Joyeux Anniversaire, Iris!

May 16, 2008 at 8:11 AM
10 comments

Uploaded on March 23, 2008
by judy stalus

I wanted to be sure to reach you;
though my ship was on the way it got caught
in some moorings. I am always tying up
and then deciding to depart. In storms and
at sunset, with the metallic coils of the tide
around my fathomless arms, I am unable
to understand the forms of my vanity
or I am hard alee with my Polish rudder
in my hand and the sun sinking. To
you I offer my hull and the tattered cordage
of my will. The terrible channels where
the wind drives me against the brown lips
of the reeds are not all behind me. Yet
I trust the sanity of my vessel; and
if it sinks it may well be in answer
to the reasoning of the eternal voices,
the waves which have kept me from reaching you.

-Frank O'Hara, "To the Harbormaster"

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Wow...I really like this. Thanks for posting it.

[this is good]

Great poem!!!! Thanks for sharing this. I love the picture, too!!!

beautiful

[this is good]

Truly an amazing colored Iris.

The tattered cordage

of my will. wow

[this is good]

Brilliant flowers ~ feels like the "eternal voices" from the writing above

love it!!!

Renee replied to Inspirational Place’s comment:
May 18, 2008
Reply

[this is good]

Thank you for stopping by, your comments are always welcome.

You have a gift me thinks, Renee!

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What a beautiful juxtaposition - the sumptuous and the sad note of longing. Thank you for such a gorgeous birthday gift, Renee: the gift of a few morsels from your reservoir of finely tuned art of all media.
I've been absent from Vox for a week but you remind me why this is such a valuable escapade: it's soul-nourishing especially for those of us who fall into languor over the summertime, for want of school and in absence of menial labor.

[this is good]

It's good to hear from you, cherie, and I'm gratified you liked the post. I had wanted to send you an ecard (or even better a real card), but couldn't access hipstercards while I was teaching last week--the school had blocks on the computers!

Ken has said that Firmin is a good read; it was marketed and facilitated by his daughter Molly who works at Coffee House, which is part of the reason that Michael did the great illustrations. I would have recommended that you apply at Coffee House, but I think they're running a pretty tight ship, and I don't know if you want to be an editor anyway. Hmmm. What else can I tell you?

I had a random date today. It was actually just a beer and lunch with a nice guy from Indiana, PA. It was nice because he's also an English concentrator so we were able to talk about books and grad school and what it's like living in PA. Ken was having fits because he quite adamently doesn't want me seeing other guys, but what's a girl to do when her boyfriend is two states away? You're lucky that you're finally reunited with Sten; I hope all goes well on that front. And you're right about seizing the daylight. I will, I will!

Joyeux Anniversaire, Iris!

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