Wild Fridays #16: Roving the Web

The things you find! I couldn't resist this one.

I think the plums in the icebox must be one of the best-known poems ever – only surpassed by the red wheelbarrow (by the same poet, William Carlos Williams – but you knew that, didn't you?). I always thought that if I'd been on the receiving end of his little note that morning, I might not have felt too forgiving, even if it was in poetry.

Then there's this. Seems I'm not the only one to have this problem!  (If you read my haibun for Weekly Scribblings #15.)

There! Hope that boosted your immune system – laughter, we are told, being the best medicine.

They both came from facebook, actually. (It has its uses!) This one, which seems to have most things covered, came from there too:

Someone has pointed out, re item 4, that one shouldn't really need a to-do list to ensure tending to a child in one's care. Too true! But if we do have a child, a pet or a plant to look after, that's one item we can be sure of crossing off virtuously as 'done'. (I am keeping my plants alive; I am, I am! I'm just not weeding around them as often as I might....)

You probably saw Helen's terrific anti-meme poem in response to the latest Writers' Pantry. If not, scroll back a couple of posts from this to pick it up. Going back for a second read, I finally had a proper look at the meme she used as illustration. Oh yeah, I could get into that one – it's about writers!

click image to enlarge it

That's the trouble with memes, isn't it? Mostly they are a pest, but then one will pull you in. If you want to know (or even if you don't) as I told Helen, it's House #5 for me, no question. Not only does it include some of my favourite writers, but even more importantly, there is no-one there I dislike, or am merely lukewarm about.

I can forego Plath in order to spare myself Ayn Rand; Wilde and Brecht so as to miss Hunter S. Thompson; and even James Baldwin (sigh) if it means not encountering L. Ron Hubbard. And the combination of Mailer and Hemingway – and yes, even Joyce – would be way too misogynist for me. (Though it might be fun to watch Dorothy Parker deal with them.)

How about you? You are allowed to play in the Comments.

So I didn't have to rove far and wide through the web for those; rather they came to me. So did a newsletter in my email from Jean Shinoda Bolen, author and Goddess-centred feminist. (She describes herself as 'author, Jungian analyst, activist'.)

Her newsletter contained links to two YouTube videos of empty streets, along with some wise words presented as a poem. One shows streets in Ireland, the other America. Here is the Irish version, which includes audio.

In case you can't quite get all the words through the lovely accent, let me tell you what they tell us: that when when we see the empty streets, either when out walking or watching the news, what we are seeing is love in action. We are seeing how much we do care for each other – and that even though jobs, businesses and lives will be lost, 'It isn't the end of the world. It is the most remarkable act of global solidarity we may ever witness.' We are urged to let 'all that love' fill and sustain us.

May it indeed be so!

Stay safe and well, my friends.

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