The Art of War

"When near, make it appear that you are far away; when far away, that you are near."
(Sun Tzu. The Art of War)

First Characters

"In the beginning was the word, the word
That from the solid bases of the light
Abstracted all the letters of the void;
and from the cloudy bases of the breath
The word flowed up, translating to the heart
First characters of birth and death."
(excerpt from Dylan Thomas)

Come Over

"Come over to the window, my little darling,
I'd like to try to read your palm.
I used to think I was some kind of Gypsy boy
before I let you take me home.
Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began
to laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again.

Well you know that I love to live with you,
but you make me forget so very much.
I forget to pray for the angels
and then the angels forget to pray for us."
(L. Cohen)

I've Been Tagged!!

Okay so this is really a departure - I was tagged by Viking Girl
5 interesting things about myself:
1. I collect foreign language dictionaries; so far I have Hebrew, Yiddish, Polish, English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Latin, Greek, Finnish, Chinese, Polish to Hebrew, German to Hebrew, French to Spanish, Russian, Japanese.
2. Both sides of my family are from Finland - my father's side from the northern part (Oulu) which is fairly near the Arctic Circle and my mother's family from near Helsinki. Her family name translates to rock and my father's family name translates to frost/ice.
3. I have been watching Coronation Street for almost 30 years! Is there a recovery programme for it? Will Shelley ever develop a backbone?
4. I lived in Manhattan in the 1980's making art and living in a dive hotel.
5. I have an astigmatism in my right eye that goes up/down and one in the left eye that goes side to side.

Think that I will tag Radmilla

Sleepy City

"Just a lookin' at the sleepy city in the night it looks so pretty.
No one sees the city lights,
They just care about the warmth inside,
No one listens to what people say.
I just sit and hear the radio play.

Will you walk thru the sleepy city in the night it looks so pretty.
Tired of walkin' on my own,
It looks better when you're not alone."
(M. Jagger & K. Richard)

The Abyss

"Now, said I, at one o'clock, to myself: consider that you are a poor young man, penniless, in London Town, and that to-morrow you must look for work. It is necessary, therefore, that you get some sleep in order that you may have strength to look for work and to do work in case you find it.
So I sat down on the stone steps of a building. Five minutes later, a policeman was looking at me. My eyes were wide open, so he only grunted and passed on. Ten minutes later my head was on my knees, I was dozing, and the same policeman was saying gruffly, " 'Ere, you, get outa that!"
(excerpt from, The People of the Abyss. J. London)

Desire and Redemption

"He crosses to it deliberately and sets it back on the hook. After he has replaced it, he stares at her again, his mouth slowly curving into a grin, as he weaves between Blanche and the outer door.

The barely audible 'blue piano' begins to drum up louder. The sound of it turns into a roar of an approaching locomotive. Blanche crouches, pressing her fists to her ears until it has gone by."
(Scene 10. Streetcar Named Desire)