I remember reading Baudelaire’s Beauty in Croatian, French, and English, and it felt like encountering three different poems, each carrying its own temperature and gravity.
Lingua Poetica feels like a generous and necessary gesture. I’m really looking forward to spending time with it.
Beautiful writing as always and you have stimulated me to start reading and listening to poetry in other languages! Stable on scans is what I strive for - as someone said in comments not a finish line but it really is a wonderful gift!
Well, I’m reading your new post with my morning coffee. Your posts mean a lot to me. They’re always so profound and refreshing. Your idea of learning a new language through poetry is practical and brilliant.
You often remind me of some cool ideas and philosophies I picked up in the 90s, when I learned a great deal from a group of geniuses at or associated with MIT’s Organizational Learning Center. Peter Senge, its director, always enjoyed asking some of the best CEOs a simple question: “Why do toddlers learn to walk?”... "Because they want to!" No curriculum, no deadlines, no performance review – just pure enjoyment, interest, and desire.
Peter went on to talk about some of the fantastic things mid-level executives told him they did during their off-hours. One exec built an amazing yacht, another an incredible mansion, and on and on. Why were they marginal, even ineffective at work, yet amazingly productive and successful in their hobbies and private lives? It’s because in their private lives, they pursued things they loved doing and learning – just like you're learning new languages through your love of poetry – such a fantastic idea and the most powerful way for you to learn and continue to remember these languages. It makes me smile so much because it's so smart.
I also spent a very brief time with the legendary Professor Deming, the father of quality management. Deming was once asked about his perspective on the endless pursuit of quality and optimization, and when all the learning finally ends. Deming was at least 90, and he responded without missing a beat: “The moment you die – and not a second sooner.”
Your curiosity, creativity, and interests in learning and dreaming, even amid the uncertainty of cancer, are not just natural; your thinking is like the genius of Deming – learning never ends. Please stay your brilliant, fabulous self while we continue to enjoy your insightful posts. I personally hope you out-Deming Deming and, with a miracle, live into your 90s.
Your insights really connect with me and hit home in so many ways. I feel your exhaustion. I understand the mental, physical, and emotional drain. I’ve lived through versions of it. After my coma, I was wiped out. I got Franco, my Siberian Husky, hoping he’d help me get back on track with my energy. But my exhaustion and lack of energy didn’t go away. It’s been 7-8 years, and I’m just barely able to pursue “my life’s work, eat, sleep, and repeat,” with social events filed under “maybe some day.” So when you write about the toll of the past year – the treatments, the waiting, the unknown – I feel it deeply.
Your frustration with hoping for clean results and getting stable ones instead. My perspective: stability is a win. Be proud that all your extraordinary efforts are paying off. You’re holding off cancer. You’re probably in a marathon, not a sprint. You’re still here. You’re still creating. You’re still learning. You’re still moving forward. Keep believing you can win this marathon against cancer, one stubborn day at a time.
I’ve always loved NYC as my home, but since COVID, I have a love-hate relationship with it, especially in January and February. I arrived in NYC last Sunday. My flight was delayed by more than two hours due to snow, high winds, and freezing temperatures. Ugh, cold weather is tough for me, having lived in Marina Del Rey, Barbados, and now Las Vegas. I personally struggle with freezing weather. Thankfully, by midweek, the chill lifted.
It turned out to be an interesting and enjoyable trip. I was involved in business discussions on nuclear energy and battery arbitration projects, and various NYC groups asked me to help them save over $1 billion through technology and vendor optimization. I even signed up a new amazing young group that wants to become business partners. So, it was a productive business trip, even with my complaining : )
I’ve loved NYC for business ever since I started at 19. Some days, I feel like Al Pacino in “The Godfather”: "Every time I think I’m out, they pull me back in : )" In various business and professional capacities, I’ve had the City of New York and all its wonderful affiliates for 40 years. I guess I have to come to terms with the fact that NYC will always be my home.
With my autism, one of my most dreaded experiences in NYC is enduring Christmas parties. So, sure enough, I was begged to go to a Christmas party. Lately, I’m a little better because I believe a lot of things happen for a reason. I’m at this private club and event – sipping water and looking like I’d rather be anywhere else. My close friend’s daughter came up to me, smiling and laughing, and acknowledged that I looked miserable :)
Our conversation became interesting when she told me about the TV series she was writing: lost souls stuck on Earth until they are allowed to move on after experiencing what they needed to grow and learn in their last human life. They help a detective solve crimes while they’re waiting for their next journey in the afterlife.
A few hours passed as we spoke about spirituality, guardian angels, and spiritual families guiding each other’s life journeys. I was fascinated by her spiritual perspective. Today, so many people shy away from these spiritual conversations and from our personal journeys and interactions with God.
