The Idea of Order at Key West

The Idea of Order at Key West

Wallace Stevens

She sang beyond the genius of the sea.
The water never formed to mind or voice,
Like a body wholly body, fluttering
Its empty sleeves; and yet its mimic motion
Made constant cry, caused constantly a cry,
That was not ours although we understood,
Inhuman, of the veritable ocean.

The sea was not a mask. No more was she.
The song and water were not medleyed sound
Even if what she sang was what she heard,
Since what she sang was uttered word by word.
It may be that in all her phrases stirred
The grinding water and the gasping wind;
But it was she and not the sea we heard.

For she was the maker of the song she sang.
The ever-hooded, tragic-gestured sea
Was merely a place by which she walked to sing.
Whose spirit is this? we said, because we knew
It was the spirit that we sought and knew
That we should ask this often as she sang.
If it was only the dark voice of the sea
That rose, or even colored by many waves;
If it was only the outer voice of sky
And cloud, of the sunken coral water-walled,
However clear, it would have been deep air,
The heaving speech of air, a summer sound
Repeated in a summer without end
And sound alone. But it was more than that,
More even than her voice, and ours, among
The meaningless plungings of water and the wind,
Theatrical distances, bronze shadows heaped
On high horizons, mountainous atmospheres
Of sky and sea.

It was her voice that made
The sky acutest at its vanishing.
She measured to the hour its solitude.
She was the single artificer of the world
In which she sang. And when she sang, the sea,
Whatever self it had, became the self
That was her song, for she was the maker. Then we,
As we beheld her striding there alone,
Knew that there never was a world for her
Except the one she sang and, singing, made.

Ramon Fernandez, tell me, if you know,
Why, when the singing ended and we turned
Toward the town, tell why the glassy lights,
The lights in the fishing boats at anchor there,
As the night descended, tilting in the air,
Mastered the night and portioned out the sea,
Fixing emblazoned zones and fiery poles,
Arranging, deepening, enchanting night.

Oh! Blessed rage for order, pale Ramon,
The maker's rage to order words of the sea,
Words of the fragrant portals, dimly-starred,
And of ourselves and of our origins,
In ghostlier demarcations, keener sounds.

Shiny happy people

Best thing about weddings (besides the obvious): PEOPLE! So many awesome people in one place! My mom is picking up my cousin Carly from the airport today, I haven't seen her in a year, and I am so excited. Then we are snatching up Christopher from the airport next Thursday. A great deal of partying, and playing Settlers, shall ensue.

1 more work day until my week vacation begins!

3 days til Over the Rhine in Nashville with Gabe

8 days til my brother's wedding

29 days until the Midsummer's Night Ball/Opening of The School

36 days til U2 and Florence & the Machine in Nashville with Mom and Dad and Luke and Chels and Josh

65 days until I turn 25

73 days until the Decemberists at the Ryman with Gabe

It's a Rainy Day

Rainy Day - Coldplay

Then there was rain
The sky wore a veil of gold and green
Night is the bride of a lonely day
Time just floated
Then there was rain
The sound foundations are crumbling
To the ground comes a pyramid tumbling
Time just floated away
We can watch it and stay
And we can listen


Oh rainy day come round
Sometimes I just want it to slow down
And we're separated now
And oh but I love it when you come over to the house
I love it when you come over to my house

Then there was rain
I spent the night with the queen of Spain
My lonely little heart well it broke again
Time so vicious
The deeper that the knife goes in
The more you win
You end up with less than where you begin
The deeper that the knife goes in

Oh rainy day come round
Sometimes I just want it to slow down
We're separated now
And oh but I love it when you come over to the house
I love it when you come over to my house

And I love it when you come over to the house
I love it when you come over to my house

I love it when you come over to the house
I love it when you come over to my house

Life Update

Joel and Melissa's wedding was AMAZING. One of the most delightful evenings. EVER! I'm so excited for them and their new life in St. Louis. I was also super excited to decorate a huge chalkboard (they have commissioned work from me and I illustrated their invites) at their reception at Wolf Den Farms (oh, you know, that place where one of the guys from the Kings of Leon got married). I so appreciate their love of art and community, and that's part of what made their wedding fantastic.
Dancing to Motown hits into the night is always delightful too.



Spent yesterday morning out at The School with Gabe cleaning. We watched a storm blow in and out. The rest of the day I spent sick, I guess because of something we stirred up out at The School. I slept, cleaned, ate some organic soup, did lots of laundry, and then watched Persuasion with Gabe.

My family is scurrying about getting everything ready for Luke and Chelsey's joyous nuptials. I finally found some silver shoes to go with my red bridesmaid's dress. Ow!
Going to be spending my evenings making my niece's flower-girl dress.

