Poem: Dust of Snow

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

            Robert Frost 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bewilderment

Life is easy to chronicle, 

        but bewildering to practice.

                    E.M. Forster, A Room with a View

 

 

 

 

 

Aloha

In Hawaii they say, "aloha." That's a nice one.
It means both "hello" and "good-bye"
Which just goes to show, if you spend enough time in the sun
you don't know whether you're coming or going.

                George Carlin, Napalm and Silly Putty

Immortality

Untitled
By Sappho

Although they are

Only breath, words
which I command
are immortal.

       Translated by Mary Barn

 

 

 

 

What matters

Everything matters more than we think it does,
and, at the same time, nothing matters so much as we think it does.
The merest spark may set all Europe in a blaze,
but though all Europe be set in a blaze twenty times over,
the world will wag itself right again.

                                Samuel Butler, Sparks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Importance

Nothing is rarer than giving no importance to things that have none.

                    Paul Valéry, in Pretexts, by André Gide

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thelonious Monk’s 25 Tips for Musicians

As transcribed by saxophonist Steve Lacy

Just because you’re not a drummer, doesn’t mean that you don’t have to keep time.

Pat your foot and sing the melody in your head when you play.

Stop playing all that bullshit, those weird notes, play the melody!

Make the drummer sound good.

Discrimination is important.

You’ve got to dig it to dig it, you dig?

All reet!

Always know

It must be always night, otherwise they wouldn’t need the lights.

Let’s lift the band stand!!

I want to avoid the hecklers.

Don’t play the piano part, I am playing that. Don’t listen to me, I am supposed to be accompanying you!

The inside of the tune (the bridge) is the part that makes the outside sound good.

Don’t play everything (or everytime); let some things go by. Some music just imagined.

What you don’t play can be more important than what you do play.

A note can be small as a pin or as big as the world, it depends on your imagination.

Stay in shape! Sometimes a musician waits for a gig & when it comes, he’s out of shape & can’t make it.

When you are swinging, swing some more!

(What should we wear tonight?) Sharp as possible!

Always leave them wanting more.

Don’t sound anybody for a gig, just be on the scene.

Those pieces were written so as to have something to play & to get cats interested enough to come to rehearsal!

You’ve got it! If you don’t want to play, tell a joke or dance, but in any case, you got it! (to a drummer who didn’t want to solo).

Whatever you think can’t be done, somebody will come along & do it. A genius is the one most like himself.

They tried to get me to hate white people, but someone would always come along & spoil it.