Iceland

Lupinus nootkatensis, Alaskan lupine

the ornamental word

the figure, the accessory form

or colour or reference

is rarely content to die to thought

precisely at the right moment

but will inevitably linger

stirring a long brain-wave behind it

of quite alien associations

                                          — Walter Pater

I spun the mildewed pillow to the least gruesome corner, slept there

the meditative poet, sheltering self

from the agitations of the outward world

is in reality only clearing the scene

for the great exhibitions of emotion

                                                       — Ibid.

miles of lupine in lava

of dandelion

damp rock draped with pale brown moss

green moss

runners of cream flower

tufts of easter pink

rock sculpture

more cairns than a traveler needs

an Arctic Kona

Taraxacum offinale, dandelion

The more you see the country

the more you do not wonder why they shut the door.

                                                                               — Gertrude Stein

windows by Mondrian

quadrangled glass in thick, extruded frames

houses white with bright roofs

or houses bright

sheathed in corrugated iron

or concrete mixed with gray sand

I have often noticed how easy it is to have cement around because everywhere there are rocks & so everywhere if you have the necessary building & equipment you have cement. And in the country, it looks strange, it makes it look like dryness or like snow, like Russia or like sand, like a ruin or like a fog, oh dear some people like to live & look at it & some must, or dear, stop when they see it, oh dear.

                               — Ibid.

life is brutish

& short

improvement is illusory

though grand

love is unforeseen

& unattainable

                      & real

fishes engraved on coins

Reykjavik