Friday, January 25, 2008
Poem by Wallace Stevens
It was when I said,
“There is no such thing as the truth,”
That the grapes seemed fatter.
The fox ran out of his hole.
You….You said,
“There are many truths,
But they are not parts of a truth.”
Then the tree, at night, began to change,
Smoking through green and smoking blue.
We were two figures in a wood.
We said we stood alone.
It was when I said,
“Words are not forms of a single word.
In the sum of the parts, there are only the parts.
The world must be measured by eye.”
It was when you said,
“The idols have seen lots of poverty,
Snakes and gold and lice,
But not the truth;”
It was at that time, that the silence was largest,
And longest, the night was roundest.
The fragrance of the autumn warmest,
Closest, and strongest.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
lyrics
Kingston Advice
(The Clash)
In these days you can get no rice
No razor blades but you can get knife
In these days see the people run
They have no food but the boy have gun
In these days they don't throw the stone
Nor use the voice they use the gun alone
In these days to be an oddity
Be hunted down like a scarcity
In these days don't beg for life
Wanna take Kingston advice?
Oh please don't beg for your life
In these days the beat is militant
Must be a clash there's no alternative
In these days nations are militant
We have slavery under government
In these days in the firmament
I look for signs that are permanent
In these days with no love to give
The world will turn with no one left to live
In these days I don't know what to do
The more I see the more I'm destitute
In these days I don't know what to sing
The more I know the less my tune can swing
In these days you can get no rice
No razor blades but you can get knife
In these days see the people run
They have no food but the boy have gun
Monday, January 21, 2008
Poem
in the cloudless,
powder-blue air,
found through
an open window,
lock or no lock,
the dream of reality
slaps like glass
or the reality of a dream.
If you need
a helpful hand
to turn the latch
to your own forgiveness
or the next day,
reach for my metallic hand
shaped like a key
or stevedore knot
or my palm-shaped heart.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Poem by Wallace Stevens
The wild warblers are warbling in the jungle
Of life and spring of the lustrous inundations,
Flood on flood, of our returning sun.
Day after day, throughout the winter,
We hardened ourselves to live by bluest reason
In a world of wind and frost,
And by will, unshaken and florid
In mornings of angular ice,
That passed beyond us through the narrow sky.
But what are radiant reason and radiant will
To warblings early in the hilarious trees
Of summer, the drunken mother?
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Poem
Where is Lancelot?
“There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose
your heart's desire. The other is to gain it.”
-- George Bernard Shaw
Out of the silent kingdom
the gyrfalcon soars
from the killing field,
over the allure and polished
stone walls, bleached castle towers
and merlons above the oak gates,
beyond the keep and stagnant
green moat to the dense forest,
furrowed fields and gnarled thickets
surrounding the low-lying,
copper-colored pasture
of wild barley and rye
near the Huntsman’s cabin
and rock riddled river bed where
Sir Lancelot fucks
Guinevere while thoughts
of taxes and knights at war
eat the last desire of the circular King.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Ctesibius of Alexandria
CTESIBIUS OF ALEXANDRIA (fl. 285-222 BC)
Life
Even though his work has not been fully studied, it is obvious that as an inventor and mathematician Ctesibius was second only to Archimedes in the world of ancient Greece. His work on the elasticity of air was extremely important, earning him the title of father of pneumatics, for the first treatises on the science of compressed air and its uses are his. Like all his other works, however, his "On pneumatics" has not survived. His "Memorabilia", a single compilation of his research, cited by Athenaeus, is also lost
Ctesibius is considered the founder of the Alexandrian school of mathematics and engineering, and was probably the first head of the Museum of Alexandria. Unfortunately, very little is known of his life and work, beyond the fact that he was the son of a barber from Aspondia, a suburb of Alexandria, and lived from about 285-222 BC.
Work
In his study "On pneumatics", he proved that air is a material substance; and he devised many mechanisms operated by compressed air, beginning with a system of adjustable mirrors in his father's barber shop. He invented the piston pump, the pressure pump and the double siphon; he perfected and multiplied the uses of the water clock in many different contexts; and he devised numerous types of catapults and other engines of war, many of which have been preserved. He also constructed mechanical figures operated by ratchet gears which he used to ornament his water clocks.
Ctesibius is best known for three major inventions:
a) the suction pump,
b) the water clock, and
c) the hydraulis, a musical instrument (the ancestor of the pipe organ), of which a single fine carved specimen has been discovered.
