Today was the first day I noticed it staying light perceptibly later; all at once spring seems visible over the edge of the horizon. This awareness of lengthening light always makes me think of Lacy. Who else is as attuned as I am to the rhythms of the world as we move from solstice to equinox, and back again?
Valentine’s Day. I normally hate this holiday with a passion, though I’m enjoying sending Tabblo Valentines … check it out. Really cool, fun, and easy.
I think most things about Valentine’s Day are trite and hackneyed and lacking in real emotion. I don’t know that I’m interested in romance, per se, though I am very moved by deep human emotion. I filled out one of those dumb questionnaires about myself today (and I say dumb in a non-judgemental way, because I LOVE those things) … and the answer to “when did you last cry” was “yesterday – I cry most days.” Carly responded and said, what are you crying about – is it x, y, or just from real emotion? And the answer is clearly Z. That’s just how I’m wired. That whole without-skin thing.
Songs that I think evoke true feelings, that I’d consider “romantic,” include:
Romeo & Juliet – Dire Straits
A Case of You – Joni Mitchell
Love Will Come to You – Indigo Girls
any Springsteen from The Ghost of Tom Joad
Melissa – Allman Brothers
Simple Man – CSN&Y
Easy Silence – Dixie Chicks
True Companion – Mark Cohn
I’ll keep thinking of more and will add.
And, now that I’m in this mood and cooking with gas, a few of my favorite words by others that evoke love, romance, emotion, feelings (this could be an epic post, so I’ll try hard to pick only a very few).
“I believe that without each other we are missing something vital to us both. I believe simply that.” – Mary Gordon, Living at Home
“Thank you, whatever comes.
One hour was sunlit and the most high gods
May not make boast of any better thing
Than to have watched that hour as it passed.” – Ezra Pound
“I believe in the soul. I believe in the dawn, the evening, the small of a woman’s back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch … the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning instead of Christmas eve, and long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.” – Bull Durham
“He taught me to trust myself and not to settle for seeing things the same way.” – Ann Beattie, Jacklighting
“A magic person walked up to my life just now and my life shifted ninety degrees.” – Reynolds Price, Blue Calhoun
“To the one with her head out the window, drinking the rain.
To the one who sang me a lullabye over the phone.
To the one who, divining love in this rocky terrain, has made it her own.” – George Starbuck, dedication of Bone Thoughts (to Anne Sexton)
