Good Friday

GOOD-FRIDAY, 1613, RIDING WESTWARD.
by John Donne

LET man's soul be a sphere, and then, in this,
Th' intelligence that moves, devotion is ;
And as the other spheres, by being grown
Subject to foreign motion, lose their own,
And being by others hurried every day,
Scarce in a year their natural form obey ;
Pleasure or business, so, our souls admit
For their first mover, and are whirl'd by it.
Hence is't, that I am carried towards the west,
This day, when my soul's form bends to the East.
There I should see a Sun by rising set,
And by that setting endless day beget.
But that Christ on His cross did rise and fall,
Sin had eternally benighted all.
Yet dare I almost be glad, I do not see
That spectacle of too much weight for me.
Who sees Gods face, that is self-life, must die ;
What a death were it then to see God die ?
It made His own lieutenant, Nature, shrink,
It made His footstool crack, and the sun wink.
Could I behold those hands, which span the poles
And tune all spheres at once, pierced with those holes ?
Could I behold that endless height, which is
Zenith to us and our antipodes,
Humbled below us ? or that blood, which is
The seat of all our soul's, if not of His,
Made dirt of dust, or that flesh which was worn
By God for His apparel, ragg'd and torn ?
If on these things I durst not look, durst I
On His distressed Mother cast mine eye,
Who was God's partner here, and furnish'd thus
Half of that sacrifice which ransom'd us ?
Though these things as I ride be from mine eye,
They're present yet unto my memory,
For that looks towards them ; and Thou look'st towards me,
O Saviour, as Thou hang'st upon the tree.
I turn my back to thee but to receive
Corrections till Thy mercies bid Thee leave.
O think me worth Thine anger, punish me,
Burn off my rust, and my deformity ;
Restore Thine image, so much, by Thy grace,
That Thou mayst know me, and I'll turn my face.

100 Things

100 Things About Me

1. When I was at school, the nuns were trying to teach me cursive script. Mine kept leaning backwards; towards the left margin. I went home on the weekend and practiced for hours and hours, teaching myself to lean towards the right. When I wrote correctly at school, the nun thanked Jesus that it was fixed, and made no comment on the work I had done. This was the first time I remember feeling as though I had suffered a great injustice.

2. I am a very fast and competant knitter. Partly because of this, I find complex knitting patterns very vexing, as they always ask for you to count stitches. As a result, I never knit anything, although I enjoy it.

3. I have two cats. Black and white "tuxedo" cats, both boys, brothers, named Smith and Jones.

4. I spent my childhood in Ireland. I was born in Australia, moved as a small child to Ireland, and stayed there until we moved back to Australia again, when I was just turning 15. I have just recently reached the age that I have spent more years in Australia than in Ireland.

5. I have three sisters and one brother.

6.

Bosch

The Garden of Early Delights

Heironimous Bosch

Some details.

Poppies

This is a year of poppies, our land
was overflowing with them when I returned
between May and June, and got drunk
on a wine so sweet, so dark.
From cloudy mulberry to grain to meadow,
ripeness was all, in a gentle
heat, a slow drowsiness
spread throughout the green universe.
Now at life's midpoint, I've seen
grown-up sons go off alone
and disappear beyond the net of flights
the swallow keeps to in the spent glow
Of stormy evening,
and the pain gave way
naturally to the lights of home,
of another dinner in air refreshed,
by hail unleashed in the distance.

Attillio Bertolucci

Frogs

The Red Eyed Tree Frog

Jesse Bernstein

A BERNSTEIN POEM

"Come Out Tonight"

Forecast in chrome and plastic. Tyrants breathing alloy of slavery, planet hunger, versions of Jackie O. Sherry, Sherry baby, won't you come out tonight? And the stars whisper like old blood at the edges of the body of night. She stood with one hand on the phone for four hours, poised as though only a few seconds had passed. I watched her through the crack between the shade and the sill. She waited for a forecast in human trembling, together with other important women. Come, come, come out tonight. The world suffers for her: The clock hurries like a terrified animal, then stops, dribbling saliva. She has eaten chicken pie and bubblegum. For a month the Luftwaffe lived on raisins. Same with the French, after the war. Jackie O. received fresh oranges from John Kennedy. Silly girl. She cannot put down the telephone receiver. She is waiting to receive my body of work. She wants to take it in her ear. A mottled flush builds under her cheeks. She eats Xmas candy while she waits. The telephone rings and rings. I am not at home. I am with Jackie O. We are eating oranges from the President. We are alone on the roof of a Park Avenue penthouse. Picture of Marilyn Monroe in my back pocket molded by heat and sweat to the shape of my buttocks. You are gripping the phone smiling, eating candy, crying. I am with the important women, now. I am secretly an important man. Hang up the phone. I can't dance with you, anymore. Go to your freezer and get a popsicle. Go to your TV. Turn on your TV. You will see me and Jackie O. She will be taking it in her ear, the body of my work. In the Planetarium. You will receive a forecast. I will always be more important than you. You will never be important enough. You will never be on the whip-hand of slavery, never be the one to wield hunger against humanity. Heaven will never be an extension of your body. Your body will always belong to someone else. The picture of Marilyn Monroe flutters across the roof, steaming, shaped like me. Shaped like my ass. The sky is filled with oranges during the war. We eat them. The president is alone in a room. He is unimportant. As we eat his oranges the sky grows blacker. The moon ripens and turns red. It rots and is swallowed by the darkness. You are still by the phone. It is ringing and ringing, dead. Sherry, Sherry baby, won't you come out tonight. It is completely dark. The earth freezes. You put down the receiver and go to the window. Come, come, come out tonight.