otters
55) when the consumption of wine is perfectly modulated to achieve the sustained buzz for an extended period of time
56) wanting brutal honesty, and getting it
57) new shoes
58) buying used books and finding old notes used as bookmarks inside
59) waking up to the smell of toast
60) eyes locking at amazing moments
61) excitedly sharing an obscure treasure and having it met with genuine interest
62) when the right time comes to say a thing you've been waiting to say
63) crossing things off of lists
64) discovering new favorites
65) going back to a restaurant you enjoyed and having it be just as good as you remembered
66) re-reading a favorite book or poem and finding something new that makes it even more wonderfull
67) knowing the answer
68) working up a sweat
69) feeling comfortable enough with the company you're in to be silly
70) catching a drift
71) saying "yes" when you really mean it
72) explaining something and seeing it click in the eyes of the person you're explaining to
73) running more hot water into a tub gone lukewarm
74) finding your way in the dark
75) footsie
76) getting all dressed up
77) learning new meanings to old words
78) being tickled when you want to be, exactly the right amount
79) room service in a great hotel
80) feeling as if you can do no wrong
81) building a fire
82) falling asleep feeling contended, safe, and exhausted
83) something so funny that you laugh so hard you have to pause in the retelling of it...even days later, and after several retellings.
84) saying, "money is no object"
85) hearing your name called in a drawing
86) being urged in the direction you want to go
87) seeing "thank you" in the eyes
88) feeling "yes" on the lips
89) catching yourself humming
90) speaking in code
91) the way soap gets creamy in soft water
92) falling almost asleep during a back rub that might never end
93) nuzzling into a comfortable crook
94) guessing the punch line, not giving it away, and being right
95) the way a child's laughter can rise to a squeal and lilt back down to a laugh
96) words that are difficult or impossible to translate
97) the growth of things you've planted
98) Coca-Cola when the fountain mix is just a hair too heavy on the syrup
99) ribbons
100) feeling appreciated
101) being all the way to delighted after only 10%
102) letting go
103) playing with aerodynamics, hand ruddering your arm out the window of the car
104) sweaters
105) candles floating on water
106) when the moon looks HUGE
107) snapdragons
108) rushing because you think you're running late, and finding out you're actually early
109) believing that you're devilishly cute because of the way it was told to you
110) having someone else order for you and loving what you get
111) being greeted with a smile
112) when a song transports you back in time
113) getting to plan everything
114) getting to plan nothing
115) fantasizing about winning the lottery
116) enthusiasm so real it's contagious
117) getting more than you asked for
118) intensity
119) good typos
120) witnessing the divine in the everyday
121) standing an egg on it's end at an equinox
122) making junk mail into handmade paper with a blender
123) passing notes back and forth
124) watching an infant yawn
125) shuddering
126) window shopping
127) cutting thought balloons out of comics to leave as notes
128) hiding things meant to be found
129) being moved to tears
130) learning another's foibles
131) recognizing the sound of a particular footfall
132) colored light bulbs
133) pushing through until dawn
134) shoveling snow
135) paying the small amount the person if front of you is short at the register
136) a cozy space
137) relaxing a grip
138) going barefoot
139) walking against the flow
140) feeling totally lost except for trusting the one you're with to know the way
141) a good clean joke
142) feeling attractive
143) having your hair brushed by someone else
144) reading out loud
145) words
146) deciphering
147) uncorking on a really good rant
148) blowing bubbles
149) accepting an offered hand
150) contrails
151) anything splayed
152) leading or being led by the hand
153) spooning
154) when excitement is unsuccessfully hidden
155) watching a poem happen right in front of your eyes and not being sad that it will never be written, but being glad to have been there to experience it
156) catching fireflies, and letting them go
157) terms of endearment
158) successful impetuosity
159) tracing bodylines with an index finger
160) absolute trust
161) sneaking a taste of a dish in progress
162) those rare moments when technology delivers on its promises
163) wanting, seeking, finding, obtaining, savoring
164) manicures
165) ambiguity
166) entendre
167) the Oxford English Dictionary
168) wax seals on envelopes
169) grocery shopping for speed, not accuracy
170) butterflies
171) when cheeks blush with excitement
172) being at a loss for words
173) when five minutes would have been enough but an hour somehow isn't
174) unfolding
175) paying closer attention so you can remember every detail for when you tell what you saw to someone else later
176) a static electricity tingling that surrounds your body when you go to sleep
177) waiting for a phone call that comes
178) feeling a flipped out clothing tag being tucked in for you, instead of just called to your attention
179) empathy
180) being proud of someone else's success, and liking that feeling so much that you are inspired to succeed yourself so that they can be proud of you
181) finding the right words, even (and sometimes especially) after much revising and reworking and editing and consternation and general un-acceptance of the wrong words
182) faith restored
183) having a favorite, but broken thing, fixed for you when you'd almost forgotten you had it
184) hearing that someone you love has plans for you
185) being the last one awake in a house put to sleep, switching off that last light
186) knowing there's time enough to show how you really feel
187) falling asleep in another's arms, mumbling, with so much more to say
188) not having to ask
189) lipstick
190) the smell of almonds being toasted for tonight's dessert
191) the coldsilt squish of the bottom to toes
192) when getting more makes you want even more
193) saying a word over and over and over again until it sounds like it can't possibly be a real word.