She was amazed by my near-death experience and my journey with/to God. She laughed and told me not to be surprised if I saw one of her characters representing me. I laughed and said, “God, I hope not : )”
I really enjoyed and appreciated your last post about your experience with God and seeing God. Please continue speaking out about your journey, your experiences, and your love for God. During my coma, God spoke to me briefly about spiritual connections. He told me my new spiritual friend was a guide for me. But His message began to fade as I transitioned back to my human life. One of His messages was to surround yourself with people you can suffer with. It’s all part of this learning process we call life or existence…
Even though it isn’t completely clear to me, I’m leaning toward the idea of spiritual families or friends who help us on our path as we experience what we need to learn in our current lives. I’m not 100% on this one, but consider yourself adopted into mine : ) So sorry if this is true for you, but I’m here to cheer you on and hopefully share some mutual wisdom. Even if I don’t have this talent for poetry in this life, I might just be debating you on poetry translation in the afterlife :)
Sorry for my rambling on again, ugh, but your posts keep finding me and reaching me in exactly the ways I need. Thank you for being you – brilliant, resilient, and unapologetically alive.
With admiration, warmth, and well wishes for a wonderful Christmas. Merry Christmas, and stay cool as you are!
You are light and a light bringer… your words, like always brought me deep emotions, many thoughts, new views and visions, tears and hope; tears and hope for the existence of people who still can see with closed eyes, through their heart, and that light still exists in this material world…
love this: If a door opens, I walk through it. If a poem calls my name, I follow it. and you are! You've inspired me to listen to poetry in its original language. I love poetry but I've never done that before. thank you for the inspiration and sharing your journey.
Louise - Not the finish line you want, but holding steady in the boat matters. I remember rowing during windy and choppy days on the Charles. You’re sitting in rough water, cold and without a clean break but you’re still moving forward. Stability counts. I’m glad the scans are stable, and we’re with you.
I adore poetry, thank you for opening this space.
I remember reading Baudelaire’s Beauty in Croatian, French, and English, and it felt like encountering three different poems, each carrying its own temperature and gravity.
Lingua Poetica feels like a generous and necessary gesture. I’m really looking forward to spending time with it.
Please let me know what you think / if you have any problems w it! Wow i can only imagine, that sounds extraordinary. Sending love
Beautiful writing as always and you have stimulated me to start reading and listening to poetry in other languages! Stable on scans is what I strive for - as someone said in comments not a finish line but it really is a wonderful gift!
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas! Thank you so much. Would love to hear your favorites as you explore!
Well, I’m reading your new post with my morning coffee. Your posts mean a lot to me. They’re always so profound and refreshing. Your idea of learning a new language through poetry is practical and brilliant.
You often remind me of some cool ideas and philosophies I picked up in the 90s, when I learned a great deal from a group of geniuses at or associated with MIT’s Organizational Learning Center. Peter Senge, its director, always enjoyed asking some of the best CEOs a simple question: “Why do toddlers learn to walk?”... "Because they want to!" No curriculum, no deadlines, no performance review – just pure enjoyment, interest, and desire.
Peter went on to talk about some of the fantastic things mid-level executives told him they did during their off-hours. One exec built an amazing yacht, another an incredible mansion, and on and on. Why were they marginal, even ineffective at work, yet amazingly productive and successful in their hobbies and private lives? It’s because in their private lives, they pursued things they loved doing and learning – just like you're learning new languages through your love of poetry – such a fantastic idea and the most powerful way for you to learn and continue to remember these languages. It makes me smile so much because it's so smart.
I also spent a very brief time with the legendary Professor Deming, the father of quality management. Deming was once asked about his perspective on the endless pursuit of quality and optimization, and when all the learning finally ends. Deming was at least 90, and he responded without missing a beat: “The moment you die – and not a second sooner.”
Your curiosity, creativity, and interests in learning and dreaming, even amid the uncertainty of cancer, are not just natural; your thinking is like the genius of Deming – learning never ends. Please stay your brilliant, fabulous self while we continue to enjoy your insightful posts. I personally hope you out-Deming Deming and, with a miracle, live into your 90s.
Your insights really connect with me and hit home in so many ways. I feel your exhaustion. I understand the mental, physical, and emotional drain. I’ve lived through versions of it. After my coma, I was wiped out. I got Franco, my Siberian Husky, hoping he’d help me get back on track with my energy. But my exhaustion and lack of energy didn’t go away. It’s been 7-8 years, and I’m just barely able to pursue “my life’s work, eat, sleep, and repeat,” with social events filed under “maybe some day.” So when you write about the toll of the past year – the treatments, the waiting, the unknown – I feel it deeply.
