This tree can see the sea.
[daily log: walking, 4.5km; dogwalking, 3.5km; c111063062084s]
Month: April 2022
Caveat: Poem #2098 “Brain traffic”
ㅁ The dreams solve nothing. They pile up some fraught symbols and leave me anxious.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1190
This tree grew along a river.
You will note I neglected my “Friday Blogroll” today. I may end up doing every-other-Fridays or something – I don’t read that many new blogs each week such that I can keep adding to the list so consistently. I’ve been running out of new blogs to include that interest me.
[daily log: walking, 5km; dogwalking, 4.5km]
Caveat: Poem #2097 “Still too early, maybe”
ㅁ A few carrots sprout but the lettuce, radishes, prefer not growing.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1189
This tree had a notch cut in it 10 days ago, but only today did I complete my project to end its life.
I cut some of it into rounds for future burning.
I also went and planted some leeks in my greenhouse garden. Last time I planted leeks they didn’t do that well, but I had some seeds so I decided to try. So far the only thing growing well this year is some carrots.
[daily log: walking, 8km; dogwalking, 4km; c115057066084s]
Caveat: Poem #2096 “Find what?”
ㅁ If you can find it, in fact, then you will know how to act, to compensate what you lacked.
– an englyn milwr.
Caveat: Tree #1188
This tree endured grayness of sky.
[daily log: walking, 5km; retailing, 6hr; c107069052084s]
Caveat: Poem #2095 “A parable about lost astronauts”
ㅁ "Look!" they said. "This journey," they continued, "is impossible. The geometry's wrong, and the shape of space and time will soon lead all of us astray." They sat, shaking their heads, crestfallen.
– a reverse nonnet.
Caveat: Tree #1187
This tree (the young alder at the right) saw some forget-me-nots (Alaska’s state flower) begin to bloom in front of my greenhouse.
[daily log: walking, 5.5km; c106067068084s]
Caveat: Poem #2094 “A parable about found stones”
ㅁ Of course the stones were arreptitious, just existing in the present: a passing truck might raise up their weighty singing souls only a moment then flung sideways they'd lie down with weeds, lost.
– a nonnet.
Caveat: Tree #1186
This tree guarded the driveway to lot 73.
[daily log: walking, 3.5km; dogwalking, 4km; c117073056084s]
Caveat: 눈도 깜짝 안한다
I found this aphorism in my book of Korean aphorisms.
눈도 깜짝 안한다 nun.do kkam.jjak an.han.da eye-TOO blink NOT-do-PRES The eyes don't even blink.
This means a person doesn’t blink in the face of danger or surprise. Actually, the English expression is identical: “He didn’t even blink.”
My friend Seungbae, on reading some of this here blog, sent me an expression to include in my Korean expressions (which I’ve been doing weekly), but I didn’t include it this week because it’s been a bit hard for me to figure out. I need to do some more research. It’s not really an aphorism, more like a contemporary slang expression. Maybe next week.
Caveat: Poem #2093 “Instant day”
ㅁ Each morning leaps into place through a kind of dreamy space and a rigid, stony grace.
– an englyn milwr.
Caveat: Tree #1185
This tree realized it was raining.
[daily log: walking, 3km; dogwalking, 4.5km; c122064060084s]
Caveat: Poem #2092 “Hope”
ㅁ The garden lay, ungrowing (damp, brown earth); it was a dearth of sprouting and a surfeit of waiting.
– an englyn penfyr.
Caveat: Tree #1184
This tree is a guest tree from my past. I took this picture sometime in 2013.
I’ve been struggling emotionally: feeling incompetent at anything I take on. So today I took on very little, and did badly at what I did.
[daily log: walking, 4km; dogwalking, 3km; c116068066084s]
Caveat: Poem #2091 “Prophecy”
ㅁ The house made of trash: I lived there like a prophet. That was a strange dream.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1183
This tree witnessed a dog drinking seawater (because it was there!).
Actually that picture is from a few days ago. Today, I ended up going to work – not a normal work day for me, but I’ve been suffering through trying to solve a major problem for a customer’s framing job that is largely a problem of my own creation.
