hi-density

Poet: Lourd de Veyra

Source: "One Hundred Love Poems"

Year Created: 2003

Year Published: 2004

Publisher: The University of the Philippines Press

hi-density

baby tonight I'm trying to watch television and outside the moon

seems to have stopped breathing - a pool of flat radiance and the

only image in my mind is that of the black and white siamese kitty

cat tattooed on the small of your back because I hardly understood

the true nature of cats until you silently tiptoed into my life and I

entered you with the smoothness of hot knife through butter and

smoldering like the tip of a syringe and because the memory of your

skin still haunts me burning more savagely than this moon so boring

the television appears to hum with more life and baby I am sorry I

had met with apathy the concern for your real true siamese kitty cat

because I am in a state of consciousness that receives neither the

eleven o' clock news nor the lunar manifestation of truth and love

and whatever strange music it is hanging outside these unreal windows

and baby I hope you are not thinking it is the cat you keep between

your legs I think about all the time with an egyptian's impious

devotion to bast and baby I hope you are still alive and you too are

watching television this very moment with only the real virtue of

understanding beaming on your ghostly face more beautiful than

moonlight more beautiful than death and imagining what might have

happened had you come over to let that feline tattoo curl up cozily

on my bed tonight baby now I begin to understand the true nature

of absence and hunger in the sudden keening of a cat

_________________

From the famous Lourd de Veyra of Radioactive Sago Project, "hi-density" is a poem that tackles a man's longing for a dead lover. It is almost midnight and despite the hour, he still feels so awake because of his strong imagination working to almost resurrect his beloved.

In the last lines of the poem you will observe that he becomes sensual. Perhaps he is thinking of intimate moments with the woman. And it is confirmed when he wished for the woman to be there watching television too.

Well, I tried hard to retain the form of the poem here but failed (GRRR Blogger!). The form is important because sometimes it also expresses the persona's mood. Now, you should start checking the form of this one. Very continuous and with a slight opening or space in the last line. If you ask me, the poem as a whole, sure does look something else. And, I think it only justifies the poem's sensuality.

For One More Day

Type: Novel
Genre: Non-Fiction
Author: Mitch Albom
Main Characters: Charley "Chick" Benetto (protagonist)
Pauline "Posey" Benetto (Chick's mother)
Leonard "Len" Benetto (Chick's father)
Catherine Benetto (Chick's wife)
Maria Benetto-Lang (Chick's daughter)
Year Published: 2006

_____________________


Summary:


Charley "Chick" Benetto was a baseball player who decided to commit suicide realizing that his life has become a trash. His mother died when he was out fullfilling a baseball endeavor for his father. His daughter disregarded him and didn't invite him to her wedding. His marriage is going nowhere. His work has become his own pandemonium. Fortunately, despite his attempt to kill himself through a 'car accident', he was still alive. However, the next events that occurred were inexplicable. He gained consciousness but saw his dead mother. Not only that, he gets to spend another day with her too. Thus, this day also makes him understand some events in his life.


______________________

"If you had the chance, just one chance, to go back and fix what you did wrong in life, would you take it?"

This was the teaser at the back cover of Mitch Albom's "For One More Day". A book about second chances and definitely, life's value.

Like the author's previous novels, this one also has the power to touch your hearts and make you cry. Why not? A mother's unconditional love for her son. The son's regrets over his life. A person getting tired on his life. All can relate, for it's everyone's story too.

Unlike the usual plots for a novel, the book was divided into four main chapters (excluding the Introduction and Epilogue). Midnight. Morning. Noon, and Night. Perfect division since they truly suit and justify the title of the book. Also, there are pages that fall under two divisons: "Times I Did Not Stand Up for My Mother" and "Times My Mother Stood Up for Me", which contain the protagonist's memories of his Mom.

Chick's experiences and his mom's struggle on life will move you despite yourself. if you have been tired of your life, this book will give you hesitations now in case you are planning on suicide too. Though if you are not, still "For One More Day" is a good aid for your weariness. It will help you start looking at life on a different angle.

