i wish that i might be a thinking stone

Detail from one of Sigmar Polke's stained glass windows for the Grossmünster, in Zurich. Just beyond - I love the juxtaposition of using something formed in the darkest places of the earth to create beautiful light.

Image from The New Yorker. Post title from here.

how to stay focused

Instructions available.

Right now, I am doing step #7.

variations


'This film documents the motion of 8 sculptural spheres created between 2004-2007 by Anna Hepler.'

Via dear ada.

the great forgotten language


...a stone, a leaf, an unfound door; of a stone, a leaf, a door. And of all the forgotten faces.
Naked and alone we came into exile. In her dark womb we did not know our mother's face; from the prison of her flesh have we come into the unspeakable and incommunicable prison of this earth.
Which of us has known his brother? Which of us has looked into his father's heart? Which of us has not remained forever prison-pent? Which of us is not forever a stranger and alone?
O waste of loss, in the hot mazes, lost, among bright stars on this most weary unbright cinder, lost! Remembering speechlessly we seek the great forgotten language, the lost lane-end into heaven, a stone, a leaf, an unfound door. Where? When?
O lost, and by the wind grieved, ghost, come back again.

Thomas Wolfe, 'Look Homeward, Angel'

I read this book earlier this summer. It's strange and unlikable, a grasping, difficult, mesmerizing torrent of words, and I had to fight to finish it. When I was reading it, I had a strong awareness of the author's roving mind reaching for something inexplicable, and now that inexplicable thing seems lodged in my own self.

this play of splintered radiance


Photographs of a mirror-covered rock created by Michel de Broin. When I saw the first photograph above on Ffffound, I assumed it was a cut collage. Once I saw the actual project, I was dazzled. What a strange, beautiful thing to make. I would have liked to stumble across it in the forest, unexpected.

globular cluster ngc 6397

Too beautiful for such a prosaic name. From here.

Equally gorgeous: space clouds. Wish I could photograph those.

tiny dancer


So, when one is thinking of the mystery of sharks, one naturally recalls the quest of the legendary Steve Zissou as he sailed the seas searching for the mythical jaguar shark that ate his partner, Esteban.