SUSPECT CLAIMS,"SHE ASKED FOR IT!"Las Vegas police report taking a 911 call from a barely coherent local woman in fear for her virtue. She asserts a male acquaintance half way across the U.S. plied her with champagne administered through his iPhone. Police contacted Tree to obtain his version of events. "She's not inebriated, she's percolated and she asked me to do it!" When officers approached the woman in her home, she squealed, "Ooooh, I'm feeling so bubbly!"
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Of course, I'm playing! Come on, that last post about old-time religion was hard going. I needed a little light relief and Tree was good enough to oblige me this morning. If you haven't visited Tree at Decadent Tranquility, then you've missed out. His prose and poetry, his computer generated artwork are remarkable in every way. The visual candy is exquisite. And guess what? I don't know how he does fractals and percolations and I don't want to know how. I'm not going to do it. I just want to look at it. And have a little fun with it through his good graces this once. Be warned: you need to spend some time on his website. Don't miss the archives filled with three different ongoing fictional sagas. Women readers, he flirts, too!
But I'm not only going to be playful. I'd like to share something I've found. It's poetry. I'm quite poetry challenged, which has made me feel a little backward in the blogosphere, but I can learn. I'm a really good learner. I'm reading (for the 3rd time or so) a book called Desert Queen by Janet Wallach. It's a biography of Gertrude Bell, a British very Victorian woman, whose life was remarkable for all the things she did that Victorian women didn't do. Deadly serious Swiss Alp mountain-climbing for 15 hours in snow and avalanche comes to mind, attending Oxford when female students numbered 2 or 3, and speaking 7 languages. She was fascinated by all things Middle East and made many expeditions on horse and camel, attended by various Middle Eastern guides and no one else. Through mountains and deserts in brutal conditions packing canvas bathtub and full sets of china and crystal for dining, 1000s of miles. She is acknowledged to be a major figure in the creation of modern-day Iraq. (Not sure she'd brag that up today, but that's what she was.) So, it's a real Leslie kind of book: British, bio, female, desert. But what I discovered in the book this time was something else.
Gertrude's translations of the medieval Persian poet Hafiz (Hafez)'s works are still regarded as the best translations that exist. Apparently archaic Persian is a brutal language to master, some words and phrases having multiple meanings. Well, I like this poetry! Now, had you recommended to me the works of a medieval Persian poet, I'd have thought "Uh-uh" and run screaming. But this speaks to me in volumes!Maybe you already know about Hafiz (Hafez) if you're not new to poetry. And if you do, shame on you for never sharing! But it was a very new and pleasant experience for me. I recommended it to a poetry-loving woman friend who immediately went web-crawling and declared my find an excellent one. Hey! Smell me! I highly recommend the Gertrude Bell book, as well. TRW, your copy has been ordered and is coming by slow boat.
And so, reader, a little Turkish coffee and dessert?
From The Subject Tonight is Love
A Potted Plant
Run freely into the sky meadow.
If I whistled,
She would turn her head and look at me.
If I then waved my arms,
She would come back wagging a marvelous tail of stars . . .
Something that charmed me: My woman friend needed to work. She had a deadline to meet, a busy morning, a dental appointment."I can't e-mail you at length until later this evening." OK, understood. I've been there. I support healthy detachment. I sent off an e-mail with the information about the Gertrude Bell book and the poetry of Hafiz/Hafez. It would be waiting in her inbox whenever she decided she was ready to glance at e-mails. About 14 nanoseconds later, I was surprised to hear e-mail incoming announced. It was her. What the heezy? She'd opened my e-mail and she was off on a poetry-filled couple of hours. Have I mentioned she's a poetry-loving woman?
Ooh, you look tattooed in that Tree photo. It's cool. I'm glad you are admitting you like poetry. It's one of my passions. Hafez is very fanciful.
ReplyDelete@ Kass ~ Good evening (well, now it's the next morning) my sister insomniac. Yes, Hafiz is fanciful, which matches or trumps my trait of whimsical, I suppose. Did you know him before? I know you're a passionate poetry aficionada. I wonder how I missed it in life. No one pushed it at me. I didn't find it on my own until now. I felt sort of the dullard until now, as you extolled it. Now I just go look it up. I like it! But in truth, one man wrote poetry of/about/to me . . but I thought that was isolated/singular . . . now I do not think it was so . . .
ReplyDeleteRe:tattooed ~ my dearest, you are revealing the topic of one of my very next posts! But there is no tattooing on my face, believe me. Do you remember the altered face shot of yourself that finally brought me out of silent following/adoration? I was so in awe of your willingness to alter your FACE - that which represents YOU to the world. So far,those who appreciate me deeply MOSTLY appear ro adore me anonymously.
Leslie, I'd percolate you anytime. :-) Thanks for the wonderfully kind words.
