בראשית / In the beginning

Beginnings are tough. The white space ahead stretches to the horizon. So many possibilities. So few restrictions. (So many clichés.) I could write anything right now, really, because there's no one here yet to read it.

I could begin my blogging career with thievery, and quote the opening of a book, a song or a movie. Or all three.

"I am a sick man. I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man. I believe my liver is diseased."

That's wonderful, Dostoevsky.

"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."

Whoops, that's not right. Let's try again:

"aqua. esh. amulai. ah, haya mulai! sukwanatarrakwasikator! asukwata. eh. wek! A ma ma ma, ma ma ma..."

Much better. That's Shlomo Bar of Habreira Hativ'it babbling at the beginning of an album. Or is he just speaking Arabic? Looks sort of Indo-European actually. Anyway, it's a good beginning. It combines the mystical/oriental with the happy/playful, and puts the listener in a cheery but curious mood. We start with the lone voice, and our interest grows as the instruments slowly come in, the voice grows more melodic, and free improvisation gives way to shape, rhythm, and complementarity. A good beginning does not have to be profound or even well-defined.

And to round things out:

"Thanks, old pal."

The very frum first words of that classic flick, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Because it's always good to begin with some gratitude.

***

OR, I could force myself to write some haikus. That always gets my mind going.


pers'nally he said
i've no need to sell or rent
money's good as spent

towards the bright'ning shore
sailing through the open sea
he lingers

my favorite persian
said today he likes his eggs
well done and glowing

city in slumber
children comb her matted hair
with the sun she wakes

sometimes in the night
trees will turn from daily light
to the silv'ry moon

camels cross the bay
every lovely month of may
pashas drug behind

prostrate or supine
no time to be saturnine
adar, month of joy!

And now that my creative juices have been stirred, I'm going to go to bed. Well, it's late.

But stay tuned for Purim parodies!

B'ezrat Hashem. 
Posted at 5:42 AM / Permalink /