What does this book have? Well, from the very start of the story, you'll already wonder where the narrator will lead you. Is it a ghost story? Or, will it end as a dream? Truly, you will get hooked to it until you don't notice that you've already read almost the entire book. The charm of the author's words and heart-smashing autobiographical experiences will lure you to finish the story in one sitting.

***

Memorable Lines from the book:


* "Kids chase the love that eludes them" (Chick Benetto)

* "An education is how you'll make something of yourself" (Posey Benetto)

* "All divorce does is divert you, taking you away from everything you thought you knew and everything you thought you wanted..." (Chick Benetto)

* "When someone is in your heart, they're never truly gone. They can come back to you even at unlikely times. " (Posey Benetto)

* "Sticking with your family is what makes it a family" (Posey Benetto)

Tonight I Can Write

Genre: Poetry
Author: Pablo Neruda
Translator: C.S. Merwin
Source: "Veinte poemas de amor y una cancion desesperada" (Twenty Poems and a Song of Despair)
Year Published: 1924

Tonight I Can write

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

Write, for example,'The night is shattered
and the blue stars shiver in the distance.'

The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.

Through nights like this one I held her in my arms
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.

She loved me sometimes, and I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.

To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.

What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is shattered and she is not with me.

This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

My sight searches for her as though to go to her.
My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.

The same night whitening the same trees.
We, of that time, are no longer the same.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.

Another's. She will be another's. Like my kisses before.
Her voice. Her bright body. Her inifinite eyes.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.

Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
and these the last verses that I write for her.
____________________________________________________

This is a very sad poem of a man for his beloved. The poet here expresses his sorrow now that woman he loves will be getting married. Look at the 12th and 14th stanzas. They give us a hint there that the woman will now be leading a new life. A life without him.

The line "Love is so short, forgetting is so long" suggests that the persona doesn't seem to be satisfied with the time they had with one another. And that even if love between them has finally vanished, the memories of their moments together shall continue haunting him. Reminding him of a precious love he lost.

At the end, the persona then decides that the poem will be the last one dedicated to his beloved. And also, it shall be the last time he'll hurt because of her.

Thus, this makes the poem a highly recommended piece for those who are "emo" and those who still suffer the loss of a loved one but want to go on already.

An Appointment with Love

Genre: Short Story
Source: "Heart to Heart Stories of Love"
Main Characters: Lieutenant Blandford
Hollis Meynell


Written by S.I. Kishor, "An Appointment with Love" is a short story that measures one's sincerity when it comes to loving a person. It shows us that love is truly beyond what the eyes can see.

The narrative centers on a World War II soldier who is about to finally meet the woman who captured his heart. He knows her name but he doesn't know her face. It was just a love that blossomed from an exchange of letters for thirteen months. Now that he's finally going to meet her, will he still be able to profess his love? No matter how she looks?

Well, this short story is truly a keeper. Although the style of courtship here between the lovers is quite outdated already, I think those who have textmates or chatmates could still relate to this one.



You can find this story in a book titled "Heart to Heart Stories of Love". There are lots of short stories there compiled and edited by Joe Wheeler.

Anyway, in case you want to read the story, I also have a copy here. Just click the link.

DOWNLOAD An Appointment with Love

Have a great read!

The Shelf

Hello Blogosphere!

It's me. Her Maldita-ness.

Welcome to my new blog. I hope you enjoy this one as much as you enjoy my other blog.

Well, this blog is mostly about literature and movies. But don't get me wrong. This won't be as boring as what you assume. Why?

One reason is that, this could be a lot of help to students out there who are making papers. And also a guide to those who want to read a certain book or watch a certain film.

Another reason is that, I am giving away some freebies every month too.

Now that's something to look forward to, right?

So spread the word. Her Maldita-ness' Shelf is now ONLINE.

See you on the next post :)