jj jackman the character of love - index
5/15-31/2006 the character of love fell to the floor i had not time all day to pick it up (i sketched it briefly from the tattoo on her blade) before it fell i tried an hour for its sound i looked in sixteen strokes to no avail seventeen took sev'ral minutes more as i did space a glance now and again the character of love did glare at me curved upward on its northwest quadrant point the upper sheet on post-it note pad page i hoped to get some time today to find it nestled midst the words with lesser marks and draw it in a proper way with squid ink and rice paper press release my xiao bi (shau bee) in the space of this small square so lightly and the lines are thin bear down to make the big thick feet i can't do everything right now with long and lank shortcomings i can't* centrate upon the gist it's unconditional i only dart a semi glance right now at lines of like the character of love the character of love is tried and fired in brilliant light i shall decode, i shall untwine the fiber of your essence the nature of your spirit is contained within the kingdom or it's not contained at all the character of love stayed put for several days and hours many walked right by or near it noone seemed at all to notice ev'ry morning i was glad to see it resting ... resting there or slightly tilted just a tad but still in these short days i understood it not, much more and happy it was there i did not bother quite at all to probe its simple sound... wo aye ni wo aye aye aye ni** ignoring this the character seemed just to lend me strength until the character was gone, and missing from its place the character was picked straight up and thrown right in the trash! the character of love is not, no not in ardent longing nor in the many gifts we give to show our great affection nor in the shades of meaning that obsure the one we love nor in the forms aberrant that are senseless and no more that have no backbone of their own most times this we can see (like unsupported leaves without a cardboard spine!) but rather like the ancient words of Spenser the character of love is this: "love is lord of truth and loyalty"*** a character that represents this worth gives power to this artsy little sign virtue has so long since left our presence English "love", the word, has losts its core as leb in Hebrew spoke of this deep pith (oh picture graph please tell us so much more! and haunt us of this thing that we neglect!) i shuffled through the baskets in mad haste and looked intensely for my four day friend some blue ink on a yellow paper sheet! to think that this was all it was to me and in the absence of my heart in searching and in the absence of my might in living and in the absence of my mind in helping and in the absence of my soul in caring i knew deep down this loss was so much more i shuddered at this largest garbage barrel in effort made to close the biggest bag i saw myself the king of crumpled rubbish surrounded by my smelly folded subjects i really didn't have the thrust within and put the bag aside for time, for time, wo ai ni**** for time, for time, wo ai ni**** for time that could not come the character of love requires all that one can give the character of love requires all that one can be! and in the absence of my heart in searching and in the absence of my might in living and in the absence of my mind in helping and in the absence of my soul in caring i knew deep down this loss was so much more i can't do everything right now with long and lank shortcomings i can not focus on the gist though settled for all time i only dart a semi glance right now at lines of like the character of love the character of love is tried and fired in brilliant light i shall decode, i shall untwine the fiber of your essence the nature of your spirit is contained within the kingdom or it's not contained at all*pronounced "kahnt" ** chinese - i love you i love love love you pronounced "woe eye knee" "woe eye eye eye knee" ***16 Ty sa alskade Gud varlden, att han utgav sin enfodde Son, pa det att var och en som tror pa honom skall icke forgas, utan hava evigt liv. Johannes 3:16 (Svenska 1917) **** chinese - i love you pronounced "woe eye knee" (poem inspired by a tattoo by Chuck Chan)