notes

Pai2 Sei3: buhaoyisz (sorry, in Taiwanese) 低.- dī : low, below, hang down 底.- dǐ : bottom, base, root, foundation 地.- dì : earth, floor, site, place 地 – de : grammar (variant pronunciation of -dì) (forming an adverb from an adjectiv, e.g., gāoxìng 高興/高兴 “happy” + de 地 yields gāoxìngde 高興地/高兴地 “happily”) 性格 –… Continue reading

forms of life

HERE I am, an old man in a dry month, Being read to by a boy, waiting for rain. Introduced to Prufrock in HS, the particular cymatics of that frequency got ossified into my scafolding early on, becoming something comforting and resonant in my assumption of the way things should be, what poetry should feel… Continue reading

sculpture and shave ice

Yesterday, went to the gallery on the 5th floor of XinYi Chen Ping (Eslite) where Szu-Minhad her sculpture. Incredible folded stainless works, some in bright yellow or red lacquer, others sanded and brushed on one side, polished on the other, with welds that were surgical and precise. One piece was a faceted mobius strip where… Continue reading

plants, food

After a wonderful brunch at Qun Xui Tang of black sugar moji, tea cakes, xuimai, mushrooms, dried squid, edamame and bubble tea, Toma and I took the metro to the botanical gardens, marveling at the familiar houseplants now of gigantic proportion. Later we wandered the nearby lanes with combinations of ruined Japanese houses and ostentatious… Continue reading

living walls

Tom really enjoyed all the living walls you find throughout Taipei. Not only did they look great, but they cool the environment, and add moisture and oxygen to the air. And they take up very little space. I don’t even really need a wall just spacers sufficient to hold the pots.