tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post2094822468439485063..comments2023-12-16T23:54:45.620+13:00Comments on . . . All Finite Things Reveal Infinitude . . . : Tuesday Poem - Getting to know you, VeniceClaire Beynonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00005365677016923903noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-81273567181279138502010-12-17T08:04:58.488+13:002010-12-17T08:04:58.488+13:00Dear Marylinn - you have a beautiful gift for synt...Dear Marylinn - you have a beautiful gift for synthesis. . . we are indeed held between the teeth of so many things; not least our fears? How much more becomes possible when the jaw of those (imaginary) restraints relaxes and we give ourselves permission to tumble into cartwheels and forward-rolls; and sometimes on and up to the trapeze high-wire? Where ever we end up - whether burrowing beneath the ground or on the back of an albatross - is important. The view from one can't help but enhance the other?<br /><br />I'm ever so happy to be traveling with you, too. <br />xoClaire Beynonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00005365677016923903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-24735700690422625312010-12-16T05:06:45.384+13:002010-12-16T05:06:45.384+13:00The surreal, certainly non-ordinary literary exper...The surreal, certainly non-ordinary literary experiences you described are the Venice of my mind. The process, as best I know it, is the unconsciously intentional disengaging of gears that carry us forward at a predictable pace. When those teeth no longer interlock, all is free-wheeling and possible. I so love traveling with you.Marylinn Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02759437467691163658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-18329157381181038482010-12-11T08:33:34.280+13:002010-12-11T08:33:34.280+13:00Gordon - all thanks to Annie then! I have added yo...Gordon - all thanks to Annie then! I have added your site to my blog roll. . . am enjoying Thunnerplump (so many great first lines - 'A grouch of eyebrows', 'Like the paper birch, my heart/ has cast its bark.' ) I am curious about the title. . . the word 'thunnerplump.' Google reveals nothing about its origins or meaning. Would you you give us a hint, please?! <br /><br />The Red Ceiling press is a rather wonderful initiative, too. <br /><br />Have a great weekend. ClaireClaire Beynonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00005365677016923903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-13585202012928591942010-12-11T08:23:12.518+13:002010-12-11T08:23:12.518+13:00Hello Zarrin, poet from Ireland - welcome to '...Hello Zarrin, poet from Ireland - welcome to '... All finite things reveal infinitude... ' I am glad that you have come. Thank you for your comments on this 'Venice' poem. You might enjoy visiting our Tuesday Poem communal site - www.tuesdaypoem.blogspot.com<br />All the best with your writing. ClaireClaire Beynonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00005365677016923903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-62941509595807978012010-12-11T08:03:25.241+13:002010-12-11T08:03:25.241+13:00Claire - yes, I found you through Annie!Claire - yes, I found you through Annie!Gordon Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11405099521661854141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-14349970432956534142010-12-11T07:58:37.002+13:002010-12-11T07:58:37.002+13:00Dear Gordon - welcome to this little corner of the...Dear Gordon - welcome to this little corner of the blogosphere. I'm glad you found your way here, too. I wonder if it was through Annie Kerr, where I found my first references to your poetry? I'm pleased to have discovered your blog and work, too, and look forward to reading more. All the best - and thanks for coming, ClaireClaire Beynonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00005365677016923903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-26054603266831439962010-12-11T07:19:04.012+13:002010-12-11T07:19:04.012+13:00Wow....that's an amazing poem.i'd love to ...Wow....that's an amazing poem.i'd love to be able to write like that someday:) I just started dabbling in poetry and look up to poets like you with an original,unique voice.<br />Will definitely drop back for moreCheekyZhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13026014983936626909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-83534793630738776692010-12-11T05:26:31.745+13:002010-12-11T05:26:31.745+13:00What great images and sounds brought out in your w...What great images and sounds brought out in your words. I'm glad I found your blog!Gordon Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11405099521661854141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-54538354193035999512010-12-10T10:31:07.792+13:002010-12-10T10:31:07.792+13:00Dear Pam - one of our life tasks is to learn to tr...Dear Pam - one of our life tasks is to learn to trust our internal navigation systems? We might not always feel ready, willing or prepared for certain parts of the journey, but by putting one foot in front of the other we find our way forward? And, too - the surprise of it - every so often we remember, or find, we have wings to unfurl, too. Some stretches require us to let go of the ground and fly - others, that we keep our feet in direct contact with compost and ground. Whatever the way, there's hardly a dull moment. (Perhaps our challenges can also be considered our privileges? They are certainly our places of