'every step an arrival'

Denise Levertov (1923 - 1997) pens imagery that resonates with me as I reflect on where I have been and where I'm going. In 1958, in the poem Overland to the Islands from her second American book, she wrote:

Let’s go—much as that dog goes,
intently haphazard....
—dancing
edgeways, there’s nothing
the dog disdains on his way,
nevertheless he
keeps moving, changing
pace and approach but
not direction—‘every step an arrival’.

 

A verse from a master as I approach my 63rd birthday

With thanks to another master, Frederick Buechner, for 38 years of inspiration,

That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang.

 

                                                         -William Shakespeare

Night@MUSC

Acquainted with the Night
by Robert Frost

I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain -- and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
A luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.

Not Running a Hospital: The Whac-A-Mole school of health care policy

Not Running a Hospital: The Whac-A-Mole school of health care policy: "Boy, if you ever needed a summary of how messed up our health care system is, check out this story by Robert Pear in the New York Times . ..."

What Are They Selling?

 
Rene Ritchie is not a fan of Google’s new “Dear Sophie” ad:

Apple’s latest ad wants you to buy a $500+ tablet computer to run App Store apps on. Apple wants to sell you shiny things to make money. Google’s latest ad wants you to store personal details about your child’s life, from birth, on their servers. Google wants your data so they can sell it (aggregated and anonymized (sic), of course) to others to make money.

Taken in that context, Apple’s ad might be obnoxious and highly commercial, but Google’s is downright creepy.

To read the article in full click here: http://www.tipb.com/2011/05/04/apple-google-ads-selling/