Nat King Cole - tea for two

Nina Simone - my baby just cares for me

Yes! No!

- Mary Oliver

How necessary it is to have opinions! I think the spotted trout
lilies are satisfied, standing a few inches above the earth. I
think serenity is not something you just find in the world,
like a plum tree, holding up its white petals.

The violets, along the river, are opening their blue faces, like
small dark lanterns.

The green mosses, being so many, are as good as brawny.

How important it is to walk along, not in haste but slowly,
looking at everything and calling out

Yes! No! The

swan, for all his pomp, his robes of grass and petals, wants
only to be allowed to live on the nameless pond. The catbrier
is without fault. The water thrushes, down among the sloppy
rocks, are going crazy with happiness. Imagination is better
than a sharp instrument. To pay attention, this is our endless
and proper work.

why do fools fall in love?

further automated correspondence from the internet, to me and a million others

1. It is really beautiful how quickly and well
Drosera and Dionaea dissolve little cubes
of albumen and gelatine.

I kept the same sized cubes on wet moss
for comparison. When you were here
I forgot that I had tried gelatine,

but albumen is far better for watching
its dissolution and absorption. Frankland
has told me how to test in a rough way

for pepsin;

and in the autumn
he will discover

what acid the digestive juice contains.

Ike and Tina Turner

LIKE A BULWARK

Affirmed. Pent by power that holds it fast-
a paradox. Pent. Hard pressed,
you take the blame and are inviolate.
Abased at last?
Not the tempest-tossed.
Compressed; firmed by the thrust of the blast
till compact, like a bulwark against fate;
lead-saluted,
saluted by lead?
As though flying through Old Glory full mast.

- Marianne Moore