Five Fun Fotos and Laughing Delicately
Last night we attended a "Kabaret" at my niece Kayla's high school. Fun evening... the students treated us to dinner, beverages, and an eclectic variety of musical entertainment. The symphonic choir and Kayla's concert choir performed - along with a number of smaller ensembles, duos, and soloists (Kayla had the stage and spotlight to herself when she sang "Cry").
I think I got a lot of good video, though I haven't had a chance to go through it all yet. But here are four still photos, taken before and after the show. I didn't get any during the show because I was busy video-ing.
I'll also throw in a photo of the puppy we recently reacquired when somebody who thought she could provide her with a good home proved unable to do so. We've tentatively named the puppy Leda, and Geri wants to keep her. But since I'm the dog caretaker and have enough on my plate already - adorable as she is - I'd prefer to find her another good home.
Geri, me and my brother Mike before the show [photo by Mike]
Here's a poem I wrote over a decade ago in an entirely different situation. But somehow, as Kayla prepares to graduate in the next couple of weeks and embark on her adult life, it seems fitting. To a large degree, our individual and collective destinies are in our own hands. As we encounter forks in the roads of our lives, may we always have the wisdom to discern and the courage to choose the bolder, brighter, more bodacious and more beautiful destiny.
Wed. 4 September 1996
10:55 p.m.
laughing delicately
in the moonlight
a subtle sorrow in her
arching brows
a yearning in her eyes
and the essence of heaven
fast approaching
will she
flee the eastern sky
and resist
her bright destiny
or bequeath the night
to memory and
kiss the dawn
?
I think I got a lot of good video, though I haven't had a chance to go through it all yet. But here are four still photos, taken before and after the show. I didn't get any during the show because I was busy video-ing.
I'll also throw in a photo of the puppy we recently reacquired when somebody who thought she could provide her with a good home proved unable to do so. We've tentatively named the puppy Leda, and Geri wants to keep her. But since I'm the dog caretaker and have enough on my plate already - adorable as she is - I'd prefer to find her another good home.
Geri, me and my brother Mike before the show [photo by Mike]
Lovely Leda [photo by JC]
Me and Mike posing before the show [photo by JC]
Kayla and me after the Kabaret [photo by JC]
Daughter and Dad outside the school [photo by JC]
Here's a poem I wrote over a decade ago in an entirely different situation. But somehow, as Kayla prepares to graduate in the next couple of weeks and embark on her adult life, it seems fitting. To a large degree, our individual and collective destinies are in our own hands. As we encounter forks in the roads of our lives, may we always have the wisdom to discern and the courage to choose the bolder, brighter, more bodacious and more beautiful destiny.
10:55 p.m.
laughing delicately
in the moonlight
a subtle sorrow in her
arching brows
a yearning in her eyes
and the essence of heaven
fast approaching
will she
flee the eastern sky
and resist
her bright destiny
or bequeath the night
to memory and
kiss the dawn
?
Posted by Jesus Crisis at 5/17/2008 8:45 AM 
Categories: Miscellaneous, Pets and Animals, Poetry by JC
Categories: Miscellaneous, Pets and Animals, Poetry by JC
Sweet poem. I like it better than Ginsberg Sucks.
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Me too!
Great pic's
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Thanks, Terese and Angela! I don't always post the sweet stuff - maybe because I don't want people to know what a softy I really am. Got used to that in prison - where being seen as too soft could result in bad things.
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Yes, this one is beautiful. It paints a visual to me of a young girl on the bring of a new experience. Leaving the old and comfortable existence behind and embarking on a new adventure. Mixed emotions of sadness and excitement. We've all been there. Should I stay or should I go? Love this one!
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Darn! I hate type o's. I meant to say "brink", not bring!!!
This is such grand fun..and JC, you are the guru of poetry and of bringing people together.
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LOL... I'm glad you enjoy it, Susan, and I very much appreciate your kind words and friendship!
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...and the puppy (Leda) is precious..what a darling little face...I wish I could have her.
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You CAN have her... hahaha!
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Love this one, John. It has a beautiful mystical quality about it... a haunting yearning... I like it ...like it . Another keeper.. but of course you knew that already.
Leda .. that's a pretty name... hope you can find a good home for her... I can imagine puppy training isn't something you have a lot of time for currently.
Thanks for sharing your family outing.
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Thank you, Chris!
I must admit I edited it a bit for this posting - to give it the optimistic ending. Didn't change any words, just added "bright" and rearrranged lines.... Here's how I actually wrote it on 4 September 1996:
in the moonlight
a subtle sorrow in her
arching brows
a yearning in her eyes
and the essence of heaven
fast approaching
will she
bequeath the night to memory
and kiss the dawn
or flee the eastern sky
and resist
her destiny
?
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I like that version too...
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Thanks! It's more pessimistic, ending with the negative choice - but that was more fitting at the time I wrote it.
There was an even earlier version as well, where the first letters of the lines spelled out someone's name. I'm sure I'll stumble upon it eventually.
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Good job. It's nice to see families celebrating together. Good luck to your daugher and to the puppy. They both have to deal with future developments.
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Thanks, Dory! Kayla's actually my brother's daughter - but I love her like my own.
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looks like everyone had a great time. do mike and kayla's eyes always have that twinkle in them?
does leda still have puppy breath? *prepares to run screaming from the room*
love the poem.
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Leda is the name of a swan.
