romanticalities

goodness, i want to know why the world has become so unpoetical and unromantic in the last little while. today, this man came into work and he was telling me all about this picture that he has at his house, and "it has all the great ones in it. all the greats. people you probably dont even know about because youre a pretty young thing. too young to know about all the great ones." so i asked who was in the picture. "oh, lets see. elvis, and marylin monroe. and humphry bogart. and frank sinatra."
i was a little taken aback, because im not actually so ignorant as to have never heard of these people. but really i just smiled and nodded and said a few intellegent things about those people to try to clue him into the fact that yes, in fact, i have heard of elvis before. heck, i could probably sing some elvis songs to him. [and by the by, i have a really good idea, and that is that we all ought to go to graceland, seeing as its so close to school, and i really want to go to it once and stuff] anyway. i guess i shouldnt actually be surprised that he thought that i didnt know about them because now all we have is "brad and jen or brad and angelina" and hillaryduff, lindsaylohan, ashleesimpson and jessica and, o yes, paris hilton. no wonder we're having troubles in all sorts of ways now. no wonder.
i wonder what happened. why dont we have such a romantic [the other meaning of romantic, of course.] way in the world anymore? i dont know. but its very tragical.
i want the glamour back, and the magic. i want the red lipstick and the liquid black eyeliner and heels, and i want to go exploring when the world may still drop you off the edge. and i want to be a lady-in-waiting in king henry-the-eighth-with-eight-wives court, and i want to be a nurse in WWI, and a dancer in king davids court. maybe it all hasnt left, really? maybe all that just changed around to something different, and i need to learn how to see it freshly.
but: the guy was sortof right because i decided that i dont actually know enough to be a grown-up yet. grown-ups know all sorts of stuff that i dont know yet, but i dont know how or where they learn it cause ive had as nearly as much education as most of them. but i still dont know what to wear or buy for baby showers, and even worse for wedding showers, and i dont know what to do when people ask me about one-size-fits-all fitting fat people. and i cant keep track of what the supreme court is in charge of, and what military branches and abbrievations mean what, and what to do when a kid is sick. some things about being grown-up i certainly do not want to know, but i also dont know some things i want to know, and other things, but i dont know where to learn them, either. i guess i cant be grown up yet. hum.

[[o me of little faith:] yes, like when we first see colors and discover toes and when we talk to good friends and laugh, and cry honestly or celebrate with others, and work hard, and have a milkshake at a drive-in with people whom you love very much indeed. this is a shadow of the real magic.

the magic is merely flirting; the magic is caught only in whispers]

Posted 8/11/2005 11:20 PM