Icarus pondering # 6

Lucky boy, I am

How lucky am I? Very, I should say. The year is hardly settled and I have been in Edinburgh London, Oklahoma, New York and Barcelona, and next week I fly to Cape Town, drive to Stellenbosch and the summer hasn't even arrived; which will bring Edinburgh again and then sunnier climes. Oh yes, lucky I am. And today, even this early, I have dusted two papers and just have some tidying up to do before I get my hairs cut. And I am reminded of a poem I read last night. Its by Julia Copus,

At the turn of the day, as the hours unfurled

and the world came loose from the drift of the world,

I span while the seasounds flared and dwindled...

And this cello song and kaleidoscope film, lovely:

Icarus pondering # 5

Writing

Today is a day for writing. The rain continues without pause or consideration for clothes lines and flooded lawns that will not survive the spring at this rate. And as I write I will listen to Toumani Diabate's Mande Variations as I wrestle with abstruser musings (to paraphrase Sam Coleridge from Frost at Midnight). How I wish the writing was for pleasure, but alas I have a Journal paper to edit (big time - sigh). But what I won't be doing is sitting like this (right) on this Mallorcan patio, drinking coffee and typing while the world still sleeps. This is not the weather nor the time of year. Instead I will be here, at this desk writing by low lighting, in the spring darkness, on a damp English morning. But fear not, I will inject spice into my day by drinking sparkling water laced with ginger and lemon grass to inject some zest and enthusiasm where hitherto it had lain in slumber, in a long forgotten bed, a couple of hours ago. Italo Calvino said, 'Leopardi maintained that the more vague and imprecise language is, the more poetic it becomes. I might mention in passing that as far as I know Italian is the only language in which the word vago (vague) also means "lovely, attractive." Starting out from the original meaning of "wandering," the word vago still carries an idea of movement and mutability which in Italian is associated both with uncertainty and indefiniteness and with gracefulness and pleasure.' And this idea of uncertain, indefinite, graceful pleasure reminds me once again of that vague, lovely, attractive flying boy, wandering - abstruser musings, perhaps.

Icarus pondering # 4

This is a picture of Vladimir Nabokov looking out of car window. He liked to work in the car, writing on index cards. - LIFE (Ithaca State, NY, 1958) and I was sent this picture and a quotation last night, which I love: 'A certain man once lost a diamond cuff-link in the wide blue sea, and twenty years later, on the exact day, a Friday apparently, he was eating a large fish - but there was no diamond inside. That's what I like about coincidence.' Vladimir Nabokov, Laughter in the Rain, and that's what I like about coincidence, it is so ironic. And by coincidence, this picture is how I feel at the moment, 

small and a little lost because I can't seem to shake the blues of a really hefty cold that just wont go away. The mornings are fine and I feel great but by about three in the afternoon I am ready for bed. But never mind, I hope this will be the last monochrome posting and things will pick up soon. This song cheers, 'I think I'll pack it in and buy a pick up, take it down to L.A...:

Icarus pondering # 3

Driving to Memphis

I was sent this picture yesterday and its my kinda bridge, you can hear it twang as you drive across and I imagine this is what it could be like if I was driving to Graceland. But that is another part of the lyrical future of nostalgia I have been ruminating. And I am writing a song with this in mind. It goes,

Oldsmobile Rocket 88

The last time I saw Elvis/ he was flying over Memphis/ in an Oldsmobile Rocket/ 88 drophead with whitewall tyres. And here is the car itself. And in my head the whole anticipation of American culture that I imagined as a teenager becomes manifest in such images, hence the 'future of nostalgia'. And for the first time I am writing songs (perhaps lyrical poems) with a theme that has allowed me to grow into my age. So 'yeah, yeah, yeah, to that.' And not just the lyrical content but the tunes have a retro feel, the feel I always liked and so I will begin recording them one at a time. In the meantime, this song catches something for me because it captures loads of images that travels across continents:

Icarus pondering # 2

When will it end

Pondering the cold and the white, frosted trees serves as a reminder that nature is no April fool but an ongoing mystery, a bit like life itself. So I am open to suggestion, seduction and cures for cold sores and head colds. A walk over crisp meadows, methinks. But oh, so much work to do, marking to be done, papers to be written and brains to be engaged in esoteric musing on ideas so I best get on - me and Dan like this song and I gather we are not the only ones - Classy Girls:
Well she was
standing in a bar
I said hello
how do you do?