You sent me this poem in a letter of 17 Oct. 1996. It mentioned that the "victim" had sent you a nice letter and a birthday card. She was feeling remorse but there wasn't anything in the letter that you could show a judge that she had lied under oath. Also you said you had given up on the appeal because your lawyer was overburdened and didn't have the time to put into your case the incentive it needed. So it is now May 18, 2008, Time has passed you by, hasn't it and you are still considered an offender under the law. Crazy world isn't it? This sucks more than Ginsberg does.
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Elena, I usually don't like to butt in the middle of a conversation but I am overwhelmed by what you just wrote. The "victim" sent the "attacker" a letter and a birthday card? That is absolutely unbelievable. I always wondered if this was a case of unrequited love. It reminds me of a famous case where someone was wrongly accused of a "sex crime" but that person was found not guilty. His alleged victim commented on the stand, "Well, I don't like him as much as I used to." Of course the jury and everyone else was expecting him to say something like, "I hate him with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns." I don't know how these people live with themselves!
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Yes, she sent me a birthday card and more than one letter.
The birthday card had a money order for 20 bucks in it.
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Thanks, mb!
We had a great time - the air conditioner kept it a little cooler than some folks would have liked, but the temperature was perfect for my taste.
They have that twinkle whenever they're happy!
Leda does have puppy breath.
Glad you love the poem.
* * *
Thanks, Elena!
Leda wasn't the swan, though she is strongly associated with the swan. Leda (in Greek mythology) was the mother of Helen of Troy, as well as of Clytemnestra, Castor and Pollux. The daughter of King Thestius, Leda was married to a Spartan king (whose name escapes me). But the God Zeus was infatuated with Leda and took on the guise of a swan. As the swan, he impregnated Leda - and according to some, Helen of Troy was the result of that union. So Leda was the daughter and wife of kings - and beloved by the king of the gods. Plus her name begins with an L and has two syllables like Lucky and Lady... lol.
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is that Johnny Ray's 1951 hit CRY, or another?
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Another.... I love Johnny Ray's "Cry" - as well as the 80s song "Cry" by Godley and Creme. But Kayla did Mandy Moore's "Cry." I was completely unfamiliar with MM's music before this - but I liked the song. Though hit "pop," it had a certain haunting quality musically.... Here are the lyrics:
I'll always remember
It was late afternoon
It lasted forever
And ended too soon
You were all by yourself
Staring up at a dark gray sky
I was changed
In places no one would find
All your feelings so deep inside (deep inside)
It was then that I realized
That forever was in your eyes
The moment I saw you cry
The moment that I saw you cry
It was late in september
And I've seen you before (and you were)
You were always the cold one
But i was never that sure
You were all by yourself
Staring at a dark gray sky
I was changed
In places no one would find
All your feelings so deep inside (deep inside)
It was then that I realized
That forever was in your eyes
The moment I saw you cry
I wanted to hold you
i wanted to make it go away
I wanted to know you
I wanted to make your everything, all right....
I'll always remember...
It was late afternoon...
In places no one would find...
In places no one would find
All your feelings so deep inside (deep inside)
It was then that I realized
That forever was in your eyes
The moment I saw you cry
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Life is full of serendipity. Yr blog reminds me of this passage I edited yesterday from smith's book. It's a chapter about his poetry:
I wrote poetry from 1964 through 1975, then went dry for ten years. In 1985 Wilcox and I drove back from Vegas towards the new rising moon while on massive speed. I wrote pushing eastward to the moon not yet risen. It was a good night, a good time. Words were coming to me again. When I got home, I turned it into:
Wall Street
Pushing through the night
Eastward to the moon
Not yet risen,
False dusk of reason dons
Its mantis mating respectability
Sans honor, self or soul.
Money talks of dawn, damns
The discarded husk of culture
And enlightens genes for green,
Without the warranty.
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Wow... serendipitous indeed! Dry spells suck - but interestingly, ten years of the poetic ground lying fallow seems to make for a greater fertility in subsequent creative work.
Thank you for sharing this, Lady! And I dig the poem.
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I think this poem is perfect for anyone about to embark on a new phase of life. Of course when reading anything, but especially poetry, the reader injects her own perceptions into the interpretation. This says to me that we each have a choice to make. We can choose to let go of the hurts and injustices of the past and move forward, or we can choose to remain stagnant and immerse ourselves in our griefs and sorrows. Any time anyone talks of free will and the ability to chart one's own course I want to cheer. I am not one who believes that everything happens for a reason. I believe that we have immense power within ourselves to direct what happens. While that is going on, there are things that happen that we cannot control, but I don't believe they happen for a reason, they just are. I think that anyone who has endured a great sorrow comes to this realization. For example, try telling a parent whose child has cancer that everything happens for a reason. That parent will likely tell you that this explanation is unacceptable. There could not be any reason, good or bad that would be worth such suffering. Even our joys are part plan, part chance. Consider pregnancy. Even when it is most carefully planned it has the element of chance. It is not simply some grand design. If it were, I would have to assume that every person who wanted a child would have one and every person who is not ready, would be spared having one. But that is not the reality. The reality is that our lives are shaped by our own design in the midst of chance occurrences.
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Thank you for these insightful reflections, Tara. And you've summed matters up very nicely at the end: "The reality is that our lives are shaped by our own design in the midst of chance occurrences." May we always have the knowledge and courage to make the best design out of the occurrences chance deals us.
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