194) watersounds
195) catching up with a friend after being apart for a short or a long while
196) being helped off with your shoes
197) leaving them wanting more
198) stealing a moment alone
199) finding answers together
200) feeling a magnetic pull
201) underlining passages
202) seeing yourself reflected in another's eyes
203) having the house all to yourself, getting the coffee made, the paper out, the tabletop cleaned, and everything arranged just so for the arrival of the light "just right" delivered by the sun
204) whistling while you work
205) taking a day off for no good reason
206) finding someone in everything
207) knowing that, right now, you're being missed
208) calling it all into question, and coming to believe even more after the questioning
209) turning work into play
210) that span of time between starting to ask/say a difficult thing and when the reply is determined to be accepting
211) conversations on many levels at once
212) always having things to say tomorrow, or later, or when you're finished
213) surprise hugs
214) chutney
215) when the difficult is made surprisingly simple by the invocation of an image of you
216) wanting to know everything...slowly, over time
217) calling ten years quick
218) when large worries are easily dispelled
219) experiencing the use of a word not used lightly
220) not wishing you were here, nor wishing I were there, but wishing we were where
221) calling it what it is
222) looking for ways to help
223) feeling up to the challenge
224) finding out you're being thought of while clothes are being chosen
225) fresh squeezed juice
226) new pads of paper
227) uncovering skin slowly
228) improving with every effort
229) stealing a freely given kiss
230) finding poem titles sprinkled throughout everyday conversation, and writing the poems to go with them
231) finishing notes you'd forgotten you'd started
232) feeling completely certain that the best is yet to come
233) daydreaming of touches
234) thread
235) dusk
236) writing in the margins
237) being important to the artistic growth of someone you love
238) making sure there's no regrets
239) walking, hand in hand, saying nothing, saying everything, pausing together, meeting in the kiss
240) being asked to give something you've been wanting to give
241) photographs
242) crafting a perfect line
243) stopping with more to say
244) mouthing the words
245) sensing that the same things are crucial to another
246) maintaining a sense of humor even in the most difficult and painful of times
247) being touched on purpose but in passing
248) ice cream
249) seeing even more than you hoped for in their eyes
250) the clarity of a well made decision
251) central air
252) down comforters
253) movie theater popcorn
254) a little splurge at the right moment
255) abandoning yourself momentarily to not knowing not caring--just wanting just needing
256) reading the Sunday paper in bed
257) the rendering moot of initiative
258) silk
259) witnessing proof that your opinion matters
260) wanting to make love
261) orchids
262) dew
263) being silenced with a kiss
264) learning the effects of different whispered words
265) silly putty
266) silly string
267) making silly faces while someone else is on the phone
268) being tongue tied
269) when something someone does unintentionally makes you feel that you are beautiful to them
270) playing with ice
271) sucking helium and talking funny
272) being invited with a kiss
273) being taught by someone who loves and truly knows what they're teaching
274) finding encouragement
275) waiting, waiting, waiting for a wanted touch
276) when a small change you've made gets noticed
277) when you notice small changes have been made for you
278) counting the seconds between lightning and thunder
279) the smell of Coleman fuel
280) dark so deep you can't see your hand in front of your face
281) skipping stones
282) making love under the stars
283) the smell of burning leaves
284) asking and answering questions with the fingertips of one hand
285) intimate details
286) falling back into step
287) setting the clock back an hour
288) coming home to a cleaned house
289) letting spiders go
290) smelling spring before you see it
291) wriggling around in someone else's words
292) the smile you get when taking the final look at something you've done that you are absolutely certain will bring a smile to the intended recipient
293) stepping out of the shower to a steamfog so thick you have to open the door to let some out
294) words that just plop into your head and demand to be loved for a while
295) trying on hats
296) when children state the extraordinarily bizarre as if it were perfectly obvious
297) deciding to buy something even though it costs a little too much and having it ring up on sale
298) being carried
299) making a guess based on hunch or intuition and finding out you're right
300) resuming a dream
301) stopping because your fingers are numb
302) being stunned by simplicity
303) boxes with lids that fit with near-airtight precision
304) secret passageways
305) reading the same book at the same time with a friend