The suction pump is still in use today in various forms, chiefly in fire engines. Vitruvius tells us that the water clock was famous in its day, while the hydraulis was an extremely important discovery in the history of civilisation.
Modern experts have called Ctesibius the "Edison of the Alexandrian School". His other inventions include:
- Cannons operated by compressed air
- A hydraulic hoist, capable of raising very heavy weights
- A water clock, described by Athenaeus. It had a metal canister with a hole in the bottom, and a cylindrical base in which the water collected. The flow was precisely controlled by stopcocks, and the level of the water indicated the hour, which was read off a graduated scale on the outside of the vessel. The walls of the base were transparent, according to Galen, so the water level could be monitored. Vitruvius records that a cork disc floated above the base of the canister, and was connected with the system of gears, which moved slowly as the volume and therefore the pressure of water dropped.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
lyrics
by The Moldy Peaches
You're a part time lover and a full time friend
The monkey on you're back is the latest trend
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you
I kiss you on the brain in the shadow of a train
I kiss you all starry eyed, my body's swinging from side to side
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you
Here is the church and here is the steeple
We sure are cute for two ugly people
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you
The pebbles forgive me, the trees forgive me
So why can't, you forgive me?
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you
I will find my nitch in your car
With my mp3 dvd rumple-packed guitar
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you
Du du du du du du dudu
Du du du du du du dudu
Du du du du du du dudu du
Up up down down left right left right b a start
Just because we use cheats doesn't mean we're not smart
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you
You are always trying to keep it real
I'm in love with how you feel
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you
We both have shiny happy fits of rage
You want more fans, i want more stage
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you
Don quixote was a steel driving man
My name is adam i'm your biggest fan
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you
Squinched up your face and did a dance
You shook a little turd out of the bottom of your pants
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you
Du du du du du du dudu
Du du du du du du dudu
Du du du du du du dudu du
But you
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
lyrics
Shanghai Sky by Joe Jackson
How the world got so small
I turned around and there was nowhere left to go
So sad
The dream always dies
Each new arrival closes places in my mind
But I can dream
Until I go
Of smells that I dont recognize
And by the river
In shanghai
The colour of the sky
Is something Ive never seen
After the summer rain
Children smile
Curious and kind
And the world is big again
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Poem
C Moon
As rain falls on the wolf,
a baby cries
as if no air to breathe.
The crescent moon
scratches the starless sky,
screeches, manicure and chalkboard
screams in my head
and in the Bavarian forest
of my heart: limitless,
echoing deep, deep inside of me,
a hollow, metallic drum
where wolves and bears smile
holding a gun, shiny drool
in the caged, pagan moonlight.
Rain falls from the point
of the “C” of the moon
and you whisper, ‘C’est
la vie. L'amour va conquérir
quoi que ce sois.’ Is this
something that I can understand?
No air to breathe in the rainfall.
A wolf spies. A baby cries.
The moon beats a cadence
until the animals of the night
can dance no more. Pagan
eyes color the fire, birds, leaves,
smoke, clouds, hidden stars, sun.
The heart beats a cadence
until the animals of the night
can dance no more. Rain
falls. A baby cries. No air
to breathe. Could these be signs
that we should understand?
A wolf observes.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Poem....Domination of Black by Wallace Stevens
At night, by the fire,
The colors of the bushes
And of the fallen leaves,
Repeating themselves,
Turned in the room,
Like the leaves themselves
Turning in the wind.
Yes: but the color of the heavy hemlocks
Came striding.
And I remembered the cry of the peacocks.
The colors of their tails
Were like the leaves themselves
Turning in the wind,
In the twilight wind.
They swept over the room,
Just as they flew from the boughs of the hemlocks
Down to the ground.
I heard them cry -- the peacocks.
Was it a cry against the twilight
Or against the leaves themselves
Turning in the wind,
Turning as the flames
Turned in the fire,
Turning as the tails of the peacocks
Turned in the loud fire,
Loud as the hemlocks
Full of the cry of the peacocks?
Or was it a cry against the hemlocks?
Out of the window,
I saw how the planets gathered
Like the leaves themselves
Turning in the wind.
I saw how the night came,
Came striding like the color of the heavy hemlocks
I felt afraid.
And I remembered the cry of the peacocks.
Poem....Lovers on Aran by Seamus Heaney
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