warnie lewis | the furniture of heaven

I was glad to finish breakfast and get out on the road. Sitting on a well, I found myself looking at a stone posted gate into a field, with some dim stirring in my mind of having looked at a very similar gate when I was a small boy at some seaside place, and enjoying its unfamiliarity. It suddenly occurred to me that the warning, "unless ye are like little children" etc., may not refer to one's moral state at all, but may mean that heaven is only for those who retain something of, or at worst the remembrance of, a child's infinite delight in ordinary things in the days when the whole world was a magical place. I can imagine for instance that wallflowers and flowering currants, as they were when I first became conscious of them - when the former grew knee high, and the latter was a large tree - may very well be part of the furniture of heaven, and produce the same indescribable delight.

Diary of Warren Lewis,
brother of C.S. Lewis
Wednesday 21st September, 1949

luci shaw | the wind blows wherever it pleases

How secretly the bones move
under the skin
and the veins thread their way
through their forests, the trees
of bones, the mosses of cells,
the muscle vines.
How privately the ears
tune themselves to music heard
only in the echoing cave of the head.
And the tongue in its grotto tests
the bitterness of unripe fruit, and wine,
the mouth feel of honey
in the comb. How cunningly our shadows
follow us as we walk.
And our breath, how it moves in
and out without great thought.
Even rain, which needs no summons from us
but flows, a gift from heaven,
as the grasses rise greenly, shivering.
Just so, beauty besieges us
unannounced, invading us, saving our souls.
So it is with the spirit.

stephen adly giurgis | the familiar dance

the familiar dance: avoidance, procrastination. struggle, desperation, disgust, panic, prayer -- writing.

stephen adly giurgis
facebook, thursday july 19, 2012

clive "staples" lewis: the untold story

One is appalled at the dearth of attention afforded Clive Staples Lewis's seminal role in the popularization of gospel music. Even in musicological circles, little mention is made of "Grandpops" Staples, clear proof that even in the latter half of the 20th century the colour of a man's skin was still reason enough to have him and an essential aspect of his life's work excised from at least two sets of history books.  (C.S. can be clearly heard on this early Staples recording of Uncloudy Day, singing low harmony and playing tremelo guitar.) 

not pictured: Clive Staples Lewis

One's mind boggles at the fact that so-called Lewis "scholars" still subscribe to the "Jack is dead" theory, conflating the November 22nd death of John F. Kennedy and the release of the Beatles' second record with Clive's decision to go on the road with Roebuck, Cleotha, Pervis and Mavis, late in 1963. Coming at the end of a particularly prolific year in the lives of these artists, the tour was in support of the recently recorded albums Swing Low, Hammer and Nails, The 25th Day of December, Letters To Malcolm, and The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature, all of which were released on the Riverside label over the course of the following year (1964). Even the most definitive Lewis biographies make no mention of "Jack" scribbling away on his manuscripts for Screwtape Proposes A Toast  or Of Other Worlds (published under the pseudonym "Walter Hooper") backstage between sets at the Apollo, or during sessions at Checker Records.  

not pictured: Clive Staples Lewis

It is no coincidence that Lewis's literary output dwindled once the Staples crossed over into the mainstream with their recordings for Epic and Stax Records in 1967/68: the escalating pressures of television broadcasts and public performances, and the fact that the group was increasing in demand as session musicians with high-profile acts like Booker T & The MG's, The Band, Ike & Tina Turner increasingly eclipsed the low-paid literary efforts of Lewis's youth. 

not pictured: Clive Staples Lewis

His last known studio work was on Mavis Staples' 2010 recording You Are Not Alone, to which Clive contributed celeste, mellotron, organ, piano, tambourine, vibraphone, Wurlitzer organ and background vocals, credited as Patrick Sansone - a clear reference to Elwin Ransom, Lewis's literary alter-ego. Clive "Staples" Lewis was 111.

by Ronald K. Reed, B.A. (General Studies) photo credit: Andrea Loewen

c.s. lewis | serious pleasures

I quite agree with what you say about buying books, and love all the planning and scheming beforehand, and if they come by post, finding the neat little parcel waiting for you on the hall table and rushing upstairs to open it in the privacy of your own room. Some people - my father for instance - laugh at us for being so serious over our pleasures, but I think a thing can't be properly enjoyed unless you take it in earnest, don't you?

C.S. Lewis,
letter to Arthur Greeves,
March 7, 1916