Tuesday, December 28, 2010

1

i thought once how theocritus had sung
of the sweet years, the dear and wished-for years,
who each one in a gracious hand appears
to bear a gift for mortals, old or young:
and, as i mused it in his antique tongue,
i saw, in gradual vision through my tears,
the sweet, sad years, the melancholy years.
those of my own life, who by turns had flung
a shadow across me. straightway i was 'ware,
so weeping, how a mystic shape did move
behind me, and drew backward by the hair;
and a voice said in mastery, while i strove,-
"guess now who holds thee?" - "death," i said. but there,
the silver answer rang,- "not death, but love."

-elizabeth barrett browning, sonnets from the portugese

Saturday, December 25, 2010

o holy night

i spent my christmas eve sitting in the back of a tiny cathedral in midtown sacramento, with large boughs of fragrant fir draping themselves along the pillars of the brick and stained glass building on either side of the rows of wooden pews. altar boys lit candles as a handbell choir performed quietly in the minutes leading up to the service, and at the close, the room went dark, save for those few candles while silent night was sung and the clock struck midnight. liturgy always brings me back to my childhood when we used to go to mass faithfully. there is a sense of awe and magic in the reverence and tradition of these services. i feel connected to it. i feel peaceful. i feel human. i feel thankful being able to look at a diverse congregation and take communion from a shared cup. i feel at home here.

Friday, December 24, 2010

you know how to whistle dontcha steve

lately, i've been incredibly inspired by these women.

lauren bacall
rita hayworth

katharine hepburn
ingrid bergman

and tallulah bankhead, who took shit from no one.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

speak plainly diana





currently listening to:
joe pug, nation of heat
bob dylan, the freewheelin'
first aid kit, ghost town ep &
i am the reindeer xmas mixtape, by shawn morones. get it here.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

writer's block

*two buck merlot
*joe pug
*czeslaw milosz
*gold chair
*mother's little helper
*oregon
*braceleted
*writer's block

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

regards

in everything i have, i am grateful.
in everything i don't, i give it no thought.

Monday, December 6, 2010

olive street

hallelujah songs about love

the storm has passed and now the sky is clear
and the starry sky on the dark drive home from
yuba city might be one of my favorite things about
living here. the calm and the quiet. i can feel my
flushed cheeks from the car heater and hallelujah
songs i sing to. i wonder what your move to LA
will look like, kristina says and me too. i like not
knowing, i say. i keep slips of paper with book
titles on them and letters from friends on my
bedside table and i wake up very groggy every
day wondering what time is it, where's my phone,
who has tried to reach me in the night, and often
its no one but now and again werner sends me jokes,
punchlines with puns and bad words or people saying
when will i see you again? i really don't know but
i'll be oregon bound on the twenty-ninth and noah
was in my dream last night he worked at a bank
and wore ripped jeans and i've been thinking about
lambrusco and auld lang syne and a boy's arm around
my shoulder and singing my hallelujah songs about
love.

the timber of my heart

found things

welcome to the blog world, allie zee.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

glad for

i am not unhappy.
i feel blank,
nothing,
numb.
i feel thankful.
i am thankful.
i rejoice in solitude.
comfort in aloneness.
count my blessings.
glad for time and
glad for space and
glad for the things
of the future.
that now can happen
because of my present
aloneness.
i have hope.
my red balloon of hope.
string attached.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

brooklyn

or BK4Lyf
i have this brooklyner friend & he's been using a 35mm since his digital camera broke. (he should keep taking photos, yes? let's encourage this)
i asked him to take some pictures of brooklyn that evoked the true feeling of the place since i've never been there. i personally love how they turned out.


