nobody, not even the rain

Our slightly extreme weather this morning has put me in mind of this poem by e. e. cummings;

[somewhere i have never travelled]

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands

(Image: painting by cummings, courtesy of yale.library.edu.)

Want some chocolate?

We're test driving a new idea - the next five people to start or renew a subscription or give a gift of the N.Q. will receive a box of gourmet dark chocolates (retail value $22) from the Newfoundland Chocolate Company. Just give us a call at 709.737.2426, or email us at nfqsub@mun.ca.

(Image: newfoundlandchocolatecompany.com)

The seminal Newfoundland film The Adventure of Faustus Bidgood, which you may or may not know was also adapted for stage by Mark Turner, of alternative band King Nancy fame, is available on DVD, a mere thirty years or so after those first frames (of the school maybe? "Napoleon was an Emperor, not a King!") were shot. Word is NIFCO is handling the distribution.

(Image: heritage.nf.ca.)

Reading David Hare's The Judas Kiss, the story of

Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), the Irish playwright and poet whose ill-advised decision to pursue a controversial libel suit wrecked his health and ended his life. The plays of this dramatist, perhaps wittiest person in the history of the English language, are still (justifiably) popular today, as is his poetry (see The Ballad of Reading Goal) and his bon mots, ie. "Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination".

(Image: poems.net.)

You must see this movie!

The Fall. It is absolute visual magic, a world beautifully realized without an ounce of special effects, and if you don't lose your heart to Catinca Untaru you don't have one.









(Image: collider.com.)

Today's the day! Don't forget to

(Image: austinchronicle.com

Ilse Hughes' New Show

This weekend I'm hoping to spend some time with Ilse Hughes' latest exhibition, Infrared...an urban landscape, up at Red Ochre Gallery until October 29th. I'm a big fan of Hughes bold palettes and dynamic brushwork - she's a painter who thinks paintings should be about paint!

(Image: View From the Fort, Red Ochre Gallery.)