306) when all the socks match up and there's no singles left
307) getting one more day out of the toothpaste
308) catching a scent that fires off neurons but getting nothing distinct....just that you know you know the scent and you know you know it is storing vivid memories
309) that slice of overlapped time when you realize you've left your keys in the car, the door is still closing, but it's too late to stop it
310) when the craziest wildest absurdest guess you can possibly imagine turns out to be only the half of it
311) finding something you had forgotten you'd lost
312) when the answer arrives to a problem that'd been simmering so long you'd forgotten it was even still on the stove
313) bookstores
314) gerunds
315) when someone's mean to you and then shortly thereafter stumbles or drops a pile of papers or spills their coffee on their pants
316) being all prepared to wait, and getting to
317) telling a really good joke exactly right
318) spats
319) eating Twizzlers that you've just bitten the ends off of and used as a straw to drink milk
320) coming home
321) reading yourself in someone else's words
322) becoming suddenly aware that there will never be enough time to say it all
323) making and drinking real lemonade
324) reading words and knowing the voice that goes with them
325) cooking dinner together
326) making funny faces
327) the fact that two people working together on the same chore gets it
done in less than half the time
329) sharing rough drafts
330) paradox
331) taking a long hot shower for as long as you want
332) arranging fresh cut flowers
333) homemade biscuits and gravy
334) being read to while you feel the rumble of the voice, your ear to the reader's chest
335) looking out the airplane window at the ultrawhite of the colossal clouds
336) whistle of tea kettle
337) wind chimes
338) kites
339) knowing a plant from putting seed in dirt through bloom
340) feeling a zipper being gently undone
341) decoding a heavy accent
342) getting your hair cut
343) rainbows
344) singing really loudly when you're all alone
345) night blooming flowers
346) lava
347) cotton summer dresses
348) pizza
349) overhearing one side of a phone call and knowing exactly what's going on
350) the sound and smell of bacon sizzling
351) going to hear some kind of live music with someone who genuinely wants to go with you
352) collections of one
353) clapping wildly
354) getting constructive criticism that demonstrates that real thought has occurred
355) baked potatoes when they're big and fluffy and the skins have been oiled and seasoned
356) taking what you fear is a too large step, and being pulled along the further it takes to be caught up
357) feeling stronger because of the support of someone else
358) napping a stubborn headache away
359) getting the portions exactly right
360) when doing something small to invite intimacy is noticed and acted upon
361) dozing off and waking up just long enough to notice that you've got a blanket now
362) meshing sets of favorites to find the one set of shared favorites
363) a sultry beat
364) being together even in being alone
365) talking and typing at the same time
366) collapsing forms
367) plunging ahead
368) innuendo
369) feeling like five minutes did all the recharging of a whole day
370) sitting on the porch while the rain rolls in
371) assimilating something completely new
372) being held
373) realizing that as long as nothing shifts or moves there is a place of contact along which you can not accurately determine your own physical boundary
374) slipping under the water to hear nothing but the ring in your ears
375) gold and silver star stickers
376) slipping back into a good routine
377) going to the post office
378) not having to wonder what to do, but getting to wonder which to do first
379) making a promise that's as easy as breathing to keep
380) making your own peanut butter and jelly sammich, just the way you like it
381) when the butter is exactly the right temperature
382) waiting on a friend
383) foreign stamps and foreign money
384) cool fingers on a warm forehead
385) roasting marshmallows over campfire coals
386) cashew shrimp
387) tying strings on fingers to remember you have something to say
388) having trust given repaid with trust given in return
389) the first sip of the first cup of coffee of the day
390) generating interest
391) the jingle of keys
392) mending clothes, fences, friendships
393) the fact that things "published" to the web are never final
394) feeling like, at the end of the day, after all is said and done...you made a difference
395) thinnest crystal wine "balloon" glasses
396) coming up with choices for someone who likes to choose
397) seeing a new color
398) when something you see or hear or taste or touch or smell makes you pause without knowing why...thinking about it, working on it, and then finally figuring it out
399) marbles
400) when a very thin piece of something (usually cellophane but sometimes a hair, or a piece of web or other things) sticks to you by nothing more than static cling but which resists dislogdging with a surprising force and tenacity.
