Wonder what the inscription says? Just RIP or some epitaph?
Looking at this, i was wondering about memorials -- small ones, 'concrete' ones, their beauty and poignancy. In India, mostly, the dead are not interred but cremated and their ashes scattered. It is said to liberate the dead (moksha in Hinduism and Buddhism) but for the living there is often no closure. There is even no place (a cemetery, a tomb) where you can go back to for consolation when the loss becomes too much to bear, as it sometimes does.
glad you’ve been enjoying the UK Mary, this cemetery reminds me of a similar one we have here in London - Abney Park. It was a real pleasure meeting you at Daunt Books. Looking forward to the new piece !
Maybe you can make it up to the highlands, or one of the Hebrides Islands? Skye is truly transcendent.
Your work has been important to me. Long ago, I met you at the Fine Arts Work Center, circa 1988 I believe? I was the partner of Gerald Peary at the time, a journalist from Boston who interviewed you post Bad Behavior..
you signed a first edition to me after the reading.. ( I became a fellow at FAWC in visual art in 1992)
"If you are someone who’s ever loved a small-city local legend that got chewed up by the impossible-ness of their existence, or evaporated in the mist of their own gorgeousness before they could become part of the bigger world"...Oh, how I long to be the kind of person who feels the things that this sentence describes.
The bit about the imaginary punk band makes me think of two things:
Jorge Luis Borges, who wrote reviews of imaginary books so he could discuss the ideas without having to write the actual text. (Though maybe he was inspired by Sartor Resartus...)
The trope among people writing retro tabletop roleplaying games (think Dungeons & Dragons) in the style of the 1970s to claim (usually tongue-in-cheek without intent to actually deceive) they were 'secretly rediscovered' documents from that era. (Encounter Critical, a gonzo parody of the style, comes to mind.) There's one (Revised Mazes & Minotaurs) that's an 'alternate history' where the game was made using Greek mythology as an inspiration instead of Tolkien and mid-20th-century pulp fiction.
You have a lovely and unique voice. Something calming about this post, and it arrived on the day my favorite aunt passed away. Her father’s (my grandfather’s) side of the family came from Scotland, and I hope to visit there someday.
A Rest Area
This is getting embarrassing. I keep accidentally liking my own posts. I am hitting the button by mistake!
What a great picture. The black centre looks like some kind of Lovecraftian creature nestling, resting.
Wonder what the inscription says? Just RIP or some epitaph?
Looking at this, i was wondering about memorials -- small ones, 'concrete' ones, their beauty and poignancy. In India, mostly, the dead are not interred but cremated and their ashes scattered. It is said to liberate the dead (moksha in Hinduism and Buddhism) but for the living there is often no closure. There is even no place (a cemetery, a tomb) where you can go back to for consolation when the loss becomes too much to bear, as it sometimes does.
glad you’ve been enjoying the UK Mary, this cemetery reminds me of a similar one we have here in London - Abney Park. It was a real pleasure meeting you at Daunt Books. Looking forward to the new piece !
Thank you Mary. Scotland is gorgeous x 100.
Maybe you can make it up to the highlands, or one of the Hebrides Islands? Skye is truly transcendent.
Your work has been important to me. Long ago, I met you at the Fine Arts Work Center, circa 1988 I believe? I was the partner of Gerald Peary at the time, a journalist from Boston who interviewed you post Bad Behavior..
you signed a first edition to me after the reading.. ( I became a fellow at FAWC in visual art in 1992)
Anyway, thanks for your blog.
In another life, I think we would be friends..
"If you are someone who’s ever loved a small-city local legend that got chewed up by the impossible-ness of their existence, or evaporated in the mist of their own gorgeousness before they could become part of the bigger world"...Oh, how I long to be the kind of person who feels the things that this sentence describes.
Mary, your SStack voice is very fun & childlike, I feel very loved by it. Thank you!
how dare you !
The bit about the imaginary punk band makes me think of two things:
Jorge Luis Borges, who wrote reviews of imaginary books so he could discuss the ideas without having to write the actual text. (Though maybe he was inspired by Sartor Resartus...)
The trope among people writing retro tabletop roleplaying games (think Dungeons & Dragons) in the style of the 1970s to claim (usually tongue-in-cheek without intent to actually deceive) they were 'secretly rediscovered' documents from that era. (Encounter Critical, a gonzo parody of the style, comes to mind.) There's one (Revised Mazes & Minotaurs) that's an 'alternate history' where the game was made using Greek mythology as an inspiration instead of Tolkien and mid-20th-century pulp fiction.
You have a lovely and unique voice. Something calming about this post, and it arrived on the day my favorite aunt passed away. Her father’s (my grandfather’s) side of the family came from Scotland, and I hope to visit there someday.