POETIC IGNORANCE

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Adrian Mitchell (24 October 1932 – 20 December 2008) was an English poet, novelist and playwright. A former journalist, he became a noted figure on the British anti-authoritarian Left. For almost half a century he was the foremost poet of the country’s anti-Bomb movement. Mitchell sought in his work to counteract the implications of his own assertion that, “Most people ignore most poetry because most poetry ignores most people.” In a National Poetry Day poll in 2005 his poem “Human Beings” was voted the one most people would like to see launched into space.  “Most people ignore most poetry / because / most poetry ignores most people.”

Since the Vietnam war nothing has really changed except that war-mongers have become more sophisticated about sanitizing acts of mass-murder with remote controlled drones and smart bombs.  More “enemies” are killed per square “peace keeping soldier”.  Listen to a poem performed by Adrian Mitchell in the video below.  Fill in the word “Vietnam” with the word “Iraq” or “Afghanistan” or “Iran”, etc..  Different year…. same old shit.

HAPPINESS IS NOT

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I have been thinking a lot about “happiness” recently.  There are many different definitions of this word.  In an English language dictionary defines “happiness” as:

elatedness, elation, exhilaration, exultation, high,intoxication; ecstasy, euphoria, glory, heaven, nirvana,paradise, rapture, rapturousness, ravishment, seventh heaven, transport; delectation, delight, enjoyment,pleasure; cheer, cheerfulness, comfort, exuberance,gaiety (also gayety), gladsomeness, glee, gleefulness,jocundity, jollity, joyfulness, joyousness, jubilance,jubilation, lightheartedness, merriness, mirth; content,contentedness, gratification, satisfaction, triumph.

Here are a few ideas I have about what happiness is, and what it is not….

THE CLIMB

Beethoven: Symphony No 9 in D minor

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This is my favorite classical music composition ever.  This  performance is delivered with precision and passion by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra:

Symphony No 9 in D minor, Op 125 “Choral”

Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven

(1770, Bonn, Germany — 1827, Vienna, Austria)

Beethoven is widely regarded as the greatest composer who ever lived.  His 9th Symphony combines the worlds of vocal and instrumental music in a manner never before attempted. His personal life was marked by a heroic struggle against encroaching deafness, and some of his most important works were composed during the last 10 years of his life when he was quite unable to hear.

Performance by Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Christian Thielemann, conductor

1 Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso
2 Scherzo. Molto vivace — Presto
3 Adagio molto e cantabile
4 Presto — Allegro ma non troppo

Annette Dasch, soprano
Mihoko Fujimura, contralto
Piotr Beczala, tenor
Georg Zeppenfeld, bass