Thinking about the parallell worlds - off vs. on line - this song by Paul Simon (Simon and Garfunkel) kept popping up in my head.
Blog communication is an art in itself. So many conversations are left dangling, one keeps leaving comments about and forgets to go back and check for answers... (I've been writing about that before, but I don't remember where!) Mind you, I'm not saying one always should - taken to the extreme it would become impossible. It's just how it is...
Actually, it's not so very different from the off line world. There, too, a lot of conversations are left dangling. In the supermarket, on the bus, in the coffee room at work, whereever. Sometimes forgotten, and sometimes picked up again later, somewhere else.
I was kind of reminded of these thoughts again today by this blog post of Scriptor's ! (Thanks for the smile!)
Here is Paul Simon's Dangling Conversations.
He's been my No 1 favourite songwriter for about 40 years...
This is the first time I ever tried to insert something from YouTube, hope it works. Lyrics follow below.
It's a still life water color,
Of a now late afternoon,
As the sun shines through the curtained lace
And shadows wash the room.
And we sit and drink our coffee
Couched in our indifference,
Like shells upon the shore
You can hear the ocean roar
In the dangling conversation
And the superficial sighs,
The borders of our lives.
And you read your Emily Dickinson,
And I my Robert Frost,
And we note our place with bookmarkers
That measure what we've lost.
Like a poem poorly written
We are verses out of rhythm,
Couplets out of rhyme,
In syncopated time
And the dangling conversation
And the superficial sighs,
Are the borders of our lives.
Yes, we speak of things that matter,
With words that must be said,
"Can analysis be worthwhile?"
"Is the theater really dead?"
And how the room is softly faded
And I only kiss your shadow,
I cannot feel your hand,
You're a stranger now unto me
Lost in the dangling conversation.
And the superficial sighs,
In the borders of our lives.
6 comments:
I suppose they both have to do with talking without listening. Of People saying the same thing but it isn't really because each sees it differently. Ah! Pooh says it better.
But comments on a blog shouldn't expect a response. They let the writer know you stopped in and sometimes what you thought of the entry of the day. Much like a neighbor coming in for coffee. What they say is never that important but the fact they stopped in is.
Dr John, you're right, and yet... and yet... In the blogworld, the first superficial impression may be that people are mostly talking to themselves. One about "Emily Dickinson" and the other about "Robert Frost". Or as in Winnie-the-Pooh (my next post), one about Ambush and one about gorse-bush. And yet... And yet... There is still conversation going on, because every now and then you find yourself thinking: "Hey, I'm getting to know this person, and he/she seems to be getting to know me, too..."
I was brought up on Simon anmd Garfunkel at College and loved this song! Thanks for the link...
Yes. To some extent I agree with Dr John but then I think he is superficialising (ok I know there is no such word) the use of comments. I think that quite often comments are meaningful and can beg a reply.
Dawn Treader...This is also one of my favorite songs...although I have always seen it as quite a sad song. To me it is about two lives trying to connect but the connection just doesn't happen. That is how I felt that day in the bed and breakfast...trying to connect again but we just weren't ready yet.
Dan
Dan, I agree Dangling Conversations is basically a sad song. However - in my ears at least! - Paul and Art have that gift of singing a sad song in a way that makes it sweet at the same time... with a kind "matter of fact" tone to it. Both on and off the internet, conversations are often left dangling, and relationships require some "efforts"...
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