MONDAY 3rd & TUESDAY 4th

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rod on Maui, August 2003. Photo by John Scoggins.
©2003 by Stanyan Entertainment.

A Thought for Today

Deal gently with the absent.

 

INTERMISSION:

And we go on
still we go on
and we go on
you can see us go on . . .

April Fifth, 9:22 A.M.

Just now an earthquake moves beneath me. Even as it ends, another shudder shakes the ground. A California fact. An anniversary almost of that quake two, three years ago that jostled me from bed at six and set the dogs to howling and caused a crack to run eye level down the front room stairs.

I cannot be shaken up. If I could I’d sway more willingly than most and go whichever way the earth or some mover of the earth thinks I should go.

I’ve had my first inside the world and felt for sure I was it's axis. I’ve seen the kings go by, though I’ll admit my vantage point was from some distance. For derring do I’ve sailed through clouds more easily than I once floated on a pond. However jerry built my life has been, I’ve felt there was solidity of sorts. In truth there is, however little. I built what I thought needed building - some would say security, I'd still say solidity for some one.

There must have been a blueprint once. Now, no trace of any master plan remains, as nobody stops or stays here still.

I do not brood. I am not malcontent. I am not. Where once I had opinions good and bad of what I’d done. Even to myself. I have no opinions now.

It, whatever that should be or is, is over, never started or never was. What I do have is this life, half built - unfinished. Selfish though I can be, it was never made for me. There are takers, just that. But, as I go out, there is no one here or up ahead that I can give it to.

I wonder how long I can move, go through the motions, knowing what I know. How many years or days are left. Why go through the motions anyway? I don’t know.

                                - from "Moment To Moment" 1973, 1975

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notable birthdays

MONDAY 3rd NOVEMBER

Adam Ant o John Barry o Vincenzo Bellini o Ken Berry o Charles Bronson o William Cullen Bryant o Kate Capshaw o Michael Dukakis o David Eddington o Fred Fairbrass o Bob Feller o Dorian Gossy o Wanda Hendrix o Larry Holmes o Diane Inskeep o Russell Long o Lulu o Dolph Lundgren o Andre Malraux o Terrence McNally o Dennis Miller o James Reston o Roseanne o Yitzhak Shamir o Shadoe Stevens o Monica Vitti

TUESDAY 4th NOVEMBER

Martin Balsam o Laura W. Bush o Art Carney o Sean “P. Diddy” Combs o Walter Cronkite o Daisy Eagan o Alexz Johnson o Anthony Kavana o Ralph Macchio o Matthew McConaughey o Felix Mendelssohn o Cameron Mitchell o Louise Nurding o Markie Post o Will Rogers o Arthur Schwartz o Loretta Swit o Pauline Trigere o Yanni o Gig Young

Rod's random thoughts Every advantage has its disadvantage.

Love is more a feeling than a science. Don’t talk it into nothing.

Women young or old need liberation from men’s conception of them.

THE HILLS DRAW NEARER

The hills draw nearer
their shadows - like old men
bent over tying shoes
folded over picking up stones.

In the mornings, there are
footprints of the shadows.
Great giant ghosts
that slip to nothing by the noon.

We wanted everything,
new clothes for old clothes
books to save and read when we grew older
               music in the meantime.

You said, there should be dinner,
once a week, out there,
somewhere besides the kitchen.


You wanted pictures
as the years continued passing us
and flowers in a jar.

But we were always out of film,
                       out of sorts,
                       out of change
when things began to change.

On weekday evenings
when the empty diners chime
their ‘Come to Dinner’ chimes
we were always out,
        out of it or felt left out.

And finally
all those pennies saved in empty jars
are not enough to buy a single fine bouquet
                         healthy meal
                             a coat to warm us
when the outside shadows
come along to threaten.

Left alone
without the condiments we wished for
the ghosts come ever nearer.

Ah, but spring was large once
and autumn and the hills
               kept their distance.

–from the CD “Speaking of Love,” 1994

 
© 1970, 1986, 1994, 2002, 2003 by Stanyan Music Group & Rod McKuen. All Rights Reserved
Birthday research by Wade Alexander o Poetry from the collection of Jay Hagan o Coordinated by Melinda Smith o Sound & Fury Dr. Eric Yeager o Webmaster Ken Blackie
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