So thankful my mom is doing well these days. She's not out of the woods, but she's feeling a little better, taking it easy.

Ok, back to the count-down:

6 days til Over the Rhine in Nashville

7 days until I get a week off from work

11 days til my brother's wedding

39 days til U2 and Florence & the Machine in Nashville

68 days until I turn 25

76 days until the Decemberists at the Ryman

Design-athon

I've been working on a new design for my art website over the past week. You can preview it here.

Let me know if you find a broken link or something like that.

This is playing on repeat in my head:

"You smell like sweet magnolias
And Pentecostal residue
I’d like to get to know ya
And shake the holy fire right out of you"

It's from Over the Rhine's Who’m I Kiddin’ But Me

What a saucy song - well, the whole album, really - I love it. It's a feel album. And I feel it. Oh yeah.

And I'm going to see Over the Rhine in like 12 days.

I smell magnolias when I drive with my windows down through the cities. Magnolias are a more sophisticated Southern staple plant. In the country, I smell the heavy perfume of thistles and honeysuckles. They are wild. They know no restraint in their striving for life and beauty and reality.

Finally going to see the Decemberists! And at the Ryman!

(Those blue spots are the tickets I have!)

The news broke this morning that they were stopping in Nashville August 6th, tickets on sale on friday May, 20. I got excited about the 20th. BUT THEN! I looked at their website and I beheld a beautiful thing: PRESALE! I got two tickets on the floor. Not just on the floor, but only a few rows in. Bliss.

Counting down is a favorite pastime of mine!

5 days til Joel and Melissa's wedding

13 days til Over the Rhine in Nashville

14 days until I get a week off from work

18 days til my brother's wedding

46 days til U2 and Florence & the Machine in Nashville

75 days until I turn 25

81 days until the Decemberists at the Ryman

I am trying to let be be finale of seem.

The Emperor of Ice-Cream
Wallace Stevens (duh)

Call the roller of big cigars,
The muscular one, and bid him whip
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
As they are used to wear, and let the boys
Bring flowers in last month's newspapers.
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

Take from the dresser of deal,
Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet
On which she embroidered fantails once
And spread it so as to cover her face.
If her horny feet protrude, they come
To show how cold she is, and dumb.
Let the lamp affix its beam.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

Fledgling

My brother, Gabriel Max Starner, is doing the production and costume design for a short film called Fledgling. It is being filmed in a couple of weeks here in Nashville. You can support this film on kickstarter and receive awesome gifts for different levels of support. Support it here!

Oh my brain.

Life is weird.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Of course it makes sense on Cinco de Mayo to post a picture of my great-grandfather in Mexico in the 40's, right? He was such a silly guy.

"We saw the Swollen Mississippi and Arcade Fire on Thursday Last in the City that's Color is Blue: Memphis" or, "Heaven Knows, This is a Heartland."

My fellow day-tripper and I drove west to the Mississippi River on the one clear day in a month of storms here in Tennessee. We saw the skies. We saw the river. We saw starbucks. We saw a glorious antique store. We saw the spaghetti warehouse. We saw Graceland. We saw lovely houses and trees. We saw Arcade Fire! Here's proof:

Looking for animals and objects in the skies:

The city and the river walk:

The Mississippi outreaching it's boundaries:

Delicious lunch at the Spaghetti Warehouse:

Fun in an antique store:

Sleepy:

Oh deer:

My new 'enhanced' photograph, deal of the century:

My new house:

Graceland:

Beale Street:

The strangest thing we saw all day:

The Fountain of Youth:

Woot!:

Excited!:

Arcade Fire playing Intervention:

After:


Here's what they played:

Ready to Start
Keep the Car Running
Haïti
Oh It's Such a Shame(Jay Reatard cover)
No Cars Go
We Used to Wait
Empty Room
Rococo
Month of May
Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
Intervention
The Suburbs
The Suburbs (Continued)
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Rebellion (Lies)

Encore:
Wake Up
Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)





It's Such a Shame Lyrics:

That's the way things go
All people's changes they grow
I hide in this room
Let's hope it's not wasted

Oh, it's such a shame

I look into your eyes
and try not to cry
That's all I know
Let's hope it's not wasted

Oh, it's such a shame

More counting down . . .

12 days til my brothers graduate from Belmont

18 days til Joel and Melissa's wedding

26 days til Over the Rhine in Nashville

31 days til my brother's wedding

60 days til U2 and Florence & the Machine in Nashville

89 days until I turn 25

Weekend

Greatest extended weekend in a long time. More to come. . .

Sigh sigh sigh sigh sigh.

Check out this article in PASTE Magazine on the 15 best cover's of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. Don't be too shocked by the number one, now. And don't fall in love with him either (maybe that's asking too much . . . I'm always falling in love with dead guys).