It's Different Out There

Happy Leap Day! ~ Do something different!
Photo by Gerry McCartney

"I account it high time
to get to sea as soon as I can. . . . "
~ Herman Melville ~

" . . . for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die."
~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson ~

Sea Fever
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way
where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

John Masefield (1878 - 1967)
British Poet Laureate from 1930 - 1967

Longly, Longingly

"His midriff yearned then upward, sank within him,
yearned more longly longingly."

~ James Joyce, Ulysses, 172 - 73
Coming across the above line in Ulysses in 1978, inspired me to attempt a poem on the same gut sensation:

The Ache You Wear

You fall into her arms like crying,
feel her lips in your hair,
soothing like a parent
and something else.

Wooden and broken,
you lean rigidly.
Your forehead rests against breasts
which must be like your own.

With each soft motion,
the ache you wear like a brace
begins to melt, drips
slowly down your back.

Like congestion, it seeps inside,
fills the space between every rib,
then tatters into loose bits
that choke upward and sink within you.

Yearning for a familiarity,
you move toward this woman
and this one comfort
after taking leave of him.

For this time you fall away
from any pain.
Thick rags are floating
now in your stomach.

More visceral imagery
on my current post

~ "Longly, Longingly" ~

@ The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker:
A Fortnightly [every 14th & 28th] Literary Blog of
Connection & Coincidence; Custom & Ceremony

Bloomsday & Father's Day

Cartoons for Father's Day

Happy Father's Day . . .

and Happy Bloomsday!

"For myself, I always write about Dublin,
because if I can get to the heart of Dublin
I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world.
In the particular is contained the universal."
~ James Joyce ~
"Heureux Qui, Comme Ulysse . . . "
Happy he (or she)
Who travels the day
Hopefully, and the
World without hope, calm,
A smiling stoic
Who savours what his
Life may bring. Happy
The day of birth, and
Happy our dying:
Without it, life will
Not be known. Let all
Be seen for itself,
For what it is! Do
Not fear the voyage
Towards the world's edge
And the final hour.
Take pity on time.
Welcome each event
Because it greets you
As the destined one.

by Edward Lucie - Smith
in Light Unlocked, 47

Happy Bloomsday to All!

in honor of James Joyce, Ulysses,
Leopold Bloom, and Bloomsday
Thanks to my son Ben for allowing me to share some of his recent Dublin photos and captions . . .

"We started south towards the river Liffey
passing the General Post Office on the way."


"Across the river we find Trinity College Dublin.
One of Gerry McCartney's alma maters."


"We continued South, down Grafton street,
and to the entrance of St. Stephen's Green."


"Chris stopped to take some pictures of ducks."


"We found a hat and sweater shop in Dublin and
couldn't help but try them on. Unfortunately I
look ridiculous, Richard's looking pretty good though."

"We saw a lot of beer being delivered around
the city. It was a clear reminder that Dublin
was the place to be for the freshest Guinness."


"Speaking of Guinness. We got some for lunch
and it was far and away better than the
canned American version. Chris was thirsty."


Happy Bloomsday to All
And to All a Good Night!

It's always Bloomsday somewhere! Right?

See also

1. my post from Bloomsday 2011:"Parallax"

2. what Stephan Dedalus has to say about "Never Fear"

View across St. Stephen's Green, looking south.
~ Dublin, Ireland ~ ca. 1900 ~

"Crossing Stephen's, that is, my green . . . " (186)
from Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
by James Joyce

Hungry Heart

Everybody's Got a Hungry HeartPortobello Mushrooms in the Brattleboro Food Co-Op
Photo by Leif K-Brooks

NEW POST TODAY ON
THE FORTNIGHTLY KITTI CARRIKER
"Portobello Mushrooms" & "Truffles"
poetry by Catharine Savage Brosman

"--a hunger of the palate, / of the heart--"
See also my earlier post featuring
Brosman's poem, "Brussels Sprouts"
March 1, 2011: "My Vegetable Love"

Bloomsday

Update 2025:
The Forty Foot & The Martello Tower

In honor of Bloomsday, here is a passage from Joyce
to go along with King Lear's question:

"Who is it that can tell me who I am?"
William Shakespeare, from King Lear

"Think you're escaping and run into yourself.
Longest way round is the shortest way home."
James Joyce, from Ulysses

Is reading Ulysses still on your "to do" list?
Well, just for a bit of fun, you can watch this Lego Version.

My friend and fellow Modernist, Kathleen O'Gorman says:
"Happy Bloomsday, citizens, phenomenologists, throwaways, foreigners, gentlemen of the press, evermoving wanderers, weavers and unweavers, pedestrians in brown macintoshes, Wandering Soap, sailors crutching around corners, no-one, everyone! Hoping you're well and not in hell!"