Ode to Mediocrity

A Square in La Roche Guyon
Camille Pissaro

We the mediocre

Were born somewhere in the middle

Cried in mezza voce

Were wrapped in medium-quality swaddling clothes

Neither expensive

Nor cheap

We the mediocre

Neither rose

Nor fell

We left a bit of space at the beginning

And at the end

So that our blades would not be blunted

We the mediocre

Eat at mid-day

Sit midpoint at the table

Find our names halfway down the list

Speak up in the middle of a conversation

Tighten our belt at the midriff

Have a beauty spot amid our brow

We the mediocre

Bite into the centre of the apple

We the mediocre

Get married neither young nor old

We the mediocre

In the midst of mid-life

Build an average home

Neither wealthy nor poor

We the mediocre

Neither clever nor stupid

Neither strong nor weak

We the mediocre

Neither big nor small

Neither guilty nor innocent

We the mediocre

Equidistant at middle-age

Live an average life

In the middle of this century

And in the middling midst of the middle

We get accustomed to it

We the mediocre

And do not stop at the end of the road

And do not start at the beginning

But stand rather somewhere

In the middle

We the mediocre

Walk right through the middle of the world

- Eqrem Basha, translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie

can't help feeling sorry. 그런 의미에서 14 tracks:

+ say hello to mr. d - esbjorn svensson trio

+ are you going with me? - anna maria jopek with pat metheny

+ homeless happiness - madeleine peyroux

+ toledo - avishai cohen

+ bach die kunst der fuge bwv 1080

+ perfume - bajofondo tango club

+ fragile e conciliante - arvo pärt

+ is this america? - pat metheny trio

+ last minutes - giovanni mirabassi

+ bach prelude bwv 872 - tureck rosalyn

+ 24 hours - wolfgang haffner

+ estrela estrela - maria rita

+ night sight - air

+ always departing - brad mehldau

+ always returning - brad mehldau

Beethoven 7th II

Dear God, my life is trivial. I am so trivial.

Same Old Stories

옛 친구와 함께 점심. 같이알고 지내던 옛 친구들의 근황. 그의 연애얘기와 실패한 내 소개팅 얘기. 그의 회사 사람들 얘기와 내 파자마와 수면양말 얘기. 남녀 각자의 사고방식에 대한 거친 일반화. 소속하고 싶어함과 동시에 남다르게 특별하고 싶어하는 이중 욕구에 대한, 세심한 관찰력을 가장한 성급한 코멘트. 아무것에도 이르지 않는 '그러타카더라'. 

엘리베이터를 타고 올라오면서 나는 이미 걷잡을 수 없는 속도로 슬퍼지고 있었다. 옆에 앉은 사람에게 "언니는 사람들 만나면 무슨 얘기해요?" 했더니 두 번 생각해 볼 것도 없다는 듯이 명쾌하게 "옛날 얘기".

그래. 그런 거구나. 하긴. 딱히 무얼 더 얘기하고 싶겠는가. 하면서도 한편으로는 더 있을 것 같기도 한 여지가 있다. 내 옛날 얘기는 너무 자주 꺼내 들여다봐서 좀 싫증이 나기도 하기 때문에. 일단 여지에 한표. 

Brains and Heart

"Brains can argue, but it takes heart to comfort."

In the Wilderness

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. - Deuteronomy 8: 3-4

It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn you decrees. - Psalm 119: 71

Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. - Psalm 90: 10

결핍. 좌절. 고독. 고립 속에서만 가능한 특별한 소통. 특별한 위로. 특별한 공급.

그러는 동안 이 여자 해어진 옷이 없고 발이 부르트지도  않아 상처의 흔적이 없겠습니다.