Kristin is Getting Married
I am leaving in the morning for a wedding. The first one I've been to in years.
The bride and groom are from here (Calgary) and away (Norway) and as my wandering life would have it I'm a friend of the Norwegian and met her through work I did there.
She is the kind of woman who carries a champagne whip in her luggage and will meet you in Barcelona for the weekend with a few days notice.
She has seen her share of trouble and heartbreak enough for a lifetime. But she is brave and optimistic and radiates possibility, letting herself be swept away by love, from home and all that is familiar, to a new life here in Canada.
This poem, by Norwegian poet Olav H. Hauge is for Kristin and her new husband Kary, in honour of their marriage.
It’s the dream we carry in secret
that something miraculous will happen,
that it must happen –
that time will open
that the heart will open
that doors will open
that the rockface will open
that spring will gush –
that the dream will open,
that one morning we will glide into
some little harbour we didn’t know was there.
Three morals in this story:
1. We carry a dream in secret that something miraculous will happen.
2. Sometimes it does.
3. But it asks you to let go of your familiar shores, and let yourself be carried away.
Yours with creativity and imagination,
Darlene
Darlene Chrissley on 07.21.10 @ 07:58 PM EDT [link] [Add a Comment]
I Have a New Appreciation for the Shade
I have a new appreciation for the shade
A long tall drink of water
Sitting on the front step after supper
Sucking a popsicle
The shock of a cold shower
The sweat between my shoulder blades
The breeze of an oscillating fan
Passing back and forth across my body
As I try to sleep
This re-acquaintance with
The sensuality of summer
Is a pleasure I would have gladly foregone
But the breakdown of my air conditioner
Left me with little choice
But to surrender
Or to suffer
What the season had to offer
And that’s not much of a choice at all.
Three morals in this story,
1. The summer is a season of sensual delights.
2. But we turn our backs on them for the comfort of a carefully controlled and calibrated climate.
3. To surrender or to suffer, it's a surprisingly difficult choice.
Yours with creativity and imagination,
Darlene
p.s. the installation of my new central air conditioner makes it tolerable to write this post at my desk.
Darlene Chrissley on 07.21.10 @ 07:28 PM EDT [link] [Add a Comment]
Happiness is an Empty Headed State
My inner critic is having a field day. She is raking me over the coals. Just now she had a few unkind words about the cliches I just used. You should hear her when I venture an original thought.
All this activity is surprising when I consider that I've been making solid progress on all fronts, with work, family, friends, creative projects and personal organization. Perhaps she wants to hold me back.
What I know for sure is she makes me unhappy. And then she blames me for that.
Three morals in this story:
1. My mind takes a nasty turn sometimes.
2. She runs me around in circles, and ties us both up in knots.
3. Happiness is an empty headed state. One moment of mindless bliss.
Yours with creativity and imagination,
Darlene
Darlene Chrissley on 07.14.10 @ 12:22 AM EDT [link] [Add a Comment]
On Offer Now
This week a lineup of amazing speakers, performers and attendees are gathering at TED Global in Oxford, England and I would give my left arm to be there. Fortunately it will all show up on TED.com eventually so I will patiently wait while surfing the archives for TED talks past.
Equally exciting is poet David Whyte's two weeks of hiking, traditional music, storytelling and poetry on the remote west coast of Ireland. It's what Steven Spielberg is doing this summer. It's what I've been wanting to do for years.
My friend, comedian Shelley Marshall, is opening for Puppetry of the Penis in New York city. I'm sure that's a sight to be seen.
And I wonder with all this on offer, what on earth am I still doing here?
Three morals in this story,
1. TED is a summer camp for geniuses.
2. You can make a good living from poetry.
3. Laughter is good for the soul.
Yours with creativity and imagination,
Darlene
Darlene Chrissley on 07.14.10 @ 12:10 AM EDT [link] [Add a Comment]
A Desperate Offendress Against Nature
I am melting like the Wicked Witch of the West. There's enough hot air in the house to take me half way to Kansas if I could only lay my hands on a balloon.
My air conditioner is blowing about 30/110 psi which is not a good thing. Apparently it's leaking coolant which is a dangerous thing. Estimates are $1,200 plus to fix it which is a ridiculous thing. The machine is ten years old and may not be worth fixing which has me all confused.
What is the wise thing to do?
Wisdom: the ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting; common sense; good judgment; a wise outlook, plan, or course of action. (Free Dictionary)
Wisdom: a woman; a feminine aspect of god (Jewish/Islamic/Christian tradition)
"It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things," says Henry David Thoreau.
