Saturday, 7 January 2012

on the under side of things






A curse is written
On the under side of things
Behind the smiling mirror
And behind the smiling moon

Follow follow.


T.S. Eliot



..
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42 comments:

  1. K'line7 January 2012 at 21:49

    Superbe...

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  2. Anonymous7 January 2012 at 22:06

    {{ chiaroscuro and chiralty }}

    why is it the mirror reverses
    right-hand with left yet not

    up with down?

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  3. Anonymous7 January 2012 at 22:12

    hello my beautiful friend.It is sooowonderful to be strolling the bridge in the newyear.
    thankyou for another powerful art presentation.
    the photograph is powerful imagery that mixes magically with the words.It is as if the frame of the mirror is written with ancient script that is written on the walls of the mind-the curse of mortality -the duality of life- the sweet whispers of birth in the destigmatized shadows of death.
    as Elliot says-april is the cruelest month breeding lilacs out of the dead land.

    well here is a New Year's thought-happiness lies beyond words.....
    sending you delightful New Years kisses.

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  4. Anonymous7 January 2012 at 22:16

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. Michael T Stowers7 January 2012 at 23:22

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. Lynne with an e8 January 2012 at 00:39

    The trick is to find the blessing beneath the curse.

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  7. mythopolis8 January 2012 at 01:09

    I feel on the fence between two lands. Is this disturbing, or merely unsettling? Is it an idle painting or a haunting self portrait? A moment in time, or some state of a soul? A resignation, or a determination? I find myself wondering what's between the image in the mirror, and what's on the other side? Ia this a generalized statement, or is this the way you feel? Either way, it is pretty fucking powerful. One could read many meanings into such an image. None of them may be right. Maybe it is a glimpse into the viewer's heart.

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  8. Unknown8 January 2012 at 02:57

    there is a silence/sadness behind the mirroring waves of consciousness.
    the light dances to the unheard music of melancholy.
    inside.

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  9. pensum8 January 2012 at 03:36

    perhaps this curse is actually a blessing

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  10. Anonymous8 January 2012 at 06:28

    my heart is fluttering like a free bird that is now trapped.

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  11. Anonymous8 January 2012 at 06:37

    but the underside, the side not seen: avoided, discarded, rejected..is this not where the hope of fulfillment waits?is it not the silver this side that generously allows the beauty in the mirror to come forth?

    and didn't your readers wait for you?

    Moments from yesterday and from centuries ago
    -a sword blow, the painting of eyelashes before a mirror
    of polished metal, a lethal musket shot, a caravel
    staving its hull against a reef - they dwell in us,
    waiting for a fulfillment.

    not-anon.

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  12. m8 January 2012 at 07:40

    the fingers in this photo, they make both sides real. superb.

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  13. Ffflaneur8 January 2012 at 18:56

    aha you're back! happy new year!

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  14. Anonymous8 January 2012 at 21:06

    and yes my friend it is so wonderful to have you back on the bridge,to fly once more into the infinity of the beauty of your soul and your art.

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  15. Stickup Artist8 January 2012 at 22:14

    A blessing is a curse, and a curse a blessing. Whose to say? Shifting perspectives, like in a mirror, changes everything. Here, nothing needs to be permanent or static...

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  16. Anonymous9 January 2012 at 02:29

    and yes my friend it is so wonderful to have you on the bridge again.My heart is fluttering like a trapped bird in a cage set free.

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  17. Owen9 January 2012 at 05:24

    For every curse, there is a counter curse... but I think the Floating Bridge is like one of those surfaces which has no underside... Hugs...

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  18. cerasela9 January 2012 at 12:20

    un blestem?dar nu si o binecuvantare?si nu isi au soarele si luna si un lat revers,adica,daca uneori ne sperie,nu ascund ele,de atatea ori,acele raze,chair daca uneori apar precum irizatiile unei usi inchise,dar care are o puternica lampa inauntru,iar lumina strabate pe la balamale si incheieturi?

    dar imaginile sunt intotdeauna favoritele mele,in sens strict sau in cuvinte.este una dintre iamginile care ma vor urmari mereu,nu ca un blestem,nu ca imprevizibilul cel riscant,ci ca unul dintre momentele in care te uimeste ce vezi in oglinda-toata acea ravasirea suvitelor,gestul ei,atat de fin si poate putin temator,in care atinge rama oglinzii,ca si cand si-ar vedea viitorul intr-un glob de sticla.si apoi felul in care ramele oglinzii,pe care eu le numesc puterea geometriei,cum restabilesc ele limitele,ca si cand ,daca ai uita,ti s-ar spune din nou si din nou ca vederea ta este limitata.chiar daca magia chipului este,fara doar si poate,infinita.

    este unul dintre lucrurile acelea care ,la fel nu se termina niciodata,in aceasta imagine.si o sa o port cu mine mereu,cat voi putea,cel putin:)

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  19. Prospero9 January 2012 at 17:27

    And in the nether world... ah, now there is incontrovertible proof that she reads what i write (and, on the side, as a divertissement, Eliot); why just the other day, i was talking about that nether world of hers. Astonishing.

