Sunday, December 30, 2007

Sense, meaning

There is a sense in a baptismal rite.
I stood there watching my grandchild being baptized.
Water.
The sense that God cares.
Not that God did not care before baptism.
It is just that it is a reminder, this rite, that we are cared for.
In spite of suffering?
In spite of suffering.
In spite of...
In spite of.
Cared for.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Attention span and paragraphing

Once, the hability to include secondary phrases in a large sentence was a sign of sharpness and good writing. To learn to be rigourous was to translate Cicero or Virgil. Or to follow Bertrand Russell.
Now, I walk out and see the marvelous summer garden with the mountains blueing behind the open trees into the sky.
And then I turn to the thought of being politically independent. And then, perhaps blogging into power.
Someone has lowered the air conditioning. Paula comes in and asks for a coat.
I type.
No photos; there should be.
Nowadays.

Monday, December 03, 2007

Universidad Austral - Valdivia - burning morning

I've talked to them.
Standing in front not of ashes, but of the golden hot,
The destroyer,
The past present in the void
They are crying. They fought, they won, then they burned.
They barely speak, their eyes wide
Their life's work has caught fire. Ashes.