{"id":16175,"date":"2014-11-28T12:08:21","date_gmt":"2014-11-28T17:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=16175"},"modified":"2014-11-28T12:08:21","modified_gmt":"2014-11-28T17:08:21","slug":"a-later-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2014\/11\/a-later-place\/","title":{"rendered":"A Later Place"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"'The<\/a><\/p>\n

[Image: “The 1958 Edsel: Lousy Car but a Great Planter,” by Bill Barber (username “wdwbarber”) on Flickr<\/a>. (Click to enlarge.) Used under a Creative Commons License.]<\/em><\/p>\n

From whiskey river<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n

None of us can truly know what we mean to other people, and none of us can know what our future self will experience. History and philosophy ask us to remember these mysteries, to look around at friends, family, humanity, at the surprises life brings — the endless possibilities that living offers — and to persevere. There is love and insight to live for, bright moments to cherish, and even the possibility of happiness, and the chance of helping someone else through his or her own troubles. Know that people, through history and today, understand how much courage it takes to stay. Bear witness to the night side of being human and the bravery it entails, and wait for the sun. If we meditate on the record of human wisdom we may find there reason enough to persist and find our way back to happiness. The first step is to consider the arguments and evidence and choose to stay. After that, anything may happen. First, choose to stay.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Jennifer Michael Hecht [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

…and<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The Old Age of Nostalgia<\/strong><\/p>\n

Those hours given over to basking in the glow of an imagined
\nfuture, of being carried away in streams of promise by a love or
\na passion so strong that one felt altered forever and convinced
\nthat even the smallest particle of the surrounding world was
\ncharged with purpose of impossible grandeur; ah, yes, and
\none would look up into the trees and be thrilled by the wind-
\nloosened river of pale, gold foliage cascading down and by the
\nhigh, melodious singing of countless birds; those moments, so
\nmany and so long ago, still come back, but briefly, like fireflies
\nin the perfumed heat of summer night.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Mark Strand, Almost Invisible: Poems [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Not from whiskey river<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Calligraphy Accompanied by the Mood of a Calm but Definitive Sauce<\/strong><\/p>\n

Make your strokes thus: the horizontal:
\nas a cloud that slowly drifts across the horizon;
\nthe vertical: as an ancient but strong vine stem;
\nthe dot: a falling rock;
\nand learn to master the sheep leg, the tiger\u2019s claw,
\nan apricot kernel, a dewdrop, the new moon,
\nthe wave rising and falling. Do these
\nwhile holding your arm out above the paper
\nlike the outstretched leg of a crane.
\nThe strength of your hand
\nwill give the stroke its bone.
\nBut for real accomplishment, it would be well
\nif you would go to live solitary in a forest silence,
\nor beside a river flowing serenely.
\nIt might also be useful
\nto look down a lonesome road,
\nand for the future
\nto stare into the gray static of a television screen,
\nor when lost in a video game
\nto accept you may never reach the final level,
\nwhere the dragon awaits, guarding the pot of gold,
\nand that you\u2019ve left no footprints, not a single one,
\ndespite all your adventures,
\nanyone following you could ever follow.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Dick Allen [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

…and:<\/p>\n

One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.<\/p>\n

After Michelangelo died, someone found in his studio a piece of paper on which he had written a note to his apprentice, in the handwriting of his old age: ”Draw, Antonio, draw, Antonio, draw and do not waste time.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Annie Dillard [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

As an aside, regarding Dick Allen’s poem reproduced here: it’s apparently one of a series of poems he has written taking off from the names of selections from actual Chinese-restaurant menus. An interviewer asked him<\/a> about the “Calm but Definitive Sauce” of the title. His reply:<\/p>\n

Most Chinese sauces are hot and spicy, like Hunan sauce and XO sauce, so a calm sauce is rare. Still, mapo tofu<\/a> sauce might come close. Or even lobster sauce. I like the term “calm but definitive” even more than the sauce. If you can disregard the image of a snobbish art, food, or wine critic, nose in air, saying “calm but definitive,” the phrase feels like a description of what a good and accomplished person might be.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Image: “The 1958 Edsel: Lousy Car but a Great Planter,” by Bill Barber (username “wdwbarber”) on Flickr. (Click to enlarge.) Used under a Creative Commons License.] From whiskey river: None of us can truly know what we mean to other people, and none of us can know what our future self will experience. History and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[247,1393,250,5,36,251,372],"tags":[684,1862,2809,3929,3930],"class_list":{"0":"post-16175","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ruminations","7":"category-whiskey-river-runningaftermyhat","8":"category-art","9":"category-06_writing","10":"category-reading","11":"category-poetry-writing_cat","12":"category-style-and-craft","13":"tag-mark-strand","14":"tag-dick-allen","15":"tag-the-future","16":"tag-jennifer-michael-hecht","17":"tag-bill-barber","18":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-4cT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16175"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16177,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16175\/revisions\/16177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}