The poet, Tomaz Salamun, wrote a poem called The Four Questions of Melancholy, after which his book is titled as well, which he starts: I know. You’re off to war now, off to trample flowers.
I bought his book online and it arrived from a bookshop in Tucson.
I’m attracted to this poem a lot because it reminds me of something I would say to you. I might start: I know. Though I don’t.
I learned today that Richard Avedon’s photographs are being shown at the Phoenix Art Museum. Of course, these include the pictures he’s taken of you. The showing is running through April 13th. I think I will have to go. I saw a flyer for the showing today and the only image on the front of the flyer was you. An old sixties picture with you in a black trench coat, walking in New York City.
Small pleasures. And on the ridge of each of these, you.
Categories: Lisa Zaran · bob dylan · epistles · letters · poetry
I discovered some lost tracks of yours. I hadn’t lost them, in fact, somebody else found them and then put them online for others to download. I say that as if the moment should suddenly turn serious. Instead, if I were you I’d be delighted. Trust me. The songs are wonderful. If I could do anything other than write you a letter I’d do it. Just to prove how much these new songs have improved my life. Honestly, I actually looked forward to my drive to work today which is saying a lot.
I’m still reading Robert Musil. What a warrior of words! Truly amazing because he always looks and whether or not he feels assured by what he sees, he says it anyway. Big thinker, like you, with an entire psychology of emotions and ideas. Even his spiritual observations are something to be looked at twice.
I feel dazzled sometimes, both physically and emotionally by what I read and what I listen to. I choose the books I choose because they pull me from whatever impatient mode I’m in into something larger, almost like a dream but real. I choose to listen to your music because I’m determined and I find your songs extraordinary.
I nearly cried with such rapid stride-like tears on my way to work today! I tell you, I nearly drowned in my emotions. Sometimes I worry, what’s this feeling? How can I work and live and act normal, be a mother, carry on as if I am just an average woman in today’s society while at the same time feel the mother of my wisdom smiling? I’m like a double-being. One moment I find my fate conservative, the next…
god knows.
It’s like a madhouse. What do you think I should do if my soul breaks?
Categories: Blogroll · Lisa Zaran · bob dylan · epistles · letters · poetry
