Serendipity

I had been thinking about this poem a lot lately, but only knew parts of it by heart. Then, as often happens, I was in Powells with $5 to spend, and spotted an anthology that includes it.

Adrienne Rich - Song

You're wondering if I'm lonely:
OK then, yes, I'm lonely
as a plane rides lonely and level
on its radio beam, aiming
across the Rockies
for the blue-strung aisles
of an airfield on the ocean

You want to ask, am I lonely?
Well, of course, lonely
as a woman driving across country
day after day, leaving behind
mile after mile
little towns she might have stopped
and lived and died in, lonely

If I'm lonely
it must be the loneliness
of waking first, of breathing
dawn's first cold breath in the city
of being the one awake
in a house wrapped in sleep

If I'm lonely
it's with the rowboat ice-fast on the shore
in the last red light of the year
that knows what it is, that knows it's neither
ice nor mud nor winter light
but wood, with a gift for burning


other business: ASIFA will host another Drinking and Drawing in January at The Canvas Art Bar (really cool spot- Portlanders should check it out), we're getting ready for the next BeTween PDX in... April? May? Christine and I are starting to cogitate about some sort of Art+Tech event, to see if we can't get some people making connections.
This week, Webvisions is having an event on New Media. This month, SIGGRAPH computer animation festival is screening at PCC Cascade Campus, and ASIFA is having a screening of Fantastic Mr. Fox with animation director Mark Gustafson at The Canvas. And in early December, 3DPDX and AEPDX are having an event to show how awesome Cinema 4D is. Summer's over, so everyone is regrouping. Wheeee!