The long, healing reach of the Muse. . .

In Freya's mailbox this soon-to-be hot Summer day in Okieland with power and a/c restored after “the great wind of 2023.”

Engaging in an art project—from painting and dancing to expressive writing, architecture, and more—for as little as 45 minutes reduces the stress hormone cortisol, no matter your skill level, and just one art experience per month can extend your life by 10 years. – Susan Magsamen (with Ivy Ross), Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us.

Today is the 134th anniversary of Anna Akhmatova. Critically acclaimed among the greatest Russian poets, she was born in 1889 near the Black Sea port of Odessa in Ukraine.

It’s also the birth date of mathematician and logician Alan Mathison Turing. The founder of what became our computers, and AI visionary, was born in 1912 London, England

And the author of the Gettysburg classic “The Killer Angels,” Michael Shaara was born today. The novelist and short-story writer was born in 1928 Jersey City, New Jersey. He died in 1988.

The Muse

When in the night I await her coming,

My life seems stopped. I ask myself: What

Are tributes, freedom, or youth compared

To this treasured friend holding a flute?

Look, she’s coming! She throws off her veil

And watches me, steady and long. I say:

“Was it you who dictated to Dante the pages

Of Hell?” And she answers: “I am the one.”

Like a White Stone

The ancient gods changed men to things, but left them
A consciousness that smoldered endlessly,
That splendid sorrows might endure forever.
And you are changed into a memory.

– Anna Akhmatova