{"id":21846,"date":"2019-11-22T06:32:50","date_gmt":"2019-11-22T11:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=21846"},"modified":"2020-01-20T10:45:31","modified_gmt":"2020-01-20T15:45:31","slug":"multiplicative-wonder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2019\/11\/multiplicative-wonder\/","title":{"rendered":"Multiplicative Wonder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

[Image: “Stuttering Flashmob,” by John E. Simpson; #741 (October 7, 2019) in my #everydaybandw series. (Shared here under a Creative Commons License; for more information, see <\/em>this page<\/em><\/a> at RAMH.) No trick photography involved: this was just a glassed-in exhibit under construction at Epcot — I just turned around and there it was. Although it appears to show several reflections of the scene, there are really only two (see the light poles and tree trunks?) — all the others, I’m pretty sure, seem to be there just because there are a good number of human figures, close together and moving in the same direction.]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

To Live in This World Requires<\/strong><\/p>

To live in this world requires
\nthat you leave your house every morning
\nand step into the wind
\nEvery morning: with all your memories
\non file and the future pinned to some wall
\nyou will have to build and tear down and
\nbuild again. If you get there. If. If.<\/p>

Into the wind: first you walk the dog whose
\nblessed face belies the beast it is built upon
\nMillennia behind you, that beast enters a cave
\nand decides whether or not to kill a child sleeping
\nby a fire. It does not kill the child
\nbecause its heart has been surprised by love
\nBoth softened and sharpened by it, inexplicably
\nInexplicably, to this day<\/p>

And on this day, the wind relents
\nThe morning star lifts itself into a changeable sky
\nand you, carrying extra weight, wearing
\nlast year’s clothes, start walking towards the train
\nSeeds that grew from ancient science digest in your stomach;
\nyour bones begin to separate because science did not plan
\nthis length of life; your heart slows down and you feel
\nthe pressure of dragging a million, billion years
\nbehind you. A million, billion lie ahead that you
\nwill know nothing about<\/p>

Thus, harnessed to time, facing the inevitable,
\nconstructed by science and fed on inexplicable events
\ntaking place somewhere in the middle of history,
\nyour day goes by. Miles away, the ocean
\nmurmurs to its own beloved creatures, a mountain
\napplies pressure to the weaving of a golden seam
\nAnd in your house, the dog wonders
\nif you will make it home again. And each day,
\ndespite or because the performance of this feat
\nis both a mystery and a triumph, somehow
\nyou will. You do<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

(Eleanor Lerman [source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…and (from whiskey river’s commonplace book<\/a><\/em>):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have learned to be happy where I am. I have learned that locked within the moments of each day are all the joys, the peace, the fibers of the cloth we call life. The meaning is in the moment. There is no other way to find it. You feel what you allow yourself to feel, each and every moment of the day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

(Russ Berrie [no definitive source, but see<\/em> here<\/a> for one citation<\/em>])<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…and<\/a> (italicized portion):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the course of our development, red begins to attract public and private meanings to itself.<\/p>

Red flag, red-light district, red-blooded, Red Cross, red herring, red-bait, red- eye, red man, red-hot, red-faced—these are all variations on a theme that goes far beyond the simple association of color and word. To make these images, we must pass the words through our own consciousness and particularity. And in this act of trying to know something else in its specificity, our own particularity is likewise revealed. <\/p>

Some people fear seeing or feeling anything about which there is no general agreement. For others, it is thrilling to be aware of innuendo, shading, complexity. For those who do not wish to step away from consensus, the creative is useless at best; at worst, it is dangerous. But for those who are intrigued by the multiplicity of reality and the unique possibilities of their own vision, the creative is the path they must pursue.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

(Deena Metzger [source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Not from whiskey river<\/em>, and not from its commonplace book<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yard Sale<\/strong><\/p>

“There is no object so foul that intense light will not make beautiful.”
— Emerson, Nature<\/em><\/p>

The renters bring out their greasy table,
End of the month again: It sags,
Weighted and warped like them, unable
To hold much more than glasses and rags.

Old clothes and rusty tools compete
For space with magazines they stole
From garbage bins behind our street;
Each shoe reveals a run-down sole.

A few come by, inspect, and leave,
Almost always with empty hands.
But when, at sundown, all things cleave
To slanted light, and when it lands

So rubber, glass, and metal glint—
And for a moment make you squint—
You’ll see our neighbors bathed in gold
As if their worth cannot be sold.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

(Matthew Brennan [source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…and:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prism<\/strong><\/p>

It corners the sun and caroms one
Rainbow to either side, an un-
assuming virtuoso. True
That both the cure ball and the cue
Shatter on impact, but they yield
The spectrum of objects, the green field.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

(Howard Nemerov [source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…and:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flashes of light, incoherence, a shout, then darkness. But an unusual<\/em> form of darkness. Not darkness as in nothing being there, or hibernatory darkness, thick, unyielding and timeless, but darkness as a heavy velvet curtain. I could hear and smell what was behind the curtain, but it had not yet lifted. There were whisperings of words unrecognised, then the rustle of trees and the sweet scent of a childhood Summer: freshly-turned hay, hot mud while dibbling with a stick in drying puddles, harvest, meadows.<\/p>

Then, the darkness turned… glossy<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

(Jasper Fforde [source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Image: “Stuttering Flashmob,” by John E. Simpson; #741 (October 7, 2019) in my #everydaybandw series. (Shared here under a Creative Commons License; for more information, see this page at RAMH.) No trick photography involved: this was just a glassed-in exhibit under construction at Epcot — I just turned around and there it was. Although it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21858,"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":"Eleanor Lerman, Jasper Fforde, et al.: 'Multiplicative Wonder'","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":[247,1393,4701,250,5,4878,251,3477,4159],"tags":[786,1819,2174,3397,4256,5021,5022,5023,5024],"class_list":{"0":"post-21846","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-my-photography","10":"category-art","11":"category-06_writing","12":"category-fiction","13":"category-poetry-writing_cat","14":"category-fantasy-06_writing","15":"category-essays","16":"tag-eleanor-lerman","17":"tag-jasper-fforde","18":"tag-optical-illusions","19":"tag-the-senses","20":"tag-matthew-brennan","21":"tag-howard-nemerov","22":"tag-deena-metzger","23":"tag-russ-berrie","24":"tag-epcot","25":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/stutteringflashmob_johnesimpson_thumb.jpg?fit=500%2C500&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-5Gm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21846","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=21846"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22138,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21846\/revisions\/22138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}