lyre lyre, pants on fire

John William Lewin (1770–1819)
Lyrebird of Australia Maenura superba c.1810

Rex Nan Kivell Collection

National Library of Australia

T3234 NK3820

my dad told me a story, apocryphal no doubt, about a polish immigrant working in the high plains of victoria. as he went about his business, this pole would swear mightily in his native tongue.
when he left the area, his swearing continued.
a local lyrebird now able to swear in perfect, fluent polish.
lyrebirds are nature's mimcs.
i think i'm not far behind.
when i was growing up, i was always, steadily 5 years behind my sister.

what she did, i'd try to copy.
she would draw princesses, i would draw princesses.
she would write stories, i would write stories.
it probably drove her crazy. and i could never quite catch up.
i think it's about time i struck out on my own.

tangential thought:

one late night (live) (includes audio!), i heard an interview with psychoanalyst salman akhtar. he is a wonderful thinker. asked how an indian poet, who publishes in english and urdu, came to work as a psychoanalyst in the usa.

salman told the rather wonderful story about how his father was a famous poet, and he'd often be pointed out as being his father's son, but that one time he went to a party and was pointed out as being the brother of a bollywood director, and that made him think, oh no! that's enough of that!

and changed his life, and struck out on his own.

he was in melbourne for the 2010 freud conferencing, talking about "the role animals, things, space, time and God have in the formation of personality". how lovely!