April Raw Notes
Vancouver through rain and sunshine to the Marais
There was enough interest in the March Raw Notes to try sharing again. I also appreciated the chance to reflect on a month of writing.
I began April back in Vancouver. There were some health issues, a cough related to some medication problems that almost sent me back to hospital. I think this is sorted now.
A lot of rain early in the month but the weather has dried, maybe too early as the snowpacks are low and we are likely to have a hot dry summer. Still, it let us spend a lot of time in the garden and walking on the beach. See the two sequences Littoral: Writing in the Margins and Littoral Again, two passes through the same basic links. A friend’s comment on the first take led to the second.
I spent the last week of April in Paris, staying in a sixth floor walkup. Good for my cardio and leg strength. I was in Paris for research and work but have been to some bookstores: Shakespeare and Company, Comme un roman and Yvon Lambert. Have done a lot of walking this trip.
So here are the raw notes from April. Some of these will be discarded, others will show up in sequences.
Rain flooded the
Pond in the creek is
Full of ducks
—
Eel grass streaming
As the creek floods under
Heavy rain
—
Rain washing sand
From the stream’s channel
Leaving shell and stone
—
Trapped between anger
And fear her real and
Imagined pain
—
The permeable membrane
Of our skin rubbing against
Each other
—
Grandchildren over
Crayon on the bathroom wall
Comes clean with soap
—
Carving a god
Slowly from cherry wood
Her hands strong
—
Pain knots in
Her joints swelling and
Crooking her fingers
—
Skin too delicate
For even simple clothing
Resting in the air
---
Fruit sugars acid bile
Phlegm cough and cough
Lungs won’t clear
---
A tight circle
Tightening
My lungs collapse
---
A tight circle
Tightens with
No way out
—
Rain quiet decay
In reflection on
Our presence
—
Pixelation deep inside
The reproduction rippling
Across the grid
—
Kinetic potential
A path of minimum action
Traced across the field
—
Wasabi stem chives
Onions and potatoes in
In a spring omelette
—
A fine grid
Embedded in glass wire
Under the raindrops
—
Potential energy expended
By the rain on the glass and
Its slow glide
—
Surface tension beads
Water on the glass surface
As a pause in time
—
Sucking plum candy
Sweet and sour as we walk
Holding hands
—
For Hijikata Tatsumi 土方 巽
Perched on the drying rack
Haunting the children
As I wait
Dancing with my
Image on the wall cradling
The projector
Dream of dreaming
In service of a body no longer
Able to dream
Obsessed with a dream
Of living the admiration of
Doing nothing
Gesture of death
While dying roll a a ball
On your chest
—
For Ohno Kazuo 大野 一雄
Language lost in a fall
Hips aching body memory
Dancing dancing
One arm dancing
His body confined
To a wheelchair
Grace dancing
Into one’s death
Still dancing
—
For Hattori Yoshie 服部芳枝
Reflection and perspective in Quiet Noise
Rain quiet decay
In reflection on
Our presence
Pixelation deep inside
The reproduction rippling
Across the grid
Kinetic potential
A path of minimum action
Traced across the field
*
A fine grid laid
From the floor onto the glass
Under the raindrops
Potential energy expended
By the rain on the glass and
Its slow glide
Surface tension beads
Water on the glass surface
As a pause in time
*
The raindrop’s path
Of least action from
Cloud to glass
Glass covered not
With dust but rain static
Presence lost
The triangle of
Glass rain reflection
Speaking with each other
—
The crack visible
Once the water is poured
Cloudy white beading
—
Scalding water
Up the shins
Relieving stress
—
Lagrangian
L = T - V
T is the kinetic energy and V is the potential energy
Position q, velocity the derivative of q
Configuration space (n-dimensional)
Degrees of freedom
In the configuration space
Define potentials
A differential for
Each degree of freedom as
Constraints drop out
Finding the path
Of least action across
Configuration space
Of all conceivable paths a particle could take between two configurations in a given time, nature chooses the one for which the action S is stationary (typically a minimum).
Hamiltonian
H = T + V
T is the kinetic energy and V is the potential energy
Position q, momentum p
Phase space (2n-dimensional)
The sum of potential
And kinetic energies of particle
Mass and momentum
Around an orbit
The angular momentum
Is conserved
Velocity equals momentum
Divided by mass as momentum changes
With gravitational force
—
From velocity to
Momentum passing between
Free energy functions
—
For Emmy Noether
For every continuous symmetry of the Lagrangian (or action), there is a corresponding conserved quantity.
Time-translation symmetry → Conservation of energy
Space-translation symmetry → Conservation of linear momentum
Rotation symmetry → Conservation of angular momentum
Translation of time’s
Symmetry conserving energy
Across a life
From this space to
Another and back conserving
Linear momentum
Turning then turning
Back towards you to conserve
Our angular momentum
—
Trajectories do not
Intersect and I am remote
From you
I try and fail to
Touch you touching me find
It hard to speak
—
For Richard Long
Walking around
A neutral circle
Measuring time
Walking back and
Forth and back again
To make a line
Throwing stones into
A circle to make a circle
Of stones
Hand prints rubbing
Mud on the wall into
Circles of flow
—
Very halting trying
To finger the first few notes
Of Goldberg variation 1
—
Buckwheat honey
With some pollen on
Plain yoghurt
—
Water’s bent
Surface existence clings
Repelling the bonds
The bent angel forces
The two hydrogen atoms
Closer to each other
Warped surface
Tensions glide over
Each other
—
Low snowpack
The fires will be worse
Lovely spring morning
Already discussing
Water restrictions
In late April
Ground under
The damp leaves
Almost dry
—
Toddler picking up
A foot stuck to its shadow
Trying to shake it off
—
Small cups of
Thick tea one each
Forty minutes
—
Finding an open
String that we can share across
Our two melodies
Some reading from the month.
The Theoretical Minimum by Leonard Susskind and George Hrabovsky - this shaped a lot of my imagination, especially the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian pieces.
Songs of Gods, Songs of Humans selected and translated from the Ainu by Donald Philippi. Astonishing. There is an openness and flow to the translations. Makes me want to reread Haida and other Northwest Coast work.
Translation as Transhumance Mireille Gansel translated by Ros Schwartz.
Hijikata: Revolt of the Body by Stephen Barber. I am occasionally obsessed with Ankoku Butoh.
The Disaster Tourist Yun Ko-Eun translated from the Korean by Lizzie Buehler. Disturbing fun.
Gaza: The Poem Said Its Piece by Nasser Rabah translated from the Arabic by Ammiel Alcalay, Emna Zghal, Khaled Al-Hilli. The final poems, written in Gaza under Israeli assault are harrowing.
The Next Civil War: Dispatches from the American Future by Stephen Marche. Quasi fiction depressingly believable. Ends with a glean of hope.
Mirage by Richrd Long. An essential artist for me. Art made by walking.
Hyperobjects by Timothy Morton. One of the object oriented ontologists. This is shaping a lot of my thinking. See Are large language models hyperobjects?
The Seventh Function of Language by Laurent Binet translated from the French by Sam Taylor. Hysterically funny, somewhat bitter, Parisian fun. Got it to read while in Paris.
How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart Florentyna Leon. Lovely coming of age memoir by a young tour guide in Kyoto. Resonates. Her thoughts on the tea ceremony resonated.