Friday, June 20, 2008

Another three things

Today, three things I love that the rest of the world has little or no use for.

1) Raw green beans.



Most people don't much like these cooked, but I will bring them home from the store, wash them and eat them right out of the bag like potato chips. I love them. I even loves them. I really do.


2) Emily Dickinson.



Forgive me, but does it get better than this? (Don't be a punk. Read the poem, if not for me, for the crunchy goodness of the last line).

Of Bronze—and Blaze—
The North—Tonight—
So adequate—it forms—
So preconcerted with itself—
So distant—to alarms—
And Unconcern so sovereign
To Universe, or me—
Infects my simple spirit
With Taints of Majesty—
Till I take vaster attitudes—
And strut upon my stem—
Disdaining Men, and Oxygen,
For Arrogance of them—

My Splendors, are Menagerie—
But their Completeless Show
Will entertain the Centuries
When I, am long ago,
An Island in dishonored Grass—
Whom none but Beetles—know.

(Please note: BEETLES, not BEATLES. I do not like The Beatles).

3) Yes.



Go ahead. Make fun. You are entitled. Yes is a band you either love or you hate. If you get why Yes is great, then you are have a lot of goodness for your listening pleasure. If you don't get it, well... you don't get it. And I am sorry for you.

15 comments:

P said...

I love raw green beans too! And raw peas. But not Emily. She makes me feel very, very morbid.

country roads said...

Raw green beans kick ass. I used to love picking them with my grandma. Emily...meh...either way. "owner of a lonely heart" is a good song (that's Yes, right? I hope or I look like a dumbass).

And, the disgust/contempt/hate list below? Hell to the yeah.

Woodrow said...

I'd never heard of Yes until now.

sybil law said...

I cannot agree with you on the green beans, but I do about everything else! Especially Yes - I also had a huge crush on Trevor Rabin in high school.
Haha

Jennifer said...

i have been locked in a closet for most of my life... but i do like the poem by Emily... very good. and I just so happen to L-O-V-E and I mean LOVE and loves... green beans... fresh/raw or cooked... i love them. i love them best raw but they are good any way you hack it. and unfortunately i have never heard of the band Yes... probably b/c of the whole closet thing. i will google them and see what i might find. :)

thanks for sharing. :)


hugs! have a good wkend

nightfly said...

Speak to me of summer
Long winters longer
Than time can remember
For setting out on other roads
To travel down in old accustomed ways

I still remember
The talks by the water
With bright sons and daughters
That linger in forgotten lands
And speak to me in sweet accustomed ways

::wailing on air guitar for six minutes::

Sizzle said...

I love cooked green beans and Emily Dickinson (though the dashes get on my nerves after a spell)...I apologize for laughing at you for liking Yes.

Em said...

I've heard of Yes... I think... I'll have to have a listen before I decide whether or not I'm going to laugh.

And I can take or leave green beans... no special relationship there.

Anonymous said...

Emily Dickinson was the first poet I ever felt a connection to when growing up.

Her use of the dash is genius, but I am biased because I love punctuation.

Kate P said...

When I was a kid, if we were snapping the ends off green beans to cook before dinner, it was hard to resist sneaking a cold crunchy bean!

Emily Dickinson reminds me of my great-aunt's kitchen (which had an awesome banquette we'd sit around and draw pictures) b/c on the wall was a framed copy of the "I shall not live in vain" poem, with a watercolor picture of a teddy bear for some reason.

My best friend from college was a serious Yes fan. Jon Anderson is permanently spacey-fried now but man he did some awesome jamming on a morning radio show not too long ago.

Anonymous said...

First, I love green beans, slightly cooked and Emily D is one of my favorite poets-in the top 5.
As for Yes, I loved them, when I was younger(20's), but pretty much hate all rock and roll now :-).

Catherine said...

OMG, 90125 is one of my favorite albums of all time. I don't know a whole lot of Yes besides that album (although some), but that album? Excellence on every level and a joy for me to this day.

Anonymous said...

Love Emily Dickinson too; however, I've always felt that she was limited by her lack of life experiences.

Lisa said...

Emily Dickinson was one heart broken, repressed angry chick...love her.

"Disdaining Men, and Oxygen,
For Arrogance of them—"

That rocks.

YES...also rocks. I have every single one of their albums in my mp3 collection. Don't ask why. I just do. So if you are in need of some YES, I can supply.

Oh, and green beans. I like mine slightly steamed, just slightly. I like them to have some crunch and then I add a couple of thinly sliced, toasted almonds. Now that rocks!

Anonymous said...

i like my green beans slightly steamed. and i'm a philistine when it comes to poetry so i can take or leave emily.

but yes...i need to go dig out my old albums. they're somewhere around here.