my new years resolution in a nutshell.

I thought about creating this long ass list of "things I should change/do in the new year".

But then I read this, and it summed up everything I wanted to say/do in 2011.

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves

And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired

And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

And run my stick along the public railings

And make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in slippers in the rain

And pick flowers in other people's gardens

And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat

And eat three pounds of sausages at a go

Or only bread and pickle for a week

And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry

And pay our rent and not swear in the street

And set a good example for the children.

We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised

When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Jenny Joseph [via]

yiddish| # 10

I just re-read For Colored Girls.

And then I re-read it again.

[begin powerful poetic reference]

& now she stood a

reglar colored girl

fulla the same malice

livid indifference as a sistah

worn from supportin a wd be hornplayer

or waitin by the window

& they knew
& left in a hury

she wd gather her tinsel &

jewels from the tub

& laugh gayly or vengeful

she stored her silk roses by her bed

& when she finished writin

the account of her exploit in a diary

embroidered with lilies & moonstones

she placed the rose behind her ear

& cried herself to sleep. - Lady in Red

[end powerful poetic reference]

Haven't been able to bring myself to see the film yet, because I think it'll kill the magic of this body of work for me.

The play is just too amazing.

Maybe one day...

"You must write every single day of your life. You must lurk in libraries to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy head. May you be in love everyday for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world." -Ray Bradbury

the truth according to j.d.

"Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sick of human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as trouble morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them." (J.D. Salinger)

I posted this quote on the day J.D. Salinger died back in January.
I posted it again today because I needed it.
I'm reading Isabelle Eberhardt right now because I think she's one of those people that kept a record of her struggle.
I hope this helps you as much as it's helping me.

"To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get use to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty in its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all to watch. To try and understand. To never looking away. And never, never to forget" - Arundhati Roy