107 places

A DAILY BLOG FROM 2010 to 2014
people in 107 countries have come to this blog : albania / algeria / argentina / armenia / aruba / australia / austria / bahrain / bangladesh / barbados / belarus / belgium / belize / bosnia and herzegovina / brazil / brunei / bulgaria / cambodia / canada / chile / china / colombia / croatia / cyprus / czech republic / denmark / ecuador / egypt / el salvador / england / fiji / finland / france / georgia / germany / ghana / greece / guatemala / honduras / hong kong / hungary / iceland / india / indonesia / iran / iraq / ireland / isle of man / israel / italy / japan / jordan / kazakhstan / kenya / korea / kuwait / latvia / lebanon / liberia / lithuania / luxembourg / macao / macedonia / malaysia / mauritius / mexico / moldova / mongolia / morocco / myanmar / nepal / netherlands / new zealand / nicaragua / nigeria / norway / pakistan / panama / peru / philippines / poland / portugal / puerto rico / qatar / romania / russia / saudi arabia / senegal / serbia / singapore / slovakia / slovenia / south africa / spain / sri lanka / sweden / switzerland / taiwan / thailand / trinidad and tobago / tunisia / turkey / ukraine / united arab emirates / united states of america / venezuela / vietnam

31 May 2011

ready?

Several people I know are making changes.
Creating a book, a new studio, a legal settlement, a marriage, taking care of a grandfather... 
One friend says, 'i wish to access... my true beauty... a healthy and powerful state of being...' 
I wish us our wishes.
Photo: Pilot of a battery-operated plane, Germany

30 May 2011

love every colo(u)r, love the present

Night, a big building by the sea.
In the many rooms: black, words, red, images, white. 

I come to see two exhibitions, 'Love the Future' and 'Red - China and Artistic Freedom, 17 Perspectives'. The first words I see, 'Please Censor Yourself'. 

Inside, a mountain reaches one meter higher. A woman, naked, holds another woman's baby, also naked. A man with white hair tries to ring a bell beyond a very red flag. Ai Weiwei places a brick on his head, and many people wear the word 'Wei' on their foreheads. 

On the two ceilings, in white fluorescence, the words,
'No Thinking' and 'Free Doom'.
Photo: Outside the two exhibitions, Red - China and Artistic Freedom, 17 Perspectives and Love The Future, Chai Wan, Hong Kong
Text: Artwork by Ko Siu Lan (the quoted words), Map Office (portraits of Ai Wei Wei with brick), Vinci Mok et al (film of woman and child), Bobby Sham (portraits of people with 'Wei' on forehead) and others.

solid and silver

Could be a doorknob, a tael, or the top 
of a silver head. All solid, sure, us.
Photo: For rope, on a ferry across the Mississippi River, Louisiana

28 May 2011

one animal, another

I have been close to several animals lately.
Hen, cat, horse, cow, tui, person.
I like how this photograph is giraffe,
but more like a zebra shadow.
Photo: Auckland zoo

27 May 2011

26 May 2011

the whole body needs

Sometimes, the whole body needs to be lightly wrapped in water. Yes, how I love taking the long bath. Just seeing the tub is also restful, if we do not immerse the whole self.
Photo: Bathtub, with a bank mirror, and a gift from Japan

24 May 2011

joy dog

We watched man and dog and ball. How the dog seemed to give everything, in the most glorious way, to get that ball as directly as possible. I call that joy.
Photo: Paekakariki, Kapiti Coast, New Zealand

23 May 2011

the earth's deep breathing

Every night for the past few months, we have been reading the wonderful book, 'the earth's deep breathing', a collection of garden poems from New Zealand compiled by Harvey McQueen. Such voices and seasons. 
Photo: Rose from our garden, Carterton, New Zealand

22 May 2011

wearing wool

I am wearing a handwoven wool sweater as I type.
This is freshly sheared wool, in other colo(u)rs.
Photo: Wool, Carterton, New Zealand

20 May 2011

ascending, falls

And we, who think of happiness
as ascending, would feel an emotion
that nearly shocks us
when a joyous thing falls.
Photo: Huka Falls, New Zealand
Text: The closing lines of 'The Duino Elegies' by Rainer Maria Rilke
Translation from the German (and emphasis) by Louis Hammer and Sharon Ann Jaeger

19 May 2011

seven thousand miles

I am traveling in a few days. About seven thousand miles. Over land, and a lot of sea. From the rural to the very urban.
This morning, I looked up and saw purply snowy mountains of New Zealand. Next week, I will see all things Hong Kong hot and humid.
Photo: Train station near Wellington, New Zealand

