Still Poetry week? Yup!

A new favorite of mine, and the first poem this week written by a woman. I love the story that it tells, the fact that it reads half as a song and half as advice.

Ontological by Maggie Anderson

This is going to cost you.
If you really want to hear a
country fiddle, you have to listen
hard, high up in its twang and needle.
You can't be running off like this,
all knotted up with yearning,
following some train whistle,
can't hang onto anything that way.
When you're looking for what's lost,
everything's a sign,
but you have to stay right up next to
the drawl and pull of the thing
you thought you wanted, had to
have it, could not live without it.
Honey, you will lose your beauty
and your handsome sweetie, this whine,
this agitation, the one you sent for
with your leather boots and your guitar.
The lonesome snag of barbed wire you have
wrapped around your heart is cash money,
honey, you will have to pay.

Don’t you just love the pictures that this poem brings to your mind? ‘All knotted up with yearning” rings so true; and I love the imagery of ‘the lonesome snag of barbed wire you have wrapped around your heart’.

Another difference of this poem is that it doesn’t read as well out loud as it does on paper. It loses something when I try to speak it and part of that is because it doesn’t have an easy tempo. It’s possible that someone could read it the right way, but personally I get more out of this poem on paper.

Jen’s preemptive poetry week part 3

Today is just parts of a poem. Not that I don’t love all of Tennyson’s Ulysses, but there are parts of the poem that just stand out to me.

I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough
Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!

To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Doesn’t that just make you want to shout it out? To stand on a shore and yell it into the waves? When I read these words on paper, they make me want to try new things, to go out and explore and have an adventure.

Rolling in the Deep

Have you heard this song by Adele? Great voice (don’t understand the video) and a decent song, but didn’t really do a lot for me. Until, that is, I heard John Legend’s cover. Oh my word, amazing! His voice is just striking and the fact that it’s a cappella is just…wow. Wow. I love this.

 

Poetry Week

So today I am going to cheat and instead of just one poem, I’m going to throw a couple at you. Don’t worry, they are short and I’m sure you can keep up. Mervyn Peake’s poems are like pictures, and with just a few words he can describe a scene so completely that it makes me fingers itch to paint it.

Conceit

I heard a winter tree in song
Its leaves were birds, a hundred strong;
When all at once it ceased to sing,
For every leaf had taken wing.

Doesn’t that just describe trees in the winter perfectly? Coming home down Aurelius, when you pass the campground there are so many of these ‘singing’ trees and it’s amazing to listen to their song as you drive past.

Of Pygmies, palms and pirates

Of pygmies, palms and pirates,
Of islands and lagoons,
Of blood-bespotted frigates,
Of crags and octoroons,
Of whales and broken bottles,
Of quicksands cold and grey,
Of ullages and dottles,
I have no more to say.

Of barley, corn and furrows,
Of farms and turf that heaves
Above such ghostly burrows
As twitch on summer eves
Of fallow-land and pasture,
Of skies both pink and grey,
I made my statement last year
And have no more to say.

I always call this a little boy poem. To me it speaks of long summer days and little boys with cardboard swords and newspaper hats, running around and finding buried treasure.

The vastest things are those we may not learn.
We are not taught to die, nor to be born,
Nor how to burn
With love.
How pitiful is our enforced return
To those small things we are the masters of.

Such a short little piece, but strong. I love the last line the best, “to those small things we are the masters of”.

Poetry Week

Yesterday was a poem about life and today’s poem is about love.

Sonnet 17 – Pablo Neruda

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

In which there is no I or you
so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand
so intimate that when you fall asleep it is my eyes that close

Again with me picking out a poem that I love to say aloud. There is just something about poetry that to me is equally about speaking as it reading. I’m a huge fan of Pablo Neruda and this is definitely my favorite. It reminds me of Sonnet 130 by Shakespeare only a bit more serious (and with less insults). If anyone wants to woo me, this is the poem they should use.

Poetry Week!

April is National Poetry Month and to celebrate that occasion, I’m posting some of my favorite poems. A week early! Because I can!

The Coach of Life – Alexander Pushkin

Though often somewhat heavy-freighted,
The coach rolls at an easy pace;
And Time, the coachman, grizzly-pated,
But smart, alert---is in his place.

We board it lightly in the morning
And on our way at once proceed.
Repose and slothful comfort scorning,
We shout: "Hey, there! Get on! Full speed!"

Noon finds us done with reckless daring,
And shaken up. Now care's the rule.
Down hills, through gulleys roughly faring,
We sulk, and cry: "Hey, easy fool!"

The coach rolls on, no pitfalls dodging.
At dusk, to pains more wonted grown,
We drowse, while to the night's dark lodging
Old coachman Time drives on, drives on.

