youth – John Sapiro

Fern Hill

May 4, 2022Posted in poetryTagged fun, happy, inspiration, life, literature, memories, music, philosophy, photography, poems, poetry, psychology, youth2 Comments

photograph by Zachary Nelson via Unsplash

Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
Trail with daisies and barley
Down the rivers of the windfall light.

And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
In the sun that is young once only,
Time let me play and be
Golden in the mercy of his means…

— Dylan Thomas

I Don’t Wanna Know

“To the couple that were kissing at the Greyhound Bus Station, July, 1981”

October 17, 2021Posted in poetryTagged life, literature, memories, music, photography, photos, poem, poems, poetry, relationships, vintage, writing, youthLeave a comment

Charles O’Rear, “Train passengers bound for St. Louis, Missouri, board a chartered bus…” (1974)

To the couple that were kissing at the Greyhound Bus Station, July, 1981

You probably don’t remember me.

I was standing next to you waiting.

I was the guy with the guitar and the paperback copy of “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”.

You’re in your sixties now.

You’ve been married for 40 years.

It doesn’t seem possible

Because the sun is still reflecting off the luggage compartment door

And the driver is still getting impatient

And her blonde hair is still glistening in the late afternoon haze

And I knew I was going to be late.

— J.S.

Time has but half succeeded in his theft— Thyself removed, thy power to soothe me left.

May 10, 2020Posted in Mother's DayTagged family, inspiration, literature, love, memories, mom, mother, Mother’s Day, music, photography, poems, poetry, youthLeave a comment

Frances S. Allen, “The difficult step” (ca. 1900)

OH that those lips had language! Life has passed
With me but roughly since I heard thee last.
Those lips are thine—thy own sweet smile I see,
The same that oft in childhood solaced me;
Voice only fails, else how distinct they say,
‘Grieve not, my child, chase all thy fears away!’

— William Cowper, “On the Receipt of My Mother’s Picture out of Norfolk”

Everything I Own

Teenage Angst ca. 1978

May 3, 2020May 3, 2020Posted in digital artTagged animation, digital art, edit, GIF, Google Street View, life, mashup, music, photocomposition, photography, photoshop, psychology, youthLeave a comment

cf. digitally edited, composited and sequenced Google Street View panoramic images

Poor, Poor Pitiful Me

Endymion

April 6, 2020September 28, 2020Posted in poetryTagged GIF, literature, memories, music, photography, photoshop, poems, poetry, vintage, youthLeave a comment

cf. Unknown, “Amateur Snapshot Album” (1890–92)

Many and many a verse I hope to write,
Before the daisies, vermeil rimm’d and white,
Hide in deep herbage; and ere yet the bees
Hum about globes of clover and sweet peas,
I must be near the middle of my story.
O may no wintry season, bare and hoary,
See it half finish’d: but let Autumn bold,
With universal tinge of sober gold,
Be all about me when I make an end.
And now, at once adventuresome, I send
My herald thought into a wilderness:
There let its trumpet blow, and quickly dress
My uncertain path with green, that I may speed
Easily onward, thorough flowers and weed.

— Keats, Endymion

Carefree Highway

Meatloaf Sapiro

June 11, 2019June 11, 2019Posted in foodTagged cooking, cuisine, family, food, home, meals, memories, mother, Recipes, retro, youthLeave a comment

This was my Mom’s recipe from the 60’s as best as I can remember it.

Ingredients:

1. ground beef
2. diced onions
3. diced green peppers
4. eggs
5. seasoned bread crumbs
6. garlic powder
7. ketchup

Serve with mashed potatoes and peas.

What adults never tell you (about growing old)

June 8, 2019September 29, 2020Posted in poetryTagged aging, inspiration, life, memories, music, philosophy, photography, poem, poems, poetry, psychology, Thoughts, writing, youth1 Comment

LIFE, 1967

What adults never tell you (about growing old)

I’m still there

— J.S.

The Watch Man

a portrait of the artist as a young man

May 21, 2019September 29, 2020Posted in booksTagged art, collage, depression, digital art, fiction, identity, literature, memories, music, photography, photoshop, psychology, youthLeave a comment

cf. photograph by guvo59 via Pixabay (edit) and video by McZerrill via Pixabay (edited collage)

The carriage swerved from the tramtrack to the smoother road past Watery lane. Mr Bloom at gaze saw a lithe young man, clad in mourning, a wide hat.

—There’s a friend of yours gone by, Dedalus, he said.

—Who is that?

—Your son and heir.

—Where is he? Mr Dedalus said, stretching over across.

The carriage, passing the open drains and mounds of rippedup roadway before the tenement houses, lurched round the corner and, swerving back to the tramtrack, rolled on noisily with chattering wheels. Mr Dedalus fell back, saying:

—Was that Mulligan cad with him? His fidus Achates!

—No, Mr Bloom said. He was alone…

Joyce, Ulysses

Way To Blue

Time Regained (Again)

November 7, 2017November 7, 2017Posted in poetryTagged aging, childhood, literature, memories, music, photography, poems, poetry, remembering, time, youthLeave a comment

Léonard Misonne, “By The Mill” (ca. 1905)

And Deering’s Woods are fresh and fair,
And with joy that is almost pain
My heart goes back to wander there,
And among the dreams of the days that were,
I find my lost youth again.

—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “My Lost Youth” (excerpt)

“Yesterday Once More” – Carpenters

“Nay, if I mistake not, unity itself divided by zero equals infinity.”

