tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8333594380363882958.post2546604209771516720..comments2023-08-28T03:19:34.617-07:00Comments on It's Nelly's World: KickMelissa Holbrook Piersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15617752678155038816noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8333594380363882958.post-29558681502685540932010-10-20T07:00:00.375-07:002010-10-20T07:00:00.375-07:00Kevin, somewhere you have managed to locate the so...Kevin, somewhere you have managed to locate the soft side of Bukowski--congratulations!<br /><br />"The gods will offer you chances." I pray only for the wisdom to recognize these as they approach. Not as they are continuing down the road after having passed.Melissa Holbrook Piersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15617752678155038816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8333594380363882958.post-49417431112046446532010-10-20T06:55:47.623-07:002010-10-20T06:55:47.623-07:00Pedro, I think maybe the reflective urge is our gr...Pedro, I think maybe the reflective urge is our grab for immortality--"If I am the Watcher, I stand outside, immune to the unpredictable forces that could do in the Doer."<br /><br />At the same time, the Watcher wants to be the Doer when, say, the music starts up; the motorcycle starts up; the hanky-panky starts up.<br /><br />Hey, I am a wild-swinger-between-extremes, too. Maybe we should collaborate on that book, so we don't write two that compete. Maybe we could write it in an updated epistolary style: blog, blog comment.Melissa Holbrook Piersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15617752678155038816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8333594380363882958.post-3668250416225926232010-10-19T19:10:56.651-07:002010-10-19T19:10:56.651-07:00for reflection on life, loss and perpetual mysteri...for reflection on life, loss and perpetual mysterious smiles:<br /><br /> The Laughing Heart<br />-------------------------<br />your life is your life<br />don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.<br />be on the watch.<br />there are ways out.<br />there is a light somewhere.<br />it may not be much light but<br />it beats the darkness.<br />be on the watch.<br />the gods will offer you chances.<br />know them.<br />take them.<br />you can’t beat death but<br />you can beat death in life, sometimes.<br />and the more often you learn to do it,<br />the more light there will be.<br />your life is your life.<br />know it while you have it.<br />you are marvelous<br />the gods wait to delight<br />in you.<br /><br />by Charles BukowskiKevin G.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17971072097191668750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8333594380363882958.post-39235947047563914052010-10-19T13:02:06.235-07:002010-10-19T13:02:06.235-07:00Wow, the difficulties of pre-reflection, reflectio...Wow, the difficulties of pre-reflection, reflection, doing and witnessing doing; someone could write a book about this stuff.<br /><br />For my take, I find moderation by swinging wildly between extremes, sometimes too much doing, sometimes too much reflecting. I know I'm moderate because when looking at the misrepresentative average between my extremes, I pretend that the mean means something. I might be lying and missing the point when doing that, but I don't really care.<br /><br />I suspect we live out each moment as does a photographer taking a picture; pressing the shutter release causes the camera's mirrors to flip up, blocking the viewfinder from viewing the instant that the picture is capturing. A photographer is blinded each time she takes a picture, never seeing the moment firsthand that she photographs. Like the title and meaning of Magritte's painting of a painting of what's outside the window blocking the view of what's outside the window, this might just be the curse of The Human Condition.<br /><br />Photographers have noted that there's a difference between taking pictures and living an experience, and that both cannot be accomplished simultaneously. But it's difficult to know when to take pictures, and when to just look, when to think, and when to just feel.<br /><br />I watched Charley Kaufman's film, Synecdoche, last week. You have reminded me that this is what that film is about, the unfulfillable desire to witness ourselves in the moment. To see, to know, to feel, to do, all at once rushing through us with an automatic spontaneity. Why is this too much to hope for?Pedro Jonésnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8333594380363882958.post-64316073031364295922010-10-19T05:47:16.485-07:002010-10-19T05:47:16.485-07:00I have read Socrates comment and it made me think ...I have read Socrates comment and it made me think that "the over examined life has not been lived" <br /><br />I get the feeling that moderation is needed.th_01https://www.blogger.com/profile/05880514192601964644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8333594380363882958.post-55649539387621453782010-10-18T17:46:54.089-07:002010-10-18T17:46:54.089-07:00Thanks, John.Thanks, John.Melissa Holbrook Piersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15617752678155038816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8333594380363882958.post-71824766088140686432010-10-18T13:32:59.781-07:002010-10-18T13:32:59.781-07:00"The unexamined life is not worth living.&quo..."The unexamined life is not worth living." SocratesJohn Lefflernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8333594380363882958.post-67009637517965875612010-10-18T12:11:15.320-07:002010-10-18T12:11:15.320-07:00You know, guys, life for me has always felt more v...You know, guys, life for me has always felt more vibrant not when I am in the midst of it, but in the moment when I stop and turn back to consider it. Thinking about shit just makes me happy, even when the subject is not happy at all. I know how perverse this is. And I know that sometimes I wish it weren't the case.<br /><br />One thing I do know well, trust me on this: the worth of the opportunity in front of me.<br /><br />Kent, all my bullies are literary: I make them up in my own head. They are strong opponents, let me tell you. But being made of vapor, I could make them vanish in an instant.Melissa Holbrook Piersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15617752678155038816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8333594380363882958.post-55374840398100502172010-10-18T10:10:47.621-07:002010-10-18T10:10:47.621-07:00Hi Melissa,
Is that a literal or a literary bully...Hi Melissa,<br /><br />Is that a literal or a literary bully in your final paragraph? If he's real, I hope you can break free soon!<br /><br />And I just ordered "The Place You Love..." This blog has reminded me of how greatly I've enjoyed your other works! Thank you.Kentnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8333594380363882958.post-84556576691239516222010-10-18T08:50:34.762-07:002010-10-18T08:50:34.762-07:00You dance around the lessons to be learned or have...You dance around the lessons to be learned or have been learned. When do you actually start applying this knowledge joining in life?<br /><br />Opportunities come your your way. Do you really need to analyze the life out of them?<br /><br />There are so many cliche's like today is the first day of the rest of your life. blah blah blah. Ren sees it? Stop observing and start participating<br />XXXth_01https://www.blogger.com/profile/05880514192601964644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8333594380363882958.post-49912857728062680332010-10-16T07:26:58.365-07:002010-10-16T07:26:58.365-07:00Just a thought: While you are learning how to live...Just a thought: While you are learning how to live a life, be sure to actually live it, too. Or you will spend your life learning but never applying what you are learning. Somehow, I learned this when I was a child and have internalized it so deeply that it was only now, reading your post, that I realized what I do. Cool. Enjoy things, too. :-)renhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17577465484305520103noreply@blogger.com