A Brief Message

June 5, 2013 1 Comment

Because of family health problems that require my attention, I will be suspending further posts for a time.  I appreciate all the visitors I’ve received and the comments made.  I’ve had the pleasure of sharing my thoughts with many people from different countries and I value this experience.  I’ve also visited many other blogs, which have provided me with entertainment and material for reflection.

I hope to contribute new posts as soon as I am able.  I plan to restructure the main page, making subjects easier to locate.  I’d like to offer inner tubing videos and I have other plans as well.  My computer knowledge is rather limited, so I will require assistance with the aforementioned tasks.

In concluding, I would like to include a Grook by Piet Hein:

Some people live in a world

of what’ll allow them to live their dream.

They solemnly hold out a half-pint bottle,

and ask for a pint of cream.

Filed under Education, Grooks, Literature, Piet Hein Tagged with , , ,

And I Wish…

May 9, 2013 Leave a comment

And I wish when I die,

I could strip to my soul,

and dive once more

into the ol’ swimmin’ hole.

(Reworking of lines by James Whitcomb Riley.)sc00019e90

Filed under Inner Tubing, Language, Literature, Original Writing and Reflections, Swimming Tagged with , , , ,

What The Child Says

May 8, 2013 Leave a comment

What The Child Says

The child says:  “This tree is me.

The singing bird is me.

The buzzing bee is me.”

The child says:  “The fuzzy caterpillar is me.

The moon is me.

The blinking stars are me.

The sky is me.”

The adult says:  “You are a child.

You are not a tree.

You are not a bird.

You are not a frog.

You are not a bee.

You are not a caterpillar.

You are not the moon.

You are not the stars.

You are not the sky.”

The child says: “…”

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Mathematics Pays Court To Literature

November 30, 2011 1 Comment

Sarah Seff Rolfe was my poetry mentor.  I recall spending many evenings listening to her helpful criticisms.  She had a musical voice, which I still hear when I read her poetry.  Her book of poems, Heart and Mouth are One, was published by Terebinth Press in 1983 just before her death in 1984.  She never read the following poem of mine, but I’d like to think she would have enjoyed it.

Mathematics Pays Court to Literature

Literature appeared, leaving a castle of words, trailing silver metaphors.

Moonlight touched her face, luring her into a poetic garden.

She paused to think, then rested beside a river of flowing ideas.

Suddenly, a steady footstep echoed through the flowering shrubs.

Fearful, lest the person see her beauty rare, she enveloped herself in a cloak of ambiguities.

The sound grew nearer.  It was Mathematics-tall, slender, and with an exactness that made her tremble, he spoke:

“Oh, Mistress of Language, why must you hide your elegant beauty?  I beseech you to glance at me.”

Literature coyly smiled, and seemed to laugh beneath the protective cloak.

“I have many suitors.  I am courted by Linguistics.  What can you offer me?”

“I have manifolds, singular points, vector fields of thriving grain, coordinate rings of ruby and diamond.  All these I offer thee.”

Mathematics kissed her cheek.  Literature blushed and turned away.

“You are too bold , Sir.”

“It is my way to come to a swift conclusion.”

Then the two embraced in a shadowy corner of infinite space.

And the galaxies winked to see the pair linked

as they rode a nebula of possibilities…

Filed under Education, Language, Literature, Mathematics, Original Writing and Reflections Tagged with , , , ,