thoughts as i visit delfi

it occurs to me

that a ancient devotee

going to the oracle

must be

moving through much

never-ending construction

imagine 

the constant erection

of new statues

the constant setting up

of new offerings

of streams of pilgrims

the temple is only perfect

like a memory

to the pine

straight and tall

against the sky

atten-shun!

greek tragedy

visiting greece. lovely snow-capped mountains rolling fields dipping valleys and breathtaking views. the cradle of civilization, they tell me proudly. the intellectual foundation of western thought philosophy science and literature. the ancient monuments are magnificent. what manner of hand shaped those pillars carved those likenesses? what manner of mind thought of kronos and chairos when i only think of time? or calls a dateline the appointed time, infinitely more elegantly and efficiently? what manner of training gave us Socrates Aristotole Homer Alexander and such? 

what happened? that i should look at thessaloniki today and cannot conceive of it in its heyday. that i should walk the streets of athens and be aware only of an anticlimax. the utilitarian buildings. the graffiti. the unemployed. the strays. the run-down the unwashed the cheap touristy knock-offs and the things that don't work. 

what happened? that i hear of chinese israeli german american japanese korean innovations but not of greek? that one thinks of greece more in terms of the greek life in american colleges than in terms of modern philosophy architecture or scientific discoveries?

when did the sublime become so defiled?

turkish thots

what I learn from a day-layover in Stamboul:

• turks love their smoke, and a particularly potently odoriferous one it is too
• they are marvelously cheery and friendly, even to a jaded tourist like me
• but that makes them cheerfully rubber about their time management, to put it politely
• the arasta bazaar is way more pleasant than the grand one, in terms of crowdedness
• but the grand bazaar is way more fun and stuffed, mainly in a chatuchak way

i buy me a lovely heavy golden embroidered shawl that i must now find excuse to wear frequently. on a related note, HOM and i buy us a senneh kilim, despite and in full recognition of the embargo on new big items in our home. there is something pernicious about shopping on vacation.

my cup runneth low

more drained

than i have been 

in a long while

because

marital stresses

long-standing dysthymia

breaking into depression

chronic life-altering illness

relationship issues

and work problems

take their communal toll

and i am

privileged to listen

and support

and love

and weep with

and pray for

but

drained

chinese new year bleahs

ardent red exuberances exhaust me

lion dances mandarin oranges festive songs

and other symbols of unalloyed commercial fervor

new clothes new stuff new flavors new lives

also i don't like prolonged repeated hearty family do's

and i shut down at earnest lectures on tradition and culture

although i like the two days off work

when the whole country shuts down

and i wish life could too

but doesn't. because chinese new year

okinawa thoughts

• goya champuru. bitter melon. tofu. scrambled egg. spam. belatedly discovered in my middle age. it's a glorious toss-together of textures and tastes. especially for that spam, which breaks every nutrition rule i've tried to make HOM live by
• sadly, after all the hype the soba is underwhelming. i'm afraid it tastes like chewy noodles. and without the lip-sticking broth of ramen either
• kōrēgūsu is awesome. HOM is agitating for our own version now that we're home. chilli padi in chinese hua tiao wine, he suggests. i'm beginning to agree
• more english than during my last visit to tokyo last year. that, or my hand gestures have improved. plus i figure out what the jap word for restroom looks like
• fewer smokers than in tokyo. or perhaps we were just lucky. although they still smoke freely in their tiny restaurants and one really wishes they would not, because the restaurants are wonderful otherwise - neat little tatami lined spaces with all manner of attention to detail that you don't get anywhere else in the world
• skinny cars for the narrow lanes. which makes many cars look taller. think of tidy little white boxes tootling along their roads
• heated toilet seats. are. da best. few things relax the sphincters as smoothly as sitting on a warmed up w.c. on a cold winter's nite after you have shivered your way to the loo