johnesimpson

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Roz Chast, W.S. Merwin, Alice Walker, et al.: 'And Then Another Thing Happened'

From whiskey river’s commonplace book:

Sometimes one sees the world in a way one is not aware of at other times. We’re never really seeing the world, we’re only seeing a moment’s take on the world. This is true of images. Images are a way of seeing the world which you didn’t notice before, and something you cannot make by an act of will; it’s something that is suddenly revealed to you. The world has layers, and you start seeing that these layers happen all at once; they’re all together. I think that’s what is startling about images. At the moment of seeing, they seem so obvious. Why didn’t I see that before? Mandelstam wrote wonderfully about images. He said that an image is not an act of will. A real image is something that occurs to you. He said an image is like running across a river on a bridge of boats, and when you get to the other side, you look back and see that all the boats have moved or drifted and are in different places, and you realize it would be impossible to do all over again. That’s always seemed like a great image right there.

(W.S. Merwin [source])

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Deena Metzger, George Saunders, Lisel Mueller, et al.: 'It’s a Story, After All, Not a Webcam'

From whiskey river’s commonplace book:

Some people fear seeing or feeling anything about which there is no general agreement. For others, it is thrilling to be aware of innuendo, shading, complexity. For those who do not wish to step away from consensus, the creative is useless at best; at worst, it is dangerous. But for those who are intrigued by the multiplicity of reality and the unique possibilities of their own vision, the creative is the path they must pursue.

(Deena Metzger)

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Rabbit, Rabbit on the 1st (Jinx Removing) // Jessie Lynn McMains, March 2022

I finished this one nearly a month ago but was waiting until the first of a month rolled around again to post it.

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Mary Oliver, Seamus Haney, et al.: 'When “Never Enough” and “Ever Plenty” Go Walking Hand-in-Hand'

From whiskey river’s commonplace book:

Snow Geese Oh, to love what is lovely, and will not last! What a task to ask of anything, or anyone, yet it is ours, and not by the century or the year, but by the hours...

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Al Young, Sandra Beasley, Eugene Ionesco, et al.: 'Stunned by the View from the Edge of the Known'

From whiskey river’s commonplace book:

Landscape Mode Overlooking the Cumberland River, Clarksville, Tennessee, early November 1996 In ancient Chinese paintings we see more sky than earth, so when clouds hurry by in silver-gray inkbursts of rolling readiness right along the river, ripe with rain, rushing the road of time along, pushing back light, belittling the black and white clarity of Hollywood in its prime, the eye climbs down to greet with shining gusto trees along the shore, Opryland beyond the frame, the blue horizon hidden in a sea of possibilities...

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Robert M. Pirsig, Diane Ackerman, et al....

From whiskey river’s commonplace book:

So don’t ask yourself what people want. Ask instead, What is true? What really inspires me, excites me? What will really help people and take away their confusion and suffering? It’s sort of a funny, crazy way to go, but I think it’s the only way to bring water to the wasteland Joseph Campbell described. When I read something truthful, something real, I breathe a deep sigh and say, “Fantastic — I wasn’t mad or alone in thinking that, after all!” So often we are left to our own devices, struggling in the dark with this external and internal propaganda system. At that point, for someone to tell us the truth is a gift. In a world where people all around us are lying and confusing us, to be honest is a great kindness.

(David Edwards [source])

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Mary Oliver, Adam Zajewski, George Winston, et al.: 'Recognizing the Universe’s Hand When It’s Offered'

From whiskey river’s commonplace book:

Generosity is another quality which, like patience, letting go, non-judging, and trust, provides a solid foundation for mindfulness practice. You might experiment with using the cultivation of generosity as a vehicle for deep self-observation and inquiry as well as an exercise in giving. A good place to start is with yourself. See if you can give yourself gifts that may be true blessings, such as self-acceptance, or some time each day with no purpose. Practice feeling deserving enough to accept these gifts without obligation—to simply receive from yourself, and from the universe.

(Jon Kabat Zinn [source])

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Our Only Hope Is to Be the Daylight

From whiskey river’s commonplace book:

The important thing about despair is never to give up, never wrap up and put away a sterile life, but somehow keep it open. Because you never can know what’s coming; never. That’s the great thing about life, the crucial thing to remember. You may beat your fists on a stone wall for years and years, and every consideration of common sense will say it’s hopeless, forget it, spare yourself; and then one day your bleeding hand will go through as if the wall were theatrical gauze; you’ll be in another realm where birds are singing and love is possible, and you’d have missed it if you’d given up, because it might be only that one day the wall was not stone.

(Allen Wheelis [source])

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A Pinned Post Just In Time for the Summer Solstice

Hey cats, what’s good? I’m Jessie, a 40-something queer, nonbinary person; I use they/them, she/her, and he/him pronouns—I like it best when people mix ‘em up—or just stick with they/them if that’s easier. (I could get into a further breakdown and details of my identity, but it would be a motherfuckin mouthful, so we’ll leave it at that.)

The main thing that’s going on in my life right now is that my husband and our two kiddos and I just moved from where we’d been living to a new town, 200 miles away. We moved up here for lots of reasons: we just needed a change; it’s an area where the kids are safe to ride their bikes and walk to the playground because there’s a lot less traffic; and finally because there are better job opportunities for my partner and I.