learning.). L, C xxClaire Beynonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00005365677016923903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-32485686501075785142010-12-10T10:20:26.242+13:002010-12-10T10:20:26.242+13:00Dear Susan - hmm. I wonder about Venice and sadnes...Dear Susan - hmm. I wonder about Venice and sadness, fated-ness, too. It seems inevitable in some ways that it would be a crucible for 'everything and all sorts'. There's nothing half-hearted about it. Does it then follow that one should be warned before going there; Venice is not a city for the faint-hearted?! I don't know. Perhaps the same can be said of love and romance? We are required to have great measures of stamina, spontaneity, clear senses of creative boundaries and happy abandon. <br /><br />I digress . . . Love to you in Maine (one of my Dunedin friends is on her way to Maine for Christmas, lucky her! Her name is Jenny - she will love your lakes and mountains. Look out for her? ; )) C xoClaire Beynonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00005365677016923903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-71016903662799154232010-12-10T10:13:22.589+13:002010-12-10T10:13:22.589+13:00Dear T - 95 degrees F! Phew. (I had to do the con...Dear T - 95 degrees F! Phew. (I had to do the conversion - that's 35 degrees C.) It can be a sweltering, sticky place that's for sure. Did you write about your time there? I'm sure you did. . . perhaps you'll post a Venice vignette or poem, too, some time? Lovely to think of being your company over morning coffee, T. Thanks ; ). xoClaire Beynonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00005365677016923903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-47808048806813673012010-12-10T10:08:26.384+13:002010-12-10T10:08:26.384+13:00Hi Rachel - our experience of storms was similar,...Hi Rachel - our experience of storms was similar, yes. Like many fears (all fears?), when we meet them head on, they are less likely to fell us. We may be momentarily stopped in our tracks, all a-tremble, but as we move towards them, so our courage grows until we are able to hold them in the hand, turn them about, examine them, set them down, or place them in our pockets in a manageable shape and size. I am often struck by your staying power. L, C xoClaire Beynonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00005365677016923903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-8519653481457465642010-12-10T10:05:12.835+13:002010-12-10T10:05:12.835+13:00Elizabeth, thank you for your full response. I wou...Elizabeth, thank you for your full response. I would certainly encourage you to make the journey and when you do, to stay in the back streets, away from the crowds. You can stay in convents and monasteries where ancient arts such as illuminated manuscript painting and chanting are still being practiced exactly as they were centuries ago. It's a bit of a time warp, that's for sure - but then again, so much of Venice is like that. One stumbles upon decay and magnificence when most and least expected, so that one's eyes are constantly having to adjust to extremes of dark and light. It's not a place one can erase from memory - it seems to take up residence, and stay. ; )Claire Beynonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00005365677016923903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-54424613146484539582010-12-10T09:56:07.457+13:002010-12-10T09:56:07.457+13:00Hi Catherine - Thank you for this reference to Mi...Hi Catherine - Thank you for this reference to Michelle Lovric and her writing. I didn't know she'd written so extensively about Venice. Here's a link to her website for anyone who'd like to follow up.<br /><br />http://www.michellelovric.com<br /><br />It's a difficult place to write about, Venice - at least, I find it so. I always feel I'll fall short. I feel like that about Antarctica, too. How does one capture/communicate places that seem to be inhabited by an Elusive Other? Seems to me they require an altogether new language. . . but stubbornness keeps some of trying!Claire Beynonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00005365677016923903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-84056103236043198042010-12-08T17:44:32.786+13:002010-12-08T17:44:32.786+13:00Claire, under your wings too, such a precise navig...Claire, under your wings too, such a precise navigational instrument. That you could abandon yourself with such joy to the dark and in the storm, and find your way home (and love the journey...) pxPam Morrisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01422149903301168261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-67443249255638565512010-12-08T11:59:58.572+13:002010-12-08T11:59:58.572+13:00i am happy that you have conjured up visions of ve...i am happy that you have conjured up visions of venice for us, claire...of course your visions are as always so wondrous, so watery, so luminescent.<br /><br />i was there many years ago...and then again, in a february -- it was snowing (fairyworld) --not so many years ago, with matthew...my then husband. oh dear...is venice fated to be a place so beautiful that sadness insists on being a part of it?susan t. landryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12454487318141469849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-60213018931985349312010-12-08T05:46:54.390+13:002010-12-08T05:46:54.390+13:00Claire, glad to see here that you've included ...Claire, glad to see here that you've included in your Venice-song the "dead fish mix" and "dirt bins shimmer". It's certainly a city overflowing with both the extraordinary and the, uh, smelly. (I was there in 95 degree July).