Welcome to Sotto Voce;
"matin" by alain daussin
Why this image? We change this Splash page weekly to keep articles, new poetry and other news updated, and at that time, we sometimes change the image here as well. We have reached the long, hot, sultry days of Summer and the Eastern seaboard feels as though it had been coated with a heavy wet wool blanket. It is humid, languid, and in another context, perhaps it could even be considered sublime. But as we rush about going to and fro interviews, meeting business friends and others, and of course, just getting out to see the world and lately, visit the old haunts to be sure that neither they nor we have forgotten our roots, the weather leaves us ragged, hot, wrinkled, slumped. Still, I always feel a great sense of hope this time of year. It is the time of year when women are, i believe, at our most beautiful. We emerge in our summer dresses, our long legs slightly burnished (but not too much), our impossible but lovely strappy shoes on, our newly bobbed hair that looks as if it didnt' care, a pink glow and a flush to our cheek and the promise of hope. Yes, it can be hard to slog through such weather, but we do it and we do with a grace and an ease that were we to see ourselves, we would be, i think, most pleasantly surprised. I post a Daussin picture here, though it could easily be one of myself ~ the same pose, same aspect, same mood and tone. Perhaps next week, i'll use myself as the model. For now, enjoy the moment and know for as heavy as it may feel, there is always lightness just around the corner. Summer brings hope ~ I am a firm believer. Life is, if nothing, fleeing, and to always anticipate the next wrong thing is a mistake; it will come all by itself and your worrying or not worrying about it will not change a thing. All you can do is feel the joy in this moment.
Most exciting this month: video poetry with sound and vision so check it out. Instructions for download are there, though technically you should just be able to click and it will download on its own. I hope you enjoy this; i'm slowly adding more as i go along, and yes, i know i look doofy, but hey...
There is so much here that rather than try again to give you some introduction, it's better you explore. Whatever you are looking for, i do hope that you find it here at Tant Mieux or one of our sister sites which you can easily get to from our Links sections. More, you can Google my name and find various and sundry pieces either by me or about me. There are duplicates of course, but my goal is to provide top-level content in every area for which i write. To that end, Welcome again and enjoy browsing our sections - Poetry, Images, Articles, Book and Literary Criticism, Film Comment and Critique, Cultural Comment, Generational Articles and GenX Work, Prose and Original Fiction, Creative NonFiction, Geek Work and Audio Blogging.
New this week - a big focus on Bob Dylan with, for now, two articles to check out - Don't Look Back (footage of the '65 tour)and, how could we not do that without also doing Eat the Document (the '66 tour) as well as our article about the film, Masked & Anonymous starring Bob Dylan, as Jack Fate, all available at www.tantmieux.squarespace.com/
We're happy to report that all pieces have already been picked up by the best Dylan sites out there and if you would like to link, please do - just drop us a line and let us know. Dylan remains one of the most influential musicians/poets of our time, so if you are asking me Why now, my answer is Why not now?
Summer is here full on, with lazy days and the sultry humid Eastern seaboard where the air is still as a wet blanket and our shirt backs wetten with the heat and yet, the future looks bright to me. Summer brings a renewed sense of hope. The feeling that anything is possible, and though perhaps this is illustory, a feeling that we are in control of our own destiny. I pray this much is true.
Be sure to join us later this year for reportage from Paris. If you're looking for work from Paris now, visit either France Poems and Chants here or Tant Mieux Paris. New poems that we particularly like in this moment are The Beginning and another about Pressigny and love and all of the great human emotions: Three O Clock in the Afternoon Pressigny, www.tantmieux.squarespace.com in our France Poems & Chants section or at www.tantmieuxparis.blogspot.com/
Thanks again to all of you for making us a success- and welcome again to the Tant Mieux Project.
Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti, June 2005
June, 2005
