1.
Two Old, Twisted Trees — a poem by
From the Community
Two Old, Twisted Trees
Give me middle-aged love,
not young lust. Love like two trees
planted too close together
by fate, or god, or an ignorant
arborist. Two trees who grow intertwined
after the fierce winds of their youth have wrapped
their once supple bodies around each other. Trees
who grow tall and crooked together
forming an immovable wall while each still strives
for the stars. A beautiful paradox of independence and
dependence. Give me a love like the roots
of those trees. A network of support and
mutual aid, hand-holding hidden from the world. Pop stars
have never sung of the glories of middle-age
love because they’ve long burnt out
before arriving. But let me tell you
no love is sweeter than the clinging of bodies that are
hard and soft in all the wrong places. Nothing is more erotic
than the touch of comfort and safety. Keep your
spring flings, summer dalliances, autumn romances,
and winter one-more-times. Give me a
lover who has faced the storms and shouted
down god’s own thunder with me. I want the scarred
bark of a wild forest tree
not the skittish softness of a greenhouse sapling.
This summer has been a period of reflection amid high-intensity work. It's not like the deep long winter hibernation kind of reflection... but the kind that happens intensely in the few, short and quiet moments between big things happening.
Summer is a great time for that - there's loads of energy to ride off, and the regular motions of life are somewhat disrupted. In that space... anything can happen. Yet, uncharacteristically, I find myself relishing not the excitement and fire of activity... but the grounding earth of the mundane.
These quiet moments come as regular respite, and they're only possible for the kind of middle-aged love that Jason talks about in this poem. And for this kind of love in my life... I am grateful.
2.
What is LOVE? — a short film feat. Antony and Margie Osler
From the Internet
I encourage you to stay with the slow, languid pace of the film. It's only 12 minutes, but it's the silence that punctuates their words that expresses.... well, love. The slow, middle-aged, two old, twisted trees kind - where each is whole unto their own and together expresses something not of romance, but of the human spirit itself.
If you enjoyed that, and you have a few more minutes to spare, here is part two:
3.
On Marriage — words by Rainer Maria Rilke
From the Library
“The point of marriage is not to create a quick commonality by tearing down all boundaries; on the contrary, a good marriage is one in which each partner appoints the other to be the guardian of his solitude, and thus they show each other the greatest possible trust. A merging of two people is an impossibility, and where it seems to exist, it is a hemming-in, a mutual consent that robs one party or both parties of their fullest freedom and development. But once the realization is accepted that even between the closest people infinite distances exist, a marvelous living side-by-side can grow up for them, if they succeed in loving the expanse between them, which gives them the possibility of always seeing each other as a whole and before an immense sky.”
— Rainer Maria Rilke
And after all these poems and words, if you asked me what is LOVE... what can I say? What would you say?
😎 THE THREE THINGS WEEKLY SHOW 😎
With Co-Create expanding through other offerings at a not-at-all incremental pace... I wanted to experiment with taking this newsletter into a new dimension.
On Friday afternoons at 3 pm (UK) starting in the autumn, I will be going live on Facebook and Instagram to present and talk about the gems I find and love to share with you all. I'm not sure how this would look yet. For instance, I'm currently in a rabbit hole trying to work out how best to share/play music on the 'show', without incurring the wrath of the copyright gods.
As well as streaming live, you can join me on Zoom (or Google Meet) and be part of the 'audience' and participate. Like the comments section - but live.
I don't intend to replace this newsletter - I love writing this, and it's something I look forward to every week. But rather to complement and enhance it.
It think it sounds like a stupid idea, but it also FEELS quite exciting...
Now I know I'm being vague... but I'm curious. At first blush, what do you think of this idea?
Thanks for the shoutout!