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ON

ORGANISM AND OUR HOPE FOR THE FUTURE DEPENDED ON MAKING PROGRESS DAY BY DAY ON AS MANY FRONTS

“I also recognized that California was a new and fast-growing organism and our hope for the future depended on making progress day by day on as many fronts as possible.”

Warren, Earl. The Memoirs of Earl Warren. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1977. p.170.

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Internet Archive

BLACKBIRDS NEEDLE THE DAYLONG DAY WE'RE STILL ON THE AIR STILL ON THE AIR THEY SAY THESE FLURRIES


“Duration

Those flurries
of small pecks

my mother called
leaky faucet kisses.

Late sun winks
from a power line

beyond the neighbor’s tree.
In heaven,

where repetition’s
not boring—

Silver whistles
of blackbirds

needle
the daylong day.

We’re still
on the air,

still on the air,
they say”

Armantrout, Rae. “Duration.” Money Shot. Middletown: Wesleyan Univ Press, 2012. p. 49.

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HFS Books

ALONG THE SHOCK WAVE INTERPRETED AS SPACE-TIME ON A FEW PARAMETERS ONLY IN THE ABSOLUTE SKY AS IT

“One solitude lies alone
Can be represented

where the capture breaking
along the shock wave

interpreted as space-time
on a few parameters

Only in the absolute sky
as it is in Itself”

Howe, Susan. “The Narrative of Finding.” The Nonconformist’s Memorial. New York: New Directions, 1993. p. 13.

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New Directions Books

LEAVES THE GOOD MOTHER ABSORBED IN YOU HERE ON THE LANDING IN PEACE AND PLENTY I TRY AS HARD AS

“You see the double evidence—as the place, the time, the fashion of other lives determined by grounds outside our power which leaves the good mother absorbed in you here on the landing in peace and plenty. I try as hard as I can to wish myself into your presence through art foreshadowing life after death for some notes of promise that the aesthetic holds out or holds on to an idea of the formal rigors of poetry as light and impulse.”

Howe, Susan. Debths. New York, NY: New Directions, 2017. p. 16.

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New Directions Books

PERSON TWO PEOPLE WITH COVERED LANTERNS STAND ON THE BROW OF ADJACENT FOOT-HILLS WATCH THEM WALKING

“Show me affection as a small nonunderstanding person. Two people with covered lanterns stand on the brow of adjacent foot-hills. Watch them walking forward from folklore carrying tilted umbrellas. Faint whispers.”

Howe, Susan. Debths. New York, NY: New Directions, 2017. pp. 9-10.

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New Directions Books

STILLNESS A TRACT OF WATERY SENSATIONS DRIFTS ON THE FLOOR AUTUMN FALLS ABRUPTLY FROM THE EVES

“A tract
of watery sensations drifts
on the floor
autumn falls abruptly from the eves
syllables of voices flame
out of the uncouth chambers of the heart”

Yip, Wai-Lim. “Enormous Stillness.” Between Landscapes. Santa Fe: Pennywhistle Press, 1994. p. 11.

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BOOK READ INTO THE WORLD WE WERE THE CHILDREN ON THE VASTEST PLAINS WE WERE THE GIANT OF SKY REACHING

“The earth holds a full load of floating-sinking memories
We were the great book read into the world
We were the children on the vastest plains
We were the giant of sky-reaching ranges
The earth holds a full load of floating-sinking memories”

Weilian, Ye. “Fugue.” In Between Landscapes, edited by Wai-Lim Yip, 8. Santa Fe: Pennywhistle Press, 1994.

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TENDED LEARNING METHODS OF HARVESTING PASSING ON KNOWLEDGE AND WAY OF LIFE FROM GENERATION TO

“Kumeyaay people very purposefully tended, harvested and protected their favorite plants and animals, learning the best times and methods of harvesting, passing on this knowledge and way of life from generation to generation.”

Connolly Miskwish, Michael, Stan Rodriguez, and Martha Rodriguez. Kumeyaay Heritage and Conservation (HC) Project Learning Landscapes Educational Curriculum. p. 48. Laguna Resource Services, INC., Kumeyaay Diegueño Land Conservancy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. August 1, 2016. Accessed July 2020. 

