Another Poem for another day...

Song
by Allen Ginsberg

   The weight of the world
        is love.
   Under the burden
        of solitude,
   under the burden
        of dissatisfaction

        the weight,
   the weight we carry
        is love.

   Who can deny?
        In dreams
   it touches
        the body,
   in thought
        constructs
   a miracle,
        in imagination
   anguishes
        till born
   in human--
   looks out of the heart
        burning with purity--
   for the burden of life
        is love,

   but we carry the weight
        wearily,
   and so must rest
   in the arms of love
        at last,
   must rest in the arms
        of love.

   No rest
        without love,
   no sleep
        without dreams
   of love--
        be mad or chill
   obsessed with angels
        or machines,
   the final wish
        is love
   --cannot be bitter,
        cannot deny,
   cannot withhold
        if denied:

   the weight is too heavy

        --must give
   for no return
        as thought
   is given
        in solitude
   in all the excellence
        of its excess.

 ...

   yes, yes,
        that's what
   I wanted,
        I always wanted,
   I always wanted,
        to return
   to the body
        where I was born.

A(nother) Poem for Today

Talking to Grief (by Denise Levertov)

Ah, Grief, I should not treat you
like a homeless dog
who comes to the back door
for a crust, for a meatless bone.
I should trust you.

I should coax you
into the house and give you
your own corner,
a worn mat to lie on,
your own water dish.

You think I don't know you've been living
under my porch.
You long for your real place to be readied
before winter comes. You need
your name,
your collar and tag. You need
the right to warn off intruders,
to consider
my house your own
and me your person
and yourself
my own dog.

A Poem for Today

Hyla Brook (by Robert Frost)

By June our brook’s run out of song and speed.
Sought for much after that, it will be found
Either to have gone groping underground
(And taken with it all the Hyla breed
That shouted in the mist a month ago,
Like ghost of sleigh-bells in a ghost of snow)—
Or flourished and come up in jewel-weed,
Weak foliage that is blown upon and bent
Even against the way its waters went.
Its bed is left a faded paper sheet
Of dead leaves stuck together by the heat—
A brook to none but who remember long.
This as it will be seen is other far
Than with brooks taken otherwhere in song.
We love the things we love for what they are.

Good evening, Your Majesty...

You'll never guess what I found out today.

Each of 5 Swedish undergraduate colleges in the USA chooses one graduate each year to nominate for the Glenn Seaborg Nobel Travel Award. The winner presents his/her research at the Nobel festivities, in audience Nobel Laureates and members of the national youth science organization of Sweden. Then, it's to the invitation-only, fine dress-only Nobel Awards reception to schmooze with the laureates and dignitaries from around the world. Then, to the press conferences, Nobel lectures, meeting Swedish princesses (literally), and tours. It would be mind-boggling to get such an opportunity, wouldn't it?

Well, Gustavus's nominee is.... me.

I'm pumped. I'm also procuring a Swedish-English-Swedish dictionary, just in case.

Vegging...

I've started going vegetarian, mainly for health reasons. Well, not really 'vegetarian' at this point. I'm still in the low-meat phase. I still eat it once every week or two. I've realized how hard it is to find quality vegetarian food at Gustavus. The veggie burgers are usually cardboard-esque and the veggie curry has the consistency of soup. But I'm looking forward to this summer, when I'll start to cook for myself; at that point my goal is to go vegetarian entirely.

Going vegetarian doesn't only consist of stopping eating meat. In fact, that can be very dangerous. This week I'm going to talk with the dietician on campus about what I have to do to complement a vegetarian diet. There are some deficiencies I've heard of associated with it: iron, protein (essential amino acids), zinc and calcium, and vitamin B2/12. Got all that? There'll be a quiz later. =)

Luckily, amino acids, vitamin B, and calcium are present in dairy products and eggs -- which I'm not giving up. Those are the vegans. Vitamin C aids in zinc uptake, so according to my online source increasing citrus takes care of that worry. Orange juice for me! That leaves iron, which legumes contain -- green beans, alfalfa, soy.

I'll see what the dietician says.