{"id":19348,"date":"2017-06-02T10:56:50","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T14:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=19348"},"modified":"2017-06-02T10:56:50","modified_gmt":"2017-06-02T14:56:50","slug":"wait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2017\/06\/wait\/","title":{"rendered":"Wait"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"Image:<\/a><\/p>\n

[Image: painting (?) by an unknown artist, of an encounter between a sleeping man and what appears to be a <\/em>kitsuno disguised as a woman. This looks like a photograph of a painting; if so, I don’t know who took the photo, either. (I found it at this page on Tumblr<\/a>, which has numerous other images of the same creature, from other sources.) For more about the <\/em>kitsuno legend (a version of which is alluded to in Hannah Sanghee Park’s poem, below), see the note<\/a> at the foot of this post.]<\/em><\/p>\n

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

The death of self of which the great writers speak is no violent act. It is merely the joining of the great rock heart of the earth in its roll. It is merely the slow cessation of the will’s spirits and the intellect’s chatter: it is waiting like a hollow bell with a stilled tongue. Fuge, tace, quiesce<\/em><\/span>. The waiting itself is the thing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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

…and<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled. Each evening we see<\/em> the sun set. We know<\/em> that the earth is turning away from it. Yet the knowledge, the explanation, never quite fits the sight.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(John Berger [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

…and<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Alcaic<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This forest in May. It haunts my whole life:
\nthe invisible moving van. Singing birds.
\nIn silent pools, mosquito larvae’s<\/span>
\nfuriously dancing question marks.<\/p>\n

I escape to the same places and same words.
\nCold breeze from the sea, the ice-dragon’s licking
\nthe back of my neck while the sun glares.<\/span>
\nThe moving van is burning with cool flames.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Tomas Transtr\u00f6mer [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

The Fox Bead in May<\/strong><\/p>\n

The kiss is, strictly speaking, a passing
\nof of<\/em>\u00a0 twice: a bead from her mouth to his,
\nthen back, ad nauseam, and the boys who lived
\nand died for it. The lovely girl amassing<\/p>\n

ninety-nine spirits, and in high spirits
\nfor consuming her highest amount. Once
\nthe hundredth boy arrived she starts her hunt
\nin her haunt, a hill’s field filled with fitting<\/p>\n

Artemisia absinthium<\/em>.
\nAnd every day they kissed to swap the bead
\nand for a month he waned and wans<\/p>\n

and when he learned the truth about her tongue,
\nhe downed the bead: her true form a nine-tailed
\nfox who could have turned human, had he kissed on.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Hannah Sanghee Park [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

…and:<\/p>\n

A Short Story of Falling<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is the story of the falling rain
\nto turn into a leaf and fall again<\/p>\n

it is the secret of a summer shower
\nto steal the light and hide it in a flower<\/p>\n

and every flower a tiny tributary
\nthat from the ground flows green and momentary<\/p>\n

is one of water’s wishes and this tale
\nhangs in a seed-head smaller than my thumbnail<\/p>\n

if only I a passerby could pass
\nas clear as water through a plume of grass<\/p>\n

to find the sunlight hidden at the tip
\nturning to seed a kind of lifting rain drip<\/p>\n

then I might know like water how to balance
\nthe weight of hope against the light of patience<\/p>\n

water which is so raw so earthy-strong
\nand lurks in cast-iron tanks and leaks along<\/p>\n

drawn under gravity towards my tongue
\nto cool and fill the pipe-work of this song<\/p>\n

which is the story of the falling rain
\nthat rises to the light and falls again<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Alice Oswald [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

…and:<\/p>\n

#5:<\/strong> Everyone knows: nostalgia looks to the past. Only the most careful of us sense the diaphanous, silvery truth of the very best memories: you don’t choose them as single, isolated points in time; you choose them as points in time with full knowledge of what followed<\/em>. Nostalgia isn’t just about the past, then. It’s about the past’s future<\/em> — everything that’s come between the past moment and the present one. We’re looking back on the past’s future. If circumstance B hadn’t followed event A, and if in turn B hadn’t unfolded into contexts C, D, and E, then our recollection of B wouldn’t hold a fraction of the poignancy,\u00a0the power it does for us. Do you know where the word nostalgia<\/i> comes from? Traced back far enough, you’ll find the Sanskrit nasate<\/i>, which means: he approaches<\/i>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(JES, Maxims for Nostalgists<\/em>)<\/p>\n

<\/a>_______________________<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong> Stories of foxes with magical powers — especially, foxes with multiple (often nine) tails and lifespans centuries long — are many. In Japan, such a creature is called a kitsune<\/em><\/a>; in China, huli jing<\/em><\/a> or jiuweihu<\/em>; and in Korea, kumiho<\/em><\/a> (or jumiho<\/em>). In the Korean version which Hannah Sanghee Park’s poem references, a kumiho<\/em> possesses a magic bead called a yeowu guseul<\/em> (“fox bead”). Here’s what Wikipedia<\/a> has to say about the bead (note that the transfer of supernatural powers requires a good deal of patience to acquire a yeowu guseul<\/em>, should one be lucky enough to be in a kumiho<\/em>‘s company):<\/p>\n

According to Korean mythology, the yeowu guseul provides power to the kumiho and knowledge (and intelligence) to people if they can steal and swallow one. The kumiho can absorb humans’ energy with it. The method of absorbing energy with the “yeowu guseul” resembles a “deep kiss,” (i.e. a kiss using tongue.) The kumiho sends the yeowu guseul into people’s mouths and then retake it with their tongues. If that person swallows the yeowu guseul, however, and then observes “sky, land, and people,” each observation gives the observer preternatural knowledge.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The story formed the basis for a short-lived Korean TV sitcom, My Girlfriend Is a Nine-Tailed Fox<\/em>, which aired in 2010. Here’s the cover for the show’s soundtrack album:<\/p>\n

\"Image:<\/p>\n

[back to top<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Image: painting (?) by an unknown artist, of an encounter between a sleeping man and what appears to be a kitsuno disguised as a woman. This looks like a photograph of a painting; if so, I don’t know who took the photo, either. (I found it at this page on Tumblr, which has numerous other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19360,"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":"The secret power of standing pat: 'Wait'","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[247,1393,196,250,5,50,251,324,4159],"tags":[295,1503,2801,3285,3527,4538,4539,4540,4541,4542,4543],"class_list":{"0":"post-19348","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ruminations","8":"category-whiskey-river-runningaftermyhat","9":"category-television","10":"category-art","11":"category-06_writing","12":"category-language-writing_cat","13":"category-poetry-writing_cat","14":"category-researchresources","15":"category-essays","16":"tag-annie-dillard","17":"tag-patience","18":"tag-tomas-transtromer","19":"tag-maxims-for-nostalgists","20":"tag-past-and-future","21":"tag-john-berger","22":"tag-hannah-sanghee-park","23":"tag-alice-oswald","24":"tag-kumiho","25":"tag-kitsune","26":"tag-huli-jing","27":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/kitsuno_uncredited_thumb.jpg?fit=480%2C414&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s6kZSG-wait","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19348","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=19348"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19359,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19348\/revisions\/19359"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}