California Department of Parks and Recreation

GRATITUDE TO PLANT AND CREATOR FOR ITS SACRIFICE ON GRASS-LIKE STALKS TRADITIONALLY HARVESTED AND

“Traditional harvesting involved customs of expressing gratitude to the plant and the creator for its sacrifice.

Example: Chia grows on grass-like stalks. Traditional harvesting involved hitting the stalks.”

Connolly Miskwish, Michael, Stan Rodriguez, and Martha Rodriguez. Kumeyaay Heritage and Conservation (HC) Project Learning Landscapes Educational Curriculum. p. 48. Laguna Resource Services, INC., Kumeyaay Diegueño Land Conservancy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. August 1, 2016. Accessed July 2020. 

California Department of Parks and Recreation

WING BIRDS YOUNG OR OLD SITTING ALONE PATHETIC ON FROZEN GROUND LOOKING LONGING TO FLY UP SING

“mercy for broken wing birds
young or old, sitting alone
pathetic on frozen ground,
looking, longing to fly up,
sing in green trees, warm blue skies”

Troupe, Quincy. “Mercy.” Seduction: New Poems, 2013-2018. Evanston, IL: TriQuarterly Books/Northwestern University Press, 2019. pp. 16-17.

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Northwestern University Press

HUMAN HANDS UNDERTAKE THE PECKING AT THE SUN ON ITS ROUNDS OUR TURN TATTERED TO IT SO I TURN TO

“Human words like human hands undertake the pecking at the

sun on its rounds our turn tattered to it

So I turn to utter an outer thought and say it was an inner one”

Hejinian, Lyn. Happily. Sausalito, CA: Post-Apollo Press, 2000. p. 28.

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Litmus Press

ALLIGATOR A HUNK OF LIVING MATTER SUNNING ITSELF ON A SAND BANK FOR HOURS AT A TIME WITHOUT FLOPPING


“As an illustration take an alligator, a great hunk of ‘living matter,’ sunning itself on a sand bank for hours at a time without so much as flopping its tail.”

Ritter, William Emerson. The Higher Usefulness of Science, and Other Essays. Boston, MA: Gorham Press, 1918. pp. 132-3.

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Google Books

MOON THEN THE EARTH WAS ROTATING MORE RAPIDLY ON ITS AXIS AND DAYS WERE SHORTER AND YEARS THE SAME

“If we assume that the moon was nearer to the earth, then the earth was rotating more rapidly on its axis and the days were shorter and the years the same length.”

Urey, Harold C. "A Review of the Structure of the Moon." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 115, no. 2 (1971): 72.

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JSTOR

WHAT HAPPENED FOUR POINT SIX BILLION YEARS AGO ON THE EARTH IS COMPLETELY WIPED OUT BY VOLCANISM

“Of course, what happened 4.6 billion years ago on the earth is completely wiped out by volcanism, by sedimentation and so forth.”

Urey, Harold C. "A Review of the Structure of the Moon." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 115, no. 2 (1971): 72.

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JSTOR

ELEMENTS WERE VAPORIZED TO A THIN ATMOSPHERE ON THE SURFACE ELEMENTS BECAME IONIZED AND SOLAR

“During this heating process, some iron was reduced from the oxidized state to the metallic state and sank in the pool, carrying with it the siderophile elements. Some of the more volatile elements were vaporized to a thin atmosphere on the surface.”

Urey, Harold C. "A Review of the Structure of the Moon." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 115, no. 2 (1971): 71.

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JSTOR

SAY ALL LAND IS SACRED IS AN ATTITUDE THAT DRAWS ON AWARENESS OF THE MYSTERY OF LIFE AND DEATH OF

“Inhabitory peoples sometimes say, ‘This piece of land is sacred’ - or ‘all the land is sacred.’ This is an attitude that draws on awareness of the mystery of life and death, of taking life to live, of giving back—not only to your own children, but to the life of the whole land.”

Snyder, Gary. "Reinhabitation." Manoa 25, no. 1 (2013): 45. Accessed May 27, 2021.

