Sonnet – By Emma Jones

Here it is again, spring, ‘the renewal’.

People have written about this before.

And the people who track the four seasons,

the hunters who know the weather has changed.

~

Still, rains happen; there are slow roots that make

progress; something has a hand in the earth

and turns it. Clouds unknot the wind. Bulbs blow.

Their threadbare minds gust outward, turn yellow

~

eyes to heaven. It answers with the sun.

And the sun is a bulb, a mutual bomb.

The daffodils crack. ‘Oh heavens!’ they fret,

~

‘Where’s your terminus?’ The flowers are wan

travellers. They unpack their cases. All

they know, they are. Renewal, rest. Renewal.

~

from “The Striped World” collection by Emma Jones

🌿

It is Spring here in the Southern Hemisphere and I am really enjoying discovering new poets this year through my Faber Diary. Emma Jones is a young Australian, whose first poetry collection ” The Striped World” was published by Faber. She was poet-in-residence from 2009 – 2010 at the Worsdworth Trust in Cambria. Is is just me, or are there echoes of Sylvia Plath in this beautiful poem about Spring and renewal?  Love the lines “the flowers are wan/travellers. They unpack their cases.” And the sun being described as a bulb, such evocative imagery! Hope you’re enjoying Spring or Fall/Autumn depending where you are.

 

1984

 

Above: Front and back cover of my ‘1984’ edition, published by Text Publishing Company, Australia, 2016

By George Orwell

“It was curious to think that the sky was the same for everybody, in Eurasia or Eastasia as well as here. And the people under the sky were also very much the same – everywhere, all over the world, hundreds of thousands of millions of people just like this, people ignorant of one another’s existence, held apart by walls of hatred and lies, and yet almost exactly the same.”

~

Doublethink, thought crime, Ministry of Truth and Big Brother have entered the English language and people’s psyche in the modern world. This is a frightening book and of course was meant to be. It was a re-read for me, even though reading it plunges one into despair. The message of the book is chilling, because it seems that humanity and its leaders have learned nothing from the past. In a world where “alternative facts” and resentment of, and contempt for intellectuals, or indeed any individual thinking is becoming the norm, this book gives us a glimpse of a possible grim  future that may not be that far off.

The book is centered on Winston Smith, who is haunted by images of a pre- totalitarian world, and Julia, the woman who becomes his lover and fellow rebel in a world where it is a crime to love. They both pay a high price for their defiance, and the ending is ambiguous. Has Winston been finally brain washed or not?

~

Orwellian is described in Wikipedia as “an adjective describing a situation, idea, or societal condition that Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free and open society.” This included control by propaganda, misinformation, denial of truth and manipulation of the past. Sounds familiar to the present day?

~

The only hope I can see is to resist as much as possible the current trend towards simplification and prejudice. As Winston Smith muses “ He knew better than before that he was not mad. Being in a minority, even a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad .”

A classic, this book deserves to be read, re-read and debated, especially in the current political climate. Would love to read your thoughts.

5 🌟

 

Just Kids & M Train

 

by Patti Smith

“Much has been said about Robert, and more will be added. He will be condemned and adored. His excesses damned or romanticized. In the end, truth will be found in his work, the corporeal body of the artist. It will not fall away.”

Just Kids

I read “Just Kids” while on holiday in New York City recently.

The book was a promise to her sometime lover Robert Mapplethorpe, with whom Smith had an intense relationship as a young girl, which continued in a different form as he became aware of and confident in his homosexuality.

Above: Robert Mapplethorpe

Both Smith and Mapplethorpe came to New York in 1967 as teenagers where they met and became part of the avant garde in that city. They both came from Roman Catholic families, the beliefs of which they would both renounce, and yet incorporate into their work. They were both incurable romantics, and as time went on and their career paths and life choices became clear and separate, they still remained great friends. Smith became famous for her blending of rock music and poetry, while Mapplethorpe became a photographer, at times controversial for his graphic homosexual images. He was part of the generation greatly affected by AIDS and died of the disease in 1989. Smith fell in love with a Detroit musician, married him and had children, but never abandoned her belief in Mapplethorpe’s genius. I enjoyed reading about a world that is both fascinating and foreign, with various cameo appearances by people like the playwright, Sam Shepard and other people in the punk rock and art scenes.