the first time i came to brooklyn, i stayed in a very industrial part (the part where i now live) and factories and lofts are what define my surroundings and initial memories here.
my friends and i are always arguing about if BK is better than manhattan. i was trying to find something that showed this divide. BK4Lyf.
my friend kim's apartment in kensington is amazing. this is her kitchen.
this is how i feel every time i think about my life in new york in general. everything will be ok... maybe.
people are always blatantly ignoring parking signs that aren't put there by the city. the clothesline adds to the charm.
photo cred: jonathan smith

and

"love suffer and work you dumb old bourgeois bag"
-jack kerouac

litany

you are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine.
you are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
you are the white apron of the baker,
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.

however, you are not the wind in the orchard,
the plums on the counter,
or the house of cards.
and you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
there is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.

it is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the general's head,
but you are not even close
to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.

and a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.

it might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that i am the sound of rain on the roof.

i also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.

i am also the moon in the trees
and the blind woman's tea cup.
but don't worry, i'm not the bread and the knife.
you are still the bread and the knife.
you will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and--somehow--the wine.

-litany, by billy collins

i swear i can be better.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

'gentinean

i just keep thinking about argentina. and how much i'd like to wear a woven poncho or something silky and dance a slow tango on a dark night.



Monday, November 29, 2010

on sunday evening

last night i drove to midtown to see some LA friends, some of them are now sacramento friends, they're going to be living in a house, raisin' a baby. we sat and wore coats and blankets and scarves, kept warm in the cold living room and rum and laughin' then walked down some blocks to a place with music that had a latin beat behind everything, a lousy bartender and an elevated portion of the dark dark dance floor with black light posters and we danced. i closed my eyes and i danced. and being with these hippie friends of mine with dirty hair and comfy clothes and spirits that jump up and down and yell, we learn how to dance with wild abandon and i think to myself, when was the last time i actually closed my eyes and let the music take me completely and let my body do whatever it wants to do? and i think to myself, i might be getting some of these things i've been wanting.

Friday, November 26, 2010

cold fingers

indeed, i do not dare.
reading jane austen,
at twenty-four, for
myself.
my cold fingers in
an unheated bedroom.
a lonely desk where
no one visits.
slumped in oversized
chairs at crowded
bookstores.
my rings are falling off
because hands are too
tiny now in winter.
the color peach and
no more blossoms;
or raisins, always hidden.
just clocking hours
and watching the little
ones play winnie the pooh.
watching the older ones
grow and singing to myself
in the car on into roseville.
going fast and deep into rain,
into lauren's house, into
small town breweries.
into thinking nothing and
everything. into losing words
and blocking out the things
that make me go sour.
not wishing, not praying,
not hoping; mechanical
and being happy in bed alone
by myself.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

thankslist

*friends episodes
*electric heater
*chamomile tea
*the stones
*coffee
*fall in sacramento
*job promotion
*tofurky
*zinfandel
*scrabble games
*fireplace
*long monday drives
*wombies
*strong women
*vitamins
*books
*healthcare

Monday, November 22, 2010

rampling or dancing



puffing and globbering they drugged theyselves rampling or dancing with wild abdomen, stubbing in wild postumes amongst themselves...

-john lennon, in his own write

Friday, November 19, 2010

lolie

my weekend plans involve this little dream:

bones

i was just telling him the other day,
fall has not come to the north yet;
but in the very next breath
fall came and sister winter with him.
cold rain and sunday's
national public radio show.
dressed up in sweats and silently
sitting and thinking about the
holidays coming. soup on the stove
for to soothe the broken heart
and empty shell of bones keeping
this body together; the weather.
rain water runs down the plane glass of
my window where nearby my neighbors
tree thrashes violently from winter's
wind come to us so suddenly.
the pain of becoming more and more
who you are; and without anyone's
help which is something to be thankful
for but not yet; not yet.
forming shapes out of the air and
opinions from my hair. and lonely
is absurd to dream of the forgotten
world, hands holdin' in greece and
the peace you find from alone in
your bed, the texture of a plaster
wall with postcards and ticket stubs
and notes from old friends, your
value forgotten again and
physical touch, the ache of an
absence relaxes us. fluttering
eyelids that long for sleep to
last too long so that months may
go by a little faster and rapture
once more when i hold you in
my arms again.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

change happens

i think of this ^
every time i hear about bureaucratic bullshit happening
on apu's campus.

