meme time

okay, here goes. thanks to spadoman for tagging me-i think!

1.) Name a book that you want to share so much that you keep giving away copies:

"on the pulse of morning" by maya angelou...read by ms. angelou at clinton's first innauguration. it floored me then, and it still does. i was sitting in the rocking chair, rocking my then-baby girl. huge tears of joy sreamed down my face, onto my child. it honestly felt like everything was going to be alright. i was a precinct leader for the democrats in that election, so my happiness level was off-the-charts.

2.) Name a piece of music that changed the way you listen to music:

"wooden ships" by csn. i remember hearing it for the first time at my father's place in 1970. it was the first record i bought with my own money. the words haunted and enlightened me, all at once. it played in my head on a daily basis, for years.and it inspired me to expect peace, justice, and acceptance-of-others in the world. plus, i loved the whole sailboat metaphor.

3.) Name a film you can watch again and again without fatigue:

"the big lebowski" there were many considerably more profound films that made their mark on me. something about this film just sucks me in, every time. it's one of the few dvd's i own. i'm not a bowler, but i like the way bowling is applied to life. i guess i just love the cast, especially jeff bridges. i admit to a very real affection for jeff, as well as a weakness for perceived underachievers.

4.) Name a performer for whom you suspend all disbelief:

de niro... i love him when he's serious, and have really appreciated his recently-emerged humorous side. as for actresses, meryl streep.

5.) Name a work of art you'd like to live with:

meditative rose, salvador dali (see above image)

this was the toughest question. there is so much art that intrigues me. i spent half a day at the all-new de young museum last may, and that wasn't nearly long enough.
i like work from most all eras and genres, and want to absorb more of it.


so... it's done. i don't do these memes much-i always sound fairly predictable to myself. (yawn) i hereby tag anyone out there reading this that cares to participate.
below you will find the poem i spoke of. it was published as a little book, right after clinton was sworn in. i gave a copy to my father and several friends that year.
read it and remember better, hopeful days.


Inaugural Poem
Maya Angelou
20 January 1993

A Rock, A River, A Tree
Hosts to species long since departed,
Marked the mastodon.

The dinosaur, who left dry tokens
Of their sojourn here
On our planet floor,
Any broad alarm of their hastening doom
Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.

But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,
Come, you may stand upon my
Back and face your distant destiny,
But seek no haven in my shadow.

I will give you no more hiding place down here.

You, created only a little lower than
The angels, have crouched too long in
The bruising darkness,
Have lain too long
Face down in ignorance.

Your mouths spilling words
Armed for slaughter.

The Rock cries out today, you may stand on me,
But do not hide your face.

Across the wall of the world,
A River sings a beautiful song,
Come rest here by my side.

Each of you a bordered country,
Delicate and strangely made proud,
Yet thrusting perpetually under siege.

Your armed struggles for profit
Have left collars of waste upon
My shore, currents of debris upon my breast.

Yet, today I call you to my riverside,
If you will study war no more. Come,

Clad in peace and I will sing the songs
The Creator gave to me when I and the
Tree and the stone were one.

Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your
Brow and when you yet knew you still
Knew nothing.

The River sings and sings on.

There is a true yearning to respond to
The singing River and the wise Rock.

So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew
The African and Native American, the Sioux,
The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek
The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheikh,
The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher,
The privileged, the homeless, the Teacher.
They hear. They all hear
The speaking of the Tree.

Today, the first and last of every Tree
Speaks to humankind. Come to me, here beside the River.

Plant yourself beside me, here beside the River.

Each of you, descendant of some passed
On traveller, has been paid for.

You, who gave me my first name, you
Pawnee, Apache and Seneca, you
Cherokee Nation, who rested with me, then
Forced on bloody feet, left me to the employment of
Other seekers--desperate for gain,
Starving for gold.

You, the Turk, the Swede, the German, the Scot ...
You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru, bought
Sold, stolen, arriving on a nightmare
Praying for a dream.

Here, root yourselves beside me.

I am the Tree planted by the River,
Which will not be moved.

I, the Rock, I the River, I the Tree
I am yours--your Passages have been paid.

Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need
For this bright morning dawning for you.

History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, and if faced
With courage, need not be lived again.

Lift up your eyes upon
The day breaking for you.

Give birth again
To the dream.

Women, children, men,
Take it into the palms of your hands.

Mold it into the shape of your most
Private need. Sculpt it into
The image of your most public self.
Lift up your hearts
Each new hour holds new chances
For new beginnings.

Do not be wedded forever
To fear, yoked eternally
To brutishness.

The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
Here, on the pulse of this fine day
You may have the courage
To look up and out upon me, the
Rock, the River, the Tree, your country.

No less to Midas than the mendicant.

No less to you now than the mastodon then.

Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister's eyes, into
Your brother's face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope

Good morning.