Aprilist

Yeah, yeah, the month is half over, but this is my Aprilist.

1. Open my mission call.
2. Start recording Green Things.
3. Watch my favorite movie with Chris.
4. Go to Niels's mission farewell.
5. Give 10 things to charity.
6. Sing in church with Mom and Madelyn.
7. Write Maddison a letter.
8. Hang out with London friends.
9. Make dinner two times.
10. Keep my room clean.

Holla.

My poem, "Eighth," was published in this month's issue of The Provo Orem Word, a literary arts magazine. Check it out on page 44.

Also, if you haven't heard, I'm going on a mission. (!)

Loving this print by Mike Monteiro. Part of the 20X200 project.

The story is told that Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of the magnificent St. Paul's Cathedral in London, would often wander unrecognized through the structure, noting the progress being made during the many years of its construction. According to the story, he would sometimes ask a simple question of the workers he encountered: "What are you doing?" He received many replies, most of them like this: "I'm putting in my eight hours"; "I'm laying stones"; "I'm just keeping the boss off my back"; "I'm trying to feed and clothe my children"; "I'm putting in a window." One day he stopped a young man who had the least prestigious job on the whole project—carrying heavy loads of mortar to the stone masons. When he asked him the question, "What are you doing?" the young man stopped, smiled, and gesturing toward the heavens, declared, "I am helping God and Sir Christopher Wren build this beautiful cathedral."

The New Poetry Handbook

1 If a man understands a poem,
he shall have troubles.

2 If a man lives with a poem,
he shall die lonely.

3 If a man lives with two poems,
he shall be unfaithful to one.

4 If a man conceives of a poem,
he shall have one less child.

5 If a man conceives of two poems,
he shall have two children less.

6 If a man wears a crown on his head as he writes,
he shall be found out.

7 If a man wears no crown on his head as he writes,
he shall deceive no one but himself.

8 If a man gets angry at a poem,
he shall be scorned by men.

9 If a man continues to be angry at a poem,
he shall be scorned by women.

10 If a man publicly denounces poetry,
his shoes will fill with urine.

11 If a man gives up poetry for power,
he shall have lots of power.

12 If a man brags about his poems,
he shall be loved by fools.

13 If a man brags about his poems and loves fools,
he shall write no more.

14 If a man craves attention because of his poems,
he shall be like a jackass in moonlight.

15 If a man writes a poem and praises the poem of a fellow,
he shall have a beautiful mistress.

16 If a man writes a poem and praises the poem of a fellow overly,
he shall drive his mistress away.

17 If a man claims the poem of another,
his heart shall double in size.

18 If a man lets his poems go naked,
he shall fear death.

19 If a man fears death,
he shall be saved by his poems.

20 If a man does not fear death,
he may or may not be saved by his poems.

21 If a man finishes a poem,
he shall bathe in the blank wake of his passion
and be kissed by white paper.


-Mark Strand

Mary and the Auditor.

Mary: Pretend! Robert, I didn't just go out with you because of my taxes. I mean, look, the audit is over and I would still like to go out with you, so Robert I- I must like you!
Mr. Brandt: Alright, how about dinner, tonight?
Mary: Fine!
Mr. Brant: Fabulous! Well, okay- I can't, because I've got to work tonight!

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

A Deep-Sworn Vow

Others because you did not keep
That deep-sworn vow have been friends of mine;
Yet always when I look death in the face,
When I clamber to the heights of sleep,
Or when I grow excited with wine,
Suddenly I meet your face.

-William Butler Yeats

Marchlist

1. Swim in the sea.
2. Give 20 things to charity. (8 down)
3. Clean the kitchen for Mom.
4. Edit 10 poems.
5. Volunteer at Martha's Village and Kitchen.
6. Visit Huntington Gardens.
7. Play a show in the desert. (kind of?)
8. Cook dinner three times.
9. Draw something.
10. Write about ideas more.

Strange Sea

Implausible fish bloom in the depths,
mercurial flowers light up the coast;
I know red and yellow, the other colors,—

but the sea, det granna granna havet, that’s most dangerous
                                                              to look at.
What name is there for the color that arouses
this thirst, which says,
the saga can happen, even to you—

-Edith Södergran

Translated from Swedish by Averill Curdy

I hung out in Provo last week.

It was fun. I don't take pictures.

Some things I did:

• Baraka with Scott and Maddison.
• Played music with Chris and Brooklynn.
• Salt Flats with Parker and Maddison.
• Les Femmes De Velour.
• Village Inn.
• Seviche with Collin and Jennifer.
• Hung around Utah Lake and downtown Provo.
• Sticky pudding with Pearl.
• Tacos, rainbow jello, playing music, and Rocksmith with BoTW and the Hansens.
• Walked to the Provo cemetery.
• House hunting with the Mads.
• Open Mic.
• O Brother, Where Art Thou? with Chris, Maddison, and Niels.
• Slept over at the Bennions.
• Lunch at Pei Wei with Scott and Maddison.
• Flew at night.

Brené Brown on Vulnerability

My dad emailed this to me a while ago. It's so great.

Bangs

One time I said to Maddison, "Maybe I should just get bangs."

Then Maddison said, "Yeah, but then you'd be a songwriter with bangs."

She's right.

Kate Nash

Florence and the Machine

Laura Marling

P.S. I'm playing at Velour next Saturday. Does this mean I have to get on Facebook and invite people? Whether that's true or not, please come if you're around Provo. It's my first show there since last June and it's going to be gorgeous and I've even got friends playing with me.

Hello, this is where I live.

And where I grew up.

PALM SPRINGS WEEKEND.

Nobody thinks like me and that's okay!

The miracle is meeting someone's mind

that matches this one, even a little

like the green sliver on a blue and yellow venn diagram.

Valentine's Day Resolution

I have come to terms with the fact

that after me-- and before-- you will always love girls

who can't write,

girls who dye their hardened hair,

girls who wear prints and colors collected from the mall,

girls with Tumblr accounts full of orphaned, untraceable JPGs and GIFs.

You will always love girls who can't write,

and I will only love boys who can't take pictures.

While I'm at it, I'll give up people with ears, too.

People with eyes, people with hair--

ceaselessly, these remind me of you.

I'll give up people with hands, people with bodies,

people who have parents and dogs,

people who walk on the street or breathe air.

From here on out I'll renounce people

with names, people with hometowns,

people with skin, or muscles, or organs;

I will only love people without thoughts,

people without language, without long-held opinions

or email accounts, or telephone numbers.

Starting today, I will only love people

who have never seen the sky,

who have never heard of love,

who have never watched the shutter of a camera flash

always capturing the awkward way my face moves

when I know I'm being photographed and

am terrified that you can tell I'm in love.

How I Joined Book on Tape Worm.

I just wrote a blog post about Valentine's Day and how I joined Book on Tape Worm on our blog. Read it here! I promise it's good.

Watch this!

Uh, guys, Samuel Beckett's Happy Days, Waiting for Godot, Endgame, and others are available in their entirety on YouTube. No ads! Let's get off Hulu and watch one of the classics.

Forgot to mention:

Inspired by my lists, two of my friends made bucket lists this month! Sweet.

Pearl

Victoria

I love these girls.

Some love poems I love.

Un Amor- Pablo Neruda

XVII- Pablo Neruda

Heart of the Woman- William Butler Yeats

Touched by an Angel- Maya Angelou

To My Dear and Loving Husband- Anne Bradstreet