Sunday, March 6, 2011

in the attic

carl spitzweg im dachstübchen

while watering my plants
she waters her plants

we are mutually exclusive

to all intents and purposes
man and woman

on the surface of things connected in some way
unfathomable to both of us
despite our being entirely aware of each other
and yet
in recognizing the niceties
we provide each other with a distance
that obscures the unspoken intimacies
with which we have filled our waking and sometimes sleeping hours

me alone in my attic
she alone in her rooms


"genuine communion," said demian, "is a beautiful thing. but what we see flourishing everywhere is nothing of the kind. the real spirit will come from the knowledge that separate individuals have of one another
and for a time it will transform the world. "

excerpted from "demian" herman hesse

19 comments:

The Weaver of Grass said...

Interesting post steven - In the days when I could drive I often used to find myself following another car for miles and we would catch each other's eye in the mirror - I always felt it was a kind of brief relationship - ships that pass in the night and all that.

aguja said...

Very surreal. I love it.

Back next Sunday.

Kay said...

for some wierd reason this makes me think of a jane austen type dance with passion fizzing under the straight laces of society...both of your pictures on the last few posts have a man looking into the distance out of a window..watching for spring ??

elizabeth said...

No thought but I liked the sentiments expressed!

steven said...

weaver i wrote a poem when i was a teenage the premise of which was that i had passed the future love of my life a certain number of times in cars travelling in opposite directions! steven

steven said...

thanks for dropping by aguja. i'm shaping a slightly different space her for a little while. opening the windows as it were. steven

steven said...

kay there's an element of that to this. a few what-ifs hovering above the niceties. the people looking out windows - yes i'm opening windows, looking into the distance - for all sorts of reasons!!! steven

steven said...

hello elizabeth - thanks for dropping by! steven

Reya Mellicker said...

The new banner is spectacular.

There's a story by Julio Cortazar that I love, about a traffic jam outside of Paris. The cars are at a dead stop for such a long time that the people begin talking to each other. Groups go forth to bring back food and supplies, someone becomes the chief of this traffic jam society. People fall in love.

At the end of the story, the traffic starts to move. The protagonist realizes he has never learned the name of the woman he loves who is now back in her car driving. He loses her in the rush of the freeway. Such a beautiful story.

Such a beautiful poem.

Reya Mellicker said...

You can google anything! The name of the story is "The Southern Highway."

steven said...

reya - i was walking home a few days ago and dropped the camera to my side to take this shot. i didn't want to see what i saw. i wanted some element of chance to enter into the equation. the results are really cool and not of my making! thanks for the link to "the southern highway". after i've shoveled the massive snow dump off the driveway, i'm on my way to amazon to have a look-see!!! steven

Jo said...

Your words harken back to an era when people had time to observe each other and read into the complicated body language we all exhibit.

Strangely, it also perfectly describes today's era and what we experience with our sharing so much of ourselves in cyberspace.

"we provide each other with a distance
that obscures the unspoken intimacies..."

I love this one, Steven.

hope said...

You inspire imagination!

Which is why, on first glance at your new header, I saw "a little man" with a heart shaped body on the right edge, just as the shot tapers off.

Oh sure, it's a play of light. But I swear he smiled. ;)

Tess Kincaid said...

Gosh I love this painting. The man reminds me of Carl Larsson. So fitting, since I just finished watering my own plants. Hope you're enjoying a relaxing Sunday, my friend.

steven said...

jo you're so smart! a big part of my work as a teacher involves teaching my students to "read" social cues - the new kid, the supply teacher - it's interesting to me to see a core skill not so much disappearing as being so relatively unformed and i think it's a reflection of the degree to which their relationships are virtually real. steven

steven said...

hope - he's there all right!!! i saw him when i uploaded this image from my camera!! steven

steven said...

tess i'm glad because i've got a couple more to share here. i came across his work over at friko's blog which is a superb place to visit any time!!! steven

R. Burnett Baker said...

A thoughtful, and thought provoking post. How many times each day, and how many possible worlds do we not realize and never know through "distance that obscures"? Enrichment of our lives can be gained through both approaches, I suppose.

Rick

Dejemonos sorprender said...

Hi Steven! ) beautiful composition..
Anb nice your new pcture up)