Sunday, December 21, 2008

The Second Sermon the Warpland

by Gwendolyn Brooks

For Walter Bradford

1.

This is the urgency: Live!
and have your blooming in the noise of the whirlwind.

2.

Salve salvage in the spin.
Endorse the splendor splashes;
stylize the flawed utility;
prop a malign or failing light--
but know the whirlwind is our commonwealth.
Not the easy man, who rides above them all,
not the jumbo brigand,
not the pet bird of poets, that sweetest sonnet,
shall straddle the whirlwind.
Nevertheless, live.

3.

All about are the cold places,
all about are the pushmen and jeopardy, theft--
all about are the stormers and scramblers but
what must our Season be, which starts from Fear?
Live and go out.
Define and
medicate the whirlwind.

4.

The time
cracks into furious flower. Lifts its face
all unashamed. And sways in wicked grace.
Whose half-black hands assemble oranges
is tom-tom hearted
(goes in bearing oranges and boom).
And there are bells for orphans--
and red and shriek and sheen.
A garbageman is dignified
as any diplomat.
Big Bessie's feet hurt like nobody's business,
but she stands--bigly--under the unruly scrutiny, stands 
in the wild weed.

In the wild weed
she is a citizen,
and is a moment of highest quality; admirable.

It is lonesome, yes. For we are the last of the loud.
Nevertheless, live.

Conduct your blooming in the noise and whip of the 
whirlwind.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Agape and Philia

"Brotherly love in the literal sense comes at the expense of brotherly love in the biblical sense; the more precisely we bestow unconditional kindness on relatives, the less of it is left over for others." (Wright, pg. 160)

Sunday, December 14, 2008

The Duty of Poets

"Rhetoric is the art of saying well that which may or may not be true, and it is the duty of poets to invent beautiful falsehoods." (Eco, pg. 55)

Saturday, December 13, 2008

The Voice of Souls

"Can he have a soul, Niketas wondered, this character who can bend his narrative to express different souls? And if he has different souls, through which mouth, as he speaks, will he tell me the truth?" (Eco, Pg. 50)

The Dead Who Speak

"People will believe anything provided it's the dead who speak." (Eco, pg. 247)

Friday, December 12, 2008

Dress and Gold

"Kyot could have been one of those Lebanese who dress badly but have pockets full of gold pieces" (Eco, pg. 244)

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Hate Your Neighbor

"That's how it is in our parts. You may hate the foreigner, but most of all you hate your neighbor. And if the foreigner helps us harm our neighbor, then he's welcome."

"But why?"

"Because people are wicked, as my father always said, but the people of Asti are worse than Barbarossa." (Eco, pg. 47)

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

A Man of Letters

"If you want to become a man of letters and perhaps write some Histories one day, you must also lie and invent tales, otherwise your History would become monotonous. But you must act with restraint. The world condemns liars who do nothing but lie, even about the most trivial things, and it rewards poets, who lie only about the greatest things." (Eco pg. 43)

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Matters of Law

"Niketas had long since learned that the Latins, though they were barbarians, were extremely complicated, hopeless when it came to fine points and subtleties if a theological question was at stake, but capable of splitting a hair four ways on matters of law."

Monday, December 8, 2008

Questions of Government

"But this basileus of yours, this emperor, as you call him, was he crowned in Pavia or in Rome? And why in Italy, if he's the basileus of the Alamans?"

"One thing at a time, Master Niketas. For us Latins things aren't as simple as they are for you Romei. In your country someone gouges out the eyes of the current basileus, and he becomes basileus himself., everybody agrees, and even the patriarch of Constantinople does what the new basileus tells him, otherwise the basileus gouges out his eyes too."

"Now don't exaggerate."

"Exaggerate? Me? When I got here they told me right away that the basileus, Alexis III, ascended the throne because he'd blinded the legitimate ruler, his brother Isaac."

"Doesn't anybody ever eliminate his predecessor and seize the throne in your country?"

"Yes, but they kill him in battle, or with some poison, or with a dagger."

"You see? You people are barbarians. You can't imagine a less bloody way of managing questions of government. And besides, Isaac was Alexi's brother. Brother doesn't kill brother."

(Eco, pg. 32)

Sunday, December 7, 2008

The Problem of My Life

"...the problem of my life is that I've always confused what I saw with what I wanted to see." 
(pg 30)

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Maybe We Want Too Much

"Maybe we want too much," Rabbi Solomon said, "but at this point we can't help wanting it." (Eco, pg. 340)