Senses working overtime #273

1 Superman upgraded

2 For the Sake of Strangers

No matter what the grief, its weight,
we are obliged to carry it.
We rise and gather momentum, the dull strength
that pushes us through crowds.
And then the young boy gives me directions
so avidly. A woman holds the glass door open,
waiting patiently for my empty body to pass through.
All day it continues, each kindness
reaching toward another—a stranger
singing to no one as I pass on the path, trees
offering their blossoms, a child
who lifts his almond eyes and smiles.
Somehow they always find me, seem even
to be waiting, determined to keep me
from myself, from the thing that calls to me
as it must have once called to them—
this temptation to step off the edge
and fall weightless, away from the world.

Dorianne Laux (1994)

3 How to read more books

4 Portland

The scarey version.

5 San Francisco's Covid-19 response derailed

Be interested in Samantha and Jesse's take on this.

Extra texture: King Crimson's Lizard

Got the Steven Wilson redux version on vinyl this week from

Spellbound Wax Company (of Gisborne - you should check them out - excellent personal service and great prices).

Prince Rupert Awakes, with Jon Anderson from Yes on vocals, is a revelatory experience.

Prince Rupert Awakes

Senses working overtime #254

1 San Francisco's shelter from the storm

Our daughter is in SF with Jesse and hunkering down as the shelter-in-place order kicks in. I like that term - much better than self-isolation.

2 Covid-19 and the Flu

3 Those Winter Sundays

Sundays too my father got up early 
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, 
then with cracked hands that ached 
from labor in the weekday weather made 
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him. 

I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking. 
When the rooms were warm, he’d call, 
and slowly I would rise and dress, 
fearing the chronic angers of that house, 

Speaking indifferently to him, 
who had driven out the cold 
and polished my good shoes as well. 
What did I know, what did I know 
of love’s austere and lonely offices?

Robert Hayden (1966)

4 Birth of the cool

I've been enjoying this documentary on Miles Davis - something of a jerk but some great music!

5 Showdown At Yellow Butte

And I've been enjoying this Louis L'Amour western as a break from the serious stuff. 

Overtime: Sign off this week courtesy of Seth Godin

Curate your incoming.

Stay off Twitter.

Do the work instead. Whatever needs doing most is better than panic.

Being up-to-date on the news is a trap and a scam. Five minutes a day is all you need.