Quote of the Week? Year?: Had we but time

Had we but world enough, and time.

~ Andrew Marvell

It’s been about two years since I’ve posted on this blog — a shame by many standards. I would readily agree, if I did not know what the past two years have been spent… traveling, working, exploring, reading… I savor each and every moment but, while I can do anything, I can’t do everything. This blog, dear reader, was the victim.

Had I but world enough, and time, dear reader, I could have done it all… which leads me to today’s quotation. If you have a moment, read the full poem, To His Coy Mistress, by the British statement (why, I am not surprised) Andrew Marvell. The gist is Carpe Dieme, so why don’t we just get it on already… guess that line worked back then too.

It’s Ok to Laugh, Really

I’ve only recently and reluctantly gotten on the twitter bandwagon. But, one feed that keeps me coming back (well, relatively) is FakeAPStyle. For those unfamiliar folks out there, the AP Style guide is to writing what butter is to toast. Tasty, and a pretty hard combination to escape. For example, according to the guide, we should spell out numbers (1) one to nine, but not when used as percentages; Maryland is Md. and California is CAlif.; and the importance of em dashes vs. en dashes vs. hyphens.

So, what is a girl to do in today’s modern age? Enter Fake AP Styleguide to the rescue.

Here are some their recommendations:

“To attract younger readers to dense budgets stories, use “Now all the ladies in the house say YEAAH” as your lead.”

“Use the quintuple vowel to transcribe the utterances of small children, ‘Daaaaaddy, I waaaant a Pooooony!’”

“The plural of Blackberry is ‘Blackberries.’ The plural of Blackberry users is “Dingleberries.’”

“If you do not have an interviewees’ full title, use their most defining physical trait (e.g. ‘Alan Hayes, fat guy, said…’)”

“Avoid using the letter ‘G’ as it is unlucky.”

“When writing about girl sports, remember to pretend they’re as important as real sports or we’ll get letters.”

Quote of the Week: June 15

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way— in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

AND

“Crush humanity out of shape once more, under similar hammers, and it will twist itself into the same tortured forms. Sow the same seed of rapacious license and oppression over again, and it will surely yield the same fruit according to its kind.”

~ Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

One of my favorite books of all time, A Tale of Two Cities, means more to me in memory than in actuality. It’s a poorly laid out, thoroughly mishandled and utterly beautiful book that evokes timeless themes of life, liberty and humanity. To read A Tale of Two Cities is to know revolution at its most ugly and beautiful forms, and I am blessed to appreciate its significance. I wish I could bottle up that essence into a few lines to share here, but I can’t and couldn’t and probably failed miserably in just citing the two above. So, forgive my inability and just go out to get a copy and start reading already!

The Route to Genius

There’s a truth behind my writing
I hope to capture
genius. And in capturing
it, I hope to make it
stay a while. For what good
is capturing genius
if you must suffer eternity
knowing only briefly what you’ve now
lost. No — I am not one
to sit by, wait and watch as it
goes quickly by.
And in writing these words I
do solemnly swear to
not only entice and ensnare but
use my feminine and literary wiles to the best
of my inexperienced ability.
But don’t be fooled.
I know hot to recognize
and utilize genius once I have
it in my grasp.
Like all ambitious people with substance, I, too
do not leave my education
to mere experience.
So, I write and I write
hoping that my charms and
enticements will succeed. In the
end. And like all
literary geniuses, I know, that
the end is only worth
the journey from the
story in between.

Conversion

I thought I’d change the world just
by living in it.
By being one of the billions — I’d make my mark
— no matter how small —
by pure existence, not perseverance or
high-class obligations.
Instead, I crash and burn my simplistic
views for the jaded sensibilities
which plague my generation.
The world changes
but not by me
And I change every day.

Flights of Fancy: Inspiration

I can hardly think of a more fitting poem to share on “The Flights of Fancy” than this, High Flight. For me it encapsulates a startling moment of inspiration, in this case of flying (it was written pretty much at 30,000 ft). I often write in haste, with little to no editing, and usually with little to no thought of where my words will end or what I truly want to say. I find the simpleness of this poem and the story behind it true, honest and inspirational. But to truly appreciate it, a short history lesson is below.

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

— John Gillespie Magee, Jr

My Odysseus

You’re two people in one
it doesn’t matter what you’ve done
I see me seeing you differently
And I’m the one who’s changed
instantaneously quiet, vocal, mellow, fun
Am I enchanted or Do I want you
in a moment, I change my mind
All I want to do is run
but I can’t decide which direction
Closer to you, Further away
The mind looses to the heart’s conundrum

Quote of the Week: June 8

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

~William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Ahh, another week gone by so fast! I’ve been running around, both for work and play, and driving myself mad in the process. So, who better to look for inspiration than the mad-piper himself? Oh, what a crazy world we live in… and how often we forget check in on ourselves or look outside of our own crazy philosophies.

As Hamlet struggles to make sense of his world — dead fatherly ghosts and all — we, readers and Horatio alike, are reminded that we don’t know everything. Maybe we are crazy! But, maybe we’re just ignorant. Or worse, both!!! So for this week, I vow to open my eyes, my mind and myself to reflection and counterpoints.

P.S. The language of this quote is pure beauty in my book. Shakespeare knew his stuff, huh?

Astray

I don’t dream anymore.
Is it a crime to miss the fantasies?
In my wakeful hours I muse
And in my sleep I abuse
By forcing my daytime ponderings
Onto my restful mind.
But I don’t really dream anymore.

I don’t reach for the stars
I don’t try to change my reality
I don’t say my prayers outloud
But push back fantasies
And I fear I’ve lost something, somehow.
Like this isn’t how it’s meant to be
That part of me has gone away.

I’m left hollow and afraid.
Because I’ve nowhere left to turn
And no more thoughts to burn.
All my hopes seem so far away
Not sure if they’re real anymore;
Not sure if that’s me.
But where does one go when dreams have gone astray?

Life With/Without Regrets

I’ve had to make a lot of big decisions over the past few months, culminating this week with what may be the decision for the foreseeable future. Funny, that phrase, foreseeable future… it’s easy to get bogged down in the decision process ruminating over the what if’s and pros and cons without remembering that the future is just that: “the time yet to come.” So, it’s times like these that I remind myself of the present, the here, and the now… what are my needs, wants and desires? I hearken back to Robert Frost‘s iconic poem, The Road Not Taken. Unlike the author, I find comfort knowing that I not only determine the path of my life, but also that — come better or worse — decisions themselves are a part of the present, future, and past. I am the captain of my fate, and that makes all the difference.