401) fishing for kisses and catching a big one
402) underlining things dramatically, emphatically
403) expressive eyes
404) melting chocolate for dipping
405) self-sealing envelopes
406) getting an income tax refund
407) recognizing that you are in the presence of a greatness that transcends time and place
408) time-lapse photography of all sorts of things, particularly of flowers
409) the feel of a really good stapler
410) when the phone rings in the middle of the night and it isn't bad news
411) the citrus scent of oranges
412) pillow fights
413) water balloons
414) paper airplanes
415) the haiku of Issa
416) when the guy who cut you off while whizzing past you on the highway is seen a second time, pulled over by the police a few miles later
417) tomato and mayonnaise sammiches with salt and pepper
418) papier mache
419) eye drops
420) when a movie makes you cry
421) when a book makes you laugh out loud
422) when ideas come fast and furious after a long stretch of not coming at all
423) looking forward to having lunch
424) when the Butterfinger candybar is fresh and flaky
425) flirting with someone who is really good at flirting
426) when slow is too fast, and when too fast isn't fast enough
427) losing track
428) starting from scratch
429) getting more than you asked for
430) the feeling like you're spreading your wings and beginning to fly
431) trying for, and getting, a good laugh
432) reading out loud in a room full of people, but reading the words to one person in particular
433) having someone order for you in a restaurant, hearing them order something you would never have considered, and being very pleased with it when it arrives
434) wavecrashing
435) getting stronger and feeling it
436) wanting you all to myself
437) working out the details
438) sharing the morning
439) brand new emery boards
440) flannel sheets
441) thrill
442) feeling the ebb and the flow and being swept away by both
443) the feeling that you would be terrifyingly exposed and vulnerable if it weren't for the fact that you feel safe
444) little half-dreams in the moments of half-sleep right before you come fully awake to get out of bed
445) crumpets and orange marmalade
446) snow angels
447) when reality turns out to actually be better than imagination
448) red-eyed photos
449) sparkling chains
450) spiders on webs
451) curled seashells
452) chickenpox
453) naked Barbies!
454) sour pickles
455) drawings that scare
456) shuffling cards
457) dogs that bark at rocks
458) red moons
459) warm grass
460) a little bit of sky covering a big sun
461) finding a hiding place
462) good ideas
463) forgetting your own name
464) the BIG box of crayons
465) surprise gifts for no occasion in particular
466) being willing to do anything, even nothing
467) snow so thick and heavy it breaks off dead branches
468) dinosaurs
469) planning a meal as an event
470) Letters to a Young Poet, by Rainier Maria Rilke
471) hunkering down for the long haul
472) knowing you're not alone
473) having movies in your mind of moments that you can play, replay, pause, and watch overandover againandagain
474) snowblindness
475) cutting out cartoons that are worth saving
476) stumbling onto a scent
477) glitter and glue
478) rubber coated paper clips that don't get tangled
479) muscle memory
480) ice skating
481) finding out that being sentimental is actually an okay thing
482) getting help right exactly when you needed it, before you even thought to ask for it
483) gum erasers
484) popping bubble pack (one at a time or many at once)
485) Post-It Notes
486) change purses
487) bow ties that have to be tied, and get to be untied
488) weaving words together like intertwining fingers holding hands
489) memorizing poetry, together
490) laughing until your sides ache and your eyes water and you can only gesticulate "stop, stop already"
491) milkshakes
492) sprinkles, hot fudge, nuts, whipped cream, maraschino cherries, butterscotch, and all ice cream toppings
493) when skin goes pruny from too long in water
494) being asked to close your mouth, open your eyes, and having chocolate be the big surprise
495) when a little boo-boo draws a big kiss
496) adding glycerin to cheap dish soap and water to make bubbles bigger than your body by using straws and string
497) being the person that someone else depends on
498) waking up before the alarm goes off
499) not having to explain a subtle but complex oh! because your best friend is right next to you and saw it, too
500) making it to halfway on a roll that makes you think you should have planned bigger because if this is halfway already it isn't even scratching the surface of what's possible
501) not wanting this day to end, ever, except for the fact that tomorrow has so much in it to look forward to
502) icebox magnets
503) toes
504) folding stillwarm laundry
505) faster printers
506) coming home at exactly that time of day when you have to pause in front of the door before going in and look around at how the receding light is making everything your eyes can land on look hyperreal
507) the mouthing of words
508) live theater
509) boursin
510) coffee with just the right amount of chicory
511) shouting words into a valley that echos
512) re-applying lipstick that has been rather unceremoniously removed
513) euphemisms
514) analogies in general...both finding apt ones and finding holes in them
515) sliding (in oh so many ways)
516) stocking stuffers
517) planning a garden
518) the fact that you can tell when bread is done by the smell
519) origami
520) hot cocoa from scratch
521) frogs
522) when someone makes you feel like you're the most important person in the room
523) pie
524) french fries fried in lard
525) the way some speaking accents can be fabulously interesting to listen to
526) being careful not to disturb someone who is hard at work (and not just because you know that you'll be the first to see the fruits of their labor)
527) giggling
528) blanket tents
529) camping out in the back yard in a real tent
530) camping out in God's back yard somewhere so far away from "civilization" that you have primal moments
531) up to your elbows in earth
532) getting quite close before the birds explode into the air in front of you
533) folding a dollar bill into a ring to clasp around the rest of the tip
534) stickers
535) running through sprinklers
536) silence so complete you can hear the ringing in your own ears
537) jelly beans
538) going to the opera
539) being comfortable enough to ask for anything you want, need, or desire
