Secondly:
Happiness is a new sweater.
I finished the Central Park Hoodie.
Here's the back:
My "wingspan" is a bit wider than the camera's field of view.
Here's how I'll probably wear it most of the time:
(The junk in front of me is my kitchen step-stool, set up with automatic waterers for my houseplants. I'm bad enough at remembering to water them that the automatic waterers help.)
The color of the yarn (100% Alpaca from Elann) is called Thistle - it is grey with faint overtones of pink, blue, and purple. But actually what it makes me think of is this:
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
--Carl Sandburg
I remember memorizing that poem as a grade-school student.
It's interesting to me how many of the bits and pieces of poems I've read or learned over my life come to me at odd moments. While working on the sweater, I kept thinking of "The fog comes on little cat feet."
The other day, I was thinking of: "All things counter, original, spare, strange" which comes from:
GLORY be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
--Gerard Manley Hopkins
If that's not been set to music and sung as a hymn, it should be.
How different my life would be if my teachers (and my parents, for that matter), didn't make an effort to expose me to poetry. I think my life would be a lot poorer. I know there are a lot of people who don't care for poetry, and that's fine, but I do think schoolchildren should be exposed to it, and then they can decide as adults whether or not it's something they need in their lives.
As for me? It's something I need.
1 comment:
i find myself avoiding poetry, for the most part. mark had a book of elizabeth barret browning poetry, and gave it to me. while the sentiment is sweet, i've never read it.
the few times i have read it as an adult have been poetry books for my kids (shell siverstein rocks!), and when i listen to book tapes. when i read a book with lyrics or bits of poetry, i tend to skim over it, and move on. however, with booktapes, you have no choice. you either listen to it, or you actively push that fast forward button.
however, poetry is still not my bag.
and the hoodie looks great!
i always think of fog coming in on little cat feet. every time. and i was never made to memorize the poem, lol
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