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JSTOR

SINGULARITY IS THE POINT WHERE PLUS BECOMES MINUS ON A LINE IF YOU START AT X POINT THERE IS ONE TWO ETC

“I was having a terrible time trying to come up with a title for that group of works together (Articulation, Thorow, and Scattering as Behavior Toward Risk) and Thom came to Buffalo and gave a lecture called ‘Singularities.’ In algebra a singularity is the point where plus becomes minus. On a line, if you start at X point, there is +1, +2 etc. But at the other side of the point is -1, -2, etc. The singularity is the point where there is a sudden change to something completely else.”

Howe, Susan. The Birth-mark: unsettling the wilderness in American Literary History. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1993. p. 173.

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University Press Books

RESOLVED BECAUSE WE STAND BEFORE THE WORLD ON TRIAL TO SHOW WHAT DEMOCRACY MEANS AND THAT

“It is true we have differences, but everywhere in our country we know that today our differences must somehow be resolved, because we stand before the world on trial, really, to show what democracy means, and that is a heavy responsibility, because the world today is deciding between democracy and Communism, and one means freedom and one means slavery.”

Roosevelt, Eleanor. "Remarks at the 1956 DNC." Speech, 1956 Democratic National Convention, Chicago, Illinois, August 13, 1956.

Iowa State University

CHARACTERISTIC OF THE OCEAN IS ITS GREAT AGE EVEN ON A GEOLOGIC SCALE OF TIME THE EVOLUTION OF FORMS

“From the biologist's point of view one of the most important characteristics of the ocean is its great age, even on a geo logic time scale. Time has been available for the evolution of many different forms of life. As a result living things in the sea present an incredible diversity.”

Revelle, Roger. "The Ocean." Scientific American 221, no. 3 (1969): 64. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0969-54.

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JSTOR

HORIZON COME THE WAVES THAT BREAK RHYTHMICALLY ON THE BEACH SOUNDING NOW LOUD NOW SOFT AS LONG

“From beyond the horizon come the waves that break rhythmically on the beach, sounding now loud, now soft, as they did long before I was born and as they will in the far future.”

Revelle, Roger. "The Ocean." Scientific American 221, no. 3 (1969): 55. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0969-54.

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JSTOR

SEA THE THIN MOVING LINE BETWEEN LAND AND WATER ON AN OPEN COAST PRESENTS AN IMPENETRABLE WALL

“Part of the spell comes from mystery-the fourfold mystery of the shoreline, the surface, the horizon and the timeless motion of the sea. The thin, moving line between land and water on an open coast presents a nearly impenetrable wall. The ships and fishing boats I watch from my living-room window exist in a separate world, as remote as another planet.”

Revelle, Roger. "The Ocean." Scientific American 221, no. 3 (1969): 55. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0969-54.

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JSTOR

TREES IS TREES A LIVE-OAK LEAF LANDS UPSIDE DOWN ON A MADRONE BRANCH INSIDE THE CURVE OF AN EAR EACH

“Inside the object code which colors
Once removed at various distances
spray onto my retinas. The proper
Study of trees is trees. A live-oak leaf
Lands upside down on a madrone branch.

Inside the curve of an ear
Each point contains all lines
Drawn through it by the insistence
Of a complete world of days.”

Perelman, Bob. “Trees.” Primer. Oakland, CA: This Press, 1981. p. 69.

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Internet Archive

THE SKY WHICH CANNOT BE RAILROAD EARTH SUNLIGHT ON SKYLIGHTS HUMAN LABOR DESIGN DETAILS NUMBERS

“To whatever these words
Now say. The day is perfect
when over. There is a lustre
In the sky which cannot be.”

“RAILROAD EARTH

Sunlight on skylights, human
Labor. Design details, numbers
by the thousand, orders
Spoken into stubby phones,

Painted putty cracking.”

Perelman, Bob. “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty.” Primer. Oakland, CA: This Press, 1981. p. 21.

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Internet Archive

IN THE MAKING AND THE EFFECT OF A LITERARY WORK ON US MUST BE IN THE EFFECT OF LANGUAGE OF THE SPECIFIC

“If language, as we must say, has an active, creative role in the making of the literary work, then the effect of that work on us must be in some part the effect of language- of the specific values with which it is charged and of the form which values took, and so of the period in which those values had their existence.”

