To Whom It May Concern
You are not a ninja. Each time you use the word ‘ninja’ in vain, another one moves into your attic. Ninjas train. Ninjas battle. Ninjas don’t check email.
You are not a rock star. Rock stars paint on silence. Rock stars trash hotels. Rock stars use Internet Explorer 6. Rock stars just don’t give a shit.
An artist? Please. Artists see. Artists reflect. Artists bleed Tyrian purple and lapis lazuli. Artists send light into the darkest heart. Artists don’t get real jobs.
The sign of a life well lived? When your job title becomes the least interesting thing about you. And if it isn’t? Perhaps you need a hobby, a break, or a more humble title.
Sincerely
Nick
The original commercial’s cute enough, but the video responses are BRILLIANT. Who is writing these things?! They are so great!
Monocle smile.
The Waking
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me, so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.
villanelles seem like good poems for hot days.
[via skitch]
Nick Paumgarten studies the passive/divine voice in the New Yorker (via Julia)
“questions of agency dog us these early-summer days.”
