Sunday, July 3, 2011

the last thing on my mind

I was about fifteen years old, or just turning sixteen, and at that age, all my peers were deciding what they were going to do about college and what they were going to take. And in my neighborhood, they were all going to become doctors or lawyers, or professional men. This was a big thing. And I had no interest in any of that at all. I had infantile interests, I mean you’d be remarkably surprised. I wanted to be a cowboy, I wanted to be a private detective. -Woody Allen
I'd bring a copy of Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, I think, and a copy of Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, maybe The Collected Poetry of William Butler Yeats and something by William Carlos Williams -- Asphodel, that Greeny Flower -- but then there's Emily Dickinson and William Blake, Toni Morrison, Michael Ondaatje -- my go bag would be too heavy -- and anyway, where would I go? -Elizabeth
The last 24 hours… I just don’t know what to think. I would have sworn on my life that that thing about cats trying to suck milk from a newborn’s breath and smothering them in the crib was an old wives’ tale. But that belief went out the window around three this morning didn’t it? -Jim Stallard in McSweeneys
The trick is to let it all matter without drowning in it. Every single needle on every single pine, trembling like whiskers in the wind. Otherwise, none of it matters, and that can't be right, now can it? -Stacey
I know that I am blessed beyond all measure.
I know also that I am doomed.
*
It sounds better if you switch those two statements.
*
I know that I am doomed.
I know also that I am blessed beyond all measure.
*
Same facts, but one is more comforting to face. - Dishwasher's Tears
i am just trying to remember who i am, now. -Swonderland
This is what my dad wrote: “Love is right up there with god and war as one of the all-time great subjects of the human imagination.” -right now, foreverI think I'd be good at standing around and talking and talking and talking. About any old thing. Audience choice. I think I'd be okay with whatever was thrown at me, I have lots of crap in my head. -fever
It just kills me how generously they reward minimal care. -Persephone
You confound me, do you really exist
Out of your pictures, words, trials...
You gleefully photograph. - Yolanda
A. said...

A lot to process.

Lindsey said...

I gasped when I read "the trick is to let it all matter without drowning in it" - not sure I have ever read as exquisite statement of one of the central challenges of my life. Thank you, thank you - I love this post.
xox

Ms. Moon said...

Aw....
Perfect choices.

Anonymous said...

This piece (not just post but piece. As in piece of art, piece of pie, piece of you)...is so fucking beautiful (especially in conjunction with that Zero 7 song which is one of my favorites) that I just want to kiss you, kiss the world, kiss babies, and kiss the sky all at once.

Petit fleur said...

Oh MAGGIE!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE they praying baby toes! Awe.

I love the way you put things together in an arty fung shui (spelling) Anyway, it flows like a river, what you do and who you are.

Also, I felt honored that I recogniZed the dishwashers quote before I confirmed it. Yea. life is sweet.

Hope your weekend is fun tabulous.
xo

Elizabeth said...

Very cool montage of photos and words -- the music playing in the background -- and your beautiful face. Thank you --

Amanda said...

Beautiful.

Rebecca said...

and after I saw those cupcakes I lost my train of thought and could only think 'cupcake...cupcake....i want cupcake'

Caroline said...

Loved this.
I have lots of crap in my head too and have often thought (Phil Donahue once said something similar) that I am mediocre at just about everything- but I DO enjoy talking. That's what a lot of crap in your head will do--make you talk or paint. Or write. :)

p.s. Your family is gorgeous, as are you Miss Maggie.

Mwa said...

I don't know - I love the "letting it all matter" thing as well. But surely life is easier if we cut some of the crap and decide not to care about that?

You made me think, as always. x

anymommy said...

Maggie, you rock my world. This is gorgeous and I am seriously spinning to be included. It's been a hard month. Sometimes the little things matter so much you drown a little.

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