Have you ever worn a brooch that is musical?

Have you ever worn a bangle that is part of a dense tropical tree trunk?

Have you stopped wearing sunglasses that cover more than half your face?

Bright nights. Queer likes.

Sometimes all you need is a half picture to know the fabric of reality. Perception matters, more so than reality, because often I find the former to last longer before reality – and only if it comes – knocks. The material of material things is a visual sentiment. Objects are subjective to the heart. The heart is only (and again) an image after all, for how much can it actually feel?

But it is the heart, that cannot be replaced. Perception or reality.

I’ll end today’s Objects with a man who went back to what he rejected for most of his life.

It was Baltimore who, two years before this photograph was taken, destroyed his trainer’s arm. He here looks over his shoulder.

It is a remarkable feat in training to have brought this unintelligent and diversified group into concerted action.

So thrilled are we by this book; the captions are severely funny, even without trying. A collector’s copy at our Books section.

Wood wildlife ornaments from Africa.

There are too many animals wandering about in the store, that we endeavor to put into the Ornaments section. All of them!

If I love you -
I never behave like a climbing trumpet vine
Using your high branches to show off;
If I love you -
I never mimic infatuated little birds
Repeating monotonous songs into the shadows,
Nor do I look at all like  wellspring
Sending out its cooling consolation all year round,
Or just another perilous crag
Augmenting your height, setting off your prestige.
Nor like the sunlight
Or even spring rain.
No, these are not enough.
I would be a kapok tree by your side
Standing with you – both of us shaped like trees.
Our roots hold hands underground,
Our leaves touch in the clouds.
As a gust of wind passes by
We salute each other
And not a soul
Understands our language.
You have your bronze boughs and iron trunk
Like knives and swords,
Also like halberds;
I have my red flowers
Like heavy sighs,
Also like heroic torches.
We hare cold waves, storms and thunderbolts;
Together we savor fog, haze and rainbows.
We seem to always live apart,
But actually depend upon each other forever.
This has to be called extraordinary love.
Faith resides in it:
Love -
I love not only your sublime body
But the space you occupy
The land beneath your feet.

by Shu Ting
March 27, 1977
Poetry Magazine (Shikan), no. 5 (May 1982)

The above poem is from The Red Azalea: Chinese Poetry since the Cultural Revolution, available in Stevie’s book section. This poem hast to be one of the most beautiful poems I’ve come across in a while. Maybe it’s because I haven’t been reading poetry for too long; a cluttered head does not know the grass, the ocean, the land beneath the feet. Or maybe I like the outburst of romance and nature, undifferentiated. These are the best lines for me:

I have my red flowers
Like heavy sighs,
Also like heroic torches.

It’s like looking and seeing.

The three ships-in-the-bottle we have in Stevie… do you like them as much as I do? I don’t know who will want to buy them, but I keep looking out for them. Everywhere!

Above is a small ceramic wall vase of a pair of deers, and a ‘secret’ drawer made out of a tree stump…
Below is a really old deep trinket case that springs open when you unclasp it, and a sprightly Old Spice Brilliantine glass container.

You can’t really tell from the photo but this curio cupboard is a lovely small size, well, the width of two bedside clocks, and the old wooden trinket case below is smaller than your palm.

I love not only your sublime body
But the space you occupy
The land beneath your feet.

The office system relies on the paper shredder, while the creative system in our friend Mr Tanaka pieces together what he collects to give new life to office literature. Memo pads in various sizes, photo albums, card holders, ball point pens and push pins. All these wonderful things made of what we throw away everyday in the office. A case of ‘the better the thing after it’s thrown’, and the better artful dodger, Mr Tanaka.

Some gift ideas. In store.

The gourd speakers are so beautiful.