THINKING IS DOING<\/b><\/p>\r\n
\u00a0I was reading <\/span>Ron Padgett\u2019s poem, Think and Do, <\/b><\/a>which begins,<\/span><\/p>\r\n \u2018I always have to be doing something, accomplishing something, fixing something, going somewhere, feeling purposeful, useful, competent\u2014even coughing, as I just did, gives me the satisfaction of having \u201cjust cleared something up.\u2018<\/strong><\/p>\r\n And I thought,<\/b> \u2018I like this guy.\u00a0 I have to think and do, too.\u00a0 Hard to manage in a wheelchair 24\/7.\u2019\u00a0 I kept on reading.<\/span><\/p>\r\n ‘The phone bill arrives and minutes later I\u2019ve written the check. The world starts to go to war and I shout, \u201cHey, wait a second, let\u2019s think about this!\u201d and they lay down their arms and ruminate. Now they are frozen in postures of thought, like Rodin\u2019s statue, the one outside Philosophy Hall at Columbia. His accomplishments are muscular. How could a guy with such big muscles be thinking so much? It gives you the idea that he\u2019s worked all his life to get those muscles, and now he has no use for them. It makes him pensive, sober, even depressed sometimes, and because his range of motion is nil, he cannot leap down from the pedestal and attend classes in Philosophy Hall. I am so lucky to be elastic! I am so happy to be able to think of the word <\/strong><\/span>elastic<\/i>, and have it snap me back to underwear, which reminds me: I have to do the laundry soon.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\r\n His mind is elastic and he thinks about what needs doing and if, when, and how to do it.\u00a0 I can think and do all of that, too, and, then, I can call Charlie to put in take out, and fold the laundry.<\/span>\u00a0 You can’t do anything without thinking, so if you can do, you can think.\u00a0 And with Charlie’s muscles and good-nature, I thought, thinking and doing become one.<\/b>\u00a0 So I beaver away in my wheelchair, having ideas, carrying out <\/span>some,\u00a0 and checking\u00a0 others with Charlie, who pretends not to hear me, as he heads to the couch for a little nap.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Maybe I should recall and cite <\/span>the Jesuit Ethics teacher’s pronouncement that \u2018the thought is as bad as the deed\u2019, and the response, as one, from my 5 roomies, \u2018Well, let\u2019s do it then.\u2019 Or maybe not. [And maybe the best part of college is the lifelong friends.\u00a0 Hi, Nonnie and Dort.\u00a0 Clearly, we old oldies are the toughest birds of the batch.]<\/span><\/p>\r\n MULTI-THINKING<\/b><\/p>\r\n There is multitasking, sure, and though It has a mixed reputation, it is still useful when you want to justify doing two things at once.\u00a0 Well, with all the thoughts of a busy bee in a wheelchair, how about multi-thinking?\u00a0 \u00a0For example, as I was listening to golf on tv, an interview on NPR radio, and trying to match colors of jigsaw puzzle pieces, wondering if weeping edema matters, the latte machine is fixed, Charlie will fix the phone and remember the mail when he comes, etc., etc., etc.\u00a0 <\/span>I had a thought.\u00a0 Surely, we are multi-thinkers,<\/b> as well as multi-taskers, ready with a messy desk and a convergence of ideas that come from ever-meshing thoughts to confront the thorns\u00a0 in one\u2019s rose garden.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Multi-thinker? Or messy desk of person with red glasses and fork?<\/span><\/p><\/div>\r\n OBITUARY — LATEST THOUGHTS<\/b><\/p>\r\n You may recall that Charlie decided I should write my own obituary.\u00a0 I had to decide what of my life was more than a death certificate\u2019s data and less than a memoir.\u00a0 It should be a memorable me, and not cost too much to have printed in the newspaper. As I struggle to satisfy fusspot, Charlie, and not bore myself to death [possibly literally!], I tried simulating a conversation with a favorite poet, Wislawa Szymborska. In her poem, Possibilities,<\/strong> she listed a number of her preferences, and I responded to each.\u00a0 She didn’t know Charlie, but, had she, she would have listed him first, too.