Spring is Like a Perhaps Hand

The Grammys start in fifteen minutes, and I promised Laura I would watch some of them with her.

I am reading The Art of Describing by Svetlana Alpers. Mark Doty referred to it in his book and I have heard it mentioned in a few other places. It is about 17th century Dutch Art. The copy I have is used and highlighted in yellow - no doubt it belonged to a student in some Art history class somewhere. It's nice to read it and know I don't have to highlight - I can just enjoy. It seems to be saying something about the difference between Italian Renaissance painters and the Dutch painters - how they were written about and what the painters thought about their painting. But I have just started it.

Yes spring is making noise - little throat-clearing noises - but nonetheless noise! Crocus are blooming and daffodils, while not blooming, are definitely taller than they were a few weeks ago. We have had a respite from the rain.

Last night I had one of my classes listen to three different versions of the song "Satisfaction" (thankfully the Britney Spears version was not one of them). I put them in groups and had them talk about the differences. It was a way to start talking about analysis - I worried they would think it was a strange thing to do, but they really seemed to get into it.

I started a poem today.

Here comes Laura, up the stairs! Two minutes until Grammy time! How many of the artists will be ones I actually listen to?

Here's the e.e. cummings poem:

Spring is like a perhaps hand
(which comes carefully
out of Nowhere)arranging
a window,into which people look(while
people stare
arranging and changing placing
carefully there a strange
thing and a known thing here)and

changing everything carefully

spring is like a perhaps
Hand in a window
(carefully to
and fro moving New and
Old things,while
people stare carefully
moving a perhaps
fraction of flower here placing
an inch of air there)and

without breaking anything.