She is "a desperate offendress against nature," counters Shakespeare. But he's talking about someone else.
Three morals in this story:
1. Wisdom is a woman of judgement.
2. She doesn't do desperate things.
3. Sometimes it's hard to know the right thing to do.
Yours with creativity and imagination,
Darlene
Darlene Chrissley on 07.13.10 @ 06:56 PM EDT [link] [Add a Comment]
Poetry is Like Housework
Once, on an artist's webpage, I saw a set of poetry pyjamas, very whimsical and cool. This morning I went looking for them again, but without success. What I found instead was this poem on a site called Kusma Pyjamas.
i am reminding myself that even though there are those who want to convince me that writing is not work, that poetry is not work, that art is not work. and that ‘real work’ ‘meaningful work’ would be me being a better mother or a better wife or a better wage slave—i am reminding myself that poetry and art and music are not just ‘hobbies’ or ‘artistic pursuits’ that you should only engage in once the ‘real work’ is done. but that poetry is not a luxury. poetry is housework. poetry is one of the keys to our survival.
Today my friend Kim is out there somewhere posting her poems on trees, along walking trails, at bus stops, to feed the souls of the people passing by. And I am off to work.
Three morals in this story:
1. There are those who want to convince us that poetry is not work.
2. We have been debating the nature of reality for thousands of years, but it is still an open question.
3. Today someone is scattering poems like breadcrumbs along the floor of the Dundas Valley.
Yours with creativity and imagination,
Darlene
Darlene Chrissley on 07.08.10 @ 08:44 AM EDT [link] [2 Comments]
I am excessively diverted.
"I am excessively diverted."
That's what Elizabeth Bennet said in Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice. She was diverted by the report of a forthcoming marriage proposal. I am diverted, on a daily basis, by almost anything at all.
Divert as defined in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary:
1. to turn from one course or use to another
2. to give pleasure to especially by distracting the attention from what burdens or distresses
"I am excessively diverted."
Three morals in this story:
1. Jane Austen lives in my head and my language is richer for it.
2. We are easily diverted from our chosen course.
3. But diverted is such a pleasurable thing to be.
Yours with creativity and imagination,
Darlene
Darlene Chrissley on 06.06.10 @ 06:34 PM EDT [link] [Add a Comment]
Identity, and other works in progress
Even a small museum is a treasure trove to those that wander through it. The McMaster Museum of Art is just around the corner from me so I wander there quite often.
Today I found an Oil Cloth Lunch, and other reasons to be cheerful, as reported in an earlier post. But that was only a scratching of what was on offer.
The upstairs exhibit was a reinterpretation of iconic Canadian paintings, demonstrating "the nation-form as a work in progress". The introduction was a quote by French Marxist philosopher Etienne Balibar: "All identity is individual, but there is no individual identity that is not constructed with a field of social values, norms of behaviour and collected symbols."
I entered the museum on the way home from work, our corporate identity on my mind, so I read Balibar's quote in that context. I think it holds true for identity on every level, personal, corporate or national. Our story is always in the process of unfolding. Our identity always a work in progress. To hold on to any self concept too tightly, is a futile thing. And a predictable source of misery whenever it is attempted.
Three morals in this story:
1. Our identity is always a work in progress.
2. We construct our sense of self from a field of social values, norms of behaviour and collected symbols.
3. I am. And even that reality is subject to change.
Yours with creativity and imagination,
Darlene
Darlene Chrissley on 06.01.10 @ 05:39 PM EDT [link] [Add a Comment]
Oil Cloth Lunch, and other reasons to be cheerful
I walked by the McMaster Museum of Art on the way home from work today. The sign outside said "Oil Cloth Lunch, and other reasons to be cheerful" so I went in to take a look. Turns out sign refers to a painting by Tony Scherman and a song title by Ian Dury and the Blockheads.
The exhibit was fine and it got me thinking about cheerful, riffing on the theme as I do.
Cheerful: having a happy disposition; in good spirits; pleasantly bright; gladdening; hearty; ungrudging; enthusiastic.
I was cheerful yesterday, wearing a brand new dress in bird of paradise colours. I felt like my own little ray of sunshine, lighting up the hallway as I walked.