give 'em the finger kids.
(change happens where there are passionate people - dr. ganas)

remember the lesson you forgot

i'm listening to bob dylan's nashville skyline album; loud. girl from north country. he sings "remember me" and the words echo. lauren has sent me mail. purple letters scribbled on magazine paper, pictures of trees; from kerouac's selected letters, it reads:

"hearing your voice at night over the phone, in a hotel where i'd gone to hide out to work, was like a strange & beautiful dream. you sounded warmer and more mature. you will always be a great woman. i have a lot of things to teach you now, in case we ever meet, concerning the message that was transmitted to me under a pine tree in north carolina on a cold winter moonlit night. it said that nothing ever happened, so don't worry. it's all like a dream. everything is ecstasy, inside. we just don't know it because of our thinking-right forever and forever and forever. close your eyes, let your hands and nerve-ends drop, stop breathing for 3 seconds, listen to the silence inside the illusion of the world, and you will remember the lesson you forgot, which was taught in immense milky ways of cloudy innumerable worlds long ago and not even at all. it is all one vast awakened thing."

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

buenos aires

the fox & goose english pub in midtown with ryn. newcastle and talkin' raunchy and laughin'. robbie's music loud on the dark and fast drive home, i feel young, strong; independent. i'm craving istanbul and buenos aires. i can't stop listening to the stones and, to go fashion on you for a second, i'm currently lusting after these looks:
i wonder if alex turpin could find me a sweatshirt like this.

secret projects

i have a few exciting projects up my sleeve. one individual and one very collaborative. you will just have to wait and see. hints: one will have a binding and one will have a voice.

Monday, November 15, 2010

the drunken boat


But, truly, I have wept too much! The Dawns are heartbreaking.
Every moon is atrocious and every sun bitter:
Sharp love has swollen me up with heady langours.
O let my keel split! O let me sink to the bottom!

If there is one water in Europe I want, it is the
Black cold pool where into the scented twilight
A child squatting full of sadness, launches
A boat as fragile as a butterfly in May.

I can no more, bathed in your langours, O waves,
Sail in the wake of the carriers of cottons,
Nor undergo the pride of the flags and pennants,
Nor pull past the horrible eyes of the hulks.

-Arthur Rimbaud

waking up

i'm studying storytelling through movement via mia.michaels.
something like this...

comrade

everything feels new again

Friday, November 12, 2010

solitude and heart

new beginnings and open
doors; possibilities
i now see the world
afresh
and
anew
in a hushed quiet
solitude and heart
beating one with
the universe.
i have a small
blue cool center
that is content
and peace
and i put my hand
to my chest,
breathe deeply,
and find it.
daily hiccups
and
nuances
all tied
with a pretty pink
bow. i shut my eyes,
let the fear push away
say okay
yes.
i feel only forward
motion.

it's being beat and down on the world

it's good to keep lists

*danielle & alumni
*cut/paste
*switzerland
*teapot
*wingback
*les etoiles
*a.a. milne
*injun

Thursday, November 4, 2010

hydrangea

virginia woolf
1923

james

jealousy is simply and clearly the fear that you do not have value. jealousy scans for evidence to prove the point - that others will be preferred and rewarded more than you. there is only one alternative - self value. ~jennifer james

