'Art and Love'

Oath of Friendship
Shang ya!
I want to be your friend
For ever and ever without break or decay.
When the hills are all flat
And the rivers are all dry,
When it lightens and thunders in the winter,
When it rains and snows in the summer,
When Heaven and Earth mingle-
Not till then will I part from you.

~ANONYMOUS, China 1st Century B.C.

Sonnet
Guido, I wish that you Lapo and I
Were carried off by magic
And put in a boat, which, every time there was a wind,
Would sail on the ocean exactly where we wanted.
In this way storms and other dangerous weather
Wouldn't be able to harm us-
And I wish that, since we all were of one mind,
We would want more and more to be together.
And I wish that Vanna and Lagia too


And the girl whose name on the list is number


thirty (hehe)


Were put in the boat by the magician too


And that we all did nothing but talk about love


And I wish that they were just as glad to be there


As I belive the three of us would be.




~Dante Alighieri (favorite)









For The Moment


Life is simple and gay


The bright sun rings with a quiet sound


The sound of the bells has quiteed down


This morning the light hits it all


The footlights of my head are lit again


And the room I live in is finally bright


Just one beam is enough


Just one burst of laughter


My joy that shakes the house


Restrains those wanting to die


By the notes of its song


I sing off-key


Ah it's funy


My mouth open to every breeze


Spews mad notes everywhere


That emerge I don't know how


To fly toward other ears


Listen I'm not crazy


I laugh at the bottom of the stairs


Before the wide-open door


In the sunlight scattered


On the wall among green vines


And my arms are held out toward you





It's today I love you



~Pierre Reverdy












The only thing I bought in North Carolina was a book from this little hole in the wall collectors' bookstore in Black Mountain: 'ART & LOVE The Metropolitan Museum of Art , An Illustrated Anthology of Love Poetry.' I am happy