540) cranes
541) taking stairs two at a time
542) snow ball fights
543) biscotti
544) sunglasses, both chintzy and superdeluxe
545) comic books
546) finding the crossword puzzle untouched
547) fondue
548) warm breath on the back of your neck
549) brainstorming
550) splashing through puddles
551) feta cheese
552) trompe l'oeil
553) hot air balloons
554) vidalia onions
555) picnic baskets and picnic blankets and picnic lunches
556) belly buttons
557) cuff links
558) vintage clothing
559) that feeling of wondering, of course, that's to be expected, but not worried in the least because you know there's nothing to worry about
560) surprisingly flaky pastry
561) really creamy paper
562) when the second half goes a lot faster than the first half
563) making something new and delicious from leftovers
564) cutting off the crusts
565) the smell of newmown grass
566) the Doppler effect
567) museums of all kinds
568) poems inspired by other works of art
569) teflon
570) piggy back rides
571) flambe
572) real maple syrup
573) elephant ears
574) the changing of the seasons
575) kittens
576) gherkins
577) ball point pens that have a really well machined "click" to them
578) peonies
579) snow cones
580) dreamsicles
581) feathers
582) trusting someone so completely that you end up feeling better about your own self
583) reading for hours on end and never getting the least bit bored, antsy, or interrupted, even though someone else is doing the same thing right along with you
584) playing hooky
585) cruise ships
586) looking in your wallet for money you're pretty sure isn't there and finding out that you have that much and more!
587) cinnamon
588) white wine
589) morels, shiitake, oyster, chanterelle, truffle, enoki, straw, woodear, puffball, portabella, and all the rest of the edible mushroom family
590) taking notes for later
591) jumping rope
592) virtuosity, wherever it is found
593) when a thing is so well crafted that it becomes art
594) curing someone else of the hiccups
595) being liked by an animal that doesn't like anyone
596) wondering if you've packed enough books
597) magicians
598) Cirque De Soleil
599) garlic
600) olives...the stronger the flavor the better
601) denim
602) spring cleaning
603) having a nice conversation with a wrong number
604) home made mayonnaise
605) luxurious bathrobes
606) spending a day at the zoo
607) tuning forks and metronomes
608) Dr. Seuss
609) keyboard shortcuts
610) invisible ink
611) asking for an orange and getting one that's been peeled and segmented already
612) the aurora borealis
613) a kitty watching birds from the window sill
614) having words in rooms scattered far and wide
615) making big plans (and hoping they're big enough)
616) making bigger plans
617) ice cold milk and oreos
618) candle wax
619) peanuts, sunflower seeds, cashews, macadamia, filberts, walnuts, pecans, brazil nuts, almonds, pine nuts
620) taking a long slow chatty lunch at a really good sushi bar
621) somersaults
622) double sided tape
623) happy dogs
624) whistling (alone or in groups, superbly or poorly)
625) dimples
626) fireworks
627) subtle shadings
628) Alaskan days and nights that never get darker than dusk
629) irony
630) playful subterfuge
631) a gyros sandwich (with extra feta) that takes two hands to eat and 22 napkins to clean up after (dripped all the way to your elbow)
632) natural sponges
633) listening intently to someone who is interesting
634) throwing a wadded up piece of something towards a trash can much too far away and making it in
635) learning new colloquialisms
636) finding yourself slipping into the local accent and vernacular
637) getting sidetracked and/or totally lost in a dictionary and forgetting which word you originally set out to look up
638) kitschy bumper stickers on other people's bumpers
639) the piece invariably left over after a disassembly/reassembly operation
640) hearing a word pronounced that you've only ever read before
641) being in a moment and having the sudden subtle realization that this is one of those moments you are going to remember for the rest of your life
642) being shushed in a library for being a little too loud with your excitedness
643) settling in to write for a while
644) frost on the window that looks like the fossils of giant ferns
645) guessing at the time and being spot on, or hours off
646) aviaries
647) noticing the days getting longer
648) compasses
649) a cool breeze on a warm day
650) a warm breeze on a cool day
651) replacing old bad habits with new good habits
652) thunderstorms
653) working out a complex math problem in your head
654) seeing something shiny on the ground and stopping to pick it up, only to find that it's a very elaborate metal button that still has a bit of thread attached to it, but is not even slightly deformed from having been stepped on or run over
655) triple decker sandwiches
656) being at a dinner with a group of people who are all having conversations going at the same time and shifting effortlessly from one conversation to the next just by turning your head a little bit
657) considering getting your belly button pierced
658) paying attention to the ways that children aquire language
659) playing a new favorite song over and over and over and over again
660) onomatopoeia in general and that it becomes onomatopoetic as an adjective
661) smiling
662) finding new books you want to read next mentioned in the footnotes or endnotes of a book you're enjoying immensely
663) changing your mind for good reason
664) squirrels
665) cutting paper snowflakes
666) baking things together
667) diving right in before even checking the temperature with your toe
668) working hard and slowly, finally, coming to understand something
669) wearing your favorite shirt in private because it can no longer be worn in public but it's still your favorite shirt
670) throwing open the windows on the first warm enough day of the year
671) pre-coffee rambling
672) sunset at the beach when the wind is just right to make the surface of the water optimally reflective
673) fitted dress gloves
674) highlighters in lots of different colors
675) red zinger iced tea
676) walking through a hubbub and being bombarded by snatches and phraselets of conversation
677) optical illusions
678) embossed things
679) litmus paper
680) crazy straws, bendy straws, and large bore thick walled straws
681) thinking about the imponderables like how big the universe is, what is beyond the edge of it, can god make a rock so big that even he can't lift it, etc.