I found this poem just this week in a thrift store book, An Anthology of Russian Verse 1812-1960. In amongst the poems of fallen comrades and Russian pride and long winters there was this piece, a poem about traveling through life. I love poems that tell a story, especially in a clever way. This poem appealed to me because of how lyrical it seems, as soon as I saw it I wanted to read it out loud. It’s the type of poem that sounds just as good in your mouth as it does on paper and that’s pretty rare.

Counting to 300

All week long I’ve been putting off a post because I knew that it would be my 300th. For some reason I thought that it couldn’t be something silly or even just something normal. But instead of coming up with something, I just never posted anything. So this morning I decided to just get it over with and post, because 300 is cool…but only if you actually write it! So here are some questions that I’d love to hear your answers to as well.

If you had the ability to teleport, where would you go to spend a few hours today?

I would teleport to Turkey to browse through a lamp shop. The lamps are gorgeous, of course, but what appeals to me is the look of the shops. Crowded and dim with little room to move amongst overflowing aisles. Dirt packed floors covered with layers of rugs and the scent of kebabs wafting in from the market.  Then you look up and it’s a galaxy of brightly colored stars overhead, a sea of lights that dangle just above you. Yellows and reds and oranges glow like a sunset that has been captured in glass, and blues and greens that rival the sea peek from every corner. When you can finally tear your focus away from the spectacle that hundreds of these lamps create you realize that each one of them is intricately designed and beautifully handmade. Yeah, if I could teleport, this is where I would want to spend an afternoon.  

If you could have any superpower what would you chose?

Well, my first thought is that I would want the ability to make inanimate objects come alive. Or at least cars. I’m a girl that grew up with Transformers and Knight Rider and there has always been a part of me that longs to have a friend in my car. Or have my car be my friend. Whatever. I just like the idea of tooling down the road and chatting with my car about politics and movies and which gas station has the best testing fuel and hot dogs. Doesn’t that sound awesome?

Of course, knowing my luck, there would be less Route 66 confabs and more fighting robots and accidental explosions and whatnot. I would just be trying to take a cross country trip and all of a sudden, a biker gang with no morals would show up and my car would feel obligated to protect the local townspeople. Or even worse, I would create evil cars and it’d be a whole Maximum Overdrive situation. Only with less Emilio Estevez. And no one wants that. No one.

So maybe instead of the power to make cars come alive I should stick to something simpler. Like telekinesis. Or the ability to always find lost car keys or something.

Pretend that fictional characters are real, who would you want to meet?

This is an answer that has changed over the years. The people I’ve wanted to meet have varied wildly as I’ve grown and been exposed to different books and movies and tv shows. For instance, when I was younger I thought it would be cool to meet the Lorax or play with the Runaway Tortilla. As a teenager, I’m sure that all of my fictional character choices would have involved cute boys. Wesley Crusher, Lucas from SeaQuest, Bill Pullman (Yes, I realize that he is not fictional but I’m pretty okay with anything he played. Newsies was awesome and While You Were Sleeping and don’t even get me started on Independence Day. That speech!) As an adult, I’d love to meet the Doctor from Doctor Who (actually, I’d just be happy to meet the TARDIS…) or maybe spend an afternoon playing piano with Bertie  Wooster or plastic dinosaur shopping with Wash from Firefly or even just having tea with Optimus Prime (why am I obsessed with robots?!) It would be cool to visit whole fictional worlds like the future societies in Star Trek or the alien worlds in Stargate or even the talking-fish underwater world of Finding Nemo.

It’s funny, but hardly none of my choices are literary characters. I guess that as a writer, I’m more interested in the authors who created the characters, rather than meeting the characters themselves. I’ve created my own characters and struggled through the pains of making them believable and flawed and real. I know how hard it is to waffle between character development and furthering the plot, to make dialog fit the character and to make the character into someone who breathes life into a story. I want to pick the brains who created Sherlock Holmes and Atticus Finch and Edmond Dantès. I want to sit and have long conversations with H. Rider Haggard and Louisa May Alcott and H.G. Wells.  I’d love to follow Shakespeare around for a week to see how he came up with and fleshed out his characters, or figure out just how Lewis Carroll created his fantastic view of wonderland or even just hop on a boat and sail off with Herman Melville or Robert Louis Stevenson to experience the sea like they did. I love their books and their characters, but I’d much rather met the creator and learn from them instead.

So, what are your answers? Where would you go? What would you do? Who would you meet?

Supermoon!

My shots don’t due the moon justice at all. It’s amazingly bright and beautiful tonight and even with the naked eye you can see so many details. With just a pair of binoculars you can see loads! Go outside and look!

Project 365 - Day 77

Looking at Heather's garden and seeing new growth. So cool! Although we did notice that a couple of the bulbs we planted last year were upside down. Green thumbs? We don't got 'em!

