Saturday, September 05, 2009

Mental Photograph, the Sidney Lanier Way

Thanks to Ben Friedlander for originating this meme, one that I consented to participate in.

Facebook meme from the nineteenth century, by way of Sidney Lanier
(best known for The Boy's King Arthur), who was tagged in the winter of
1874 by a Miss Anne Perot of Baltimore, Maryland. For Lanier's answers
go here:
http://ampoarchive.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/mental-photograph-sidney-lanier/
If you've always wanted to be daguerreotyped and are willing to settle
for mental version, consider copying this text, writing your own
responses, and tagging 15 other people, including me (because I want to
see what you wrote!).
To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page, paste these
instructions in the body of the note, type your title as "A Mental
Photograph," tag 15 people (14 + me; tagging is done in the right hand
corner of the app) then click publish.

WHAT IS--
1. YOUR FAVORITE COLOR?
No longer purple but the saner green. OR the palette of Gauguin, wowzer.

2. FLOWER?
Daffodil, daffodil, daffodil

3. TREE?
Apple, willow, oak

4. OBJECT IN NATURE?
Clouds

5. HOUR IN THE DAY?
Dawn, or, by the clock, 5am

6. SEASON OF THE YEAR?
Fall, season of mist and mellow fruitfulness, incorporated

7. PERFUME?
The patois of hyacinth. Nothing commercial comes to mind

8. GEM?
No preferences. I like mica, and am willing to call it a gem

9. STYLE OF BEAUTY?
The inexpensive kind (I do not know what Sid asks here)

10. NAMES, MALE AND FEMALE?
Those biblical/colonial names sound nice (Jedediah, for instance). Zoe for females.

11. PAINTERS?
Gauguin

12. MUSICIANS?
Elvin Jones, Richard Thompson, various etc.

13. PIECE OF SCULPTURE?
A wood carving Gauguin. Did not intend to harp on his name.

14. POETS?
Charles Olson, John Keats, Ted Berrigan, moi-meme (I like to read my (good) work, like someone else wrote it)

15. POETESSES?
Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, Susan Howe, high sign to Nada Gordon

16. PROSE AUTHORS?
Guy Davenport, Flann O’Brien

17. CHARACTER IN ROMANCE?
I suppose someone like Gawain, who I do like, is who they mean

18. CHARACTER IN HISTORY?
US Grant, A Lincoln, Rosa Parks, list could go on

19. BOOK TO TAKE UP FOR AN HOUR?
Anything by Robert Benchley or Bob & Ray. Formerly, P G Wodehouse, but he was a Nazi collaborator, and that casts a pall

20. WHAT BOOK (NOT RELIGIOUS) WOULD YOU PART WITH LAST?
Maximus Poems

21. WHAT EPOCH WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO HAVE LIVED IN?
The one with the poets

22. WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE?
With Beth

23. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE AMUSEMENT?
Writing

24. WHAT IS YR. FAVORITE OCCUPATION?
Writing

25. WHAT TRAIT OF CHARACTER DO YOU MOST ADMIRE IN MAN?
The same ones I admire in women

26. WHAT TRAIT DO YOU MOST ADMIRE IN WOMAN?
The same ones I admire in men

27. WHAT TRAITS OF CHARACTER DO YOU MOST DETEST IN EACH?
Bobby Rydell (arcane answer)

28. IF NOT YOURSELF WHO WD. YOU RATHER BE?
Does not compute

29. WHAT IS YR. IDEA OF HAPPINESS?
Music in colour with hand in hand

30. WHAT IS YR. IDEA OF MISERY?
The belligerent social crunch

31. WHAT IS YOUR BÊTE NOIR?
Wastrel cowardice

32. WHAT IS YOUR DREAM?
To live by water

33. WHAT IS YR. FAVORITE GAME?
The only game that I play is Free Cell

34. WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE TO BE YOUR DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTIC?
A mild form of integrity

35. IF MARRIED, WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE TO BE THE DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS OF YR. BETTER HALF?
Empathy, helping others

36. WHAT IS THE SUBLIMEST PASSION OF WHICH HUMAN NATURE IS CAPABLE?
Gosh you talk pretty

37. WHAT ARE THE SWEETEST WORDS IN THE WORLD?
Tickle salty boss anchovy (Walt Kelly)

38. WHAT ARE THE SADDEST WORDS?
Je ne sais pas

39. WHAT IS YOUR AIM IN LIFE?
To write words from here to there

40. WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO.
Someday I will have one

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