Sunday, June 11, 2006

Sunday Scribblings - Mystery

Crow Reflection

Crow symbol of magic, mystery and occasionally trickery. Created in Painter IX.



Sunday Scribblings - Mystery

The prompt

"If you could have ANY mystery unveiled for you, what would it be? It can be cosmic, personal, political, whatever. What deep unanswered or even unanswerable question would you want to have revealed for your eyes only? What do you dearly want to KNOW? Also, if you want, what would your prefer never to know? What would best remain a mystery?"

One of the mysteries of my life is how anyone remembers poems, or anything else word for word. Over the years I've tried, and I've used all sort of tricks and techniques but somehow my whole brain just revolts at the idea of committing anyone words to memory - even my own... after all the words of yesterday are the words of another being, not the person I am today, this hour, this minute, this second, now.

One of the few poems I really tried hard to remember because I liked it and not because anyone else thought I ought to learn it was

Macavity: The Mystery Cat by T S Elliot

Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw -
For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime - Macavity's not there!

etc.

And no I haven't just recalled it but found it on the web...

Update: And I meant to mention that this particular crow was influenced by Andrea Edward's Crow.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like your mysterious crow...I like the way it mysteriously comes into view from that appealing waving background...
perhaps the only poems once can easily remember are some japanese aiku (or ayku,is the right way to write it...gosh, I don't remember anymore...)tnx for your comment
:)

andrea said...

I like your mystery as I've often had similar musings about actors (maybe Kyknoord can respond to that!). I do, however, still remember things I learned when my brain was young and uncluttered:

James James Morrsion Morrison Weatehrby George Dupris took great care of his mother though he was only three James James said to his mother mother he said said he you must never go down to the end of the town if you don't go down with me.

So there. :)

Left-handed Trees... said...

Your crow image was very evocative...and the mystery of poetry memorization rang true for me. I had to do this for a course once--one hundred lines of Shakespeare...I almost died!

Joy Eliz said...

Love the crow!!!!
Love the poem!!!

Caro, I think that you are not the average person and that your energy is vibrationally high...
Holding on to poetry is great - if you have nothing else to hold;)

paris parfait said...

Cute poem and clever post!

susanlavonne said...

your crow is so cool...i especially like the texture..
i remember hearing that poem as a child...thanks for the refresher :-)

Caroline said...

Aynaku - it was originally called the crow's reflection and I did do a version that was much more distorted in the water but I preferred this gentler one - glad you liked it too!

Andrea - one of the things I really wanted to be was an actor, well no I wanted to be an actress, it was in the days when that's what female actors were called ;-).... but even I realised I had a bit of a handicap if I wanted to act and really, really could not remember lines...

C. Delia - thank you - 100 lines of Shakespeare? Oh yes I failed in remembering any of the Tempest and we were meant to commit some part or other of it to memory but even which part is now escaping me... obviously not my forte! I wonder whether you actually managed yours...

Joy Eliz - if I thought that was the reason... well its a nice thought... I see patterns and my brain makes things into patterns and has to translate them back into words - but won't necessarily choose the same ones on its way out. I once read somewhere (and no I've no idea where that's something else that is all too easily forgotten) that shaman are seers of patterns...

Caroline said...

Paris Parfait - thank you - I should have credited T S Elliot now I come to think of it - I'll do that...

Susanlavonne - thank you - it was the fun playing with the texture.

Jennifer S. said...

it is fascinating - the mind and memory. Love your crow too!

Dave said...

Your picture is a reminder as on Friday some magpies attacked a young jackdaw who landed in the garden. Unfortunately a combination of the magpies and a cat left him unable to fly, so I housed him in a makeshift cage with food and water, hoping he would recover. Unfortunatly not.

Ian russell said...

that's a very striking picture of crow. i like it! committing words to memory? that's what books are for, innit? i agree with you.

Anonymous said...

Ok your crow is the king/queen of all crows. I love the texture and the colors you chose! This almost looks like it's shadow on a grey sidewalk. How cool is that!

I agree, you would of made an incredable actress. You have such passion and are just plain vivacious (spelling?).
Really great post Caro!
a.

kyknoord said...

That's an easy one to answer Caroline / Andrea. People who use their brains to think and create don't have too much space left over for rote learning, whereas actors...

Anonymous said...

Over all of the years, I have not yet had an occasion to recite any of the poetry I memorized when I was younger. Yet there it all sits, taking up valuable real estate in the noggin, that could be put to better use learning how to use Paint IX or Adobe or something, so I could create beautiful crow drawings such as yours!
p.s. loved T.S. Eliot - but thankfully never memorized those, saving myself some available braincells! And as Ian pointed out, isn't that what books are for?
Somewhere around here I've got Ol Possum's Book gathering dust. Need to dig that one out again - thanks for reminding me!

Caroline said...

Jennifer - thank you!

Davem - Shame about the jackdaw - my father (or one of his brothers) had a pet jackdaw when a boy... it had been rescued but I don't know what from.

Ian - I love books - I have so many of them - and yes I do use them as back up to my memory - though the www helps too as its so much more searchable...

Andrea - oh oh my actress tendencies have come through have they? Glad you like the crow!

Kyknoord - good answer... but I won't be able to quote you...

Tinker - being a good forgetter has its drawbacks... thank you for reminding me of its advantages too!

Johnnynorms said...

That's a fine crow. A short poem from a crow, easy to learn:
I
Fly

Ok, not much of a poem, but to the point!

steve said...

Wow--great image! I wonder if Painter is compatable with my new Mac laptop. Been looking for some software to try out here.

Yeah, my brother amazes me at how he can, from off the top of his head, recite lines from TV shows and movies, and in the right voice and accent even. A talent I wish I had!

Janet said...

'love your crow...the textured look makes you want to put your fingers on it!

Anonymous said...

Once an Aboriginal woman advised crows carry souls of the dead ... ooohhhhh ....

Caroline said...

Johnynorms - thanks for the easy poem - I might remember that one!

Steve - Painter IX can be downloaded and tried for free for a month - this is much better than trying a light version. Your brother sounds like he is half-parrot!

Janet - thank you!

Anonymous - I'm not surprised - birds generally have brought messages about death in many cultures - old carrion eaters can probably scent it sooner than most!