Word of the Week - 58

Art by Lynda Barry.

Word of the Week:  MULL

"How is a thought like an iceberg?"  Ponder, contemplate, consider, weigh, think.  Good thing I'm not a zealot for quantifying.  I don't want to know how much of any day I spend asking myself rhetorical questions, posing conundrums, seeking answers where perhaps none exist.  It is not time wasted, however.  If we don't wonder about things, we are marooned.  Mulling gives us bearings or at least tells us where we are not.

"My apologies to great questions for small answers."  From her poem "Under One Small Star" by Wislawa Szymborska.

Painting by Quint Buchholz.

The moon often appears, or plays a leading role, in the art of Quint Buchholz.  The moon is an attractive object for mullers.  Mystery is attractive to mullers, or more accurately, is essential.  If we knew the secrets we would have no need to ask the questions.

To mull is not to deconstruct (shudder).  If I arrive at any truths, ever, it is by widening the screen, not narrowing my focus.  It seems to be a process of allowing rather than intention, clearing space on a shelf then leaving the room to see what comes to settle in the empty spot.  Mulling, contemplation generally, is similar to my approach to writing fiction.  I stand at the curb waiting for a car to pull up, then watch to see who gets out.

Rilke told us to love and to live the questions.  Do not forget that being comfortable with not knowing isn't the same as not asking.

Sights and sounds

There are images that I see with my heart which, I hope, is not quite as corny as it sounds.  The second illustration below feels like a boot to the chest, yet in a good way, which may seem unlikely.  Or maybe more precisely, some things grab me by the throat.  The sights and sounds here today fall into that not-entirely-rare category.  I am swept away by the imaginations of others, humbled and agog at the sweet morsels my species find to pull from the soup of eternity in which we all paddle.

Original art by Quint Buchholz, shared by Alice Vegrova on FB. If the work interests you - it fascinates me - do a Google Image search and see how many other bloggers have fallen under his spell.

For the sounds portion of our program, I took cues from Brain Pickings' Literary Jukebox which introduced me to First Aid Kit and the sisters' "Wills of the River."