monkey see, monkey do serves as a personal blog and creative outlet for
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oregon commission for the blind
the oregon commission for the blind has a short poem in braille on the hand rail outside their building cast in bronze by keith jellum in 2008. it reads:
The brash, strutting crows
Impress themselves
Their private joke
Aloft in the wind.
i noted this some time ago, but it’s a riddle for me. why this poem in particular?
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2 comments to “oregon commission for the blind”
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23. February 2010 at 8:13 pm :
OK, here’s my take on that–just because i like mind jogging and somehow, I do love that quote– very zen koan or something. The crows are enjoying themselves with confidence and irregardless of others’ perceptions–only their sensory experience is relevant…could this be something akin to the inner experience of a person who is blind…hmmm (?)
23. February 2010 at 10:56 pm :
Thanks for the comment! Interesting idea. The words brash and strutting keeps tripping me up. I think my waspy upbringing hears those as purely pejorative. Today I hear “their private joke” as a sense of not knowing, that they’re perspective is beyond our understanding. Like we’ll never really understand why they seem so self-impressed.
Maybe that’s more a statement about ourselves though, that we experience some things as self-impressed even if there is no reason to feel that way inherent to the experience. Though that idea I’m not sure was the intention.