Neil Hester

"Curiouser and curiouser!" ~Alice, for what good is the mind without a sense of wonder and whim?

All poems © Neil Hester unless otherwritten
~Primary domain of LAEvanesce~

: Name: Neil; Location: Texas, United States

Brief Bio: My name is Neil Hester.

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The ever-illustrious Cheshire, proud Lyon of the Shameless Lions Writing Circle~ (Cheshire's post!)

"Curiouser and curiouser!"

~Alice

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"Do you know who lived in the house across the street? That's the best of all, it was Poetry! This I say, and what I say is true! I have seen all and I know all!"

~The Shadow (fairy tale "The Shadow")

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"I have nothing to say and I am saying it in poetry."

~John Cage

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"In short, art must at least attempt to engage the reader intellectually, sensually, or in just fun ways. If not the American imagination will continue to be just a shovel full of stars tossed randomly to the immortal blacks, where its children will no longer gaze."

~Dan Schneider

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"How can we lose when we're so sincere?"

~Charlie Brown

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"We do not remember days; we remember moments."

~Cesare Pavese

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"Conservative: A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal who wishes to replace them with others."

~Ambrose Bierce (The Devil's Dictionary)

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"Love is the only rational act."

~Stephen Levine

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"Enjoy life; there's plenty of time to be dead."

~Hans Christian Andersen

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"There are few things in the world as evanescent as a child's love."

~Lewis Carroll

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"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass."

~Anton Chekhov

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"Far better to create one living line/Than learn a hundred sunk in fame's recline."

James Emanuel, "Sonnet For A Writer"

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"All poets are mad."

~Robert Burton

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"So much time and so little to do. Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it."

~Willy Wonka

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"If I look confused it's because I'm thinking.

~Samuel Goldwyn

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"I've always believed that a great children's tale is a great tale."

~Jessica Schneider

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"If we really do want more educated people, we have to do a much better job of educating the educators."

~Jack Horner

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"The more we study the more we discover our ignorance."

~Percy Bysshe Shelley

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"The child is the father of the man."

~William Wordsworth

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"People who count their chickens before they are hatched act very wisely, because chickens run about so absurdly that it is impossible to count them accurately."

~Oscar Wilde

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"When I approach a child, he inspires in me two sentiments; tenderness for what he is, and respect for what he may become."

~Louis Pasteur

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"If a caveman had read poetry like this, he'd have strangled himself to prevent the eventual development of language."

~Jason Sanford

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"When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean--neither more nor less."

~Humpty Dumpty

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"Beauty, more than bitterness, makes the heart break."

~Sara Teasdale

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"When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other."

~Chinese proverb

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"I like the word "indolence." It makes my laziness seem classy."

~Bern Williams

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"Not all things in this cosmos have, nor require opposites. Love is 1 of those things that springs up without antecedent or opposite. This may seem facile, but it’s true. Love simply exists."

~Dan Schneider

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"In order to act, you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking."

~Georges Clemenceau

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"To love for the sake of being loved is human, but to love for the sake of loving is angelic."

~Alphonse Marie Louis de Lamartine

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"Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal."

~T.S. Eliot

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"It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows."

~Epictetus

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"Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love."

~Charlie Brown

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"There are just too many people writing."

~Jason Sanford

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"Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together."

~van Gogh

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"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."

~Willy Wonka

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"The impossible has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks."

~Douglas Noel Adams

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"If I were a girl, I'd despair. The supply of good women far exceeds that of the men who deserve them."

~Robert Graves

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"Writers spend three years rearranging 26 letters of the alphabet. It's enough to make you lose your mind day by day."

~Richard Price

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"A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five."

~Groucho Marx

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"Little things affect little minds."

~Benjamin Disraeli

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"Of all lies, art is the least untrue."

~Gustave Flaubert

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"Knowledge is power. Don’t waist it."

~Anonymous

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"All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling. To be natural is to be obvious, and to be obvious is to be inartistic."

~Oscar Wilde

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"Longevity conquers scandal every time."

~Shelby Foote

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"Having children makes you no more a parent than having a piano makes you a pianist."

~Michael Levine

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"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

~Dr. Seuss

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"If automobiles had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside."

~Robert X. Cringley

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"Boredom is a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it."

~Bertrand Russell

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"When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other."

~Eric Hoffer

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"Love's very pain is sweet."

~Percy Bysshe Shelley

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"Children ask better questions than adults. ‘May I have a cookie?’ ‘Why is the sky blue?’ and ‘What does a cow say?’ are far more likely to elicit a cheerful response than ‘Where's your manuscript?’ ‘Why haven't you called?’ and ‘Who's your lawyer?’"