So, hopefully very soon, I’ll have to make fewer of these types of posts. But in the meantime: I have a GFM going to help us cover moving expenses. I raised about 1/4 of it earlier on in the campaign, but then it stalled out, cuz I quit posting about it or making updates because I was too busy getting ready to move.

FIND MY GFM HERE

(Photos of me outside my old house and new house, respectively, cuz I know posts tend to do better with a picture or two.)

Here’s where we’re at right now, as of today (June 20): $2180/$7000. And now is the crunch time. The movers moved in everything from our old place to our new one today. We’ll be here for a few days unpacking, then we have to go back to our old place one last time to clean (cuz I want our security deposit back!) The rest of the money that I raise will be used for: filling the car with gas to get back to the old place to clean, getting some necessities for our new place, getting some cleaning supplies for our old place, and, mostly—paying July’s rent and bills for our new place (including getting a PO box; our new place doesn’t have mail delivery) so that we have a little more time to look for work while we get settled in.

—

There are other ways you can help, too:

Venmo: JessieLynnMcMains

PayPal: coeur.de.fantome@gmail.com

(If you donate through either of those accounts, I’ll mark it on the GFM as an offline donation; and in fact, getting a little money that way would be ideal right now. Cuz I can access it instantly and get my family some takeout meals so we don’t have to worry about cooking while we unpack/clean.)

Or you could consider:

Becoming a paid subscriber of my Substack (I’m running a little series there right now, which will culminate at the end of the month with a brand new piece for paid subscribers only).

Buying something or hiring/commissioning me via my Ko-fi. (Just keep in mind that if you hire me or order any physical item from the shop, it’ll be at least mid-July til I can send it.)

As always, everything helps, including keeping this post circulating.

Thanks in advance, and happy Solstice!

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Lia Purpura, Thomas Pynchon, et al.: 'The Light Changes and — Ding! — the World Goes Topsy-Turvy'

From whiskey river's commonplace book:

Design Here is the day, sun, gulls backlit and cresting, a jackhammer going on, suggesting I’m here but not really in it, I’m more representative of a person in early ambient fall, near a fountain, and Thursday farmers’ market like an architect’s model, precise, small me, stuck on a bench reading a book, lending the air of things going too fast.

(Lia Purpura)

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Eckhart Tolle, Rainer Maria Rilke, Naomi Shihab Nye, et al.: 'Trying All the Tricks (Especially Not Trying) to Keep Moving Forward'

Humanity is under great pressure to evolve because it is our only chance of survival as a race. This will affect every aspect of your life and close relationships in particular. Never before have relationships been as problematic and conflict ridden as they are now. As you may continue to pursue the goal of salvation through a relationship, you will be disillusioned again and again. But if you accept that the relationship is here to make you conscious instead of happy, then the relationship will offer you salvation...

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Li-Young Lee, worry__lines, Mitch Hedberg, et al.: 'Dancing a Gingerly Two-Step along an Uncertain Border'

From whiskey river’s commonplace book (first paragraph):

I’ve been thinking about something for a long time, and I keep noticing that most human speech – if not all human speech – is made with the outgoing breath. This is the strange thing about presence and absence. When we breathe in, our bodies are filled with nutrients and nourishment. Our blood is filled with oxygen, our skin gets flush; our bones get harder – they get compacted. Our muscles get toned and we feel very present when we’re breathing in. The problem is, that when we’re breathing in, we can’t speak. So presence and silence have something to do with each other...

(Li-Young Lee [source])

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Harry Middleton, Kirsten Bakis, et al.: 'In the Midst of The Static, One (Possible) Voice'

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Terry Tempest Williams, Linda Bierds, etc al.: 'Pausing Each Day at the Gateless Gate… Then Stepping Through'

From whiskey river’s commonplace book:

To Waiting You spend so much of your time expecting to become someone else always someone who will be different someone to whom a moment whatever moment it may be at last has come and who has been met and transformed into no longer being you and so has forgotten you...

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Alan Lightman, Nazim Hikmet, a Maxim for Nostalgists, et al.: 'When I Walked onto the Strand, I Recognized Nothing'

From whiskey river's commonplace book:

On Living Living is no laughing matter:       you must live with great seriousness                 like a squirrel, for example—       I mean without looking for something beyond and above living,        I mean living must be your whole  occupation...

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Charles Bukowski, Jane Kenyon, Yatri, et al.: 'Both of These Things Can Be True (But One May Be Truer)'

From whiskey river's commonplace book:

Man becomes a historical animal preoccupied with the past and the future, and here we encounter the strangest of paradoxes… The historical idea of self, the ego, requires a constant re-living of memories in order to sustain a continuity of its own. It is only aware of itself as a repeatedly up-dated autobiography...

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Peter Matthiessen, Marie Howe, a Maxim for Nostalgists, et al.: 'Painting Eyeballs on Chaos'

From whiskey river's commonplace book:

My foot slips on a narrow ledge: in that split second, as needles of fear pierce heart and temples, eternity intersects with present time. Thought and action are not different, and stone, air, ice, sun, fear, and self are one…

What is exhilarating is to extend this acute awareness into ordinary moments, in the moment-by-moment experiencing of the lammergeier and the wolf, which, finding themselves at the center of things, have no need for any secret of true being. In this very breath that we take now lies the secret that all great teachers try to tell us, what one lama refers to as “the precision and openness and intelligence of the present."...

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