Dr. Dog and happy music about getting stuck in an inescapable gravitational flux…

Clark Knowles — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:59:35 +0000

After

Clark Knowles — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:15:59 +0000

Before

Clark Knowles — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:14:46 +0000

The #Artist and her #hamburger #art

Clark Knowles — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:06:51 +0000

My lovely daughter and a multi-medium hamburger. I love that she can find her creative space. Fake fur, yarn, paint, ribbon, and other ingredients make for one cool sandwich.

#joyishness+Miles Kurosky

Clark Knowles — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:36:30 +0000

Happiest song about a dog in burning building that you’ll ever hear. Look for the singing flame toward the end of the video. He so happy.

A belated link:

Clark Knowles — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:26:35 +0000

Last November, my review of Julie Doxsee’s book of poems, Objects for a Fog Death, appeared here and I never linked to the pages. The review appears Gently Read Literature, a nicely put together online magazine put out by Daniel Casey. Much goodness is found within its digital pages. I can’t seem to get the embed codes to work correctly, but here is the link: http://issuu.com/gently_read_literature/docs/grl_nov

#Blazing into the #newyear…wait… do I really have to blaze?

Clark Knowles — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:09:41 +0000

I’ve been slow to update my site recently. I posted nearly 160 blog entries last year–a number that surprised me. In December of 2011, however, I didn’t post much. Here’s what’s been on my mind.

My father-in-law. He’s been with us for over two years. He’s now started in-home hospice. Dying is an absorbing event. I’m grateful to have the chance to go through it now, as an adult. I doubt it will be the last time. Although I’m not the primary care-giver, and our lives are full around Jack’s hospice life, there is a very definite pull of energy toward the back part of house where his room is. Three years ago, we renovated the final section of our house for just this purpose. It hasn’t been easy, but what about life is easy? And why should it be? Of all the two-bit planets in this two-bit galaxy, ours happens to support conscious life. The chances of that are staggeringly small. It’s a miraculous thing to ponder, but there’s no reason to believe the miraculous should be easy.

Also, on the total other side of the spectrum, my cassette adapter for my van stopped working and now I have to listen to the radio. My friends say, “Try NPR”–and that’s all well and good–but I don’t like talking on the radio. When I’m in the car, I like music. Now, down from the thousands of choices available to me on my iPod, I’m stuck with classic rock stations (unless Grace is in the car–and then it’s KISS 95′s All Hits All The Time). Not really having listened to rock radio in nearly 20 years, I was surprised to find that the songs are exactly the same. Seriously people–how many more times do you need to hear “Light My Fire” or “Break on Through” by the Doors? Me? I never, ever need to hear those songs again. And yet I’ve heard them both three times each in the last week. Give me “Peace Frog” once every ten years or so and I’m good with the Doors. Are the boomers so stuck in those old songs that they can’t bear to not hear the Doors everyday? And don’t get me started about Zeppelin. I’m in the car about twenty, thirty minutes a day tops and I’ve heard: “Stairway to Heaven” (two times), “Black Dog” (three times), “Misty Mountain Hop” (a great tune, admittedly, one time), “Fool in the Rain” (three times) and “Achilles Last Stand” (one time). Seriously? Is there some blood deficiency that requires Page/Plant infusions thrice daily? Even Robert Plant must hate how much he’s on the radio. People need to get out and find new music. Or maybe I should just bust the radio. It’s hopeless.

Also, it’s on in NH, I suppose. By “on,” I mean lots of republican volunteers calling looking for my vote. It’s ghastly. Newt the philanderer called today (his proxy, at least) and wanted to know if I could count on his vote. Not unless his name is Obama. Mitt called too. Mitt has shiny teeth and oily hair. I don’t care about his religion. His insistence that our country is the greatest in history galls me. He wants to shovel money into the military and also cut taxes. He talks about being married to his wife like it’s been a prison sentence. At least he hasn’t screwed around on his wife because he loves his country so much (Newt). I’m sure Santorum will be calling tomorrow trying to gauge my fear of gay people (the scary, scary gay agenda). Ron Paul called too. To all them, I just say no.

So, that’s the beginning of this year’s blogging for me. I’ve been feeling a little under the weather for the last couple of days and today, as I was starting to feel like myself again, I had the spark of an epiphany. Each winter break (teaching at the University of New Hampshire, I get an unbelievable break) I go into my time off thinking of all the things I have to “do.” I always have a list of things I need to get done. I’ve been a list maker all my life. I never, ever, ever get the list finished. It’s a pointless endeavor. I’m going to try an experiment for the next three weeks: I’m not to try to get anything done at all. Just going to see what happens when I stop trying to make anything happen. I’m going to attempt to live my life fully, but I’m not going to make lists, I’m not going to try to accomplish anything per se. Just going to live and breath. And do lots of hot yoga.

2011 in review

Clark Knowles — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 05:29:03 +0000

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,200 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Then and now

Clark Knowles — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 03:00:51 +0000

Grace and I standing in the exact same spot then (2005) and now (2011) after a lot of hard renovation (all of us) and growing up (her) and getting older (me).

#escape #walk #point #berm #orbit #spiral #glint #grace

Clark Knowles — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:44:18 +0000

Escape

walk

point

berm

orbit

spiral

glint

grace