{"id":7854,"date":"2010-07-30T06:55:27","date_gmt":"2010-07-30T10:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=7854"},"modified":"2010-07-30T06:48:26","modified_gmt":"2010-07-30T10:48:26","slug":"outlasting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/outlasting\/","title":{"rendered":"You Spoke from Midnight"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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

Moonrise<\/strong><\/p>\n

And who has seen the moon, who has not seen
\nHer rise from out the chamber of the deep,
\nFlushed and grand and naked, as from the chamber
\nOf finished bridegroom, seen her rise and throw
\nConfession of delight upon the wave,
\nLittering the waves with her own superscription
\nOf bliss, till all her lambent beauty shakes towards us
\nSpread out and known at last, and we are sure
\nThat beauty is a thing beyond the grave,
\nThat perfect, bright experience never falls
\nTo nothingness, and time will dim the moon
\nSooner than our full consummation here
\nIn this odd life will tarnish or pass away.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(D. H. Lawrence [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

…and, from whiskey river<\/em>‘s archives<\/a> (the commonplace book<\/em>):<\/p>\n

Our existence is finite. The self that we have created through so many years of effort and suffering will die. And sustained though we may be by the idea, the hope, the certainty that some portion of us will eternally endure, we also must acknowledge that this “I” who breathes and loves and works and knows itself will be forever and ever and ever… obliterated.<\/p>\n

So, whether or not we live with images of continuity — of immortality — we also will have to live with a sense of transience, aware that no matter how passionately we love whatever we love, we don’t have the power to make either it, or us, stay.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Judith Viorst, Necessary Losses<\/em> [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

At latitudes greater than 72\u00b0\u00a0N (i.e., 5\u00b0\u00a0or more north of the Arctic Circle) there is a period in each month during which the moon never sets, remaining above the horizon for more than 24 hours; this is the moon’s equivalent of the sun’s midnight-sun period. During this period the moon goes round and round in the sky for days on end, progressing through several phases without disappearing. Likewise, there is a period in each month during which the moon never rises, remaining below the horizon for more than 24 hours; this is the moon’s equivalent of the “endless night” of arctic winter. These continuous “moon-stays-up” and “moon-stays-down” periods alternate with periods during which the moon rises and sets daily, just as it does in temperate latitudes. The moon-stays-up and moon-stays-down periods last longer the farther north you go until, at the pole itself, each lasts for half a month.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(E. C. Pielou, A Naturalist’s Guide to the Arctic<\/em> [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

…and:<\/p>\n

Nocturnal<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s midnight now and sounds like midnight then,
\nThe words like distant stars that faintly grace
\nThe all-pervading dark of space,<\/span>
\nBut not meant for the world of men.<\/span>
\n It’s not what we forget<\/span>
\nBut what was never known we most regret
\nDiscovery of. Checking one last cassette
\nAmong my old unlabelled discards, few
\nOf which reward the playing, I find you.<\/p>\n

Some years after her death, but years ago,
\nHearing Gwen’s voice recite “Suburban Sonnet<\/a>,”
\nAt first we could not focus on it,<\/span>
\nSo jolted that the radio<\/span>
\nShould casually exhume<\/span>
\nFrom our shared memory the woman whom
\nWe knew and make her present in the room,
\nAs though in flesh, surprised to find that she
\nHad earned this further immortality.<\/p>\n

Who ever thought they would not hear the dead?
\nWho ever thought that they could quarantine
\nThose who are not, who once had been?<\/span>
\nAt that old station on North Head<\/span>
\nInmates still tread the boards,<\/span>
\nOr something does; equipment there records
\nThe voices in the dormitories and wards,
\nAlthough it’s years abandoned. Undeleted,
\nWhat happened is embedded and repeated,<\/p>\n

Or so they say. And that would not faze you
\nWho always claimed events could not escape
\nTheir scenes, recorded as on tape<\/span>
\nIn matter and played back anew<\/span>
\nTo anyone attuned<\/span>
\nTo that stored energy, that psychic wound.
\nYou said you heard the presence which oppugned
\nYour trespass on its lasting sole occasion
\nIn your lost house. I scarcely need persuasion,<\/p>\n

So simple is this case. Here in the dark
\nI listen, tensing in distress, to each
\nUncertain fragment of your speech,<\/span>
\nEach desolate, half-drunk remark<\/span>
\nYou uttered unaware<\/span>
\nThat this cassette was running and would share
\nFar in the useless future your despair
\nWith one who can do nothing but avow
\nYou spoke from midnight, and it’s midnight now.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Stephen Edgar [source<\/a><\/em>])<\/p>\n

I first heard about the group called The Famous via the Beat Surrender<\/a><\/em> blog.\u00a0The tagline at the band’s Web site<\/a> says, “A shot of classic country with a post-punk chaser.” Their bio clarifies:<\/p>\n

To put it another way: take the ’50s-era country of Hank Williams, Sr. and filter it through ’70s punk rock, ’80s psychobilly, and ’90s post-punk. You’ll find yourself staring eye-to-eye with San Francisco’s own “Pixies in a cowboy hat.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No, you’re not alone:\u00a0I’m<\/em> not sure what that means, either. But I do know I like this macabre, “Night of the Living Dead”-meets-David-Lynch number (which, with all due respect to all the above musical genres, feels mostly like languorous Dixieland).\u00a0It’s\u00a0the official video for the title track from their second album, “Come Home to Me” (lyrics below):<\/p>\n

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

(Love the twitching toe!)<\/p>\n

Lyrics:<\/p>\n

Come Home to Me<\/strong>
\n(The Famous)<\/em><\/p>\n

I went down, to the river’s edge, with hopes to find you where
\nI took in too much water, trying to get some air
\nAnd you came to me, in a vision of soft light, so pale, so fair
\nIt seems so very real to life, but you were never there<\/p>\n

Please come home to me…<\/p>\n

So I went back to the well, which had not yet run dry
\nAnd when I got down to the bottom of it all
\nSomething caught my eye
\nAs I looked up toward heaven, I thought I saw you there
\nBut you were looking down in the water
\nMuch to my despair<\/p>\n

Please come home to me…<\/p>\n

Floating along the river, I haven’t got a care
\nFace down in the water
\nYou’ll find me there<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From whiskey river: Moonrise And who has seen the moon, who has not seen Her rise from out the chamber of the deep, Flushed and grand and naked, as from the chamber Of finished bridegroom, seen her rise and throw Confession of delight upon the wave, Littering the waves with her own superscription Of bliss, […]<\/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":[247,1393,95,74,37,36,251],"tags":[1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915],"class_list":{"0":"post-7854","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ruminations","7":"category-whiskey-river-runningaftermyhat","8":"category-science-medicine","9":"category-music","10":"category-onlineworld","11":"category-reading","12":"category-poetry-writing_cat","13":"tag-d-h-lawrence","14":"tag-judith-viorst","15":"tag-e-c-pielou","16":"tag-arctic-moon","17":"tag-stephen-edgar","18":"tag-the-famous","19":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-22G","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7854","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=7854"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7855,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7854\/revisions\/7855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}