Comments on: On Deciding Not to Travel

By: Burning Silo » Blog Archive » Circus of the Spineless - Edition #22

Burning Silo » Blog Archive » Circus of the Spineless - Edition #22 — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 17:22:34 +0000

[...] * at Dave’s Via Negativa, two posts that might make you pause to think for a moment — On Deciding Not to Travel, and False Faces. [...]

By: bev

bev — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:34:14 +0000

As per usual, I’m way behind in my reading. Unfortunately, my net connection is making it next to impossible, but here I am. Wonderful image of the snail. The poem strikes a note with me too – not sure if we will do any wandering off this summer. In part, the feeling of not wanting to miss anything here at the farm… the progression of creatures that I observe and photograph… and the feeling that all travel is just a waste of energy and a source of pollution. We may eventually end up going somewhere, but it seems more likely not.

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 10:21:00 +0000

O.K., I guess you’re right. The thing is, I probably wouldn’t mind this level of didacticism in a poem by someone else. My own thoughts bore me; I know them too well.

By: marly

marly — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 23:53:27 +0000

Oh, I dunno.

I like it that the summer’s wayward, quick beauty is embodied by the ghostlike–caught out after daybreak–moth. Then the “spend it” and “en route” take us back to the road and the assembly-line umbrellas, and make another loop or circle before the snail’s slow circle.

That wouldn’t all be there without a little “saying.”

“Show, don’t tell” can get to be a fetish.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 16:44:00 +0000

marly – I was pleased with myself for finally finding a use for sepia.

Really, I could’ve ended the poem with the moth and let the photo speak for the rest. I’m uneasy about having such a didactic conclusion.

qr – Thanks. Yeah, I liked that other photo too, for the reasons you suggest, but I thought the one I included here was aesthetically superior.

By: quiet regular

quiet regular — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:54:36 +0000

I ‘m really enjoying the detail of this snail but even better is the subtle color variations in the original palm shot…the life just under the skin’s surface.

By: marly

marly — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 12:46:44 +0000

Like the nothing-back mirror and yawing moth especially. That snail: you have solidified its slowness into some alloy, containing silver.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 11:09:09 +0000

Thanks. FWIW, that was the snail I wrote about.

I guess you got to see “April in Paris” (or was it May?) but I’m thinking probably the best time to go would be when the other tourists are fewest. November, perhaps?

By: leslee

leslee — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 10:36:20 +0000

Cool! Love the snail! And great with the poem.

I went to Paris for a week and spring pretty much came and went while I was away. Well, it wasn’t gone but I missed the grand opening, as it were, which after a long winter is always so exhilarating.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 10:12:02 +0000

pauline – That’s what I was hoping. Thanks!

CGP – I’m glad you liked it.