[daily log: walking, 5km; retailing, 4hr; c124068064084s]
Caveat: Friday Blogroll
Blogs (and blog-like-objects) in my browser right now (not categorized this week, due to laziness).
- The Ruffian
- The AP (Alex Pareene) Newsletter
- Margins by Ranjan Roy and Can Daruk
- The.Ink
- trees are harlequins, words are harlequins (“nostalgebraist”)
- andersource
Caveat: Poem #2090 “Arboreal disobedience”
ㅁ And the tree refused. It had its plans: chose to die. It was just a stick.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1182
This tree resisted gravity.
[daily log: walking, 8km; dogwalking, 3.5km; c121076061084s]
Caveat: Poem #2089 “Shame”
ㅁ Admitting mistakes is necessary but hard. Shame sticks in your throat.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1181
This tree noted snow on the mountain and dust on the road.
[daily log: walking, 5km; retailing, 6hr; c120068065084s]
Caveat: Too many words, but precious.
Uptick We were sitting there, and I made a joke about how it doesn't dovetail: time, one minute running out faster than the one in front it catches up to. That way, I said, there can be no waste. Waste is virtually eliminated. To come back for a few hours to the present subject, a painting, looking like it was seen, half turning around, slightly apprehensive, but it has to pay attention to what's up ahead: a vision. Therefore poetry dissolves in brilliant moisture and reads us to us. A faint notion. Too many words, but precious.
– John Ashbery (American poet, 1927-2017)
Caveat: Poem #2088 “Story outline”
ㅁ This protagonist suffers subjectivity till the story's end.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1180
This tree is a guest tree. I did not take this picture – rather, my mother took this picture. This tree lives in Australia, where she lives. It’s called a “totem tree” – which thematically fits into Southeast Alaska, in a sense.
I’ve posted a few of her tree pictures before, e.g. trees #335, #343, #346.
[daily log: walking, 5km; retailing, 6hr; c112061068084s]
Caveat: Poem #2087 “Sociability”
ㅁ This one bird made noise, so some other birds did too, until it was loud.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1179
This tree (and this tree and this tree and this tree, too) was cut down in the prime of its youth by me to accommodate the fact that it was encroaching on the path of the power line down from the pole to lot 73.
The electrician was out, doing initial work on installing electricity for the lot, using the utility pole I had put in 2 years ago.
I also tried to remove a much larger tree but ran into technical problems with the damn chainsaw and, unable to resolve them, gave up. I’ll have to tackle it another day. I don’t get along well with chainsaws.
[daily log: walking, 8.5km; dogwalking, 3km; c122068061085s]
Caveat: 하나를 보면 열을 안다
I found this aphorism in my book of Korean aphorisms.
하나를 보면 열을 안다 ha.na.reul bo.myeon yeol.eul an.da one-OBJ see-IF ten-OBJ know-PRES If [you] see one, you know ten.
This means that if you see one of a person’s actions, you can know the next ten, too. A person’s inclinations are shown in a single deed. This is correlated with English’s “A leopard cannot change its spots.”
Caveat: Poem #2086 “Skewed”
ㅁ The treehouse's thing is a lack of right angles. This is hard to solve.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1178
This tree is a douglas fir I planted. Our neighbor Penny gave us an Easter house, so I tried to put the house in the tree, to make a treehouse. The tree was too small.
[daily log: walking, 4.5km; dogwalking, 3km; c120068065085s]
Caveat: A half-formed thought on Russia v Ukraine
Here is a half-formed thought.
Russia’s leadership (not just Putin, but various other power-holders, including at least some oligarchs) may actually welcome sanctions, and Western sanctions, far from being undesirable, were in fact the intended outcome of this war. Here’s how this works: these past 30 years, since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has been a net exporter of capital. This is due to multiple reasons, but in essence businesses (both Russian and foreign) extract things and ultimately remove the capital. Putin & Co. cannot directly force Russian business to not export capital. The war and the imposed sanctions make the West do the work, and take the blame. This can help Russia to fulfill the autarchist (anti-globalist) fantasies commonly held by fascist-leaning thinkers of all stripes.
Caveat: Poem #2085 “Might as well”
ㅁ I woke too early but there was light in the east, so I went with it.
– a pseudo-haiku.