6th & 7th November, 2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Photo by Edward Habib McKuen. ©2006 by Stanyan Audio Video Archives

A Thought for Today

Solitude is a gift that most of us are too dumb to appreciate.

 

FROM the¨BOOKS

Brighton, 1

And there you were.
Coming down the boardwalk
                         to me
just as though
              we'd planned it
to the last detail,
held a final countdown
to the crucial second.

What should I have done,
run ahead to meet you
stayed until you reached
                     your mark?

It wasn't till you passed,
that I made up my mind -
or had my mind
        made up for me,
that I would follow you
up or down boardwalks -
home, to other beaches
               other cities
other worlds.

But I turned too late
you were gone -
              really gone.

I don't know
where you hurried to
if you were on your way
      away from something
or there was some thing
you hurried to.
You were running
even as you walked.
I might have said
             slow down.
I've been there.
I've run too.
There, is always here.

One boardwalk's
              like another
and so much time
              is wasted
crawling, cruising,
walking down
     so many boardwalks
in this life and after
that when you finally
learn the lack
of any real mystery
               lurking
or a yet unwalked
      unmarked paths
there may not be
enough time left
to get back home.

-from "Beyond The Boardwalk," 1976

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notable birthdays

Monday 6 November

Ray Conniff o Brad Davis o Sally Field o Glenn Frey o Juanita Hall o Ethan Hawke o Walter Perry Johnson o James Jones o Gus Kahn o Lance Kerwin o Frances Lederer o James Naismith o Mike Nichols o Ignace Jan Paderewski o Kelly Rutherford o Jean Shrimpton o Maria Shriver o John Philip Sousa o Simon Wiesenthal

Tuesday 7 November

William Alwyn o Melissa Bell o Joe Bushkin o Albert Camus o Madame Curie o Balfour Gardiner o Billy Graham o Al Hirt o Dean Jagger o Dame Gwyneth Jones o Keith Lockhart o Jason and Jeremy London o Joni Mitchell o Barry Newman o Dana Plato o Johnny Rivers o Joan Sutherland o Leon Trotsky

Rod's random thoughts Some people mistake patience for intellect.

I measure success by the ones who come back.

Silence and solitude offer more chance for enlightenment than years of crowds and company.

SEARCH PARTY

Who is listening
under the calm stars
on this tranquil evening,
who can hear me
and who can know the sounds
my ears are hearing?

We search
because we have to search
because there is no other way.

Because the sky is low
and the world is measured
               in a child's eye
systematically we search
not places or countries
but one another's smiles
                      and eyes.
There is no other way
to find ourselves
but in each others faces.

Who is listening
               here and now?
None but the lonely
I would think
for only they
would understand.
Should they lack
              understanding
they'd be the first
to care enough
about themselves
              to learn.

The lonely
are the singers
the ones who have
the loudest voices
when they finally
              open up.

Sing to me
and maybe the music
from your blue guitar
will be the soothing voice
I've wished and waited for.

I have come a long way
wandering down from
silver-red mountains
in search of music
              such as yours,
so sing
and let the music
               once played
satisfy the need I have
to be among the loved
and needed people.

-from "Beyond The Boardwalk," 1976

 
     
 
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