L'aura del Campo

Winter: 7 Sharaf (January 6)

2006-01-06
41 degrees in the afternoon. 44 in Fort Smith, AR.

'T'ain't warm in Arkansas neither. But it's sunny! This should be day 12 or 13 without sun for some Northeasterners. Time to take a sunny stroll!

Looked at a great travel guide (Eyewitness Travel Guide) on Costa Rica. Makes me want to go back. Parts of Nicoya have been turned into turist traps, but Dota should still be okay and anywhere AWAY from a beach is probably fine as well. (I got to most areas except southern Nicoya, Dota, Matamá, Talamanca, Golfito, San Vito de Java) Off-season? Best idea to avoid the crowds. Should be busy now through Spring Break. Must look into Panamá. The western Talamanca area was originally part of Costa Rica area and I suspect that there are less tourists there in general.

2006-01-06
morning, 33 degrees. 22 in Amherst, NY.

Wasn't snowing where my mom lives, but it will be flaky sometime today, I'm sure. Here it is chill and grey. This is what came to mind as I trudged up the hill:

I wish I could say the day dawned
great, but it lay mostly grey with-
out the tea steeping in your pale
pink cup while I huddled in my
corner and watched you sip it up. [162.683]

Poets: note that even an hour later I was editing. I rarely leave anything I write 'as is'. The words 'dawned' and 'lay' replaced two 'was'. And I added 'up' to rhyme with 'cup'. 'pale pink' replaced 'lavender' for rhythmic purposes. It started out as "I wish I could say the day was great, but it was mostly grey". I then realized that 'grey' was 'great' without a 't' and it just flowed from there. This is how my warped mind works. I truly believe in process. It helps me to keep the creative juices flowing. I seldom get blocked.

This sketch may or may not become part of a longer poem. Who knows! I sure don't. But it feels like a beginning or ending of something that seeks to evoke a longing, a resignation, or could focus more on the day and the promise of hope (will the day become sunny?).

I put a catalogue number on almost every sketch I write, so I don't lose it. [162.683] means the Bahá'í year 162 and 683 is the number assigned to it. As I have a yearly goal of 700 (I have until March 20th, the end of the Bahá'í year) it also helps me with objectives and pacing in achieving those goals (I suspect I'll hit 800, at least). I have over 3,000 sketches and they are in numerous 3 x 5 notebooks and elsewhere.

One thought would be to enter them in this or another blog as a type of 'poetry blog'. I'll have to think about that!

Word connections:

Hawkins and I were talking about the concept of alba/Albanian these past two days. Does Albanian mean 'white'? Why do I ask? Words that have a 'whiteness' to them include:

alba
albino
aubade
alabaster
elfin

And what about 'Alps'. The mountains are white with snow aren't they?

There seems to be a Indo European -*L-*B- that centers around the concept of light/white. Consider 'lava' which is red-hot or white-hot. Light is 'luz' in Spanish (think of Lucifer) and 'hell' in Norwegian means 'light'. The 'darkness of hell' could be a relic oxymoron.

In any case, wouldn't it be fun to write a poem with words that originally derived from I-E. *L*B? To find more one would have to go to a dictionary of I-E. but until then suspect words would include a lateral liquid *L (as in l and r) and a labial *B (as in b, p, v, f and possibly g [if it is proto I-E *GB])

The problem with a poem about an 'albino Albanian in elfin attire singing an aubade beneath the alabaster Alps' is the over-use of consonance (the repetition of consonant sounds) and whether it can be written to make sense.

Words I'll have to check out: elver (as in eels), Lvov (the city), Elva and Alva (names), alpha (the Greek letter). Words dervied from Arabic thru Spanish ['al' (the) +] will have totally unrelated origins.