The book really  is an elegy to youth, young love and New York the city, and its bohemian elements and quirky elements in the 1960’s and 70’s.

4 🌟

M Train

This second book, only written by Smith two years ago is about the other end of the spectrum; it’s about old age, the need to keep creating to keep death at bay, and about loss of a life partner.

The book takes the reader on an odyssey, as Smith travels to different parts of the world, yet always comes back to the same Greenwich Village cafe. In some ways the book is about nothing, something Smith acknowledges:

“It’s not easy to write about nothing. That’s what a cowpoke was saying as I entered the frame of a dream.  ____ But we keep going, he continued, fostering all kinds of crazy hopes. To redeem the lost, some sliver of personal revelation. It’s an addiction, like playing the slots, or a game of golf.”

Much of it however is an ode to the irreparable loss of her husband, musician Fred Sonic Smith, who died only in his forties from heart failure. His image and memories of him crop up constantly in whatever Smith is writing about. Parts of this book are very sad, but ultimately art and its making is her saviour and what enables her to keep going.

She writes of crying during a plane trip:

“I watched the movie Master and Commander. Captain Jack Aubrey reminded me so much of Fred that I watched it twice. Midflight I began to weep. Just come back. I will stop traveling; I will wash your clothes. Mercifully, I fell asleep, and when I woke snow was falling over Tokyo.”

Smith travels to many unusual places, and in all of them she writes of cafes visited, in Mexico, Berlin and Japan, as well as graves she visits of writers that have been an influence on her. Her travels seem to be treks or pilgrimages to express gratitude to such creatives that have influenced her -Plath, Genet, Kahlo.

With certain passages Smith hits the nail on the head with her writing, in others she goes off on esoteric tangents. But at her best, her writing is very powerful and poignant.

” We want things we cannot have. We seek to reclaim a certain moment, sound, sensation. I want to hear my mother’s voice. I want to see my children as children. Hands small, feet swift. Everything changes. Boy grown, father dead, daughter taller than me, weeping from a bad dream. Pease stay forever, I say to the things I know. Don’t go. Don’t grow.”

After her husband’s death, she writes of “performing small tasks with the mute concentration of one imprisoned in ice.”

Later she writes of what she believes in:

” I believe in movement. I believe in that lighthearted balloon, the world. But what else do I believe in? Sometimes everything. Sometimes nothing. It fluctuates like light flitting over a pond. I believe in life, which one day each of us shall lose. When we are young we think we won’t, that we are different. When I was child, I thought I would never grow up, that I would will it so. And then I realised, quite recently that I had crossed some line. How did we get so damn old? I say to my joints, my iron coloured hair.”

I enjoyed this book, but it’s probably not for everyone, as it’s slow paced and often sad.

3 🌟

 

Notes on New York City

“One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years.”

Tom Wolfe

I had a wonderful fortnight in New York. I packed a lot into that time and saw lots of art museums as well as tourist sites.

Some thoughts on the city:

1. The traffic is insane, so busy and frantic. The people move fast, but are very friendly if you’re lost and need a quick help with directions. I was struck by how polite New Yorkers are, and even formal. Every time you said thank you, the response was “You’re welcome!”.  We are a lot more casual in Australia, so that really made an impression on me.
2. And did I mention noise? There seemed to be a siren going off every few minutes, day and night. Somehow though that just adds to the pumping energy of the place.
3. Security? Oh my Lord! Everywhere you went there were police officers, and in places like Grand Central Station there were army officers with machine guns. That took a little bit of getting used to, as we don’t have that kind of police/army presence in Australia. In the second week I was there, the UN General Assembly was in session, and there were road closures at certain times for heads of state to pass through, and even Secret Service operatives roaming around. It was certainly an interesting experience.
4. The city really is a hymn to Art Deco architecture, and other than the ultra modern skyscrapers, Art Deco is the city’s defining symbol in my opinion.
5. I adored New York, the energy and diversity of the city was phenomenal. If I could, I would go back every year and see more museums and areas of the city in greater depth.

 

 

Above from left clockwise: One World Trade Centre, Empire State Building, Flatiron Building, view from my hotel, Chrysler Building, New York Public Library.