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  20. James Owens9 January 2012 at 23:47

    there is another world, and it is this one

    does she reach down into the underside of things? or does she reach up, beckoning her other self into the curse (which might be a bllessing)? no matter ... there is little choice ... who could not follow these enchantress eyes, this hair blown across the face?

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  21. DD10 January 2012 at 01:28

    "there's nothing to follow, there's nowhere to go, there's nothing above and there's nothing below"...Interesting.

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  22. erin10 January 2012 at 02:57

    how could one not follow? it is not the mirror. it is the entreaty in the eyes already lost in a hypnotic reverie.

    xo
    erin

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  23. billoo10 January 2012 at 08:10

    Lovely picture.

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  24. Anonymous11 January 2012 at 19:50

    als ich das Bild gesehen habe, habe ich sofort an einen indischen Prinzen, der Flöte spielt, gedacht. Prinz Siddhartha...? Ach, aber wo ist das Damönische?? Nein, an diesem Bild ist nichts dämonisch! Es ist heilig, so finde ich... :-)! (und Frau und Mann zugleich, wie interessant...!)
    Dir alles Liebste! Gute Nacht, Prinzessin!
    Renée

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  25. Gentle13 January 2012 at 12:33

    She follows the moon, the curse and everything that will lead to herself. Lovely post, beautiful you.

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  26. Anonymous13 January 2012 at 23:08

    I like this blog…for the whole story it tells meandering around self-coloring white spots on a map of unforgiving peaks and luxuriant valleys; for its unknown: mostly known; for its hidden: mostly revealing; for its ambiguous: mostly resolved, for its gaps: mostly bridged, for the countless divine ironies, a fortiori for that blatant sense of snare in the garden of good, less-good, and almost- good. The story of its stories reads as a tale of freedom and entrapment: seduction redux. Different charms, different manners, different styles, different times. Keep it up!

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  27. Anonymous13 January 2012 at 23:12

    Ah, that and it preciously reminded me that;

    "Barn's burnt down-
    now
    I can see the moon"

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  28. :: Karine ::14 January 2012 at 17:18

    roxana is nicely written and your picture illustrates very well the words xxx

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  29. Anonymous15 January 2012 at 11:47

    hi my beautiful friend, I was pondering over the chinese character for new, part of the character refers to setting up to standing on your own and ancestors and the ancestral tree and the other part of the character is an axe, to demonstrate the cutting down of the old as part of the new and I mean it is something we all think about but to say it wrapped in one character makes it so compelling to focus on and you know I thought we really don't own anything at all and there is really nothing to follow...because nothing can be grasped....it all vanishes in the pale blue mist of our thoughts and days
    new years kisses of freedom
    (and I guess I thought of freedom because lack of ownership means freedom.)

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  30. clo15 January 2012 at 16:05

    Que serait l'image de l'homme dans son for intérieur si les miroirs n'existaient pas...nous ne verrions notre image qu'au travers du regard des autres...ne serions nous pas obligés d'etre plus pres de notre beauté interieure pour ne pas effrayer le miroir dans lequel nous nous contemplerions...
    J'ai du mal avec ces objets ,les miroirs mentent je crois...il ne sont pas un reflet réel de celui qui se regarde..il nous donnent la possibilité d'avoir sur nous des idées fausses..
    Comme a l'accoutumée Roxana ,tu sais emporter l'imaginaire de celui qui contemple tes oeuvres ...une benediction en soi d'avoir ce pouvoir...:)
    je t'embrasse...:)

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  31. A l a i n 17 January 2012 at 04:06

    Photo d'une interpellation de son image mais là il y a trop à dire ; par contre j'aime le noir et blanc d'un regards de photographe .

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  32. Marion McCready18 January 2012 at 19:20

    very eerie, sends tingles up my spine...!

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  33. Roxana20 January 2012 at 22:25

    K'line, merci beaucoup, ma chere amie...




    flowerywallpaper, ich danke Dir herzlichst, es ist so eine Ehre und eine Freude fuer mich, dein Award bekommen zu haben. Ich bin gluecklich, Dich hier auf der Bruecke zu haben!





    anon (first one)
    your question has totally blown me away and it hasn't left my mind ever since. it is such a simple one, and yet it had never occurred to me before! i dimly feel one could write a book about this, hm...

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  34. Roxana20 January 2012 at 22:29

    Madeleine, i am so grateful to you that you noticed the strange frame, and for the wonderful interpretation you gave to it: "it is as if the frame of the mirror is written with ancient script that is written on the walls of the mind-the curse of mortality -the duality of life- the sweet whispers of birth in the destigmatized shadows of death" - it enriches the meanings of the image so much!
    i am happy to be here again as well :-)
    je t'embrasse, chere amie...
    ps. i so loved that metaphor of your heart as a bird set free!






    mts,

    smiling back...