Cheerful is a fine Canadian thing to be. The Order of Good Cheer was founded by Samuel de Champlain in 1606 to raise the spirits of his men, cut off from all contact with the larger world and suffering from disease and the harsh Canadian climate. He says:
"We spent this winter very joyously and of good times, due to the L'Odre de l Bon Temps that I established here, which each person finds useful for their health and more beneficial than any sort of medicine that we could have used. The Order was presented as a Chain of office that we placed with some small ceremony, at the neck of one of our people, charging him that day with going hunting; the next day we gave it to another and thus consequently: all who wished to try would do their best and bring the most beautiful hunt: We don't find it half bad , as well as the Indians who were with us" Voyages of Champlain: 1613
The Blockheads list of reasons to be cheerful is both odd and extensive. None of my reasons could begin to compare. So I will leave you with the lyrics of the song, and the morals of the day.
Reasons to be Cheerful
Summer, Buddy Holly, the working folly
Good golly Miss Molly and boats
Hammersmith Palais, the Bolshoi Ballet
Jump back in the alley and nanny goats
18-wheeler Scammels, Domenecker camels
All other mammals plus equal votes
Seeing Piccadilly, Fanny Smith and Willy
Being rather silly, and porridge oats
A bit of grin and bear it, a bit of come and share it
You're welcome, we can spare it - yellow socks
Too short to be haughty, too nutty to be naughty
Going on 40 - no electric shocks
The juice of the carrot, the smile of the parrot
A little drop of claret - anything that rocks
Elvis and Scotty, days when I ain't spotty,
Sitting on the potty - curing smallpox
Health service glasses
Gigolos and brasses
round or skinny bottoms
Take your mum to paris
lighting up the chalice
wee willy harris
Bantu Stephen Biko, listening to Rico
Harpo, Groucho, Chico
Cheddar cheese and pickle, the Vincent motorsickle
Slap and tickle
Woody Allen, Dali, Dimitri and Pasquale
balabalabala and Volare
Something nice to study, phoning up a buddy
Being in my nuddy
Saying hokey-dokey, singalonga Smokey
Coming out of chokey
John Coltrane's soprano, Adi Celentano
Bonar Colleano
Reasons to be cheerful...
Three morals in this story:
1. Cheerful is the generous thing to be.
2. It is more useful than medicine to relieve suffering.
3. If you are lacking in reasons to be cheerful, do I have the song for you.
Yours with creativity and imagination,
Darlene
Darlene Chrissley on 06.01.10 @ 05:17 PM EDT [link] [Add a Comment]
Nine to Twelve Feet Long!
Years ago I completed the strengths finder profile by the people at Gallup. At the top of my list was the strength of INPUT. Here is the description that followed.
"You are inquisitive. You collect things. You might collect information -- words, facts, books, and quotations -- or you might collect tangible objects such as butterflies, baseball cards, porcelain dolls, or sepia photographs. Whatever you collect, you collect it because it interests you. And yours is the kind of mind that finds so many things interesting. The world is exciting precisely because of its infinite variety and complexity."
I think they hit the nail on the head with this one. My desk, drawers and disk drives overflow with words, facts, books, quotations, photographs, and impressions I have collected around the world. They're a continual source of inspiration, insight and amusement to me and ensure that I'm never bored.
This morning I picked up Natalie Goldberg's book Wild Mind from my collection and took it into the jacuzzi with me. Here's the piece that stood out for me.
"After I finished the novel, I flew to La Paz, Mexico, and got on a boat for a week to follow the blue whales. They are the biggest animals that ever lived. Their hearts are the size of a Volkswagen bug. They weigh a hundred tons. An average elephant weights six tons. Their penises are nine to twelve feet long.
After the marine biologist gave a lecture one night on the boat, I was quiet and then raised my hand. "You mean, they swim all their lives?" I said in wonder. People around me laughed. I asked such an obvious question. They didn't understand that I wanted to intuit the dream, called life, of a whale."
Natalie preaches the gospel of detail in writing. Her description of the whale is classic Goldberg. She begins with the very specific details of the blue whale and uses these details to evoke the universal human longing for oneness and connection. She does this by sharing her personal quest as a writer, to capture the ineffable in words strong enough to evoke the essence of the original moment when they are read.
I felt what she felt when I read what she had written. But what sticks in my memory is the measurement. Nine feet to twelve feet. That just blows my mind.
Three morals in this story:
1. The world is exciting precisely because of its infinite variety and complexity.
2. In order to make a real connection, you have to pay attention to the details that make the other unique.
3. Like the blue whale, we swim all our lives.
Yours with creativity and imagination,
Darlene
p.s. Strengths Finder www.strengthsfinder.com
Darlene Chrissley on 05.30.10 @ 12:25 PM EDT [link] [1 Comment]