Love and Work

“The question that we ask ourselves is, what protects you? What protects you in this world from sadness and from the loss of an ability to do something? For me, what protects me… is work and love. And I think that those two things cover pretty much every single thing. Because what you do, who you love, what you love, and what you do with your time is really the only question that you have to answer.” — Maira Kalman

“To really blossom, one must feel wanted, loved: must feel a place is open for one’s special capacity – not just any job. … There must be balance – giving and receiving – of equal import whether in sex or art.” — Edward Weston

“In general, people are not drawn to perfection in others. People are drawn to shared interests, shared problems, and an individual’s life energy. Humans connect with humans. Hiding one’s humanity and trying to project an image of perfection makes a person vague, slippery, lifeless, and uninteresting.” — Robert Glove

“Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won’t adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is to sign on as its accomplice. Instead of vowing to honor and obey, maybe we should swear to aid and abet. That would mean that security is out of the question. The words “make” and “stay” become inappropriate. My love for you has no strings attached. I love you for free.” — Tom Robbins, Still Life With Woodpecker

Sometimes half asleep

“Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up…” — Louise Erdrich

“Stay close to anything that makes you glad you are alive.” — Hafiz

“We love what we love. Reason does not enter into it. In many ways, unwise love is the truest love. Anyone can love a thing because. But to love something despite. To know the flaws and love them too. That is rare and pure and perfect.” — Patrick Rothfuss, from The Wise Man’s Fear

Let’s Make Love

Let’s make love, she said.

They got paper and cardboard,
scissors and glue,
two yoghurt pots (empty),
a glove and a shoe.

They cut and they pasted
and laboured all night;
the result, to be honest,
was a bit of a fright.

It’ll do, they decided,
as long as they try,
not to use it too often
and to keep it nearby.

The sticky tape’s cracking,
the glue’s a bit weak.
There are bits here and there
that are starting to leak.

Though it’s easily battered,
and could fade in the light,
they built it together.
And that makes it all right.

rjh

At Times, Like Now

At Times, Like Now

In this moment the space
you occupy is at the
joining of these points

Our meeting was not here
the cry of the moment of air
tells the joining

Here we carry our boundaries
and move our shadows
against the light

[rjh — Originally published in Imprint 6. This version slightly revised.]

“Is it really possible to tell someone else what one feels?” — Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Storm Build

The original photograph is top left. Taken, as I said, in Victoria Quays, Sheffield. Other photographs show stages of processing in Photoshop and Perfect Effects 8 (for tone and texture). The image bottom right was then loaded back into Photoshop for final tweaking and the addition of the Anna Akhmatova quote as in the previous post.

Storms

Thunder

I am caught
in the soft circle
of her mouth
and eyes and the
crash of understanding
from the merest movement
of her body and the music

Yet I move away from her
when my flesh seeks to tell her
what my lips cannot

In dreams she is gathered
naked beneath me
touching till the passion
hums in our blood
and we fuck in thunder
like dark gods

and captured by the night
her body holds still
the secret movements of my hand

rjh_1989

[Photograph: Clouds above Victoria Quays, Sheffield.]

Definitions

“People are mostly what they can’t keep and keeps them.” — Alex Dimitrov, from ‘Together And By Ourselves’

“You don’t need another human being to make your life complete, but let’s be honest. Having your wounds kissed by someone who doesn’t see them as disasters in your soul but cracks to put their love into is the most calming thing in this world.” — Emery Allen

“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” — Leonard Cohen, from ‘Anthem’

Photograph taken in Victoria Quays, Sheffield.