When I heard the learn’d astronomer by Walt Whitman
When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
Just wanted to share some genius with you today. Those old poets really knew how to make a point. I had a really tough English teacher two years in a row. A.P. English was perhaps the most difficult class I ever took. But Mrs. H pushed my lazy ass and I wrote. I also got grounded if my grade was below a B and in Mrs. H’s class a C was normal. I got grounded a few times but usually I intercepted the PINK SLIP she would write to alert my mother of my shameful grade. I remember reading this and totally understanding it, I had the best discussion with Mrs. H about this poem. I got an A.
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) is America’s world poet — a latter-day successor to Homer, Virgil, Dante, and Shakespeare. In his Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855 and revised and expanded for the rest of his life, he celebrated democracy, nature, love, and friendship. This monumental work chanted praises to the body as well as to the soul, and found beauty and reassurance even in death.
In 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, died when their single-engine plane, piloted by Kennedy, plunged into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.
I remember hearing the first words of the missing plane and who was on it and knowing it was over. I knew the circumstances, watched it unfold as did everyone because John John was royalty. He was also this guy who was always downtown in Soho, on his bike, or roller blades. at bars and always a big flirt.
One summer night in 1998, out with friends celebrating Max ’s having passed the BAR exam. We were down on West Broadway at Lucky Strike and Box a very Euro bar with great drinks. JFK jr. came in, and went to the bar. Notoriously he had not passed the BAR in his first attempt, and had real difficulty passing it later. I always saw him but I would never approach him, there was no reason to and he was always surrounded by women anyway. So the joke/idea was that we should ask him to join us for a toast to Max for his achievement, passing the BAR on his first try. It was teasing and mean and I don’t do mean. There was no way I would go through with it even though the bar was rather quiet that night and the fact was John John had looked over a few times and smiled his famous smile in our direction. My friends kept telling me to go over, he was looking and I was being ridiculous, but I had no intention.
As he was leaving, he veered toward our table and said ”Hope you are having a good night,” looking and locking eyes with me and then smiled the killer smile and walked out. Well my “cool” friends all burst out into nervous laughter as I turned crimson red. I was so happy they never went through with their childish dig.
A year later he was married and missing and everyone I knew was crushed ,shocked and in disbelief. How could it be in real life, that this could happen to him? I mean why? The Kennedy curse just would not relent. I remember my first thought was, thank G-d Jackie O. had passed, and about Caroline and her utter despair over her baby brother. The Bessette family losing two daughters in a national tragedy. The search went on for over three days but I grieved knowing there was no surprise ending.
It was like Princess Diana all over again. It devastated the country and the world.
I am a sentimental person so I shared that silly story. Rest in peace, John, Carolyn and Lauren you are not forgotten.
When I was in the 8th grade I had to commit this to memory. When I taught school I made the kids memorize it as well, though that week they hated me outwardly, they all managed to do it. I hope they still recall it as I do, because for me it was the first time I understood what this country stood for. I was so young then and now though I am somewhat jaded, I still feel patriotic reading it. I am an immigrant and I am proud to be an American.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union,
establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Remember…
That first kiss when I pulled you away
Closed the door behind us and slammed you
Up against the wall.
That kiss turned knees to jelly, lips to berries
And sealed our fates it seems.
It appears from far away now,
somewhere lost in dreams.
Memories they remain, time has let the bad fade.
Remember…
When we went to Balthazar that first whirlwind night?
How I thought you had tricked me by telling me your birthday
was the same day as mine.
But it was true,
and I knew then, you knew too, and we were happy.
Things were not perfect, please
I am not deluded, but we were happy.
I Remember…
Making love to you, looking you straight in the eye and knowing you.
Your hair long, formed a halo around your head.
I told you I could look at your face forever.
I meant it you know?
I confess, I saw us having a child,
just one and I knew this would be a loved child,
Nurtured and exposed to unique people such as our families were (are).
Remember…
We watched our friends walk down an aisle with hesitation.
Yet, I did not want to be them in the stuffy NYC hotel with the low ceilings.
No, you and I would have done it differently.
It would have been for us, not a sea of faces that judged us
As they smiled.
But rather before only our loved ones and g-d.
Remember…
Pretending that we won the lottery?
Fantasizing about what we would do?
Take care of our folks, see to it they had everything.
You would write, I would write and we would travel,
Volunteer, make a movie and love each other like only you and I could?
I always wanted you near me yet, I let you go.
I knew we loved each other but there were others we
Needed to love too.
Remember…
The Hamptons? Flashes of bodies writhing in pleasure,
Forgetting all, and everyone outside the doors,
enraptured, entwined and happy.
I remember. You do too.
There is a place in my heart that longs for you even now, today, I would
Drop everything for one try. Can you see it?
No, but I remember.
I am a sucker for Coldplay. The first time I heard them I thought it was U2 I was listening to. Chris Martin makes no bones about his desire to be the U2 of this generation. I know that for me that makes perfect sense. The music, the ballads are reflective and I know the melancholy is abundant, but I love it. This band touches me. Fix You off of X&Y is another one that hits deep and floods me. Martin’s voice isn’t perfect, instead it’s vulnerable which makes him believable.
Coldplay Viva La Vida Live Video Music Awards High Quality
The elusive quest quiet at times, riotous
others, seems ceaseless.
I search for it, I think about it trying to
understand its true meaning.
I shudder when I think I might not get there,
reach it, know it or like it.
It is a word used often, usually in the same breath
as, war, politics and death.
I write and it gets closer, we are intimate, I feel
clear and it familiar.
It taunts but seems to relent as I embrace it,
recognizing it with admiration.
It is fleeting, and so the trance subsides,
leaving warmth and hope.
One step closer to attaining my peace,
allowing it to attain me.
a reunion. For once at birth,
we were acquainted, now like old friends,
we share a moment and it’s gone.
