The mysterious invitation

From the Satyr's day's mailbox on yet another deep-freeze morning in TulseyTown, a bit of grist for the mill

… it's sunny, windy and 41º in Rimini, Italy where they're celebrating the birthday of Federico Fellini. The film genius was born there 104 years ago in 1920. It's also the birthday of Edward Hirsch. The poet turns 74 years of age today, born in 1950 Chicago.

Joyce Vance has advanced a way to get United States v. Donald J. Trump televised even if the courts don't want it.

Driving the wedge of racism into the majority coalition seems to be a desperate attempt to stop ordinary Americans from taking back control of the country. – Heather Cox Richardson

It is time to replace the genetic blueprint idea in light of contemporary developmental biology...Our bodies are material iterations of a human engaged in the processes of being. – Richard O Prum (adapted)

Regarding the Five Remembrances of Buddha, there’s no need to overthink it. The Grim Reaper does not have to be your screensaver. But, you know, have coffee with the guy every now and then. Know that death is built into our program. That way, you won’t waste so much of your life trying to outsmart him. – Tina Lear

[Some people seem to think] writing is something you just decide to do one day and didn’t practice and study and devote your days to for decades. I want to laugh and say, “I am not the person to ask. I have no strategy. No five-step plan for success. I am lovesick [with writing]. I am a fool [with my pen]. I follow my obsessions.” – Sophie Strand (adapted).

I'm Going to Start Living Like a Mystic

I shall begin scouring the sky for signs

as if my whole future were constellated upon it.

I will walk home alone with the deep alone,

a disciple of shadows, in praise of the mysteries. – Edward Hirsch, from Lay Back the Darkness. Knopf, 2003.

The more you sense the rareness and value of your own life, the more you realize that how you use it, how you manifest it, is all your responsibility. We face such a big task, so naturally we sit down for a while. – Kōbun Otogawa