Friday, November 30, 2012

A Love Experience

One of my favorite plays/movies is, "Night of the Iguana" with Richard Burton, Deborah Kerr, and Ava Gardner, among others fine actors. There isn't much for me to add to the scene I'm about to embed here, except that I implore you to watch it. It's beautiful and touching. The background is that Gardner is travelling the world and paying for it by doing sketches of tourists. Travelling with her is her grandfather, who is working on his epic poem. Burton is a preacher, at the end of his proverbial rope, and thus can only find a job giving religious tours in Mexico. After a suicide attempt, he is tied to a hammock by Gardner (not seen here, but magnificent in the film). Burton has a bad reputation for being a womanizer...not good for a preacher.

Here they talk about love, and the human connection we all seek. Enjoy.



Thursday, November 29, 2012

The Flea


THE FLEA.
by John Donne


MARK but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deniest me is ;
It suck'd me first, and now sucks thee, 
And in this flea our two bloods mingled be.
Thou know'st that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead ;
    Yet this enjoys before it woo,
    And pamper'd swells with one blood made of two ;
    And this, alas ! is more than we would do.

O stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost, yea, more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is.
Though parents grudge, and you, we're met,
And cloister'd in these living walls of jet.
    Though use make you apt to kill me,
    Let not to that self-murder added be,
    And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.

Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?
Wherein could this flea guilty be,
Except in that drop which it suck'd from thee?
Yet thou triumph'st, and say'st that thou
Find'st not thyself nor me the weaker now.
'Tis true ; then learn how false fears be ;
Just so much honour, when thou yield'st to me,
Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee.

Horror to Romance in Five Words

As some of you may know, on October 29 a tonic-clonic seizure, while driving, had me sailing into oncoming traffic as I flopped and twitched my way across the center line. I have epilepsy. The car, a newly procured 2008 Saturn Aura with less that 40,000 miles on it, was "totaled." Fortunately, I hit a very large white truck. That's all I remember after a brief moment of consciousness before being taken to a hospital. Well, the truck and the air bag that prevented my getting a flat face and "inny" nose, like a belly button.

So I can kiss my driver's license goodbye for at least six months, which seems fair. I could have killed someone, or worse yet a dog or cat. The smack to my kisser, and the severity of the seizure, had me in a fog for three days. When the fog lifted, I realized what I had done and understood what had happened. I've had 5 grand mal seizures in my entire life (usually in public places, for optimal embarrassment), and now, one while driving. While driving. The odds of that seemed astronomical before it happened. Now that it happened I feel like a big, fat fool for ever driving at all. And my neurologist tells me that those little seizures I have 3 or 4 times a week are equally dangerous while driving.

Back to the bus and subway for me, and my feet. Ain't no thing. Take it on the heel and toe, fatty.

I read the shortest horror story the other day, I found it clever. It goes like this...

The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock at the door.

I feel, with a little tweaking, it makes a good romance story...

The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock at the door. They lived happily ever after.

No good? Eh.

Onward.