Pearce, Roy Harvey. "Historicism Once More." The Kenyon Review 20, no. 4 (1958): 554-91. Accessed July 5, 2021. p. 564.

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JSTOR

IS NOT A WORLD OF MERE FANTASY ILLUSION AND SO ON IT CONTAINS NOTHING THAT DOES NOT ALSO EXIST IN

“The world intended in art is never and nowhere merely the given world of everyday reality, but neither is it a world of mere fantasy, illusion, and so on. It contains nothing that does not also exist in the given reality, the actions, thoughts, feelings, and dreams of men and women, their potentialities and those of nature.”

Marcuse, Herbert. The Aesthetic Dimension: Toward a Critique of Marxist Aesthetics. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1978. p. 54.

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Marginal Utility

BETTER HIGH MORNING CLOUDS UNLOAD THEMSELVES ON THE WORLD BLUE PEEPS THROUGH SUNNY BOYS HAVE

“Small birds puff their chests and feathers
With the pleasure that they know better
High morning clouds unload themselves
On the world. Blue peeps through
Sunny boys have spacious souls but killers
Build war zones in the sky where they go to die
Blue poems. Blue ozone. A V-sign
Sails into the elements: an old ship
Named Obsolete though Lovely is easier to see
Now visualize heaven as everything around it”

Howe, Fanny. “Introduction to the World.” Selected Poems. Berkley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 2000. p. 8.

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University of California Press

INSISTENT SMALL PLACE NOT LIKE THIS IT WAS A BLUFF TIP ON THE EDGE OF THE SEA AIR LIFT UP SO YOU'RE FLOATING

“SUMMER ’38

Nubble’s Light a sort
of bumb I thought—
a round insistent
small place

not like this—
it was a bluff,
tip on the edge
of the sea.

AIR

Lift up so you’re
Floating out
Of your skin at
The edge but
Mostly up seeming
Free of the ground.”

Robert Creeley, “Gnomic Verses.” The Collected Poems of Robert Creeley, 1975-2005. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2006. p. 424.

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University of California Press

NOW AND THEN HERE AND THERE EVERYWHERE ON AND ON WINTER SEASON'S UPON US WEATHER ALARMS US SNOW


“OH OH

Now and then
Here and there
Everywhere
On and on

WINTER

Season’s upon us
Weather alarms us
Snow riot peace
Leaves struck fist.”

Robert Creeley, “Gnomic Verses.” The Collected Poems of Robert Creeley, 1975-2005. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2006. p. 422.

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University of California Press

BACK THE PEOPLE YOU TOOK LET THE SUN SHINE AGAIN ON THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE WORLD YOU THOUGHT OF

“America, you ode for reality!
Give back the people you took.

Let the sun shine again
on the four corners of the world

you thought of first but do not
own, or keep like a convenience.”

Creeley, Robert. "America." Poetry 112, no. 5 (1968): 334. Accessed July 7, 2021.

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JSTOR

SUBLUNARY PHYSICS WAS TRACTABLE AND IS BASED ON ARISTOTELIAN PHYSICS HEAVY THINGS FALL BECAUSE

“The conviction was that sublunary physics was tractable, and it is essentially based on Aristotelian physics. Heavy things fall because they have gravity, and fall to their natural place, namely the earth, which is the centre of the universe.”

Churchland, Patricia. "The Hornswoggle Problem." Journal of Consciousness Studies 3, no. 5-6 (May 1996). p. 405.

ingenta connect

FALLEN ON A BARE FOOT OR THE BLUENESS OF THE SKY ON A SUNNY SUMMER AFTERNOON THINGS ARE LESS CLEAR-CUT

“Although it is easy enough to agree about the presence of qualia in certain prototypical cases, such as the pain felt after a brick has fallen on a bare foot, or the blueness of the sky on a sunny summer afternoon, things are less clear-cut once we move beyond the favoured prototypes.”

Churchland, Patricia. "The Hornswoggle Problem." Journal of Consciousness Studies 3, no. 5-6 (May 1996). p. 404.

Purdue University