You Must Change Your Life

I know it probably seems like I have the interests and mentality of a 13 year old girl from the Valley, but in between the nail polish and imaginary boyfriends I fancy myself a semi-intelligent person.

Here are some things you probably didn't know about me:

- Sometimes I read things other than romance novels.
- I have 3/4 of an art history degree.
- One time David Sedaris told me I should start smoking.
- I love poetry.

This poem happened to stop me in my tracks over the weekend, and I wanted to share it with you.

 Archaic Torso of Apollo by Rainer Maria Rilke

(emphasis is mine)

We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,


gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.


Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast’s fur:


would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life. 

Saint Swithin's Day

I love quotes.  LaLaLOVE them.  I've always thought it would be cool to own a little shop... maybe a quaint little bookshop or a vintage home decor shop... mostly because I want to have a chalkboard in the shop where I could write a new special quote everyday to share with everyone.

This is a terrible business plan, you guys. I'm pretty sure zero banks would give me a business loan so I could have a shop to put my quote chalkboard in.

Well this letter I found on one of my FAVE websites of all time, Letters of Note, from Frank Sinatra is pretty much as chock full of awesome, inspiring, and perfect gems of quotage (if that isn't a word it should be) as anything I've ever come across.

And so I wanted to share it with you.

Source.

This is my favorite bit:

"Come on, George. Loosen up. Swing, man.
Dust off those gossamer wings and fly yourself
to the moon of your choice and be grateful
to carry the baggage we've all had to carry..."

Print it out. Paste it to your wall.  Read it every single day. And "Swing, man."