tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6432201290620111119.post5050666778091094688..comments2023-11-02T15:27:57.223+00:00Comments on Reading the Signs: The Beach Less TravelledReading the Signshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06338983880105866139noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6432201290620111119.post-89203735505632378512007-04-26T09:36:00.000+00:002007-04-26T09:36:00.000+00:00I'm copying that thing you do, you see, ms m.The p...I'm copying that thing you do, you see, <B>ms m</B>.<BR/><BR/>The poem you posted on yours has now come to mind, <B>goodthomas</B>.Reading the Signshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06338983880105866139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6432201290620111119.post-43432612301606621492007-04-26T01:18:00.000+00:002007-04-26T01:18:00.000+00:00I must admit, Signs, I have held that phrase close...I must admit, Signs, I have held that phrase close as an actor, as an artist, as a writer, as a father, as a husband, as a very silly human.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6432201290620111119.post-34946066643251876942007-04-25T23:19:00.000+00:002007-04-25T23:19:00.000+00:00Hey Signs, you got the HTML sussed!Hey <B>Signs</B>, you got the HTML sussed!Ms Melancholyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03348356658378052119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6432201290620111119.post-83167071877925855982007-04-25T22:33:00.000+00:002007-04-25T22:33:00.000+00:00I agree, gt, and think that the phrase could also ...I agree, gt, and think that the phrase could also suggest a way of working creatively that involves being true to what the story/poem requires, rather than imposing an agenda.Reading the Signshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06338983880105866139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6432201290620111119.post-79735638546302005052007-04-25T19:49:00.000+00:002007-04-25T19:49:00.000+00:00Actually, you have answered me perfectly. I would ...Actually, you have answered me perfectly. I would never venture to have you speak the unspeakable, so you "walking around the question" was perfect. You gave the perfect answer. <BR/><BR/>I read C.S. Lewis' <EM>Experiment in Criticism</EM>in college and was profoundly struck by the phrase, "receive the art." He was talking about art, from a critical standpoint, but, well, I won't bore you with any more than that. It is just an amazing phrase.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6432201290620111119.post-28666630253135648782007-04-25T15:27:00.000+00:002007-04-25T15:27:00.000+00:00Now you've got me thinking,goodthomas(just trying ...Now you've got me thinking,<B>goodthomas</B>(just trying bold again for luck), which is always a hit and miss thing for me to do. Thinks. If there were a word or a phrase, then it would not be a spoken thing and I would almost hesitate to name it in case it flew off. I have, come to think of it, sometimes pictured my 'muse' as a bird that came and perched on my shoulder. I would never turn and face it, but could feel and hear the beat of wings as it came, and I could "see" it clearly. I gave it a name too. I have a belief, I suppose, that words and names are powerful substance, and when harnessed to the imagination a kind of magic can happen. This can sound terribly precious but I also believe in the art and craft of writing (the discipline, study and practice) and the possibility of a schooling of the imagination. When I write poetry I'm particularly conscious of wanting to stand properly in my words, so "I" don't get in the way of them. This doesn't rule out things like irony, but it does mean I can't fall back on that as an easy way out - because it wouldn't be true to my style (and it goes without saying that I speak for myself only). <BR/><BR/>I haven't really answered you, but sometimes walking around a question can get nearer to the truth than a direct answer. <BR/><BR/>Your turn! Do you have a word, phrase or mantra to guide you?Reading the Signshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06338983880105866139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6432201290620111119.post-83272061314866417192007-04-25T13:48:00.000+00:002007-04-25T13:48:00.000+00:00Ah, the same film nmj was talking about. I will ha...Ah, the same film nmj was talking about. I will have to look out for it here. It sounds (and looks) very good and with you two recommending it, it has to be good.<BR/><BR/>You got the bold to work,eh? Great.<BR/><BR/>As a poet, is there a word or phrase (more than a mantra) that you especially like? To guide you? As something to hold onto?