“The
stars were drunk with the brilliance of their own indescribable colors.” Ben Okri, The Famished Road
Growing
apart doesn’t change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our
roots will always be tangled. I’m glad for that.” Ally Condie, Matched
“A
day without sunshine is like, you know, night.” Steve Martin
“Day
and night, like an incubus, the idea chokes me that my life has been wasted
irretrievably. I’ve got no past, it’s been stupidly squandered on trivialities,
and the present is horrible in its absurdity. Here, take my life and my love;
what am I to do with them? My better feelings are fading away for no reason at
all, like a sunbeam trapped at the bottom of a mine shaft, and I’m fading along
with them.” Uncle Vanya, Anton Chekhov
Callithump: A noisy boisterous band or parade.
Callithump
and the related adjective callithumpian are Americanisms, but their roots
stretch back to England. In the 19th century, the noun callithumpians was used
in the U.S. of boisterous roisterers who had their own makeshift New Year's
parade. Their band instruments consisted of crude noisemakers such as pots, tin
horns, and cowbells. The antecedent of callithumpians is an 18th-century
British dialect term for another noisy group, the "Gallithumpians,"
who made a rumpus on election days in southern England. Today, the words
callithump and callithumpian see occasional use, especially in the names of
specific bands and parades. The callithumpian bands and parades of today are
more organized than those of the past, but they retain an association with
noise and boisterous fun.
Masterworks of Ming
by Kay Ryan
Ming, Ming
such a lovely
thing blue
and white
bowls and
basins glow
in museum
light
they would
be lovely
filled with
rice or
water
so nice
adjunct
to dinner
or washing
a daughter
a small
daughter
of course
since it's
a small basin
first you
would put
one then
the other
end in
