Alright, upon re-reading, I suppose one may have to be a bit of Tolkien geek to appreciate these 
Oh, and what do I think about the Hobbit movie? I may do a longer post, but in the meantime I am sending this to Peter Jackson for Christmas 
Tag Archives: lord of the rings
A Sonnet for Smeagol – In Anticipation of the Hobbit Movie Part I
S M E A G O L
My dear Smeagol, indeed, you still are dear
To me, my son, please hear me if you may.
Turn from the dark, from things that crawl in fear
Of light into the earth. Look to the day,
Though it may hurt you for a while. Repent
Of whatever deed it is that chills your heart.
Warmth will return; the daylight is not spent.
My son, see light again. Come take your part
Again in wholesome meals, in wholesome talk
Around the table. I will make amends
If you will but start; just begin the walk
Towards your healing. There are much worse ends
My dear son, than to feel chastising pain.
Smeagol, repent. Come back to life again.
G O L L U M
__________
If you have had a blog a while, it is interesting what things your stats page, which shows what searches led people to your site, will turn up from time to time. Here is a sonnet from 2004. Why republish? For more exposure, yes, but also a blog and its readers are like a river. You never step into the same river twice I have changed one word and removed some capitalization.
__________
2009 Intro
Imagine. Smeagol returns from the river carrying Deagol claiming he has drowned (I do not remember what the books say about when Gollum’s relations know he had murdered him). It soon becomes apparent, however, that all is not well, as Smeagol begins to isolate himself in the dark and transform into Gollum.
Imagine. Perhaps somewhere during this time, his mother speaks to Smeagol, prefiguring Gandalf’s and Frodo’s after him rather more severe, but still merciful approach to Gollum many years later, which is really a remarkable aspect of the books and films, all the more tragic for Gollum’s ultimate refusal to accept the offer.
Admittedly, I have rather spiritualized the plight of Gollum. However, though he is a far greater and subtler craftsman, do not think that Tolkien did not have such dynamics in mind, not allegorically (he steadfastly denied LOTR was allegory) but thematically speaking.
__________
2004 Intro
For a seminary class I took on Tolkien, we were permitted great latitude for our final project. It could be a formal paper or something more in the realm of creative writing. I chose to write poems on the Ringbearers in the the Lord of the Rings. In the Lord of the Rings, not counting the Elder Days, there are four ringbearers. Three we are familiar with because they are are the heroes; Bilbo, Frodo, and Samwise each bear the ring for a time. The saddest “ringbearer,” though, is Smeagol. He does not “bear” the ring out of goodness, as his desire to possess it for himself that rules him. However, in a very real sense he bears the ultimate effects of the ring in ways that the others only begin to feel. The true cost of the ring is borne out tragically in his spirit, mind, and body.
For Bilbo, Frodo, and Samwise, I crafted two sonnets each, one for before they took the burden of the ring and one for after they had endured and its destructive pull. For Smeagol, there was no “after” sonnet, but only the descent into Gollum and death. In the Lord of the Rings, we get whispers that Gollum may still be able to be redeemed. When I first read the books, I so hoped he would be. My sonnet envisions an imaginary speech either given to him by his mother after he first acquired the ring or perhaps a pleading by Gandalf in his firm but benevolent imprisoning of him.
Chocolate and Chili – Melting Like the Ring In Mount Doom
A friend of mine once told me about putting some a little chocolate in chili and I have been doing it ever since. Now I think it is best to use dark chocolate which has less sweetness to it, but I sometimes also use dark milk chocolate because I do not mind just a touch of sweetness to my chili. If you don’t like any sweetness, cocoa works well too. Just don’t overdo any of it.
I made a huge pot of meat chili and a large pot of almost vegan (the milk in the chocolate nixed that) chili this weekend which both turned out pretty decently. In truth I also tried a touch of cinnamon in these which worked out, but I only added a very little bit. To round out flavor picture, I like to add some ground cumin (in addition to that which is in the chili powder), some fresh green chilies (at the begining with the meat), and some black pepper, along with all the traditional stuff like onions and garlic and diced tomatoes, which I like to liquify and use lots and lots of. I was hoping to use soaked dried beans to cut down on the salt, but did not get around to soaking an pre-cooking them in time. So instead I emptied all the cans of black beans and dark red and light kidney beans and pinto beans into a large container and rinsed them several times. It worked out well.
I am sorry all you readers out there could not enjoy the chili, but I hope you enjoy the pictures. I was reminded about the movie version of The Return of the King and Mount Doom as the chocolate floated on top of the bubbling chili like the Ring on the burning lava..it was there for a while and then melted and sank under.
Faith : Hope : Love – The Challenge of Imaging Wholeness – Maine Forest
Several years ago a friend commissioned me to produce a series of pictures on the theme “Faith : Hope : Love,” and I have been struggling, off and on, to do so ever since. This trio of photos is not necessarily my final product, but rather are the results of an exercise I set myself while walking a trail in a Maine forest recently to see how well I could manage capturing those abstract concepts in that specific setting. I was inspired to try this when I took the “Hope” shot of the the little tree “looking up” at its grown siblings behind it.
I have thought a lot about this assignment, about why it has proven so difficult. Besides the difficulty of trying to image any abstract concepts in ways that are not too obvious or cheesy, I think that it is especially hard to picture concepts that incorporate aspects of wholeness or goodness. And this is a problem not just in the visual arts, but in all sorts of art. It can be hard to depict holiness or goodness in ways that are not either trite or sentimental or cheesy. The recent Lord of the Rings movie trilogy is only one case in point, because as much as that series did well in visualizing Middle Earth, in my opinion it was rather less successful in, say, imaging the holiness or ethereal nature of the Eleves (though, admittedly, the goodness and earthiness of the Shire was done rather splendidly).
