life is not an intellectual endeavour.
In the beginning, there’s an almost anesthetic quality to finding something you really enjoy. You throw yourself into it, it takes you out of yourself. You stop thinking. And then as your relationship with it deepens, you gain a new consciousness that isn’t purely pleasurable. It’s mixed: both bitter and sweet. That knowledge is the price for deepe... See more
At some point during this time, I saw an interview with Tranströmer from the early 1980s where the reporter asked how he came up with his poem, “The Open Window.” In the poem, a man is shaving by an open window in the bathroom on the second floor when the razor turns into a helicopter and flies out low across the summer. Tranströmer thought for a b... See more
Being a matchmaker creates a very technical awareness of love and of people that is definitively opposed to the experience of actually being in love. It’s like doing audio engineering for a concert vs screaming your lungs out to the song. I imagine it’s very similar to the experience of running a vintage store vs just being a consumer—you’re not th... See more
knowledge invariability affects enjoyment.
Don’t think, look!
When drawing from real life, the trick is to spend more time looking at the thing you are trying to capture than at your drawing. This is true for writing, too.
of that navel-gazing search for meaning that I did in my twenties probably made little sense to Dad. Just take a part of the world that you love, or depend on, and make it more beautiful, and protect it. It is that simple.
Tired of all who come with words, words but no language
I went to the snow-covered island.
—Tomas Tranströmer
I went to the snow-covered island.
—Tomas Tranströmer