Tag: L.o.v.e.

this little bride & groom – e e cummings

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Poem

this little bride & groom – e e cummings

 

this little bride & groom are
standing in a kind
of crown he dressed
in black candy she

veiled with candy white
carrying a bouquet of
pretend flowers this
candy crown with this candy

little bride & little
groom in it kind of stands on
a thin ring which stands on a much
less thin very much more

big & kinder of ring & which
kinder of stands on a
much more than very much
biggest & thickest & kindest

of ring & all one two three rings
are cake & everything is protected by
cellophane against anything(because
nothing really exists

– e.e. cummings

This poem is about a bride and groom figurines topper on a wedding cake.

The cake sounded like a traditional three-layered one. The top is the smallest in diameter and also the thinnest.

The middle layer was broader than the top cake but certainly smaller than the bottom cake, which has the largest and thicker breadth.

The bottom layer is the kindest as it supports the middle and top layer.  The middle supports the top, which stands the figurine.

The whole cake including the figurines on top is covered in cellophane to protect it from anything.

It sounds like the wedding cake and its many layers with the figurines on top personify the real bride and groom as they navigate their married life.  To start with they will be all sweetness and lights, scented from fragrant flowers.  But because they were newlywed, they will only be getting used to one another and often feel like standing on thin ice, afraid to upset one another.

But as they celebrate their second wedding anniversary, they start to build a more robust foundation.

By the third anniversary, they were on solid ground or are they?!!!

 

“I wish I could remember that first day” BY CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

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“I wish I could remember that first day”
BY CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

I wish I could remember that first day,
First hour, first moment of your meeting me,
If bright or dim the season, it might be
Summer or Winter for aught I can say;
So unrecorded did it slip away,
So blind was I to see and to foresee,
So dull to mark the budding of my tree
That would not blossom yet for many a May.
If only I could recollect it, such
A day of days! I let it come and go
As traceless as a thaw of bygone snow;
It seemed to mean so little, meant so much;
If only now I could recall that touch,
First touch of hand in hand – Did one but know!

Aioli – Garlic Mayonnaise

Sauces & Relish (Pickles + Preserves)

I’ve heard that Aioli is a bit of an aphrodisiac and being almost Valentine’s and all, I thought there is no harm in knowing how to make your own at home. hehehe

garlic

Garlic Cloves, Photo by JMorton

Aioli – Garlic Mayonnaise

Ingredients:

1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice
2 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
5 tbsp extra virgin oil
5 tbsp sunflower oil
Salt and pepper

Put the egg yolk, vinegar, garlic in a bowl.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Whisk until everything is thoroughly blended.

Add the olive oil an sunflower oil bit by bit to start with.

Then when it begins to thicken add the rest of the oil in a steady stream until the mixture is thick and smooth.

Serve with slices of baguette, and raw vegetables like carrots, cucumber, fennel and celery.

Kundiman

Philippines


(Photo is from a Fernando Amorsolo’s Planting Rice)

Kundiman (originally spelled Cundiman) is a genre of traditional Filipino love songs. The lyrics of the Kundiman are written in Tagalog. The melody is characterized by a smooth, flowing and gentle rhythm with dramatic intervals. Kundiman was the traditional means of serenade in the Philippines.
The Kundiman came around to be an art song at the end of the nineteenth century and by the early part of the twentieth century, its musical structure was formalised by Filipino composers such as Francisco Santiago and Nicanor Abelardo (February 7, 1893-March 21, 1934); they sought poetry for their lyrics, blending verse and music in equal parts.
– Wikipedia

I am glad that I still got to hear the old kundiman while I was a child. The foremost female kundiman singer of the 50s was still alive then. I love their songs usually encapsulated in one of those black and white films (this is more to do with our television being black and white, hahahaha) from LVN. Whenever I hear, very seldom now, of a kundiman song it makes me smile and remember the bygone years where everything is simple and uncomplicated, where morality is expected of everyone.

It would be such a shame if kundiman is to die a natural death so in my small way, I shall disseminate kundiman to the world.

So I shall post the choicest kundiman (in my opinion only) here.

Waray waray by Silvia La Torre. Waray waray is a very feminist song. Sylvia sings that she would not think twice to engage in a fight if needed. She is a brave woman coming from the Waray clan. The warays are ready to fight to the death. – This doesn’t sound like a kudiman.

Sa Kabukiran by Sylvia La Torre
Sa Kabukiran means in the farm/field. Apparently in the farm there is no sadness, everyday is happiness. The plants are verdant, the birds sing merrily. Life in the farm is happy and gay (old meaning).

Carinosa by Sylvia La Torre

If we had to talk about love, I would look for a man who would not be unfaithful. Life is sad if true love is absent. (sorry this is too literal translation)

 

 

Here is almost an hour of pure kundiman for your delight of real Filipino music.  Turn on the volume and do your ironing or even get the mister to have a few turns of tango in your living room or in the garden under the moonlight!

Geoffrey Chaucer – Epic Man

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Chaucer – Father of English Literature

Geoffrey_Chaucer_(17th_century)

Geoffrey Chaucer – Father of English Literature

Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – 25 October 1400), known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to be buried in Poet’s Cornerof Westminster Abbey.

If love is good, then where does my sadness come from?
If love is wicked, it seems strange to me that every torment
and adversity coming from it is pleasant to me.
-Geoffrey Chaucer
……
People can die of mere imagination.
– Chaucer

……
Women desire six things: they want their husbands to be brave, wise, rich, generous, obedient to wife, and lively in bed.
– Chaucer