“I ask you:
– What is the weight of light?“
– Clarice Lispector
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– What are the colours of time?
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– What are the sounds of the stones?
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– When does the inside become the outside?
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– What is the material of memory?
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– What would the trees think?
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– What is the geography of a butterfly?
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– What is the shape of flight?
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– When does the local become – the universal?
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– Where does the sky begin?
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– What is the taste of place?
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– Where are the energy flows?
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– What is the future of the past?
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– Who watches the watcher?
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– Who controls this space?
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– Who determines the boundary?
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– Where is the coldness of the sun?
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– What is the gravity of the moon?
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– Where is the boundary of night?
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Where is the future of freedom?
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– What is the distance of love?
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Opening quote from Clarice Lispector’s The Hour of the Star.
The photos of the Berlin Wall are from an inter-railing trip in the late 1980s. It was a coincidence to rediscover them in an old shoebox on the day that it was announced Lou Reed had died. I can still vividly recall a lurid, orange BASF cassette being pressed into my hand in the school playground. “Listen to this!” It was a recording of Rock n Roll Animal. Things changed.
I can still remember a number of the cassettes that travelled in the rucksack on that inter-railing adventure. Berlin was certainly one of them.
Now playing: Lou Reed – Berlin. RIP LR.
18 replies on “Some Questions of the Drift”
This is a wonderfully haunting post, with a perfect balance between the oddness of the words and the curious selection of pictures. Thank you, in particular, for introducing me to the work of Clarice Lispector, who was hitherto unknown to me, I’m embarassed to say.
With best wishes
Ian
Thanks for the comment Ian. I’m fairly new to Lispector myself but looking forward to reading more of her work. That opening quote I used is almost the last line of ‘The Hour of the Star’ and it just resonated. Very much enjoyed your recent pieces in ‘Earthlines’ and ‘Under a Grey Sky’.
Best wishes.
I love the way you have brought such disparate things together and made a new sense from them.
I didn’t know of Clarice Lispector either. Lou Reed has memories for so many people though.
Thanks Diana. One of the few consolations following his death has been the outpouring of peoples memories connected to Lou Reed, including those ‘difficult’ interviews for which he was famous. On the musical front his quality control was not always consistent but, overall, what a great body of work to leave behind.
Lovely photo-essay. A useful question to always ask: how to measure what is unmeasurable?
Thanks very much Paul and that is indeed a question to ponder.
Questions as eloquent as the answers are bound to be. The reasoning behind them will be vast, and will last forever. Couldn’t one adopt one of these questions and happily write about it all day?
Lou Reed’s passing made me sad and rather angry. However, Sweet Jane stays forever.
Thank you Aubrey. To attempt to answer the unanswerable or measure the unmeasurable may ultimately be a futile task but yes, why not let us attempt to write about it.
I find this so exciting. Thanks.
Thanks Cathy. Much appreciated.
A really thoughtful collection of words and images bouncing off each other. I did read The Hour of the Star though way back and can’t remember it too well. But what satisfying words. Thanks.
Don’t know if you’re a tweeter but I loved this Lou Reed one from Chaucer doth Tweet…
Smokinge a cigarette on Lexington and CXXV. The good and the badde walke by. Waytinge for the man.
Thanks for the comment. Much appreciated. The Hour of the Star is a dark little tale and I can see why Lispector is often mentioned alongside Kafka.
That is a good Chauceresque adaptation! And yes on twitter as well @fifepsy.
Best wishes.
Wonderful inspiring photoessay, giving us all a lot to ponder on and me especially a lot of new ideas! Thanks a lot. 🙂
Thank you Dina. Have been very much enjoying your recent excursions in the North of England.
So many wonderful questions, made me think of Chiyo Ni’s haikus, drifting thoughts of landscape and the intangible.
Thanks Matt and for introducing Chiyo Ni who I had not come across before. Have just read some of the haiku’s online – quite wonderful.
Great provocation to thought. Reminded me of the 1980s book ‘The Meaning of Liff’ – a light hearted attempt to find words (actually co-opted obscure place names) to give meaning to everyday expwriences that oddly have no existing names. To my mind it shows a glimpse of how thoughts can (just about) exist beyond language, but need to be spoken of to stabilise and share them. Hmm, that was a bit heavy for a Saturday morning, time for a strong cup of tea and a sit down I think…
Thanks Luke. Must have a look. I do think that at times there is an ‘excess of experience’ which sort of escapes language sometimes – no bad thing. On another tangent, if you have kids of a certain age, they will no doubt be playing ‘What does the fox say’ Makes me smile that these types of question can also be asked in viral pop songs!