ReplyDeletehafiz is wonderful, so is rumi. good to see you dipping yourself into the poetry pool. it gets deep quickly!
ReplyDeleteThis is new[s] to me (I think - though I never can remember what I have and haven't read) - I shall peruse my library catalogue...and I'll hop over to Trée's anon...thank you, Les!
ReplyDelete@ Tree ~ You are so welcome. Although you are younger than I, your blog is older than mine and was one of the very first I ever looked at or followed. I've learned much from you. I've been refilled and refreshed by some of your beautiful works. I thank you for perking me.
ReplyDelete@ rraine ~ I have found Rumi just a little more hard sailing than Hafiz, for some reason. My friend highly recommends Rumi as you do, so I will keep at it. It may grow on me.
ReplyDelete@ Rachel ~ Imagine people checking out something I recommended. I feel pretty cute! [Kidding] You'll enjoy Tree, Rae. Really.
ReplyDeleteI kind of like that idea of "moon as pet". It's something that's ever-changing, yet always constant.
ReplyDelete@ CC ~ I LOVED that "moon as pet" thing. In one of few areas of feeling/emotion/love/life, I am syrupy about my pets. Interesting, since I am not syrupy about my only child. I think of "pets" as having fewer gifts than I. Not as much of X (whatever). Lesser, even than I, who doesn't have all that much going on.
ReplyDeleteWe expect a rainstorm here this weekend, which stirs all kinds of things within me. There's a Lucinda Williams song: "I envy the moon . . . "
For some reason Blogger or the server here in the library won't let me comment on your last post.
ReplyDeleteI knew from as far back as I can remember that I had been baptized Catholic. That would be my only encounter with Catholiscism except for the Catholic school kids who lived in our neighborhood and were good friends through the summer and unseen the rest of the year. That brief brush though gave me a feeling of religious safety through my teens and into adulthood. It even lingers to this day. See I'm baptized and therefore safe from eternal damnation so you born agains; you take take your Baby Jesus and go off in the corner and worship how you will but leave me and mine the hell alone, m'kay?
But it also intitiated the search for meaning; that discussion that we so add to among our blogging circle. Those metaphysical musings that mean so much to me as I feel my body breaking down from the years of abuse I have put it through. At least I feel my soul is intact; I will credit AA for that going to meetings everyday for two years plus now approaching 15 years plus of sobriety.
I have yet to research this fellow Hafiz you mention though I believe I have read some gazals of his translated from the original Persian. I am a great admirer of those camel jockeys, living the nomadic desert lifestyle with a rich history of ancient Babylon passed down around campfires through an oral tradition where puns embedded in poetry were considered the best.
Now I join everyone else in the ramble and I will be sure to go back to Tree's site I haven't visited in a while.
Thanks Les, Good to you have you back.
@ Tag ~ Yessir, I've been referring to Blogger as "Booger" almost all week! Weird little tricks, some of which I haven't seen before.
ReplyDeleteI know how deeply you feel and foster your spiritual beliefs. It's part of what makes you so warm - your ability to express the joy you find in it. I'm still stunted, but I give myself some credit (I'm not being a smart ass here) because I try to think about it now. Daily. Give it some brain time. Hope that heart and soul time will follow. Remain open-minded. REMAIN? I should say, "Become open-minded." You know the reason that I shall soon need to be able to call on some form of higher power. I'm willing, but it does not come easily. Many wise folk have pointed out, "Les, you can pray to a lightbulb or a doorknob." Oh. Who knew? I feel safe to say spirituality isn't ever going to be the strongest essence of me. But I can find it and utilize it, sort of like I do my almost worthless and unused left hand.
Funny you remember seeing the Catholic kids during the summer and never again. I remember all those days off school in honor of this, that or the other saint. All it meant to me was no other kids around to play with, but spending the day with Granny, which who was better than a saint in my estimation.
I'm curious about something you aren't required to answer. 15 years sober, but 2 years AA. Were you a dry alcoholic or doing some other form of work? I ask for a reason. I know a little about it. I probably couldn't be successful that way.
I think you'll appreciate Hafiz for just the reason you state. You're going to relate to him through your gazal-colored glasses. You've surely got the idea of the tricks in the language!
I'll say it again - y'all welcome to ramble here. I like it! Now to go answer your e-mail. I'm glad you're here, Tag. I always have been.
There's an award for you over at my blog. If you don't want to participate, no biggie. Just wanted you to know you're a favorite.
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to post this.
@ Kass ~ Funny Sister Blogger, of course I'm going to post it. Id' seen it come up while I was working on my own post this morning, though I'd not looked at it in detail. I thank you for the flattery and promise I'll start thinking about my 7 items. Hey, who doesn't want awards? For ANYTHING? It kind of took me out of the arena of wrestling bear!
ReplyDelete