Tales from the Microbial Laboratory

Front Door Light Moth Series, Part IX

So tonight, somewhat serendipitiously, I came across an image of a moth that I had forgotten to include in these pages - a nice one I think - and then even more serendipitiously, I came across a site (as one often does on the www), The Wondering Minstrels (which doesn't seem to be maintained any longer), and a poem...about a moth.  An appropriate poem - for a moth and such a night.  Thinking, while sitting out in the much cooler air, thinking about lives (of any kind) well-lived - short ones, long ones - pondering the last remaining hours of a (yes, still breathing) sweet beagle and a brief visit to an 87 year old friend who has the petals of camellias and sails of old boats rushing even still through his veins.  Yes, tonight it's not surprising to think of a moth, and to come across a poem (one that I'm guessing is not new to many but is to me) which came with the following preamble:

The narrator is a poet [archy] reincarnated in a cockroach's body.
He types by jumping on the keys of a typewriter, hence the lack of caps.
Knowing that helps :)

the lesson of the moth by Don Marquis

i was talking to a moth
the other evening
he was trying to break into
an electric light bulb
and fry himself on the wires

why do you fellows
pull this stunt i asked him
because it is the conventional
thing for moths or why
if that had been an uncovered
candle instead of an electric
light bulb you would
now be a small unsightly cinder
have you no sense

plenty of it he answered
but at times we get tired
of using it
we get bored with the routine
and crave beauty
and excitement
fire is beautiful
and we know that if we get
too close it will kill us
but what does that matter
it is better to be happy
for a moment
and be burned up with beauty
than to live a long time
and be bored all the while
so we wad all our life up
into one little roll
and then we shoot the roll
that is what life is for
it is better to be a part of beauty
for one instant and then cease to
exist than to exist forever
and never be a part of beauty
our attitude toward life
is come easy go easy
we are like human beings
used to be before they became
too civilized to enjoy themselves

and before i could argue him
out of his philosophy
he went and immolated himself
on a patent cigar lighter
i do not agree with him
myself i would rather have
half the happiness and twice
the longevity

but at the same time i wish
there was something i wanted
as badly as he wanted to fry himself

archy

June Tyson performed stellarly

You don't need me to tell you about Sun Ra. He experienced a close encounter of the third kind in 1936 or 1937 (or maybe in the early 1950s), and the rest is musical history and popular culture legend. The 1980 film A Joyful Noise (available through Netflix) is a good introduction to his world, but what interests me about the film is the spotlight given to the late June Tyson (1936-1992), Sun Ra's vocalist. The film includes a sequence showcasing Sun Ra's band, the Arkestra, performing in broad daylight on a rooftop, where June Tyson performs stellarly. Controlled pitch. Accomplished and knowing phrasing. She makes straight the way for Sun Ra and his music.

If you go to Amazon.com, you'll discover there are no recordings of June Tyson – no artifacts to testify to her accomplishment, and yet, in brief snatches from Sun Ra videos and in his recordings, we hear a remarkable talent and woman. I suppose she was one of Sun Ra's acolytes (the Joyful film talks about this), but surely, in an afrofuturistic world, she'll be heralded as the siren who opened us up to Sun Ra's all-embracing jazz vision. Am I wrong to think June Tyson was to Sun Ra as MC Danny Ray was to James Brown?

-3Dsound

~the last daisy of this season~

untitled (again)

untitled

What odd creatures some fungi are.

Are they even creatures?

Do they know that they pop-up, only to survive for a few days?

No, I suppose not.

And that's probably best.

~~~~~

I felt compelled to say something about fungi, and that was all I had in me.

And that's also probably best.

~~~~~

There is a small amount of unrecognizable fur in my yard.  A few tufts.  It might be from a rabbit.  Perhaps what is left of one of the rabbits when the snake (or perhaps an owl) got it?  The dogs were thrilled to find unrecognizable fur, but disappointed to find it not attached to something that hops, squirms, scratches or snarls.

Those dogs.

The Ancient Wonder Beagle lives on, but the critical decision (and phone call) have been made.  A Vet will come to the house.

It is okay.

I believe in dog-heaven.  People heaven?  I'm not so sure about that.

~~~~~

From over at Bellascribe, this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

Ahhh...words to live by.

~~~~~

So today I looked through the November Issue of Garden Design magazine.

Cannomois virgata.  Wow.

The article says that if you have well-drained, acidic soils - that you should be able to grow it.  It survives temperatures down to 20 degrees.  Here's how the author of the article, Dat Pham, describes it:

It commands attention, its architectural bundles of stalks growing eight feet tall plus, with cinnamon-colored sheaths and an abundant cascade of plume-like foliage resembling green ostrich feathers.  Ideal as a tall textural accent.  I prefer it as a focal point.