~Fran Lebowitz

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"It's not bragging if you can back it up."

~Muhammad Ali

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"A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul."

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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"PJZNT isn`t a word? SINCE WHEN?"

~Merlin the Tuna

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"Stay a child while you can be a child."

~Stephen Sondheim, Into The Woods

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"What we need now is some new, fresh clichés."

~Samuel Goldwyn

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"He who conquers others is strong; he who conquers himself is mighty."

~Lao Tzu

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"You don't get to choose. You just fall."

~Anonymous

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"Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth."

~Picasso

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"O for a life of Sensations rather than of Thoughts!"

~John Keats

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"Can't repeat the past? ...Why of course you can!"

~Jay Gatsby

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"Dare to be naive."

~R. Buckminster Fuller

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"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere."

~Carl Sagan

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"Who cares about money?! This is ART, you blockhead! This is great music I'm playing, and playing great music is an art! Do you hear me? An art! Art! Art! Art! Art! Art!

~Schroeder

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"This is art, after all- & a good lie is far better than a dull truth."

~Dan Schneider

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"We're not laughing at you; we're laughing near you."

~John Keating (Dead Poet Society)

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"It is not a bad thing that children should occasionally, and politely, put parents in their place."

~Colette

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"Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?"

~Benjamin Franklin

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"You're not short- you're fun-sized!"

~Christine Kobza (speaking to me)

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"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance- it is the illusion of knowledge."

~Daniel J. Boorstin

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"A kiss can be a comma, a question mark or an exclamation point. That's basic spelling that every woman ought to know."

~Mistinguett

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"Nothing you can't spell will ever work."

~Will Rogers

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"Black holes are where God divided by zero."

~Steven Wright

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"Spend everyday casual, but industrious; Every moment alert, but relaxed."

~Guy Finley

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"A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave."

~Mohandas Ghandi

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"Whether or not criticism is objective or subjective is not subjective; it's objective, and you're making it subjective. Jective."

~Neil Hester

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"The victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory."

~Sun Tzu

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"The greatest weakness of most humans is their hesitancy to tell others how much they love them while they'€™re still alive."

~Orlando A. Battista

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Sunday, February 18, 2007

Jealousy, Lily, Ballroom, Rose

Firstly, let us note this great entry on jealousy among artists. If this ails you, get over it! Art is collaborative, not competitive. Secondly, Anonick featured an enjoyable parody of "Walrus and the Carpenter". Check it out. Also, the song Once Upon a December from Anastasia has become a favorite; it popped up while I was watching a ballroom dancing show on PBS. Speaking of which, I might take up ballroom dancing as a hobby this summer. Go me.

Now, once again, a painting poem. The previous entry of this sort talks about the benefits of combining different artforms to heighten or alter the effect on both ends. Right now I'm doing a series on John Singer Sargent, though I'm probably going to touch on Monet soon. Here's the painting, Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose. Also, the story behind its creation is very interesting; scroll down for that. Painting 2-3 minutes a day to capture a certain twilight effect is intense. Now, the poem:

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Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose
~John Singer Sargent

Lit-garden spell, the spell of white
Is beyond smiles; in awe, and fire
Flying to touch, the two
Design light paper stars,
Twilight mirrors in soft glory
Rivaled only by their keepers.
Singing lilies, choir-petals
Pink in rapture; red rings
Dress-bells for thrice-felt beauty
Flush in, around, and everywhere.

By Neil Hester

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Compare the above to this poem. Notice any similarities? Every poem in this series will be 10-line free verse with couplets of matching lengths that vary from couplet to couplet: a brief, but intricate observation of the painting. That said, the painting is beautiful, the lighting in particular; matching twilight and lantern light is a beautiful and evanescent thing. Evanesce...nt.

Take Care,
~Neil

3 Comments:

Jessica Schneider said...: Good poem. Now that's one less for me to write. I'm jealous.

Ha.; 10:08 AM
Anthony said...: I had never seen that image before, it is quite beautiful. I like the music in this poem, and esp. the part "the spell of white/Is beyond smiles."; 5:11 PM
AnoNick said...: Cool poem, expresses the painting vividly. I'm not an expert on paintings anyway (not even close), but I urge you to keep writing such wonderful interpretations. :-); 8:53 PM

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Sunday, February 18, 2007

Jealousy, Lily, Ballroom, Rose

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