Friday, October 13, 2017

The garden in October

October 13th, 2017

I had meant to post this earlier.

The title of this poem is

October 10th

and it describes so beautifully

the little jungle out the back,

we call the garden.

Now constantly there is the sound,
quieter than rain,
of the leaves falling.

Under their loosening bright
gold, the sycamore limbs
bleach whiter.

Now the only flowers
are beeweed and aster, spray
of their white and lavender
over the brown leaves.

The calling of a crow sounds
loud - a landmark - now
that the life of summer falls
silent, and the nights grow.
Wendell Berry

I have just come in from walking with Bruce 
in the quickening dusk of autumn.


Reading Wendell Berry I am reminded
of our early days farming,
and the part Louis Bromfield played
in our philosophy of farming,
and his influence on us
in establishing a flock of sheep
in the orchard.

An early Wendell Berry.

I search the shelves for his 'Malibar Farms"
but it seems to have disappeared
(probably on the shelves of one of the children)
and I have to be content with his novel
'Early Autumn'

It takes me back.
and the memories are so good....




Monday, October 09, 2017

Ogden Nash and his search for his Noumenon

ABC Wednesday
October 11th, 2017

The letter is N for Nash and Noumenon

Ogden Nash, 1902-1971


  1. A writer of droll and humourous verse
with unconventional rhyming

and spelling.

Regarded with great respect by the Literary Establishment!

A collection of his books have been on my shelves

since the mid forties...

and in the one entitled "Good Intentions"

is this verse.

"Has anybody seen my Noumenon"

There is one point which I am more than human on,
And that's a noumenon.

On due reflection we are apt to find
That it is noumenons which lead us to believe that just this once
two pairs will beat three of a kind.

It is noumenons which whisper to our heart
that our futures will be better than our yores

And noumenons which encourage us to laugh off
the black clouds in the west and go ahead
and move the supper table out of doors.

It is noumenons which convince you that you can meet
the next tax installment without have set aside
the sum that is requisite,

And noumenons which stir the fancy that M. Lavel
may someday reject an order from Berlin with a cry
of "Ze hequisite."

It is noumenons which, if you have no excuse
for flouting natural laws, they supply it,
Such as kindlng the hope that you can remain trim
and lissome at forty without the nuisance
of exercise or diet,

So now I shall go out and consume a hearty lunch,
but I know I shall remain trim and lissome in spite of it,
because I have a strong noumenon,
or overwhelming hunch."

Which brings us to the point where we must define a noumenon

Ogden Nash interpretation

* an object known only by intuition,
apart from any evidence of the senses.

In other words,  existence without sense or perception

can't see, can't touch

KANT explains all this in his philosophy
but I think I go with Nash

"an overwhelming hunch"

easier than trying to interpret Kant

More Ns here at ABC Wednesday
enjoy, with thanks to those who maintain ABC