682) licking really good barbecue sauce off of your fingers
683) player pianos and music boxes
684) the British spellings of colour, theatre, flavour, humour...
685) finding new authors that make you want to read everything they've written
686) nonce forms of poetry
687) trying to put yourself in someone else's shoes
688) when something is so funny that you want to laugh, but the setting is completely inappropriate for a laugh, so that you have to hold back the laugh (which makes you want to laugh even more)
689) anagrams
690) nests
691) getting your second wind
692) the smell of leaves burning in the cool air of an autumn evening
693) the sound of certain rains on certain roofs
694) seeing the wear of the passage of uncountable numbers in the concavities of stone steps
695) Bosco
696) real peanut butter
697) smiling when it all always seems to come back to food
698) knowing that a short phrase you've written has a 100% chance of causing a smile when it is finally read by its intended reader (but having no idea just how far away that smile will be)
699) pirouettes that no one sees you make
700) pictures taken by holding the camera at arm's length and pointing it back at yourself and the person(s) smiling next to you
701) floor to ceiling bookshelves and those ladders on wheels
702) Tesla balls
703) angora
704) restoring your calm with a series of deep breaths and the silent repeating of a secret mantra
705) hair tousling...whether your are the tousler or the touslee
706) really clingy cling film
707) finding a really great bakery that has things you've never seen but which look absolutely delicious (and are actually better tasting than they look)
708) learning something new every day
709) the sound of a children's choir
710) taking charcoal rubbings of surfaces
711) untwisting a telephone cord, again
712) seeing yourself on television
713) counting the days, the lines, the syllables, the words, the rhymes, the minutes, the steps, the hours, the kisses
714) laughing with mom
715) meeting at the airport, running into a hug
716) grapes
717) making block prints from wood cuts or carved linoleum
718) learning the names of birds
719) spending every last dime you had budgeted
720) making a wish and blowing out the candles
721) tater tots
722) being mesmerized by a juggler
723) the smell of gasoline
724) drawing someone, gently, out of their shell and making them feel comfortable in your presence when they were initially prepared to remain wary
725) english muffins
726) poptarts
727) making real s'mores over a campfire
728) watching the content of your thought processes turn towards food and then realizing that it could be because mealtime is a little over due
729) libraries
730) secrets, telling your own, keeping someone else's
731) rivets
732) oxymorons
733) the songs you'll never admit to anyone else that you actually like
734) working on meeting a deadline and ignoring the fact that it's not a real deadline, it's only one you made up for yourself to get you working
735) getting a milkshake that you really wanted and hadn't actually asked for yet
736) doodles and doodling, with stick, pen, pencil, or finger
737) a really good sneeze
738) roller coasters
739) waterfalls
740) rain while the sun is shining
741) magnifying glasses
742) telescopes and microscopes and two-way mirrors
743) prisms
744) trihexaflexagons
745) pretending
746) piggy banks
747) velvet
748) anticipation in general, and anticipating a happy certainty in particular
749) turtles (both the amphibian and the candy)
750) cleaning out the cobwebs
751) a really well made club sandwich
752) homemade soup
753) being surprised by housework that got done behind your back
754) flexing your muscles
755) temporary tattoos
756) timpani
757) resting on your back with your hand behind your head and finding shapes in the shifting of the clouds and describing them out loud to someone else who is doing the same thing right beside you, sometimes excitedly seeing the same thing, sometimes exciting you with seeing something different entirely
758) fritos and bean dip
759) the smell and the sound of a zippo lighter
760) the crackle of a piece of wet wood in a roaring fire
761) being pampered when you're sick
762) being pampered when you're not sick
763) having fun just being together
764) testing out funny ways of walking or talking
765) slow dancing (with or without music)
766) suede