October 6, 2017October 6, 2017Posted in photographyTagged books, childhood, growing up, identity, individuality, inspiration, life, music, philosophy, psychology, quotes, self-confidence, youthLeave a comment

Jack Corn, “The Cool Morning Air Condenses a Boy’s Breath as He Walks Along a Coal Car on His Way to School…” (1974)

“Nay, if I mistake not, unity itself divided by zero equals infinity.”

—Thomas Carlyle

“Flaming Youth” by Kiss

“I dwell in a lonely house I know…”

July 2, 2017September 18, 2017Posted in photographyTagged growing up, identity, individuality, landscape, literature, loneliness, music, photography, poems, poetry, psychology, quotes, teenage angst, youthLeave a comment

John Dillwyn Llewelyn, The Upper Fall (1853–56)

I dwell in a lonely house I know
That vanished many a summer ago,
And left no trace but the cellar walls,
And a cellar in which the daylight falls,
And the purple-stemmed wild raspberries grow…

–Robert Frost, Ghost House

The Chimaera

June 29, 2017January 16, 2018Posted in booksTagged 1970s, bicycle, childhood, fiction, inspiration, life, literature, music, myths, Nathaniel Hawthorne, photography, school, Stories, youthLeave a comment

David Falconer, “School Children…” (1974)

And Bellerophon put his faith in the child, who had seen the image of Pegasus in the water, and in the maiden, who had heard him neigh so melodiously, rather than in the middle-aged clown, who believed only in cart-horses, or in the old man who had forgotten the beautiful things of his youth…

—Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Chimaera

You better believe it
You know my dream’s still alive
You can love it or leave it
But I’m never gonna be 35…

Tuesday: Beef Macaroni Casserole

June 23, 2017January 16, 2018Posted in parodyTagged books, cafeteria, cooking, education, fashion, food, lunch, music, photography, Recipes, satire, school, vintage, youthLeave a comment

Esther Bubley, “Student cafeteria…” (1943)

Marion Louise Cronan, “The School Lunch” (1962)

“Buried Flash Drive”

June 11, 2017January 16, 2018Posted in poetryTagged 1970s, aging, memories, music, nostalgia, photography, poems, school, youthLeave a comment

David Rees, “Students in the Courtyard of Senior High School…” (1974)

Buried Flash Drive

Can you possibly imagine

that morning sun

so bright and

so still,

the grandeur that was

mine?

–J.S.

“Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”

May 21, 2017May 21, 2017Posted in poetryTagged books, childhood, education, literature, music, photography, photos, poems, school, school bus, student, vintage, youthLeave a comment

State Archives of North Carolina, “…Duplin County Schools” (ca.1949)

I saw them and I knew them all. And yet
Dauntless the slug-horn to my lips I set,
And blew “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came.”

—Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”

“School Day” by Chuck Berry

“He sees days slipping from him that were the best for what they were.”

April 22, 2017January 15, 2018Posted in poetryTagged books, carpe diem, college, inspiration, life, literature, memories, music, photography, poems, school, vintage, youthLeave a comment

Northeastern University Bulletin, 1976-77

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away.
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

–Robert Frost, October

Life, so they say, is but a game
And they let it slip away…

Kinderszenen

April 10, 2017April 10, 2017Posted in poetryTagged after school, childhood, memories, music, photography, poem, poems, poetry, record player, retro, The Monkees, vintage, vinyl records, youthLeave a comment

Anna Curtis Chandler & Irene F. Cypher, “Audio-Visual Techniques For Enrichment Of The Curriculum” (1948)

Kinderszenen

after school

I finished my Yodel and the telephone rang

unable to contain my excitement

I ran through backyards

until I reached her house

she lowered the tone arm

and I fell in love

–J.S.

Last Train To Clarksville by The Monkees

“For him, however, it meant freedom finally won, and by now his heart no longer fluttered at the thought.”

March 21, 2017January 15, 2018Posted in booksTagged childhood, finding yourself, freedom, growing up, identity, inspiration, leaving home, literature, music, people, photos, quotes, summer, youthLeave a comment

Tom Hubbard, August Brings the “D’aug Days” to Fountain Square… (1973)

And that was the end of the attempt by the flatlands to reclaim Hans Castorp. The young man admitted quite openly to himself that such total failure, which he had seen coming, was of decisive importance for his relationship to the people down there. For the flatlands it meant a final shrug, the abandonment of any claim; for him, however, it meant freedom finally won, and by now his heart no longer fluttered at the thought.

–Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain

I’m the same boy I used to be

February 2, 2017January 15, 2018Posted in musicTagged aging, first love, GIF, growing old, lost love, memories, memory, music, TV, video, vintage, woman, youthLeave a comment

Newport Cigarette Commercial

To the couple that were kissing at the Greyhound Bus Station, July, 1981

December 1, 2016January 15, 2018Posted in poetryTagged life, literature, memories, music, photography, photos, poem, poems, poetry, relationships, vintage, writing, youthLeave a comment

Charles O’Rear, “Train passengers bound for St. Louis, Missouri, board a chartered bus…” (1974)

To the couple that were kissing at the Greyhound Bus Station, July, 1981

You probably don’t remember me.

I was standing next to you waiting.

I was the guy with the guitar and the paperback copy of “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”.

You’re in your late fifties or early sixties now.

You’ve been married for 35 years.

It doesn’t seem possible

Because the sun is still reflecting off the luggage compartment door

And the driver is still getting impatient

And her blonde hair is still glistening in the late afternoon haze

And I knew I was going to be late.

–J.S.

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