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6432201290620111119.post-18967508678572096052007-04-25T12:44:00.000+00:002007-04-25T12:44:00.000+00:00hi cusp - my mantra was quite small and neat. Fun...hi <B>cusp</B> - my mantra was quite small and neat. Funnily enough I still haven't told it to anyone. I keep it like a piece of jewellery you never wear in a box somewhere. <BR/><BR/>goodthomas? I'm trying the html as you said (didn't know the word had to be encased).Reading the Signshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06338983880105866139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6432201290620111119.post-25512599560655249342007-04-25T10:54:00.000+00:002007-04-25T10:54:00.000+00:00I love this tale about your initiation into medita...I love this tale about your initiation into meditation (or lack of it). It's told in a very filmic way I think: I can really see the pictures in my head; especially sitting on the beach. <BR/>I remember all this stuff too and the game of cat and mouse around trying to get others to reveal their given mantra. Always felt there was a kind of oneupmanship somehow: 'My mantra's longer than yours...' -- not quite the spirit.<BR/>OhmmmmmmmmmmmCusphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10717783581169397585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6432201290620111119.post-11270803212169127662007-04-25T02:53:00.000+00:002007-04-25T02:53:00.000+00:00I really like the stars!!(I just use the html code...I <B>really like</B> the stars!!<BR/><BR/>(I just use the html code of encasing the word you want to be bold with < B > and < /B > but with no spaces.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6432201290620111119.post-51060247714213797672007-04-24T23:56:00.000+00:002007-04-24T23:56:00.000+00:00I've put stars around names thinking it would make...I've put stars around names thinking it would make them bold. Someone tell me how to do that please - ms m?Reading the Signshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06338983880105866139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6432201290620111119.post-53519791351653651532007-04-24T23:51:00.000+00:002007-04-24T23:51:00.000+00:00Perhaps you're right, *Ms Pants*, I should lighten...Perhaps you're right, *Ms Pants*, I should lighten up a bit - would you just hold it up for me while I think about that?<BR/><BR/>ah, *ms melancholy*, it's all in a life's work, but it's good to be appreciated. <BR/>x<BR/><BR/>*goodthomas*, I am glad you have a sense of something being revealed. Certainly not planned, but stories have their own agendas, I think. <BR/><BR/>It was a very nice breakfast. <BR/><BR/>The film was a German one called The Lives of Others and it was wonderful - the best film I've seen in a long time. It was about life under the Stasi in the GDR, and about redemption, I'd say.<BR/><BR/>The mantra - um - none that I can identify.Reading the Signshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06338983880105866139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6432201290620111119.post-62525103942912618102007-04-24T20:51:00.000+00:002007-04-24T20:51:00.000+00:00Reading your words is what I imagine listening to ...Reading your words is what I imagine listening to you to be like. I know I have said this before, but I feel a sense of things unrolling, ideas being uncovered, being revealed. I like your stories a great deal.<BR/><BR/>And beside the smoke, this was a purely lovely sentence of goodness, "eating a very nice breakfast of bacon and eggs and drinking a mug of Assam tea, hot, with half a spoonful of sugar and smoking a Marlborough Menthol that I have been saving."<BR/><BR/>So, what happened at the cinema? And is it true you don't have a mantra nowadays?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6432201290620111119.post-16206961929426698592007-04-24T20:01:00.000+00:002007-04-24T20:01:00.000+00:00Yes, lovely post. I had a similar experience once ...Yes, lovely post. I had a similar experience once at a T'ai Chi class where we were all invited to share our spiritual experience of an exercise. I took the risk and shared that I had felt nothing at all. I felt quite foolish. I guess I can't feel it to order. I will thank you for holding up the sky. I am really very grateful xMs Melancholyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03348356658378052119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6432201290620111119.post-72914068329211544662007-04-24T17:00:00.000+00:002007-04-24T17:00:00.000+00:00Lovely post Signs. You can let go now by the way -...Lovely post Signs. You can let go now by the way - gravity's finally working again.Pantshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00712642194215828800noreply@blogger.com