Pages

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

UU Church: theme of Story: Kunitz, Shihab-Nye, Service for Nov. 10+ metaphor

Stanley Kunitz: The Portrait
Naomi Shihab-Nye: My Father and the Fig Tree
Sifter
Remembered
Robert Service: The Quitter

How do we remember? What metaphors do we choose to live our lives?
If "I" is an Other, and people use metaphor every 10 to 25 words, as James Geary suggests reports, indeed, our idea that we see the world "directly" is indeed an illusion.

Is the "deepest cabinet" a metaphor in the Kunitz poem?
What happens when a photograph is ripped in silence?
What emotions make our "cheeks burn"?

How different from Shihab-Nye's memory of her father "weaving folktales like vivid little scarves."They always involved a figtree and if there weren't one, he'd add it in. What are the objects to which we attach such importance, because they help us personalize the world?
What kitchen implement would you choose to be?
What would you give to people to be remembered?

How different the "hell-for-breakfast" and sore-as-a-boil world the quitter can't take anymore -- how do you relate to the advice? it’s dead easy to die,
It’s the keeping-on-living that’s hard. What metaphor would you use?

No comments: