my birthday present

my birthday present
My awesome birthday present 1/26/11 (see story under my first post)

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Good Fun

I am desperate for some humor, how about you? This was on Writers Almanac. I am not familiar with Ron Padgett but this poem reminds me of Billy Collins, one of my favorites. I love his line "it is interesting not to know something everyone else knows." Makes me feel a whole lot better about myself.

The Swiss Family Robinson

Ron Padgett

I never quite understood who
the Swiss Family Robinson were.
The inversion of their name
confused me at an early age,
just as the name of Mary Baker Eddy
sounded as though she started out
as a woman and turned into
a guy named Eddy. At Walt
Disney World there is an attraction
called Swiss Family Robinson that
involves a tree house, so I assume
they lived in a tree. Why they did
I don't know. It sounds rather
stressful to me, the fear
of falling out. I could look up
the Swiss Family Robinson
in a reference book, but
it's interesting not to know
something that everyone else knows.
However, I would like to know if there
are many people named Robinson
in Switzerland. If there are,
I would know something that
most people don't know. 

"The Swiss Family Robinson" by Ron Padgett, from How to Be Perfect. © Coffee House Press, 2007.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Awesome video



This video by Mojebory, a Polish videographer, is quite moving. I suggest giving the video some time to stream (allow the gray bar to advance at least 3/4 of the way) before you attempt to watch it to avoid breaks.

The Dali Lama speaks his incredible wisdom through the first half then Dinah Washington sings This Bitter Earth. I have posted here the words to the song.  Enjoy.

This Bitter Earth
Clyde Otis

This bitter earth
Well, what fruit it bears
What good is love
mmmm that no one shares
And if my life is like the dust
oooh that hides the glow of a rose
What good am I
Heaven only knows

Lord, this bitter earth
Yes, can be so cold
Today you’re young
Too soon, you’re old
But while a voice within me cries
I’m sure someone may answer my call
And this bitter earth
Ooooo may not
Oh be so bitter after all