The sky cracked it's poems in naked wonder

The way it goes is I complain about working too much, & then an afternoon comes when I finally get to leave early & I don't know what to do with myself. Then I sit at my computer & wonder what I'm going to do all afternoon & soon enough the afternoon turns into night & I get to go back to work the next day. Here's a few poems I read whilst whiling away the hours. I don't think I'll do very good at retirement.

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Emily Dickinson, 1861

Life, friends. Is Boring. We Must Not Say So.

Life, friends, is boring. We must not say so.
After all, the sky flashes, the great sea yearns,
we ourselves flash and yearn,
and moreover my mother told me as a boy
(repeatedly) 'Ever to confess you're bored
means you have no

Inner Resources.' I conclude now I have no
inner resources, because I am heavy bored.
Peoples bore me,
literature bores me, especially great literature,
Henry bores me, with his plights & gripes
as bad as achilles,

Who loves people and valiant art, which bores me.
And the tranquil hills, & gin, look like a drag
and somehow a dog
has taken itself & its tail considerably away
into mountains or sea or sky, leaving
behind: me, wag.

John Berryman, 1964

Oh, & for those of you who are interested & aren't suffering with dial-up, here's some selection from 2008's best albums.

The Black Keys, I Got Mine, from the album Attack & Release.



My Morning Jacket, Sec Walkin, from Evil Urges



Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Easy Does It, from Lie Down in the Light



Alejandro Escovedo, Sister Lost Soul from Real Animal



Wolf Parade, Fine Young Cannibals from At Mount Zoomer



Beck, Gamma Ray from Modern Guilt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIBw-lbxtT4

REM, Living Well is the Best Revenge, Accelerate--finally a decent album from REM.



Fleet Foxes, White Winter Hymnal



Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Dig! Lazarus, Dig! from Dig! Lazarus, Dig!-this wins the award for the only music video I watched in 2008, & it's quite funny.



Sun Kil Moon, Tonight the Sky, from April



The Drive By Truckers, Two Daughters & a Beautiful Wife, Brighter then Creation's Dark



Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Hopscotch Willie from Real Emotional Trash



The Roots, 75 Bars (Black's Reconstruction) from Rising Down



& last but not least, the finest song from Bob Dylan's Tell Tale Signs, Red River Shore



Five Favorite Songs of the Day

The Show-The Roots, Rising Down

Cold Son-Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Real Emotional Trash

I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You-Louis Jordan & Louis Armstrong

My Sweet Lord-George Harrison, The Concert for Bangladesh

Keep Eye on Other's Gain-Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Lie Down in the Light

Happy Friday, friends...

andrew