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

the meadow-sweet

in silence mole rowed steadily, and soon they came to a point where the river divided, a long backwater branching off to one side. with a slight movement of his head rat, who had long dropped the rudder-lines, directed the rower to take the backwater. the creeping tide of light gained and gained, and now they could see the colour of the flowers that gemmed the water's edge.
"clearer and nearer still," cried the rat joyously. "now you must surely hear it! ah - at last - i see you do!"
breathless and transfixed the mole stopped rowing as the liquid run of that glad piping broke on him like a wave, caught him up, and possessed him utterly. he saw the tears on his comrade's cheeks, and bowed his head and understood. for a space they hung there, brushed by the purple loose-strife that fringed the bank; then the clear imperious summons that marched hand-in-hand with the intoxicating melody imposed its will on mole, and mechanically he bent to his oars again. and the light grew steadily stronger, but no birds sang, as they were wont to do at the approach of dawn; and but for the heavenly music all was marvelously still.
-the wind in the willows

Monday, November 1, 2010

november

mrs. dalloway said she would buy the flowers
herself, i whisper with morning breath into
bedsheets with soft gray glow just coming in
over eyelids, crusty goop in the corners
smelling of sweet christmas dreams, the
dawn of november rising behind windows
with curtains drawn, stiff joints and turning
crisp pages, the story advances, septimus
considers killing himself. blue hydrangeas
in shade pockets against large houses.
filmy teeth, chapped lips in want for kisses.
sounds from two places: cars and birds
out there beyond curtain drawn windows
where november has just risen in cold
and gray and i want nothing to do with it.
only seed, only time, only time passing,
they tell me. while i seek nothing but
yellowed pages that have some other
answer, virginia woolf scolding me in
my dreams at night then comforts me
telling me what plays i will write and oh,
heaven sent some martyr of time, of
wristwatches, of clocks, of big ben.
old portland street and marylebone
station, these places haunting me,
lodging on york terrace and regent's
park all flooding in while yes! i shall
get the flowers myself, i say, i whisper
into my bedsheets in late morning
where the gray london sky outside
beckons me beyond curtain drawn
windows of a november i want nothing
to do with.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

beckett's play

the first time i saw this version of play was in an exhibition at the jeu de paume in paris. i'm in love with these actors and their exquisite performance. your thoughts on beckett's play?

list

maybe life always takes you where you never
thought you'd go but i refuse to believe that
desires don't matter. a friend told me once
to make a list of all the things that make
you unhappy and then start crossing them
off your list. we have the ability to eliminate
the toxic things in our life. so far, i have yet
to replace that list with things that do make
me happy but that is okay. i am okay. and i
am very brave. we are braver than we believe.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Thursday, October 21, 2010

tea and postcards

lying on my stomach, with my feet
in the air like a teenager, kicking my
thoughts around, listening to dinah
washington singing the blues, telling
the truth in my room where it's safe,
in my room where it's just me and the
record player and nothing else.
sometimes carl sandburg or hafiz or t.s.
eliot but that's it and it's only us in here
dreaming and scheming and
wondering; figuring it all out, all of
life with coffee and tea and postcards
from belgium from france; from
san francisco from sydney. pretending
they are tiny windows, looking out
my windows and seeing across the
horizon to a place far far away,
dinah washington singing all the time.
the trumpet player wailing all the time.
brushing my hair, kicking my thoughts
in the air, dreaming and scheming
and wondering all the time.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

theme in yellow

by carl sandburg

i spot the hills
with yellow balls in autumn.
i light the prairie cornfields
orange and tawny gold clusters
and i am called pumpkins.
on the last of october
when dusk is fallen
children join hands
and circle round me
singing ghost songs
and love to the harvest moon;
i am a jack-o-lantern
with terrible teeth
and the children know
i am fooling

best coast

i saw best coast for the first time a year...maybe a year and a half ago at spaceland in LA with some free tickets that shawn won. i'd never heard of them and after the show we met frontlady bethany cosentino in front of the venue, giggling like a teenager and super nice. at the time, they were just a local LA band. since then we've watched her skyrocket to the top. best coast is easily the coolest new thing and she and the band have been experiencing a whirlwind of international success with tours, music vids and popular zine appearances. here are two versions of their new music video for "boyfriend." enjoy.



happy tuesday!