767) untying a knot in a delicate chain without bending the soft metal links
768) having a splinter removed, or removing a splinter from someone else
769) getting real mail
770) when a horoscope is spot on accurate to the point where you actually wonder if there might be something to this
771) a soft warm summer rain
772) a shiny brand new bicycle
773) mechanical pencils
774) riding in a big long stretch limousine
775) hand painted silk ties
776) lox and bagels and cream cheese
777) lucky numbers
778) elevators
779) gyroscopes
780) fresh flaky croissant
781) water lilies
782) hardwood floors
783) the scent of cedar
784) the way honey drips
785) cacti
786) when you pull a shirt over your head in the dark during winter and the air is so dry that you get treated to a mini light show of static electricity sparks
787) mustard
788) nail polish color names
789) salt water taffy
790) picking up the pace
791) taking turns
792) looking very, very close and liking what you see
793) sleuthing
794) beach blankets
795) playing frisbee
796) falcons and falconry
797) castles
798) betting on yourself, and winning
799) super extra dark chocolate
800) eggnog
801) rag rugs
802) hand made quilts
803) swimming in the ocean, swimming in a pool, swimming in another's arms
804) abalone
805) redecorating, rearranging furniture, making a room look new
806) bags of words, boxes of words, bottles of words, baskets of words, handfuls of words, mouthfuls of words
807) saying the same thing at the same time
808) ferns
809) doing puzzles
810) the smell of play dough
811) carousel horses and brass rings
812) violets
813) wasabi covered dried peas
814) beauty marks
815) nicknames, pet names, family names
816) the enhanced stereo effect of listening through headphones
817) sugar cubes
818) cookie jars
819) thistles
820) convertibles
821) espresso
822) boiled ham, pickle, and cream cheese sammiches
823) toasting slices of pound cake and eating them with butter and jam
824) terry cloth
825) morning glories
826) drinking coffee from a clear glass mug
827) winning at solitaire
828) chili dogs
829) the look of total relaxation on the face of someone fast asleep (especially but certainly not limited to small children)
830) holding pieces of movable metal type
831) jade plants
832) geckos and newts and salamanders
833) making lists of things you want to be sure to do before you die
834) finding a scrap of paper, with writing on it that is obviously your own, but having no recollection of having written it, nor what the cryptic fragments might have originally meant
835) rocking chairs
836) sand
837) learning to identify a constellation
838) Cadbury Cream Eggs
839) mosaics
840) fancy shoelaces
841) kissing in the light of a flashlight
842) stained glass windows and lamps
843) playing jacks and hopscotch
844) sidewalk chalk
845) zen koans
846) deciphering someone else's own personal shorthand
847) rutilated quartz
848) sunflowers
849) pockets
850) Scrabble
851) champagne (the taste, the bubbles, the sound of the popping of the cork)
852) a brand new car
853) mobius strips
854) holograms
855) malleability
856) stomping your foot down firmly while standing on a bog
857) diaries, journals, letters and notes saved and stashed
858) marble, cool to the touch always
859) mud
860) pressed flowers
861) dolphins, porpoises, and whales (whalesong)
862) letters from admiring fans
863) Winnie the Pooh
864) fairy tales
865) scenic look-outs
866) sail boats
867) geodes
868) the moment when a process you have set in motion and continued to push forward finally has enough mass that its own inertia is sufficient to sustain it
869) meteor showers
870) flip book animations
871) having money left after paying the bills
872) finding typos in published books
873) lilacs
874) mollusks and cephalopods
875) brownies fresh from the oven
876) wry smiles
877) tiaras
878) waking up slowly, not saying a word, being able to stumble around in this state and still smile and both give and receive passing touches with an unconscious ease
879) pink and green and black peppercorns mixed together
880) when a solution appears that is so simple and afterwards so obvious that you wonder how you ever saw the problem as a problem in the first place
881) deciding things like, "Even though I'm probably not ever going to play the guitar, if I was ever going to play the guitar I would want it to be a steel guitar."