The problem may, indeed, be in the fallen nature of things as they are themselves, in which we cannot readily conceive of interesting and engaging stories which do not involve conflict/transgression and reconciliation/redemption or what happens when the conflict/transgression is all there is.
Photographically, it is far easier for me to shoot a piece of urban decay to picture a concept such as dissipation or ruin. And to be honest, personally, it has been long been easier for me to picture brokenness over wholeness as a reflection of my own self, save for the area in the photographing of people which I do with intermittent joy, which you do not see a lot of on this blog, in any case. Perhaps that reality may be changing a little and perhaps I will ultimately need to incorporate people into my final product of the “Faith : Hope : Love” series.
However, and if and when it turns out, I will certainly keep you posted
“Under the Fading Trees”
-the setting of the Evenstar.
The Shields of Lothlorien
Sonnets for Bilbo
Gandalf to Bilbo After the Council of Elrond
My dear Bilbo, you know it must be so;
The burden has moved on. It came to you
For one purpose alone, for him to go,
Full-knowing the darkness he must walk through,
To cast it down into the Cracks of Doom.
For you it was a treasure far too great.
And, taken once again, it would consume
You from within. Even now it still waits,
Subdued within these holy walls, to rise
Again and chain the neck on which it hangs,
And drag it to the dark where its lord lies.
Your task must be to stay, not hear the clang
Of blades, yet still bear the pangs of fear,
To plead the grace of Elbereth be near.
Elrond to Bilbo Upon Leaving for the Grey Havens
Dear, faithful tenant of my homely house,
Who melds the joys of Shire and Elven-home,
The time has come. The secret power aroused
Through you was raised ever to be cast down.
But its failing also begins the end
Of all things, foul and fair, wrought through the Rings
Of Power. Even this home I made to blend
The good of Middle Earth with holy things
Must pass. So, Ringfinder, the time has come
To taste new joys for which we long have ached.
The homely joys we leave, as such, are done,
But I perceive Illuvatar shall take
Up each reflected image of his face
And make anew a joyous, homely place.
Smeagol Had a Mother
Imagine. Smeagol returns from the river carrying Deagol claiming he has drowned (I do not remember what the books say about when Gollum’s relations know he has mudered him). It soon becomes apparent, however, that all is not well, as Smeagol begins isolate himself in the dark and transform into Gollum.
Imagine. Perhaps somewhere during this time, his mother speaks to Smeagol thusly, prefiguring Gandalf’s, and Frodo’s after him, rather more severe, but still mericful approach to Gollum many years later, which is really a remarkable aspect of the books and films, all the more tragic for Gollum’s ultimate refusal to accept the offer.
Admittedly, I have rather spiritualized the plight of Gollum. However, though he is a far greater and subtler craftsman, do not think that Tolkien did not have such dynamics in mind, not allegorically (he steadfastly denied LOTR was allegory) but thematically.
S M E A G O L
My dear Smeagol, indeed, you still are dear
To me, my son, please hear me if you may.
Turn from the dark, from things that crawl in fear
Of light into the earth. Look to the day,
Though it may hurt you for a while. Repent
Of whatever deed it is that chills your heart.
Warmth will return; the daylight is not spent.
My son, see light again. Come take your part
Again in wholesome meals, in wholesome talk
Around the table. I will make amends
If you will but start; just begin the walk
Towards your healing. There are much worse ends
My dear son, than to feel chastising pain.
Smeagol, repent. Come back to love again.
G O L L U M
Sonnets for Frodo
It has been a long while since I have felt inspired to write anything new, which saddens me. The recent photos here do take some inspiration and creativity, yet that work is largely done by the creators (small and capital “C”) of my photographic subjects, and I, largely, merely capture and reflect their work.
I am serious when I label my photo subject category on this blog “Art Thief,” because a great deal of thievery is involved In truth, on a fundamental level, all art and creativity is a sort of thievery or borrowing or, in Tolkien’s word, a sub-creation under God’s creation, with even our harmful creations a mere marring and twisting of God’s intitial creation of the world as good.
At any rate, having not written for a while, I decided to dust off my Lord of the Rings ringbearer sonnets for another go round on the new Dassler Effect. All of these need work, but I am happy-ish with this pair of imagined speeches to Frodo at key points in the the saga, which I have just been tinkering with.
Bilbo to Frodo After the Council of Elrond
My dear Frodo, I did not ever dream
To be my heir would mean so dark a road.
But adventures never come as it seems
They ought, only at our bidding. A load
Unsought will seldom await our choosing.
But with the load the Unseen Giver also gives
Graces and beauty to soothe the losing
Of homely things. So, take now as you leave
Fair mithril for without, and for within
Fair memories of sunlit days and friends,
Of glorious Elder Days, of Elves and Men
In darkness fighting for a brighter end.
Despair not. If night falls, the stars stills wheel.
Whisper still, “A Elbereth Gilthoniel! “
Galadriel to Bilbo Upon the Road to the Grey Havens
Dear Elf-friend well met here under these trees
That bloom in part because of sorrow borne
By you, and from the love and toil of he
Who, gentle, bore you up, who soon will mourn
That you will not savor the fruits of joy
Which bloom in field and hearth since Elven-home
Has stretched to bless the Shire. For pain alloys
Each joy you feel, vicariously alone.
But, know, your pain has brought you close to me.
You feel the holy ache we feel who knew
Undying light beyond the Sundering Seas.
You will be healed. The shoot of Melkor’s fall
Will die, and Iluvatar be All in All.
Entish, or is it Huorn-ish?