Below are some of the favourite places I visited.

Art Museum Favourites:

The Met – probably the best museum I saw. 5,000 years of art, and all of it impressive. if you’re into art, it’s definitely a place to experience. I spent an entire day there, with breaks to eat and it wasn’t enough of course. Highlights were the Greek and Roman sculptures, the Egyptian section which includes a temple that has been rebuilt onsite, the Armour Hall, and the galleries of European and American painting.

Above, left to right: Temple of Dendur, Greek sculpture fragment, Armour Hall, Renaissance portrait. All at The Met.

Guggenheim – incredible building, the only New York structure designed by the great architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Worth seeing just for the building, although the art is also amazing.

 

Above, left to right: The Guggenheim, Gauguin, Picasso

MoMa – for Modern art, this is the place to go! So many famous and iconic paintings live here, from Picasso to Pollock, from Cézanne to Chagall.

Above, left to right: Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso

Morgan Library & Museum – this was an unexpected delight. It’s housed in J P Morgan’s former mansion on Madison Avenue, and it’s breathtaking in the scope and richness of the collection. Morgan was a banker and one of the richest people in America in the late nineteenth century. He had a library built to house his collection of manuscripts, such as a jewelled copy of the Lindau Gospel, and copies of the first Gutenberg Bible, as well as many other priceless items. For bibliophiles it’s a treasure, and Morgan’s library is almost as he left it when he died in 1913. There are rotating exhibitions and a lovely cafe.

Above: Morgan’s study and library.

Below, left to right: Front cover of the Lindau Gospel, 9th century, the Gutenberg Bible, 1455.

 

Favourite Areas of the city:

I stayed in the Midtown area, and my hotel was just one block away from the New York Public Library and Grand Central Station, and while I really enjoyed it, it did get a bit too frenetic at times.

I loved Greenwich Village and Brooklyn. Much more bohemian and relaxing. The brownstone buildings with their cute stoops were so beautiful. Having read a lot of literature based in New York it was great to just wander the streets and soak up the history.

Below is a selection of Brooklyn and Greenwich Village dwellings:

 

I saw a jazz show at the Village Vanguard. It’s such an iconic venue for anyone into jazz, so many greats have played there such as Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane. You go down a very narrow stairway and hold on tight, not for anyone disabled or otherwise infirm! to arrive at a cave like interior with little tables and everywhere photos of jazz royalty. I had a great night there that I will always cherish. The venue has been running since 1935, and the wife of the original owner, Lorraine Gordon is now in her 90s. She is an icon herself, I have seen her in jazz documentaries and it was enough for me to see her there, listening to the music. I was too embarrassed to interrupt her evening!

Underrated Gem:

The Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side was a great education in how so many generations of immigrants  started their lives in America. The Museum is housed in  a former tenement building, and various rooms have been set up in great detail according to the oral histories of families that lived in that street. Apparently “in 1903 the square block on which the museum sits was the most crowded block in the most densely populated place on earth”, from “A Tenement Story: A History of 97 Orchard Street and the Lower East Side Museum”. I found the tour a deeply moving experience.

I had an absolute blast in New York. So much to see and do, I would definitely go again, but next time it would be great if I could afford business class. Two flights adding up to 21 hours is no fun in cattle/sorry economy class, and the jet lag is a killer.

Finally I can’t finish this post without putting in a plug for my hotel. I stayed at the Library Hotel on Madison Avenue and it was a book lover’s paradise. Each room is set up according to the Dewey system with books on a particular subject. I asked for and got the Poetry Room, which was filled with poetry books. As well as this, the breakfast room had a vast library which guests were welcome to peruse and borrow, and there was a lovely space on the 14th Floor set up as a rooftop garden which became a bar in the evenings. Heaven! Would recommend this hotel to any book lover visiting New York.

Below: Images of The Library Hotel: the exterior, the entrance, the Rooftop Garden/Bar, a selection of books in the Poetry Room.

If anyone is planning a trip to New York, I would be glad to answer any questions. To look at more NY photos you can scroll through my Instagram page. Now that I am back home, I hope to get back to checking out blogs and posting more regularly.

All photos in this post are mine, taken on my recent holiday either on the i-phone or i-pad.