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  35. Roxana20 January 2012 at 22:38

    Lynne, yes, it would appear so.





    myth, i think all your assumptions are true, at the same time, especially the one about the glimpse into the viewer's heart. it is exactly like this that i wanted the photo to reverberate in the one who looks at it.
    (all true, except one: it is not a self-portrait :-)





    Flipi, your poetry makes my image so much richer. thank you. "the unheard music of melancholy" - yes. how well you understand.




    Michael,
    yes. though in the end, who can truly tell what is a curse and what is a blessing? my addiction to photography is for sure both :-)





    not-anon,
    the silver-underside necessary for the beauty in the mirror to come forth - yes, like the lotus flower needing the muddy underwater to unfold its beauty, such an ancient metaphor, from centuries ago, as you would say, we all must share this oldest vision...

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  36. Roxana20 January 2012 at 22:52

    Manu,
    this is such a revealing insight, i hadn't thought of that, but i see it now.
    (so happy to hear from you!)





    fff,
    Happy new year to you as well! it seems i can't stay long away from this mirror which is the Bridge :-)






    Stickup, i am not one to favour the permanent or static, i am too much of a water nature for that :-) (thinking of your wonderful aquarium pictures that i admired today :-)





    Owen, i don't know, a surface without an underside might be too boring in the end :-)






    Cerasela, dar oglinda este, în sine, întotdeauna o nesfărşită uimire, eu nu am făcut nimic, decât să surprind una dintre reverberaţiile ei :-)
    mulţumesc pentru felul cum faci ca fiecare imagine să treacă dincolo, în poezie pură.






    Prospero,
    ah he is teasing her :-) but yes, the nether world is always there, haunting us. only in the garden one can find a refuge, in a flower, for a moment.





    James, it doesn't matter, indeed, in the end both are one, and our being is only an endless drifting from one side to the other, unawares... or so it seems at times :-)





    DD,
    yes, this is true. in fact, contemplating the full or the empty amounts to the same thing, no, as long as one is aware that neither of them exist. i love this wonderful text of the emerald tablet:
    "[It is] true, without a lie, certain and most true,
    That which is below is as that which is above, and that which is above is as that which is below, to perform the miracles of the one thing."

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  37. Roxana20 January 2012 at 23:12

    erin,
    if only we could get ourselves more often into this state of hypnotic reverie! i have just read an interview with a famous romanian poet, Gellu Naum, who remembers how, in his youth, he had perfected a technique of forcing himself to enter into such a state, by contemplating a black-painted egg or something like that for hours in a row. then he would get visions and write.





    billoo,
    thank you for your lovely comment! :-P





    liebste Renee,
    ach, du siehst das Androgynische hier, wirklich sehr interessant, daran hatte ich nicht gedacht, so etwas wie ein E.T.A. Hoffmann-Doppelgaenger war eher in meinem Sinn. aber ich mag diesen neuen Weg, den Deine Sichtweise eroeffnet :-)
    Liebste Gruesse, Siddharta-Prinzessin :-)

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  38. Roxana20 January 2012 at 23:16

    beautiful Gentle, the Bridge trembles when you walk upon it :-)





    anonymous (the second one):
    your way of seeing what i suppose one might call 'my world here' intrigues and delights me. also, i am surprised that you could see right into the heart of it, when you talk about a tale of freedom and entrapment (but caution is always well-advised on floating bridges, as they have many hearts :-)
    may i hope to hear from you again?

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  39. Roxana20 January 2012 at 23:23

    thank you, Karine, i am glad you liked it!





    Madeleine, hello again, i love the new-character, though when writing is with my brush i've always had trouble with the axe-part, not well-balanced. i think i am bad at that, cutting away all past :-)
    thank you for making me ponder this as well!





    chere Clo, je comprends tout ce que tu dis et moi-aussi je pense comme ca de temps en temps - mais s'il n'y avait pas de miroir, les gens auraient quand meme la surface des eaux pour s'y regarder, rappelons-nous l'histoire du malheureux Narcisse... il semble que l'etre humain est incapable d'echapper a l'illusion de son regard sur soi...

    mais je te remercie d'etre ici, chere amie des fleurs et des papillons :-) je t'embrasse!

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  40. Roxana20 January 2012 at 23:24

    Alain,
    un grad merci pour ton passage, oui, je sais que tu aimes le blanc et noir meme si tu sais faire de merveilleuses couleurs :-)




    Marion, oh no! :-)

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  41. Anonymous22 January 2012 at 19:02

    Anonynous, the 2nd, i.e.

    Most likely, yes. And I step forewarned on your floating bridge of dreams.

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  42. Lydia8 February 2012 at 23:43

    Full of secrets, this exposes little. She is a good model for this Eliot quote. It does not seem like a pose, but as if you captured the scene without her being aware.

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