18 May 2011

about to

Looks like something is going to happen.
Photo: Masterton, New Zealand

17 May 2011

fig, figment

I do not like to wear words, especially words that advertise. Wearing little sweetnesses is better, so with a black permanent marker, the two TOMMY HILFIGER on my vest now read TO MY FIG on the front and, with a dab of white correction fluid, TO MY TIGER on the back.
This reminds me of Andy Warhol who wanted his gravestone blank, saying if he had to have any word there, he would choose 'figment'.
Photo: Figs, Titirangi, New Zealand 

16 May 2011

it is what keeps

My father took this picture when I was five. We lived in a university town, where he was his happiest as a professor, and I was happy too. I think I have always been someone who loves, gives. It is what keeps me me. As a five year old, I liked to talk with people in the neighbo(u)rhood who lived alone. My mother would go to several living rooms to find me.
Photo: Madeleine on a tricycle, in the eyes of William
It remains my favo(u)rite picture of myself

15 May 2011

14 May 2011

Longing

Tomorrow, I'll perform.
There will be love and song, and longing.
Photo: Cindy Weinstein performance, Beyond Baroque, Los Angeles
Text: Ballroom Poetry, Riddiford St, Wellington, New Zealand, 15 May, 4-6pm

13 May 2011

If I look to the west...

...this is what I might see.
Photo: Out our west-facing windows, Carterton, New Zealand

12 May 2011

brother, sister, sister, brother

Today, four lives intersect. My brother we once called Titibaum was born today, a brother I played hard with as a child, baseball basketball whatever ball, joyfully.  And today I live with a man whose sister was also born today, and they also played as children. His little scar is on the underside of the knee. Mine is under an eye.
Photo: Mount Ruapehu, New Zealand
Text: EnJOY the day, Titi Stephen and Heather Maria

11 May 2011

10 May 2011

pink time

Ah, long pink grass. Reminds me of
'Drink long opinions full of violets',
a line from my poem for the colo(u)rs
pink and purple.
Photo: Pink grass on the dunes at Castlepoint, New Zealand
Text: excerpt from 'the way we like it', published in Delicate Access
The line is also the title of a favo(u)rite book review:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/feat/archives/2004/12/05/2003213910/2

09 May 2011

a seal and me

Yesterday, Sunday, Mother's Day,
we walked to a lighthouse.
A seal basking on the path.
Photo: Castlepoint, New Zealand

08 May 2011

like mother like daughter

I put my foot on each carpet.
Photo: A hallway in a hotel, Urumqi 
Text: p.s. My mother would do the same thing.

07 May 2011

clouds, stars and the old moon

'The clouds float back and forth through the wind's doors...
Are they waiting for a star, or for the Old Moon
or a new Almighty God
to finally lie down here at rest
so all will be right with the world.'
Photo: Dahlias, Carterton, New Zealand
Text: Excerpt of 'Are They Waiting for a Star'
by Rolf Jacobsen (1907-1994), translated from the Norwegian
by Robert Hedin. I thank my father for intoducing the poet.

06 May 2011

L is for lake

'I prefer the ocean and some of the rivers I've seen, but for writing I like the manageable water of lakes... A lake can be made to fit what the poem's typography demands.'
Photo: A river meets a lake, all moonlit, Rotorua, New Zealand
Text: The entry for 'L' from Mark Strand's book, 'The Weather of Words'

05 May 2011

o little one

When I saw these stones on the beach,
I thought of Elizabeth Madox Roberts.

'O little one away so far,
You cannot hear me when I sing.

You cannot tell me what you are,
I cannot tell you anything.'
Photo: Paekakariki, New Zealand
Text: 'The Star' by Elizabeth Madox Roberts (1881-1941)

04 May 2011

circulation

I have always loved sleeping with lots of air coming
into the room.
Photo: Looking out from the bedroom, Wellington, New Zealand

03 May 2011

fate and snowfall and work

'Fate is a consuming snowfall of white butterflies'

'Do not depend on the hope of results... but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself'

Photo: Artichoke, New Zealand
Text: First excerpt from 'The Cabbages' by novelist-poet Janet Frame.
The second from 'Letter to a Young Activist' by monk-poet-activist Thomas Merton.  

02 May 2011

blue is

Blue is everything we cannot touch.
Photo: The concrete structure is a communal area
of an American Indian reservation, New Mexico, USA
Text: The opening of my poem 'Seeing blue' in the series 'colo(u)r'

01 May 2011

the moon forgives

Almost thirty years ago, I made a promise
I did not keep. The moon forgives.
Photo: Moon over Lake Rotorua, New Zealand