{"id":3895,"date":"2009-03-27T11:45:04","date_gmt":"2009-03-27T15:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=3895"},"modified":"2009-03-27T11:45:04","modified_gmt":"2009-03-27T15:45:04","slug":"our-own-little-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/our-own-little-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Own Little World"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LifeFrom whiskey river<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Each of us literally chooses, by his way of attending to things, what sort of universe he shall appear to himself to inhabit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(William James [source<\/a>]<\/em>)<\/p>\n

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

I Live in Music<\/strong><\/p>\n

i live in music
\nis this where you live
\ni live here in music
\ni live on c# street
\nmy friend lives on b♭ avenue
\ndo you live here in music
\nsound
\nfalls round me like rain on other folks
\nsaxophones wet my face
\ncold as winter in st. louis
\nhot like peppers i rub on my lips
\nthinking they waz lilies
\ni got 15 trumpets where other women got
\nhips
\n& a upright bass for both sides of my heart
\ni walk round in a piano like somebody
\nelse\/be walkin on the earth
\ni live in music
\nlive in it<\/span>
\nwash in it<\/span>
\ni cd even smell it
\nwear sound on my fingers
\nsound falls so fulla music<\/span>
\nya cd make a river where yr arm is &
\nhold yrself
\nhold yrself in a music<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Ntozake Shange [source<\/a>]<\/em>)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I haven’t been able to find anything at all about the author — let alone the work from which this might have been an excerpt — but the following (referred to at various places around the Web as “Prayer to a Normal Day”) seems on-topic:<\/p>\n

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Mary Jean Iron)<\/p>\n

Finally, The Killers offer their own interpretation (lyrics below) — with the help of a small, lonely robot:<\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/param><\/object><\/p>\n

Lyrics:<\/p>\n

The World We Live In<\/strong><\/em>
\n(The Killers)<\/p>\n

This is world that we live in
\nI feel myself get tired
\nThis is the world that we live in<\/p>\n

Well maybe I was mistaken
\nI heard a rumor that you quit this day and age
\nWell maybe I was mistaken<\/p>\n

Bless your body, bless your soul
\nPray for peace and self control<\/p>\n

I gotta believe it’s worth it
\nWithout a victory,
\nI’m so sanctified and free
\nWell maybe I’m just mistaken<\/p>\n

Lesson learned and the wheels keep turning<\/p>\n

This is the world that we live in
\nI can’t take blame for two
\nThis is the world that we live in
\nAnd maybe we’ll make it through<\/p>\n

Bless your body, bless your soul
\nPray for peace and self-control<\/p>\n

Underneath the waterfall
\nBaby we’re still in this<\/p>\n

This is the world that we live in
\nFeel myself get tired
\nThis is the world that we live in<\/p>\n

I had a dream that I was falling, down
\nThere’s no next time, alone
\nA storm wastes its water on me
\nBut my life was free<\/p>\n

I guess it’s the world that we live in
\nIt’s not too late for that
\nThis is the world that we live in
\nAnd no, we can’t go back<\/p>\n

This is the world that we live in
\nWe still want something real
\nThis is the world that we live in
\nI know that…<\/p>\n

This is the world that we live in\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From whiskey river: Each of us literally chooses, by his way of attending to things, what sort of universe he shall appear to himself to inhabit. (William James [source]) Not from whiskey river: I Live in Music i live in music is this where you live i live here in music i live on c# […]<\/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":[183,247,251],"tags":[1107,1108,1109,1110,1111,1112],"class_list":{"0":"post-3895","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-everyday-life","7":"category-ruminations","8":"category-poetry-writing_cat","9":"tag-william-james","10":"tag-ntozake-shange","11":"tag-mary-jean-ivory","12":"tag-the-killers","13":"tag-wall-e","14":"tag-the-world-we-live-in","15":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-10P","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3895","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=3895"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3928,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3895\/revisions\/3928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}