Project 365 - Day 76

Spring has sprung. Or at least the crocuses in the front yard have sprung. I adore this picture. The color and light just is beautiful and it looks as if the flowers are greeting the sunshine!

Crazy parking lot, late ride, and stressful shopping. But temps in the 50's and sunshine more than make up for it. I love spring!!

Project 365 - Day 75

I have the most amazing friends and family! I sent out a request for bible verses for my sister and got lots of replies and lots of great verses to pass on. I'm so very blessed!

Project 365 - Day 74

In my head, I'm an amazing seamstress, able to create all these amazing things. Sometimes, that imaginary ability manifests in reality, and the item I create looks just like it does in my head.


Today is not that day. This was supposed to be a little purse. Somehow the straps turned out long and the bottom turned out crooked and to top it all off, I sewed the opening shut. Yeah.

So now it's a pillow. With a handle. For all your handle-pillow needs. Whatever.

Project 365 - Day 73

Sewing capri's for Lindsay today and I am proud to say that my sewing ended up in almost a completely straight line. Whoo!

Tonight's the night!

Tonight I am going to learn how to knit. I've got my yarn and my needles and the entire internet at my disposal.

Step 1: Basic Knitting skills.

New Step 1: Learn to make a slip knot.

...this is going to be a loooong night.

ETA: Okay, I learned the slip knot, then found a tutorial that said I didn't even need it. Whatever, I'll save the knowledge for the next time I take someone hostage. I successfully figured out how to cast on. But after 45 minutes, a knotted skein of yarn and accidentally poking myself in the eye TWICE, I'm going to shelve learning the knit stitch for tonight. Maybe tomorrow, in the bright light of day, this will all make sense.

Project 365 - Day 72 - Red!

Free brackets that were being given out at WalMart. I got one for me and one for Edgar...I fully expect him to beat me. Unless I cheat! ;-)

Project 365 - Day 71 - Red!

Yummy takeout lunch!

Project 365 - Day 70 - Red!

This is the tiniest cutest and most awesome juice ever. Look how skinny and wee it is! Adorable.

Project 365 - Day 69 - Red!

A book which has wonderful topics like "How to hold chopsticks", "How to survive a horror movie" and "How to french braid". Awesome.

Project 365 - Day 68 - Red!

Reasons I love this:
1. It's bright and colorful.
2. It's smiling at me.
3. It's about cheese.

Project 365 - Day 67 - Red!

One of my current favorite things, a little purse from Goodwill.

Project 365 - Day 66 - Red!

Ugh. Been sick for the past few days so I've fallen down on my picture taking/posting. Which is too bad because I could taken lots of "red" pictures; cough syrup, my kleenex box, the color of my eyes after sleepless nights...

But now I'm on the mend. Or at least I hope I am. Today was spent in a marathon of Lord of the Rings extended editions with Gina. We almost finished them all, but I wimped out in the beginning of Return of the King. Hopefully the battle for Middle Earth ended well without me. In the midst of our marathoning, we stopped by CVS to pick up tissues and I snapped a pic of the sign across the street. It was snowing quite a bit.

Cabin Fever Mini-Vacation

My sister decided it was time for her to fly the coop and so we headed out on a mini-vacation to the east coast of the state. Our destination was Oscoda, a tiny town where the Au Sable river meets Lake Huron. We drove along the coast, able to see giant blocks of ice on the shore and clear blue water further out. Our hotel was cute and had a view of both the Au Sable river and Lake Huron and was close to a restaurant that delivered yummy food!

We saw a giant mouse and a giant seagull. One was at a playground and the other was at a cheese outlet. (cheese outlet! what on earth?!)

Drove Owosso and saw the old casket company building which is now, ironically enough, a health care facility. The gas station also sold pickles and had a convertible on the inside with a giant bunny rabbit in the drivers seat. Yeah, I don’t know what that was about either.

Lake Superior is deep and cold, it’s got beds of sunken ships and shorelines that are remote and untouched. Lake Michigan is the playground, bright and blue and surrounded by sandy shores and dunes and beaches. Lake Huron gets a bum rap around here. There aren’t as many beaches and it’s not visited as a vacation spot nearly as much as the others but it does have one unique and amazing property. The sunrise. There is nothing as beautiful as the sunrise over water and Lake Huron shimmers like a jewel in the morning. It may not have the beaches of Lake Michigan or the enormity of Superior, but in my opinion Huron certainly holds it own. Just look at the colors in that sunrise!

Sending postcards, a now familiar sight on all my travels and a billboard on the highway that properly expresses my emotions at the end of this trip! One last look at the lake and I’m pretty sure I can say that I ♥ Michigan too.

Project 365 - Day 65 - Red!

Drove to Ann Arbor today, and despite my best efforts, I was unable to get a picture of the giant "A" sign at Arborland shopping center. I did however get pictures of the stoplights. Which are less awesome, but still red.