In Beijing

Big Frank has arrived in Beijing. It's a long haul from SF across the Pacific to China - 12 hours of sitting. Big Frank was pacing the aisles to prevent permanent muscles lockdown, which did not happen. He got into his hotel without a hitch, but getting on the internet was another thing! Facebook - not accessible (need to know some fancy steps to get in; Big Frank is studying up on that). Blogspot - not accessible either, but through a little avoidance Big Frank is posting this. Still - no ability to upload photos so for now - only text. So this is a meager start to keep up blogging while here. It ain't easy.

Trains, clocks, and anxious beauty

[Photo by Big Frank Dickinson taken in the train station at Bayreuth, Germany]

This next photo is a wonderful mixture of trains, clocks, and the anxious look of a beautiful traveler (Big Frank's good friend and fellow Fulbrighter, Mandy). Stafford's poem goes very well with this photo.

Romance
by William Stafford

A woman down our street went away and became
the sound of a train on a rainy night,
lingering like a scarf in the trees.

To Chicago, some said, but all traces
vanished. Years later a card came—
Valparaiso, but faint, and maybe not her.

Now, whenever it rains, like children
we listen at the window. We know some friends
won’t ever come back, really.

But the sound of a train is ours, and Valparaiso.

-- William Stafford

Leaning into Life: Photo and Poem

[Photo by Big Frank Dickinson taken in an Osaka subway station]

Big Frank loves this photo so much. It is so perfect that one thinks that it must have been posed, but it wasn't. Everything outside the colorful advertisement for a museum exhibition is so so gray with one losing himself in it totally, and the other wistfully gazing into the photo. Here's Big Frank's poem this photo inspired:

Two Views
---- Big Frank Dickinson

If the will could dream, would it be in color;
Waiting outside the frame and leaning in . . . ?

Photo and Poem

[Photo by Big Frank Dickinson in Osaka train station]

Big Frank is going to stay with the trains for one more post. The above photo was taken in the Osaka train station, and these are the engines of the famous Japanese bullet trains or shinkansen. They are so beautiful and they can take you away quickly. Below, not exactly a poem, but a wonderful excerpt from Kafka on journeys.

My Destination
---- Franz Kafka

I gave orders for my horse to be brought round from the stable. The servant did not understand me. I myself went to the stable, saddled my horse and mounted. In the distance I heard a bugle call, I asked him what this meant. He knew nothing and had heard nothing. At the gate he stopped me, asking: "Where are you riding to, master?" "I don't know," I said, "only away from here, away from here. Always away from here, only by doing so can I reach my destination." "And so you know your destination?" he asked. "Yes, " I answered, "didn't I say so? Away-From-Here, that is my destination." "You have no provisions with you," he said. "I need none," I said, "the journey is so long that I must die of hunger if I don't get anything on the way. No provisions can save me. For it is fortunately, a truly immense journey."

Photos and Poems

[Photo by Big Frank Dickinson, taken in Warsaw train station]

Big Frank is going through some of his favorite photographs and posting them here. The next few days will see more of this. Along with the photo there will be a poem; sometimes Big Frank's and sometimes not Big Frank's. Today it's not his, but rather one by Fred Chappell. Big Frank is not so sure how close the photo needs to be to the poem, so he'll just leave it loose or close as the connection reveals itself to be.

LXXI DEPOT
by Fred Chappell

look how the arched roof,
the gypsy girl's mouth
is blowing cigar smoke:
train heading out

and now she pokes it
once more between her lips:
here comes the super express

just as far as you can spit
the last little butt:
goodbye caboose

Up in the clouds

Up in the clouds they look much different than from down below. They seem at the same time more insubstantial and more other-worldly (foreign). Here are some examples that Big Frank snapped while up among them.