<\/span><\/p>\r\n OBIT thoughts — good content, costly to publish, if even possible.<\/p><\/div>\r\n Charlie nixed this idea, as it would eat up his inheritance, if he could even find a newspaper willing to lay it out [so to speak!].\u00a0 He did recall that the ‘Conversation’ memorial card we made for my sister was a big hit, and he promised to make a card for me.<\/p>\r\n My latest OBIT thought<\/strong> was to develop a shelf of books that ‘summed’ to me.\u00a0 I got the idea from the results of such a study \/ survey, published in a book with a title,\u00a0 by two women whose names I don’t recall.\u00a0 I do recall liking the book, and from that was born the thought that making such a list and could be fun to do and be an obituary of sorts.<\/p>\r\n SELF-PORTRAIT FROM A SHELF OF BOOKS<\/strong>, which, like the self portrayed, is ever-changing<\/p>\r\n The Scotch, by John Galbraith<\/strong><\/p>\r\n The Snoring Bird [My Family\u2019s Journey Through A Century of Biology], by Bernd Heinrich<\/strong><\/p>\r\n Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren<\/strong><\/p>\r\n Swimming Studies, by Leanne Shapton<\/strong><\/p>\r\n The Fly Trap, by Fredrik Sjoberg<\/strong>\u00a0 [hoverflies],\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[now reading, The Art of Flight, by Fredrik Sjoberg<\/strong>, about Gunnar Widfoss]<\/span><\/p>\r\n The Power Broker [Robert Moses and the Fall of New York], by Robert Caro<\/strong><\/p>\r\n Frankie\u2019s Place; A Love Story, by Jim Sterba\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n Fishing with John, by Edith Iglaur\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n Caught in\u00a0 the Web of Words [James Murray and the OED], by K.M.Elizabeth Murray<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n The Book Nobody Read, by Owen Gingerich<\/strong>\u00a0 [Copernicus]<\/span><\/p>\r\n The Double Helix, by James Watson<\/strong><\/p>\r\n Places In Between, by Rory Stewart<\/strong><\/p>\r\n From the Holy Mountain, by William Dalrymmple<\/strong><\/p>\r\n Principles of Uncertainty, by Maira Kalman<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0[now reading, Still Life with Remorse, by Maira Kalman<\/strong>]<\/span><\/p>\r\n Travels with Herodotus, by\u00a0 Ryszard Kapuscinski<\/strong><\/p>\r\n So Many Books, So Little Time [A Year of Passionate Reading], by Sara Nelson<\/strong><\/p>\r\n Suggestions for the obit–ish list are ever welcome.\u00a0 I’m already reading and liking a lot, All the Beauty in the World; The Met and Me, by Patrick Bringley<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n DIVA-DOM<\/b><\/p>\r\n When I became [ahem<\/em>] an award-winning poet, I declared myself a Diva for a Month.\u00a0 Charlie agreed to ten minutes and offered to get me a latte.\u00a0 Then when I turned 85 and became, by an NIH classification, ‘old old’, I declared myself a Diva for Life.\u00a0 For some unfathomable! reason, woeful Charlie called his lifelong, nearby friend. Ben probably tsk – tsked<\/span>, then said, \u2018Your mom was a Diva at 45.\u2019\u00a0 \u2018Harsh,\u2019 I thought, until I looked anew at my earliest known picture and [gasp<\/em>] saw a DIVA!<\/span><\/p>\r\n This is for you, Ben.\u00a0 You are one of my FFLs [favs for life].<\/p>\r\n A Diva is born, ready to take on the world and have a good time.<\/p><\/div>\r\n A Diva ages, still fighting for right and having such a good time.<\/p><\/div>\r\n That’s all for now.\u00a0 I’m already busy doing a lot of thinking, and Charlie is headed for the couch<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THOUGHTS I have a thought.\u00a0 ”Oh no,’ says Charlie THINKING IS DOING \u00a0I was reading Ron Padgett\u2019s poem, Think and Do, which begins, \u2018I always have to be doing something, accomplishing something, fixing something, going somewhere, feeling purposeful, useful, competent\u2014even … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/roseledgebooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/PXL_20241030_190742747.MP-2-1024x768.jpg\")
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