It's a really interesting plant.  (You can also read here). 

~~~~~

Back to my NSF report.

windows

The Marvin catalogue arrived in the mail today.

I like these windows.

Marvin Double hung Magnums (Could it be that I just like the sound of that?).

Aluminum clade exterior, wood interior.

thinking

This is one of the indigos, from the Genus Indigofera.  Perhaps I. himalayensis, according to this list.  Mine's been blooming off and on since early spring - and it's about 5' tall now.  Spindly, but in a good way.  I like it.

My camera will only backlight images right now.  Only slightly out-of-focus macro images at that.  I've done something stupid I think.  Surprise, surprise.  READ THE DAMN MANUAL (I tell myself and then go off, forgetting to read the manual).

Things I need to think about:  windows and tile, the composition of our developing coral website, getting my car into be serviced, clinical trials available to my mother, the NSF annual report, the organization of the review manuscript, peacefully ending the Ancient Wonder Beagle's full and long life.  (This list is quite obviously not in the order of importance.)

Things I am thinking about:  Hydrangeas and buckeyes, when to plant more asparagus, anything but the list above.

Guess I'll pour a glass of wine now.

   

~wood floor~

Pre-1900s longleaf pine.

Salvaged several years ago from the corner of King and Beaufain.

Most boards 16-20 feet long, 4-6 inches wide.

Might end up being the master bedroom floor.

And maybe a bathroom cabinet.

   

Larry Norman's snakeskin boots

Larry Norman website

Larry Norman invented Christian rock. He's currently not well, but he still gives occasional concerts.

A copy of his provocateur album cover – the one with him wearing snakeskin boots and standing next to an apple – is nowhere to be found on his website, which is a loss (but an opportunity for a cultural anthropologist to shepard a digital copy into the world). Here's what the Larry Norman website says about the infamous cover:

"So Long Ago The Garden has been rebalanced, re-equalized and remastered. The cover artwork has been re-scanned and the back cover is a slightly different version from the "snakeskin boots" photo used before. At the time of its release, it caused quite a stir in the gospel community. They said that Larry was naked and that this was proof he had fallen away from God. Also, there was a lightning bolt through his name, and, after all, lightning was a sign of Satan and of devil worshippers, wasn't it??? Well everybody knows it's true. Everytime there's a thunderstorm and you see lightning, well, that's not a display of God's power through nature ... it's the devil. So run and hide and cry out, "The sky is falling," "The sky is falling." ¶ He was mercilessly attacked in the Christian press, his concerts were cancelled and he didn't get a single concert until a year and half later when Noel Paul Stookey invited him to perform in concert as his opening act. During his absence from the stage he worked on plans to start Solid Rock Records and produce other artists who also had "no commercial value." Some of the people he felt led to help were on drugs so he spent time helping them with their personal life and bringing them to a converted lifestyle. In the end, Keith Green and Larry could not work together so Larry let him go. Randy became the next artist in line and Larry produced a top rate album for him. ¶ During this time, Larry had also started a Bible Study in his living room. It had no name and was only for musicians and actors. But after six months, "The Vineyard" was chosen as a name and although there was plenty of proof that Larry had NOT walked away from God, he kept on experiencing "blackballing" by the Christians. Bible bookstores refused to carry most of his albums if not all of them, especially in the South and Midwest. ¶ If Garden caused him a lot of trouble with the Christians, it also brought him a lot of respect and acceptance from less judgmental people. U2 was in the process of starting a band, Dylan heard both Planet and Garden and coincidentally started going to The Vineyard for morning Bible study. And Tower Records couldn't keep either album in stock. It received rave critical reviews from the secular press ... all the more proof to Christians that Larry was doing the work of Satan."

Don't you wish you could see for yourself what caused the fuss? (Trust me, it's nothing.) In the years since then, Christians have rehabilitated their opinion of Norman and have graciously acknowledged his achievment in furthering gospel music by presenting him with various life-time achievement awards.

-3Dsound

'Ah, Sunflower'

 

Ah, Sunflower by William Blake

Ah, sunflower, weary of time,
    Who countest the steps of the sun;
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
    Where the traveller's journey is done;

Where the Youth pined away with desire,
    And the pale virgin shrouded in snow,
Arise from their graves, and aspire
    Where my Sunflower wishes to go!

(And yes, these are the sunflowers that Ginsberg is referring to in Sunflower Sutra).