>>>>Jane Through The Seasons

-- Jane

Wishing you every happiness! -- Jane

"Allow your judgements their own silent, undisturbed development, which, like all progress, must come from deep within and cannot be forced or hastened. Everything is gestation and then birthing. To let each impression and each embryo of a feeling come to completion, entirely in itself, in the dark, in the unsayable, the unconscious, beyond the reach of one’s own understanding, and with deep humility and patience to wait for the hour when a new clarity is born: this alone is what it means to live as an artist: in understanding as in creating"
(Rainer Maria Rilke. Letters to a Young Poet. Trans. Stephen Mitchell. NY: Modern Library,2001, p.23-4).

There are a lot of oh-yes! things said by Rilke to Kappus in the third letter. Amongst which is the above passage…

But let’s do things a little differently for part III, shall we? How are you? Having a grand time I bet! Oh do say you are having a grand time. Well, that is if you are indeed having a grand time, but if you are not havi…

In efforts to listen more to my heart and live happily in the now, I am learning that life is richer when one journeys more inwards and learns to be open to everything by learning to expect everything of body, mind, and environs. If you tried out the first part of this experiment, I hope you found it entertaining and that you were able to observe your mind and notice how your imagination feeds it. And perhaps there were instances when you also noticed your imagination's effects on your heart. I would be very impressed, though, if you were consistently able to imagine the possible difficulties your body could be enduring while existing in its comfortable actuality. I am very bad at this experiment. I live in my head a lot and I am almost always making fun of myself. So first of all it is quite hard to focus and when I do manage to focus it is actually hard to take my imaginations seriously. For instance while enjoying a favorite meal, should I successfully imagine my teeth aching …

Altar
by Marilyn Chin

I tell her she has outlived her usefulness.
I point to the corner where dust gathers,
where light has never touched. But there she sits,
a thousand years, hands folded, in a tattered armchair,
with yesterday’s news, “the Golden Mountain Edition.”
The morning sun slants down the broken eaves,
shading half of her sallow face.

On the upper northwest corner (I‘d consulted a geomancer),
a deathtrap shines on the dying bougainvillea.
The carcass of a goatmoth hangs upsidedown,
hollowed out. The only evidence
of her seasonal life is a dash 
of shimmery powder, a last cry.

She, who was attracted to that bare bulb,
who danced around that immigrant dream,
will find her end here, this corner,
this solemn altar.

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Analysis

Marilyn Chin’s “Altar” seems a tongue-in-cheek treatment of the intriguing subject that is human desire in the need to improve one's state, through the theme of immigration and specifically as a transmission of culture.  The poem traces the transpla…

Usually, like everyone, I love whipping myself a good soft shea butter. But unlike everyone my skin and hair do not absorb shea butter very well. So when I recently came across a tutorial from one of my favorite YouTube channels on whipping Mango butter, I had to give it a try. I simplified the original recipe and made a small batch that lasted about three weeks. Loved it! It absorbs well into my skin and hair. It is also scentless so one only need add a little of one's favorite essential oil(s).  I recently made another batch––I prefer small batches so the butter stays fresh––and took some photos to share with you. 
To whip a small batch of mango body & hair butter you will need:
+ A (glass) container for your butter  + A kettle of hot water (to melt mango butter) + A deep bowl (for hot water) + A small (ceramic) bowl (to melt butter in)  + A wooden stick or spoon  + A small butter knife (to whip butter) + A cup of pure unrefined raw mango butter  + A half cup of cold presse…

At present I am unable to write much. But here's an interesting paragraph I came across in Niels Lyhne (1967)by J. P. Jacobsen:


When I sit here and mope and don't do anything and can't do anything,  then I actually feel the time slipping away from me. Hours and weeks and  months rush past with nothing in them, and I can’t nail them to the spot  with a piece of work...I want to get hold of it with something achieved.  When I paint a picture, the time I use for it remains mine forever; it isn't  lost, even though it's past. (181)



Alright then,
Jane

-- Jane

The Bean Eaters
--Gwendolyn Brooks

They eat beans mostly, this old yellow pair.
Dinner is a casual affair.
Plain chipware on a plain and creaking wood,
Tin flatware.

Two who are Mostly Good.
Two who have lived their day,
But keep on putting on their clothes
And putting things away.

And remembering . . .
Remembering, with twinklings and twinges,
As they lean over the beans in their rented back room that
          is full of beads and receipts and dolls and cloths,
          tobacco crumbs, vases and fringes.


Analysis
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Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem, "The Bean Eaters" exudes amicable union, gentility, and wise comfort in repetitive simplicity. In this analysis I will focus on the simple but beautiful word constructions that allow the reading of the poem as such.

Let us start with the title: An image that comes to mind when one hears the phrase bean eater is that of the vegetarian or vegan. These words promote a nonviolent and peaceful image; one may even go as far as to imagine a …

-- Jane