Carolyn's Teapot

Another bright and beautiful painting by
Carolyn Rathbun George*

"Find yourself a cup of tea; the teapot is behind you.
Now tell me about hundreds of things."

from the short story "Tea"
by Saki

Scroll down or click: "Perfect Moments"
for more examples of Carolyn's art

Carolyn says:

"I would describe my style as a primitive, colorful and spiritual representation of a world where beauty need not be defined by complexity, but by the simple gifts that surround us every day - a breathtaking view, a beautiful bird or a radiant sunset. . . . my work reveals the memories I have of growing up in the Southwest, and it provides me with an opportunity to share and bring those memories to life - colorful landscapes and icons that have held a warm and comforting place in my soul for as long as I can remember."

Below are some theme presents that Carolyn created for me
to go along with The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker:
A fortnightly [every 14th & 28th] literary blog
of connection & coincidence; custom & ceremony

Poem for the Full Moon

Does Pine know that her "pupils
Will pass from change to change,
And that from round to crescent,
From crescent to round they range?"
THE CAT AND THE MOON
The cat went here and there
And the moon spun round like a top,
And the nearest kin of the moon,
The creeping cat, looked up.
Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,
For, wander and wail as he would,
The pure cold light in the sky
Troubled his animal blood.
Minnaloushe runs in the grass
Lifting his delicate feet.
Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?
When two close kindred meet,
What better than call a dance?
Maybe the moon may learn,
Tired of that courtly fashion,
A new dance turn.
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
From moonlit place to place,
The sacred moon overhead
Has taken a new phase.
Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils
Will pass from change to change,
And that from round to crescent,
From crescent to round they range?
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
Alone, important and wise,
And lifts to the changing moon
His changing eyes.

by William Butler Yeats, 1865 - 1939
Irish poet and dramatist
Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1923

"The Cat and the Moon" is reprinted from
The Wild Swans at Coole
New York: Macmillan, 1919

For more feline poetry, see
"Ode to Josef: Nine - Lived and Contradictory"
tomorrow's new post on
The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker
A Fortnightly [every 14th & 28th] Literary Blog of
Connection & Coincidence; Custom & Ceremony

Prayers for Custom and Ceremony

Autumn Leaves
by Jessie Willcox Smith, 1863 - 1935
American illustrator of magazines and children's books
NEW POST TODAY ON
THE FORTNIGHTLY KITTI CARRIKER:
LITERARY BLOG OF CONNECTION & COINCIDENCE
"A HOUSE WHERE ALL'S ACCUSTOMED, CEREMONIOUS"
As you may have heard me say before, the inspiration for designing my Fortnightly blog came from two writers: Goethe, who hopes that each day might include a song, a poem, some fine art, a few wise words; and Yeats who describes "a house where all's accustomed, ceremonious." This poem, particularly the closing, has been a favorite of mine for many years, decades:

Prayer For My Daughter
Considering that, all hatred driven hence,
The soul recovers radical innocence
And learns at last that it is self-delighting,
Self-appeasing, self-affrighting,
And that its own sweet will is Heaven's will;
She can, though every face should scowl
And every windy quarter howl
Or every bellows burst, be happy still.

And may her bridegroom bring her to a house
Where all's accustomed, ceremonious;
For arrogance and hatred are the wares
Peddled in the thoroughfares.
How but in custom and in ceremony
Are innocence and beauty born?
Ceremony's a name for the rich horn,
And custom for the spreading laurel tree.

[emphasis added above]

William Butler Yeats, 1865 - 1939
Irish poet and dramatist
Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1923

CLICK TO READ MORE FAMILY PRAYERS
& SEE MORE PRINTS BY JESSIE WILLCOX SMITH
"A HOUSE WHERE ALL'S ACCUSTOMED, CEREMONIOUS"