882) having your eyes kissed open
883) Rubik's Cube
884) the revelation that comes the very first time you read from the supposed sanctity of the printed page the words of someone who knows less about a certain thing than you do, and has managed to form some elegant arguments that would likely be very convincing if it wasn't for the fact that they were based on flawed initial premises
885) dollar coins and two dollar bills
886) suspenders that button on, not clip on; and pants with buttons for suspenders (inside in the front and outside on the back)
887) book fonts, display fonts, and more fonts
888) appropriate uses for velcro
889) chicken noodle soup
890) sleeping bags
891) sleigh bells, church bells, and bells on the collars of cats
892) boardwalks
893) roiling water
894) new business cards
895) standing at the base of a really tall building and getting a falling backwards vertigo when you try to see the top
896) yearbooks
897) when something as simple and generally taken for granted as an ink pen can surprise you with it's look, feel, or pleasure of use
898) when the end of a long project finally comes into view, and you feel just a little sad that it's coming to a close (but still you begin to look forward to the next project)
899) aquariums
900) carnivorous plants
901) being surprised at how thirsty you are, and being almost unable to stop swallow after swallow of juice, and actually feeling the water or the vitamins or whatever it is that you needed from it begin to course through your system
902) having your palm read for a dollar by a palmreader
903) saving ticket stubs from events you want to remember
904) getting started on a long trip in the wee wee hours so that you get there sooner
905) neck rubs, back rubs, foot rubs, hand rubs, shoulder rubs, thigh rubs, calf rubs, and scalp massage
906) small, out of the way galleries
907) brioche
908) making whipped cream from scratch, and using it to top the strawberries that are on top of the still warm shortcake you just made
909) caterpillars
910) saving room for dessert
911) seeing something for the first time that you've only ever read about
912) spelunking
913) carving pumpkins, roasting the seeds, making pumpkin soup
914) a large space lit with nothing but a wild assortment of candles
915) fabulous bookmarks of leather or silk or handmade paper or metal
916) the principle of the siphon
917) ice carvings
918) tin ceilings
919) kaleidoscopes
920) getting a head freeze from eating ice cream or drinking a milkshake too fast
921) pez
922) riding in the car while going through a car wash
923) the burma shave poems
924) walking to the corner market on a warm day
925) secret hiding places
926) certain bronx cheers
927) when a poem makes it so that you can never look at something as everyday as a plum without being reminded of the poem
928) finding used rolls of film that have never been developed, and getting them developed
929) when something literally takes your breath away with its sudden beauty
930) mobiles
931) postcards, picture or otherwise, sending or getting
932) patois
933) glossolalia, echolalia, and aphasia
934) haunting melodies
935) glee
936) knock-knock jokes
937) the fact that one can never really have too many pillows
938) when you look around and every single book case you own is not only overflowing, but the stacks of books on the floor beside and in front of it are starting to topple from their excessive height
939) hot soft giant pretzels with salt and mustard
940) flocked wallpaper
941) making silly hand shadows on the wall
942) paying off an old debt
943) leaning back and basking in the warmth of the sun
944) the iridescent backs of scarab beetles
945) sharing a burden with someone who can turn a burden into something much lighter
946) globes
947) fresh mint, fresh basil, fresh chives, fresh cilantro
948) being the first one awake and outside after a huge overnight snowfall
949) walking slowly, together, under one umbrella, through the rain
950) the scent of certain pipe tobaccos
951) porch swings
952) the feeling of being inspired
953) beets
954) listening to your mother tell a story you've never heard and don't remember, about you when you were a child
955) making all the lights on your way home
956) making slow, steady progress
957) sanding something smooth
958) slowing down and waiting for someone else to catch up
959) gumbo
960) filigree
961) fractals
962) fixing something someone thought was broken beyond repair
963) waking up gently from a much needed nap
964) the amusement park ride that is a cylinder that spins faster and faster and then the floor drops away and you stick to the sides without falling
965) perfume bottles
966) three-day weekends
967) four-day weekends
968) chipmunks
969) magnificent decanters
970) handmade felt
971) Malapropisms, Spoonerisms, and Freudian slips
972) yo-yos
973) eclipses
974) cartwheels and round-offs and handsprings
975) those rare moments when absolutely every possible bit of laundry is done
976) celtic knots
977) trampolines
978) moss, lichen and algae
979) bandanas
980) shoe horns, bull horns, fog horns, musical car horns, and pumping your arm in the air at a passing semi to get the driver to blow their air horn
981) daisies
982) cookies with fortunes inside, cakes with golden rings inside
983) wild berries
984) postulating that the sense are: sight, sound, scent, taste, touch, and words
985) the willingness to stand beside something and say, "I made this"
986) knowing someone who, instead of making you feel weak, makes you feel strong for saying that you need them
987) being able to be alone for precisely how long you want to be, and not a moment longer or shorter
988) being so close you can taste it
989) self-referential statements
990) feeling content because you are within the sound of another's voice
991) rubbing the sleep from your eyes
992) making books
993) writing words to someone you love
994) the sublime realization that you will never, ever, be really completely finished saying all the things you want to say
995) finishing a large project in the morning, so that you have all day to savor its completion
996) when being in another person's presence makes you feel like a cat in a sunbeam
997) feeling fully ready and prepared to face the day
998) closing your eyes to think and being presented with the answer
999) when you catch yourself moving your fingers as you try to remember the way something feels
1000) floating in love
1001) the smell of cotton candy being spun
1002) overhearing someone else make a speako
1003) the alphabet
1004) tacking on enough extra to thwart the freaks whose powers of retention locate a duplication in the list