It seems that without bodily presence which can be felt without necessarily making a demand 

Without bodily presence when the only presence is in writing 

There seems to be no way that that can be shared without being a demand of some sort

And so what is most important cannot be experienced 

So everything in our modern culture our modern media where we can phone or email or message someone we are always making a demand on them 

We could be in  the same house 

Absorbed in something else 

And simply be a presence 

This problem is insoluble and therefore eternal or everlasting. 

A problem cannot be solved on the same level on which it exists 

The answer must be that there is no answer 

 Alice in Wonderland was a book not a letter. 

Did Sylvia create a new false self to respond to her mother’s letters? 

That self has survived where she did not. 

Could you be cruel enough to let your real self survive ?

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/sep/24/gwyneth-lewis-why-i-wrote-nightshade-mother-emotional-abuse?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Can I wear jeans when I’m 80?

Socks when I’m 79?

Can I wear coats when I’m 90?

Smoke a pipe when I’m in a decline?

Who makes the rules that we honour

Why are we swift to obey

We all love a mental dictator

I wonder what Hitler would say?

I like to bring cheer by my dressing

I don’t wear old clothes full of holes

A bit of embroidery helps me

Put me in velvet and call me a mole

There’s nothing like silk to caress you

When your boyfriend and husband have left

If you can’t afford to wear silken dresses

You can afford just a silk vest.

Wool is so warm in the winter

I wear it whenever I can

I like proper coats or short jackets

I think anoraks should be banned.

Padded coats are never quite flattering

I wore one once and  felt  faint

Well it’s always so cold at the bus stop.

I can’t wear a coat made from paint

Some people wear babies rompers

Made in a much larger size

I don’t mind at all what you wear dear

As long as you don’t make babies cry.

Now the news is all politics these days

The prime minister has got some new clothes

As long as they don’t make him Emperor

We’ll just have to see how it goes.

Your slippers might come from Harrods

Your dressing gown is Japanese

But don’t spend your money too lightly

Because money does not grow on trees

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/d23a7a0a-84ad-44f4-809b-63fb76789c65?shareToken=0f7e966aa0b222b61c26e60931c6ed01

Etching, is seeking something more elusive. He’s after mist and mizzle and haze and smirr and first light on unstill seas. Shorelines that sink below the horizon and spray that obscures the sky. He is happiest out on the water in a boat chartered for a week or more. Up at half past five, striking off from some tiny place such as Inishbofin — “the most beautiful little island” — off the coast of Connemara, the engine stilled, time to draw. “It’s my idea of bliss. And the boatman’s got a little gimbaled stove, you know? And he catches some fresh mackerel and he’s got some buns and a bit of garlic and butter and he makes a big pot of coffee …” He grins. “You can keep Torremolinos.” Then, in the evenings, “lobster, chips, pints of Guinness”.

Distracting thoughts harass my heart and mind.

Like gnats that dance on ponds in bright sunshine

In the deeper waters there are fish.

How to tempt them to my little dish?

The gossips have no wisdom, they are fools.

Idle thoughts are idle, they misrule

Do not converse with your own idle thoughts

Wait in peace for wisdom has a heart

Gossip has a function in a street.

Gives us bored old folk sweet meats.

Do not introduce your careless hate.

As ,hidden in the Shadows, Satan waits

Quietly drowning in the rivers deep

The inner guide will help you dream to sleep.