<br /><br />And "the quiet white whirr of pigeon's wings" stopped my breath for just a moment.<br /><br />This poem, and your commentary, was a perfect accompaniment to my morning coffee!T. https://www.blogger.com/profile/16509409207991963533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-63508928647032755362010-12-08T04:27:33.303+13:002010-12-08T04:27:33.303+13:00Something happen to me last week as well - to meet...Something happen to me last week as well - to meet a storm, to be a part of it. It's crazy isn't it? To be drawn so strongly to something. I was terrified of the storm at first, the wind was of another world, but I had to be a part of it, no matter how crazy it made me "seem"<br />I'll never forget it.RachelVBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10312736736551027564noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-65448210417764822032010-12-07T20:08:09.313+13:002010-12-07T20:08:09.313+13:00Wow! I read your poem and your description of your...Wow! I read your poem and your description of your Venice experience with bated breath, Claire. I have yet to visit Venice, but you have truly created a seed of longing! I love the defiance of the lines, 'I imagine it might be possible to attempt the impossible here'. It drives your poem and the narrative of your experience. Stunning!Elizabeth Welshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15420253723750754324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-68975780738231103042010-12-07T18:26:30.793+13:002010-12-07T18:26:30.793+13:00Your poem is very evocative. Another author who wr...Your poem is very evocative. Another author who writes wonderful prose about Venice is Michelle Lovric - who I first encountered through Sarah Salway's blog.Catherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08236329216260906624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-26856863107614946012010-12-07T18:04:45.333+13:002010-12-07T18:04:45.333+13:00Hi John - thanks for reminding me of Stendhal Synd...Hi John - thanks for reminding me of Stendhal Syndrome; I haven't thought if it for ages. Wikipedia's definition is rather amusing, I thought - <br /><br />"Stendhal syndrome, Stendhal's syndrome, hyperkulturemia, or Florence syndrome is a psychosomatic illness that causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to art, usually when the art is particularly beautiful or a large amount of art is in a single place. The term can also be used to describe a similar reaction to a surfeit of choice in other circumstances, e.g. when confronted with immense beauty in the natural world. . . " <br /><br />I think this might be something I've experienced in Antarctica! Imagine a young Venetian pigeon, off on his/her first flight across the city, catching a glimpse of St. Mark's mosaic floor from a dizzy height - or seeing one small corner of Tintoretto's Last Supper through an open window,and then plummeting to the ground with awe. <br /><br />Italo Calvino was certainly something - 'If on a winter's night a traveler. . . ' Oh, and 'Under the Jaguar Sun' which he never completed; his essay on the nose still open-ended, as if waiting for some new scent to rise up and nudge the story to a close. <br /><br />Thanks for your comments, John.Claire Beynonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00005365677016923903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-50094539009578021982010-12-07T17:54:47.364+13:002010-12-07T17:54:47.364+13:00Hello Lyn - welcome, and thank you for coming. I h...Hello Lyn - welcome, and thank you for coming. I have enjoyed visiting your site; am so glad you found your way here.Claire Beynonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00005365677016923903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-28594333850598677752010-12-07T17:53:26.709+13:002010-12-07T17:53:26.709+13:00Dear Helen, together we create a composite, our di...Dear Helen, together we create a composite, our different impressions and experiences like parts of a puzzle waiting - and happy - to be placed on the table together. Thanks for your comments. Long may the queen of the Adriatic live, and in as many different ways as there are people who visit her!Claire Beynonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00005365677016923903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-6748045377161634522010-12-07T17:49:56.054+13:002010-12-07T17:49:56.054+13:00Dear Maggie - your experience of Venice sounds eve...Dear Maggie - your experience of Venice sounds every bit as memorable as mine! It's a place of incongruities, that's for sure - a no-holds-barred expression of the sacred and profane, the mundane and profound,grubbiness and shimmer. I loved every bit of it; ah, the mirage city ; ).Claire Beynonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00005365677016923903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5100640878581081403.post-22057301811721717952010-12-07T14:22:12.266+13:002010-12-07T14:22:12.266+13:00And the birds never suffer from Stendhal Syndrome!...And the birds never suffer from Stendhal Syndrome!<br /><br />A wonderfully evocative poem. Calvino was really something. I love that book and of course <i>Six Memos ...</i> and all of them right back to Borges.LentenStuffehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03185396264367723474noreply@blogger.com