Skip to main content

The nearsighted

When describing the appearance of a librarian in her novel Summer, Edith Wharton suggests that her librarian character has the "appealing look of the nearsighted".  The librarian is talking to a visitor who "was laughing with all of his teeth".
Image result for stephen leacock laughingRelated imageImage result for shortsighted cartoon
It is true that we myopics do from time to time squint and fix our gaze a bit too long on others, especially when looking into their eyes--to the point of staring, perhaps--but what else can you do when it is hard to bring the world into focus and to keep the lines sharp and the colours from running.  We gain a lot of purchase on the present from the look in another's eye, and from its shape and from the shade it might theoretically match on the colour wheel.
Image result for afghan woman cover of national geographicRelated image
And we regret when we are shortsighted, whether nearsighted or not.
Image result for shortsighted political cartoonRelated image
And most unforgivable is seeing what isn't there, not even in the right circumstances!
Image result for mirage cartoonImage result for myopic cartoon
Still one can hope and from time to time glimpse the further shore.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Animals and aliens

When you think of Orwell's Animal Farm , you get stuck on the idea of some being more equal than others.  But world peace, galactic harmony, the celebration of diversity and the active practice of inclusion are all achieved in science fiction by casting minorities in the role of animals and aliens.  Star Trek comes to mind in this regard, where even hippies were disposed of, Federation style, as sensitive dissenting aliens, not forgetting Spock with his pointy ears!  And then there were Wookiees, still man's best friend. Viewing animals as humans--anthropomorphizing--or treating different races as aliens, all of this is shape shifting.  This shape is my shade, there where I used to stand--that's Steely Dan.
Post a Comment
Read more

Of course she's not a true red

As the parent of a "ginger", and having red heads on both sides of the family, and having married into two Irish families, I know first hand that ginger covers the whole spectrum from strawberry blonde (to my way of thinking a classic ginger!), to orange (carrot tops), to a real rust red (what my father in law would call a true red).  When Pat Todkill first set eyes on his granddaughter, he remarked, "Of course, she's not a true red".  For one thing, Emily the Elder lacked freckles on her face and upper body.  For another, she really was and is a strawberry blonde. A further observation.  Even people with the raven blackest hair have rust red lights--caveman red, soot covered ochre if you like.  Woolly mammoth red.  Sometimes it takes just the right light to pick out the smoldering ember, but beard and eyebrows tend to incorporate the tell tale ginger strain, like chili pepper in a spice jar of mixed pepper corns. And, of course, brunette...
Post a Comment
Read more

Things always end in the Summer

In the middle of the second major heatwave of the season, the City cut the wildflowers along the footpath.  I mean they cut everything 30 inches on either side of the pavement, but since the flowers were my friends, all I saw was that they cut the flowers, even though they actually mowed indiscriminately.  And it must have been a chore for the labourer in this heat, so his feet were heavy when he made hay of the prettiest parts of the Summer.  But I can't get to that right now; I'm still reeling from the loss of chicory, and the other pinks and yellows and blues whose names I was just beginning to learn. "Program, get your program", I heard the barker call on my way to the bleachers.  I turned once and caught his eye, and looked at the program in his hand and back into his eyes--all the while his eyes following mine--but then he looked back to his hand, and again into my eyes and he said "You can't tell the player without a card"! Did it matter that ...
Post a Comment
Read more