Take Me Out Of This Dull World

“Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,
For I would ride with you upon the wind,
Run on the top of the dishevelled tide,
And dance upon the mountains like a flame.”
William Butler Yeats, The Land of Heart’s Desire

Mural in back of Sandwich Hag, The Cedars, Dallas, Texas

Bristlecone

“There is a tree in California, a Great Basin bristlecone pine that was found, after an intensive ring count, to be five thousand and sixty-five years old.

Even to me, that pine seems old. In recent years, whenever I have despaired of my condition and needed to feel a bit more mortal and ordinary, I think of that tree in California. It has been alive since the Pharaohs. It has been alive since the found of Troy. Since the start of the Bronze Age. Since the start of yoga. Since mammoths.

And it has stayed there, calmly in its spot, growing slowly, producing leaves, losing leaves, producing more, as those mammoths became extinct,… the tree had always been the tree.”

Matt Haig, How to Stop Time

Mural outside of Sandwich Hag, The Cedars, Dallas, Texas

 

A Physical Book is Like a Shark

“I do not believe that all books will or should migrate onto screens: as Douglas Adams once pointed out to me, more than 20 years before the Kindle showed up, a physical book is like a shark. Sharks are old: there were sharks in the ocean before the dinosaurs. And the reason there are still sharks around is that sharks are better at being sharks than anything else is. Physical books are tough, hard to destroy, bath-resistant, solar-operated, feel good in your hand: they are good at being books, and there wil always be a place for them.”
Neil Gaiman

Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas

To See is To Devour

“Curiosity is gluttony. To see is to devour.”
Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas

I Lay My Vengeance Upon Thee

“Well, there’s this passage I’ve got memorized that sort of fits this occasion. Ezekiel 25:17. The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of the evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and goodwill, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper, and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee!”

—-Pulp Fiction

Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas

There Are Gooseberries

“Country life has its advantages,’ he used to say. ‘You sit on the veranda drinking tea and your ducklings swim on the pond, and everything smells good. . . and there are gooseberries.”
Anton Chekhov, Gooseberries

Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas

 

Music Used to Come Out of Those Things

“The only truth is music.”
Jack Kerouac

Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas

Twiggy Boop

Being young isn’t about age, it’s about being a free spirit. You can meet someone of 20 who’s boring and old, or you can meet someone of 70 who’s youthful and exciting. I met Fred Astaire when he was 72 and I was 21, and I fell in love with him. He certainly was a free spirit.

—-Twiggy

Mural by Preston Pannek, Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas

Preston Pannek

Whatever Passes Through My Head

“I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration.”
Frida Kahlo

Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas

Make the World A Better Looking Place

“Some people become cops because they want to make the world a better place. Some people become vandals because they want to make the world a better looking place.”
Banksy, Wall and Piece

Fabrication Yard, Dallas, Texas

The odor of drying alkyd is overpowering. Almost as strong as the smell of burning weed.