Your frustration with hoping for clean results and getting stable ones instead. My perspective: stability is a win. Be proud that all your extraordinary efforts are paying off. You’re holding off cancer. You’re probably in a marathon, not a sprint. You’re still here. You’re still creating. You’re still learning. You’re still moving forward. Keep believing you can win this marathon against cancer, one stubborn day at a time.
I’ve always loved NYC as my home, but since COVID, I have a love-hate relationship with it, especially in January and February. I arrived in NYC last Sunday. My flight was delayed by more than two hours due to snow, high winds, and freezing temperatures. Ugh, cold weather is tough for me, having lived in Marina Del Rey, Barbados, and now Las Vegas. I personally struggle with freezing weather. Thankfully, by midweek, the chill lifted.
It turned out to be an interesting and enjoyable trip. I was involved in business discussions on nuclear energy and battery arbitration projects, and various NYC groups asked me to help them save over $1 billion through technology and vendor optimization. I even signed up a new amazing young group that wants to become business partners. So, it was a productive business trip, even with my complaining : )
I’ve loved NYC for business ever since I started at 19. Some days, I feel like Al Pacino in “The Godfather”: "Every time I think I’m out, they pull me back in : )" In various business and professional capacities, I’ve had the City of New York and all its wonderful affiliates for 40 years. I guess I have to come to terms with the fact that NYC will always be my home.
With my autism, one of my most dreaded experiences in NYC is enduring Christmas parties. So, sure enough, I was begged to go to a Christmas party. Lately, I’m a little better because I believe a lot of things happen for a reason. I’m at this private club and event – sipping water and looking like I’d rather be anywhere else. My close friend’s daughter came up to me, smiling and laughing, and acknowledged that I looked miserable :)
Our conversation became interesting when she told me about the TV series she was writing: lost souls stuck on Earth until they are allowed to move on after experiencing what they needed to grow and learn in their last human life. They help a detective solve crimes while they’re waiting for their next journey in the afterlife.
A few hours passed as we spoke about spirituality, guardian angels, and spiritual families guiding each other’s life journeys. I was fascinated by her spiritual perspective. Today, so many people shy away from these spiritual conversations and from our personal journeys and interactions with God.
She was amazed by my near-death experience and my journey with/to God. She laughed and told me not to be surprised if I saw one of her characters representing me. I laughed and said, “God, I hope not : )”
I really enjoyed and appreciated your last post about your experience with God and seeing God. Please continue speaking out about your journey, your experiences, and your love for God. During my coma, God spoke to me briefly about spiritual connections. He told me my new spiritual friend was a guide for me. But His message began to fade as I transitioned back to my human life. One of His messages was to surround yourself with people you can suffer with. It’s all part of this learning process we call life or existence…
Even though it isn’t completely clear to me, I’m leaning toward the idea of spiritual families or friends who help us on our path as we experience what we need to learn in our current lives. I’m not 100% on this one, but consider yourself adopted into mine : ) So sorry if this is true for you, but I’m here to cheer you on and hopefully share some mutual wisdom. Even if I don’t have this talent for poetry in this life, I might just be debating you on poetry translation in the afterlife :)
Sorry for my rambling on again, ugh, but your posts keep finding me and reaching me in exactly the ways I need. Thank you for being you – brilliant, resilient, and unapologetically alive.
With admiration, warmth, and well wishes for a wonderful Christmas. Merry Christmas, and stay cool as you are!
Been visiting an old friend of mine, Emily Dickensen.
" I started early, took my dog and visited the sea.
The mermaids in the ocean came out to look at me "
As I've gotten older I'm enjoying her poetry on a different level.
This is lovely!
You are light and a light bringer… your words, like always brought me deep emotions, many thoughts, new views and visions, tears and hope; tears and hope for the existence of people who still can see with closed eyes, through their heart, and that light still exists in this material world…
Beyond grateful to you 🙏💗
love this: If a door opens, I walk through it. If a poem calls my name, I follow it. and you are! You've inspired me to listen to poetry in its original language. I love poetry but I've never done that before. thank you for the inspiration and sharing your journey.
Thank you!! Would love to hear how it goes for you
Louise - Not the finish line you want, but holding steady in the boat matters. I remember rowing during windy and choppy days on the Charles. You’re sitting in rough water, cold and without a clean break but you’re still moving forward. Stability counts. I’m glad the scans are stable, and we’re with you.
Thank you so much!! Couldn’t agree more. I hope you’re having a happy holiday season
True growth will not follow our expectations.
تا شقایق هست، زندگی باید کرد…