Elementary School Family Dinner

The hands, the hands, the ubiquitous hands
Pawing at brownies and salad
Bright talk and admonishments
Children in overbright hallways

Heavy coats strewn on long tables
I fold and sweat
Slightly rude then
Disappear into the Principal’s office
Lights down
Still to the Knocks and calls.



Ok, onto the regularly scheduled journal entry.

Last night I fell asleep early, reading West, on the couch. I love sleeping on the couch.

This morning M took the boys outside for what will certainly be one of their last days in the snow. Yesterday’s blizzard is already melting away. The path-grass and sidewalks are clear and dark grey with runoff. While everyone was outside I watched Bergman’s “Winter Light.” Now, I had never seen any of Bergman’s films before, but E mentioned “Winter Light” as an influence in a recent interview and I was intrigued enough to check it out. I was not disappointed. The film is almost entirely black, grey, and white, like a Joy Division album cover, and the exploration of doubt and God is most challenging. It’s not often a film makes you think, you know?

After the film T and I hit the library. He wanted more Time Warp Trio books. I thought I might have time to read some West but T was in and out of the stacks too quickly. After we returned home I cleaned the refrigerator. All these little tasks for which I never had time are getting done this break. Remember, last year I hardly moved from the dining room table, my face buried in my laptop ten hours a day as I shaped the last of my dissertation. I remember one stretch in particular, at the kitchen island, on a grey, dead weekend. I’m glad that fucker is finished.

Later I worked out to the Duke/West Virginia game (I hate Duke). S and T got into the game too, as I’ve trained them to hate Duke as well, and we were all thrilled when WV pulled off the upset. I took a bath and read some West before making potato/vegetable/cheese burritos for dinner. M said they were good but I would rate them only ok. The Costco vegetables brought down the quality. I’ll get better vegetables next time. New Order’s “Power, Corruption, and Lies” is playing on the stereo while T reads, M writes recommendation letters, S plays upstairs, and N wanders the house aimlessly. I might start drinking soon. Although I’m tired tonight is the only night of the next four or so for a beer.

Ok, the Hopper/Homer show was excellent. I’m a huge Hopper fan, have been for years, and I’m currently sitting in a dining room surrounded by twelve different Hopper prints. To stand in front of so many of his masterworks in the space of an afternoon is a religious experience. I’m not engaging in hyperbole. The experience is religious, transformational in the best and highest sense of the word. I especially loved seeing “House at Dusk” in person. The painting is one of my favorite Hopper pieces, definitely in the top five, and I stood in front of it and took in its heightened colors. Here’s the painting.

http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/enam312/gallerys/amart12a.html

The Homer exhibit was strong as well. The continuity between the two artists was strong, esp. in the manner both handled light.

I don’t feel as if I’m doing a very good job at describing the show. Words don’t work well when portraying art shows, esp. when they’re coming from my lack of artistic experience. Go see the show.