Poetry Thunder!

I like Robert Pinsky's poetry. It's got that mythic, otherworldly, magical dimension that I feel good literature that is able to transcend time and cultures possesses.

Samurai Song was probably inspired by A Samurai Warrior's Creed, a 14th century poem attributed to an anonymous Samurai. I remember coming across it years ago and feeling drawn and intrigued by it. I realize now that I liked its underlying Buddhist tone.

Both poems are here for comparison, but above all, enjoyment.

A Samurai Warrior's Creed
by an Anonymous Samurai, fourteenth century

I have no parents--I make the heavens and earth my parents.
I have no home--I make awareness my home.
I have no life or death--I make the tides of breathing my life and death.
I have no divine power--I make honesty my divine power.
I have no means--I make understanding my means.
I have no magic secrets--I make character my magic secret.
I have no body--I make endurance my body.
I have no eyes--I make the flash of lightening my eyes.
I have no ears--I make sensibility my ears.
I have no limbs--I make promptness my limbs.
I have no strategy--I make "unshadowed by thought" my strategy.
I have no designs--I make "seizing opportunity by the forelock" my design.
I have no miracles--I make right-action my miracles.
I have no principles--I make adaptability to all circumstances my principles.
I have no tactics--I make emptiness and fullness my tactics.
I have no talents--I make ready wit my talent.
I have no friends--I make my mind my friend.
I have no enemy--I make carelessness my enemy.
I have no armor--I make benevolence and righteousness my armor.
I have no castle--I make immovable-mind my castle.
I have no sword--I make absence of self my sword.



Samurai Song
by Robert Pinsky 

When I had no roof I made
Audacity my roof. When I had
No supper my eyes dined.

When I had no eyes I listened.
When I had no ears I thought.
When I had no thought I waited.

When I had no father I made
Care my father. When I had
No mother I embraced order.

When I had no friend I made
Quiet my friend. When I had no
Enemy I opposed my body.

When I had no temple I made
My voice my temple. I have
No priest, my tongue is my choir.

When I have no means fortune
Is my means. When I have
Nothing, death will be my fortune.

Need is my tactic, detachment
Is my strategy. When I had
No lover I courted my sleep.

Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai- an amazing movie with Toshiro Mifune. The Magnificent Seven is the American remake of this classic.

Happy Thunder Day, my friends! 

Idiotic Dreams Return

A few years ago I discovered the correlation between bad/dumb dreams I'd been having and the partaking of Annie Chun instant noodle dishes.

I have nothing to blame last night's dumb dream on.

I've been taking a class on how to sew. Why? Because I think being able to Do-It-Yourself is an All-American right. I'd learn how to re-tile my bathroom if I could (or had the time...or quite frankly...the inclination). It's very satisfying to fix/create/update something with your own skills. And I think I've come a long way since the days I used to broil chicken drumsticks into long sticks of coal or hang heavy shelves on dry wall without first inserting anchors or finding studs. (Shakespeare's Collected Works almost falling on your head has a very different effect from that of an apple falling on Newton's noggin. True life stories. Right here. Right now.) Since I've learned how to sew, I've made some nice curtains for my upstairs bathroom (don't look too closely at the back though), made a dog bed for Miss Wigglebottom (that turned out very well and probably inspired my instructor to start drinking), and am now working on a reversible handbag. I love using a sewing machine, even though I can't make a straight seam and am so mathematically challenged that all my measurements would be ideal if I were making a garment for an octopus. Regardless, I enjoy choosing beautiful fabric and trying to imagine what it should be. There's a lot of creativity in the process and learning about all the techniques and possibilities is very exciting.

But back to the stupid dream.

For reasons I cannot comprehend, I had a dream in which I came across an order of nuns that sews its habits out of old bed covers, blankets and duvets. In the dream I stood in awe as they wore quilts and muted floral palettes in humble and devout silence.

McGyva was in my dream and when I ran into him and informed him of this (in dream), he asked:

"Hmmm...I wonder what order they are in? Must be the Sisters of the Comforter."

It was a terrible pun made in the dream that my groggy brain thought was hilarious. For the rest of the night, no matter what was going on, the punchline to everything was "the Sisters of the Comforter." And in they'd shuffle wearing their crafty handiwork... in paisley.

Wimples are hard to draw.

When I awoke, I rolled over and glared at McGyva...who swears he was asleep the whole time...

Random Avengers-inspired art. These are my two massive cats. Heroically lazy. Thunder Cats? More like Rum-Pum-Pum Cats.

This, of course, is not true-to-life, people! The cats aren't allowed outside...