Shel Graves' Sensorium

The Sleeping Gypsy (1897) by French artist Henri Rosseau. Purchased yesterday and on their way via Amazon, new copies of The Snow Leopard and The Cloud Forest ! Cucumber pilgrimages devoured, by flocks of night gypsies and unread books Snow leopard taste: cucumbers and guavas At home: Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale , cloves Snow leopard sight: sun in the wings of dragonflies , an enigmatic smile At home: The Sleeping Gypsy , La Bohémienne endormie , 1897 oil painting by Rousseau Snow leopard sound: shrill of a single cicada, as fierce as a sword blade shrieking on a lathe At home: the shrill of the morning tea kettle Snow leopard touch: crisp air , dripping trees Snow leopard smell: orchids Snow leopard word of the day: gnaskor, "going around places," pilgrimages Snow leopard notable: "In 1950, the westernmost summit, known as Annapurna One became the first peak of 25,000 feet or more that man had climbed." Snow leopard extra: mysterium tremendum ; Kali t...

The Snow Leopard (1978) : checked out 12 times: Nov. 25, 2000 to Jul 5, 2005. Read The Snow Leopard through to the end earlier this month so all nagging questions regarding the future and "What happens next?" have been answered, clearing the path for this second, slow close reading. It's a luxury of books, that they, unlike life, can be repeated. Shambala SunSpace writes about Matthiessen's forthcoming book, "In Paradise" due out in spring: Peter Matthiessen’s new novel draws on “Bearing Witness” meditation retreats at Auschwitz . Snow leopard taste: rice At home: roasted vegetables, potatoes, tomatoes, broccoli Snow leopard sight: a peak of Annapurna poises on soft clouds At home: Mount Rainier wearing a chapeau Snow leopard sound: wife's final breath At home: "That's my birthday!" my husband and first reader said when he saw The Snow Leopard open to page 97 Snow leopard touch: blisters, sharp rock shale At home: rainfall Sn...

The grey library book. Before setting out on this blogging adventure, it makes sense to Google the current whereabouts of Mr. Matthiessen. He's not terribly present online and lives in New York, but what's this? A Sept. 24, 2013 article in The New York Times : Peter Matthiessen to Publish New Novel . Matthiessen, 86, will publish, In Paradise , this spring, his first novel since Shadow County (2008). It cannot be added to the to-read list too soon! Will it be available on Kindle? Fascinating. In this little part of the world away off on the West Coast, it feels like synchronicity.   Snow leopard taste: wild chestnuts, rice, lentils At home: lavender cookies-- Violet Sweet Shoppe Snow leopard sight: Grey river road, grey sky. At home: The plain grey unassuming library book still has the old timestamps on it. It was checked out 12 times between Nov. 25, 2000 and Jul 5, 2005. Snow leopard sound:  "I nod to Death in passing, aware of the sound of my own feet upon m...

The library had the book, but with a plain gray cover. The Snow Leopard (1978) tells of Peter Matthiessen's journey into the Himalayas in hopes of spotting the elusive leopard as part a spiritual quest. I began reading it because there's a character in my novel in progress, Panthera , who is panthera uncia (snow leopard). The Snow Leopard immediately delighted me. It's rich with language, culture, and meaning. Matthiessen's metaphor of snow leopard as spiritual truth resonated with me. I had a similar feeling when I was in South Africa, also hoping to spot a leopard, desiring what was, in the present, unattainable and feeling the tension between wanting to make the most of my experience, here now, and longing to be home. My first experience of reading The Snow Leopard was frustrating, however. It didn't lend itself well to being read on the countertop when getting ready for work or a few pages at a time before bed. I kept missing parts. Since it wasn'...

Taste: bean sprouts and jalapeno; cashew cream and date nut crust Sight: BLOOM - billowing pink roses; a silver pink sunset across the water — the view from the hospital beds; a horrifying, offensive plate of cholesterol at a fund-raising breakfast Sound: neuropathy; " Where do you get your protein ?" by Vegan Smythe; all of the 80s in one afternoon Touch: foot cramps; numbness; tingling   Smell: suntan lotion on bare shoulders after a day by the sea Extra: Quan Yin, Mother of Compassion; “ Grief is but the price of love ,” Marc Bekoff; telomeres and Elizabeth H. Blackburn recipient of The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009; a tourist bus stops outside of old ruins beside the ocean, there is rumbling in the water and a ruin from beneath the ocean begins to rise, worn red-brown bricks, they form a face and there are holes throughout, a final jolt of earth forces the seawater forward and it creates a sprinkler, beads of water shooting through the holes...

Taste: the last blackberries of summer   Sight: swerving to avoid the stuffed hippo; earwigs and dahlias; the zebra print bag with rainbow sequins on a sunny day; Duirwaigh Studios , "White Tara," Angie Sullins and Silas Toball  Sound: "Can I have .75 cents?" "Can I have a dollar?"   Touch: dancing an homage to concert gestures: Tom Shear, Assemblage 23, one finger raised, "Spark", IAMX, Chris Corner, crossed metal sticks raised, "Cold Red Light," Straftanz, directing the woodsaw, "Straftanz"; Modulate, keyboard assault, "Bass Alert" Smell: pink rose Extra: the feeling that if one were younger one would be sobbing-heavy with sorrow, older than tears Grateful for: the early mornings

"Have you seen a pig before?" Judy Woods founder of Pigs Peace Sanctuary asked the group at the start of our tour. "Yes," I replied along with others. Then, as we approached the barn, I began to question: Yes, of course, but where? When? At the fair, as a child, naturally. The odd animal a neighbor kept in his backyard? Sure. The first barn had a narrow entry and we filed in two at a time. On my turn, I came face to face with Oscar, an American Yorkshire pig. He had ears larger than my hands, which flopped over at the ends like a pedigree Sheltie. He had a wrinkled snout and huge wet nostrils, which tilted up, snuffling us at bellybutton height. He was enormous. Full-grown pigs weigh 300-500 pounds, although even this seems an underestimate. Oscar, was also, well, surprisingly, cute. There was something lively in those little, blue inset eyes. As I exited the barn, I turned to the people nearest me. "I thought I had seen a pig before, but I don't think I ...

Taste: salt and pepper; tomato soup with almond milk   Sight: pot-bellied, Yorkshire, Hampshire — breeds of pig; wrinkled translucent rosepaper; Richard Parker and Hobbes Sound: rain patter, rain fall; a ruffle of dried roses; hissing cat; children's stories read aloud, rhyme   Touch: a rain-soaked bedspread; a child's finger wrapped Smell: blue patchouli soap Extra: wistfulness; Freeland, Home, Harmony, Equality Colony, Cascadia — names of Northwest utopias; "The main thing is to write for the joy of it. Cultivate a work-lust that imagines its haven like your hands at night dreaming the sun in the sunspot of a breast. You are fasted now, light-headed, dangerous. Take off from here. And don’t be so earnest.” -- Seamus Heaney, Station Island Grateful for: the Dewey Decimal System

Taste: Mother's homemade tart applesauce with cinnamon; watermelon and mint   Sight: Crater Lake, Kraken, Hunter's Pomegranate; mise en place; a bouquet pink and red roses with Lady's Mantle, Alchemilla; bright September stars, half-lit moon, a rectangle of yellow light inside where the writer, writes   Sound: the cat laps; yipping, hissing   Touch: shoulder bones, ribs, concave stomach Smell: fall approaching   Extra: "To begin to understand the gorgeous fever that is consciousness, we must try to understand the senses and what they can tell us about the ravishing world we have the privilege to inhabit." — Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses   Grateful for: willpower