“It seems to me it cannot be wrong to read good poetry an entire morning if you happen to be particularly receptive in that respect, because when you are poetically receptive you see so much of life behind the words.”-Wanda Gág
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Tag Archives: Poetry
Daily Diversion #33: A View from the Cemetery Floor
A view from the cemetery floor.
“He could not die when trees were green, for he loved the time too well.”-John Clare
Daily Diversion #31: This is the easy time…*
Holed up in a beam of sunshine. Earl Grey on the side, steam lifting from its dark surface. A fugitive book that’s been on my to-read list for 9 years.
Wintering by Kate Moses
Captured from Daedalus for $2.98.Turned in to a reason to get up early, when the sun dazzles without heat. Doing its part to wake me. Efficient. Now I can read.
The perfect combination, rendered wistful. Out of reach.
In the company of words, time is pliable. Plastic. Continue reading
The Dead Writers Round-Up: 1st-3rd August
- Herman Melville was born on 8/1/1819. “A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things.”
- James Baldwin was born on 8/2/1924. “Every legend, moreover, contains its residuum of truth, and the root function of language is to control the universe by describing it.”
- Wallace Stevens died on 8/2/1955. “As life grows more terrible, its literature grows more terrible.”
- Donald Ogden Stewart died on 8/2/1980. Stewart was a playwright-turned-screenwriter. He won an Academy Award for his adaptation of Philip Barry’s play, The Philadelphia Story.
- William S. Burroughs died on 8/2/1997. “Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact.”
- Ernie Pyle was born on 8/3/1900. “War makes strange giant creatures out of us little routine men who inhabit the earth.”
- Joseph Conrad died on 8/3/1924. “An artist is a man of action, whether he creates a personality, invents an expedient, or finds the issue of a complicated situation.”
- Colette died on 8/3/1954. “A happy childhood is poor preparation for human contacts.”
- Flannery O’Connor died on 8/3/1964. “I am not afraid that the book will be controversial, I am afraid it will not be controversial.”
[All images are courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and are in the public domain.]
A Year in Books/Day 178: William Morris by himself
- Title: William Morris by himself Designs and writings
- Editor: Gillian Naylor
- Year Published: This Edition/2004 (Barnes & Noble Books)
- Year Purchased: 2004/2005
- Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
- About: This book is a great reminder that William Morris was also a writer, and not just an artist/designer. Although his aesthetic is instantly recognizable, his words are not. That’s a shame. William Morris by himself goes a long way to rectify that, but I hope that his diverse writings somehow find a wider audience. As the title well relates, you’ll find a blend of his art and words (including excerpts from letters, essays and poems) in this pretty little edition. They have also inserted brief biographical paragraphs for the sake of cohesion. If you have ever been drawn to one of his textiles or wallpapers, why not take the opportunity to learn more about the full oeuvre of the man?
- Motivation: I’ve long been intrigued by Morris.
- Times Read: 1
- Random Excerpt/Page 83: “We have taken a little place deep down in the country, where my wife and children are to spend some months every year, as they did this-a beautiful and strangely naif house, Elizabethan in appearance, though much later in date, as in that out of the way corner people built in Gothic till the beginning or middle of the last century. It is on the S.W. extremity of Oxfordshire, within a stone’s throw of the baby Thames, in the most beautiful grey little hamlet called Kelmscott.”
- Happiness Scale: 8 1/2
The Dead Writers Round-Up: 18th-21st July
- William Makepeace Thackeray was born on 7/18/1811. “A good laugh is sunshine in the house.”
- Jane Austen died on 7/18/1817. “A person who can write a long letter with ease, cannot write ill.”
- Clifford Odets was born on 7/18/1906. “Life shouldn’t be printed on dollar bills.”
- Hunter S. Thompson was born on 7/18/1937. “Buy the ticket, take the ride.”
- Hart Crane was born on 7/21/1899. “Love: a burnt match skating in the urinal.”
- Ernest Hemingway was born on 7/21/1899. “As you get older it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary.”
All images are courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and are in the public domain.
Voices from the Grave #28: E.E. Cummings Reading ‘somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond’
E.E. Cummings reading somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond.
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me
Daily Diversion #24: Birthday Wishes
“Give me silence, water, hope
Give me struggle, iron, volcanoes.”-Pablo Neruda
“I don’t want to go on being a root in the dark,
vacillating, stretched out, shivering with sleep,
downward, in the soaked guts of the earth,
absorbing and thinking, eating each day.”-Pablo Neruda
A Year in Books/Day 159: Emily Brontë
- Title: The British Writers’ Lives Emily Brontë
- Author: Robert Barnard
- Year Published: 2000 (The British Library)
- Year Purchased: 2012
- Source: The Book Loft, Columbus, Ohio
- About: I’m no Brontë virgin. There are many biographies of the famous literary family. I’ve read a lot of them, cut from various cloths. This entry in The British Library Writers’ Lives series is different from any of the others I’ve read. Focusing on middle daughter Emily (she of Wuthering Heights), it completes the feat of being a wonderful introduction to first-timers while bringing something new to the party for veterans. It is steady and insightful without ever resorting to the wild-child mystic trope that has followed Emily’s ghost around for decades. This biography is packed with original photographs, drawings, manuscripts, artwork and letters, which lend it a vivid immediacy that longer works often lack. It is a quick, quick read that you will want to return to time and again.
- Motivation: I bought this volume to continue my love affair with dead writers and classic literature.
- Times Read: 1
- Random Excerpt/Page 38: “There is a touch of cracker-barrel philosopher about this, as if Emily is only happy dealing with strong personal emotion when she can don a Gondal mask as a partial cover for her feelings. Confessional poetry was never to be her forte.”
- Happiness Scale: 10
A Year in Books/Day 157: Selected Poems & Letters of Emily Dickinson
- Title: Selected Poems & Letters of Emily Dickinson
- Editor: Robert N. Linscott
- Year Published: First edition:1959/This edition: ???? (An Anchor Book)
- Year Purchased: 2001/2002
- Source: This was a hand-me-down from a long-time friend.
- About: If Emily Dickinson was alive and writing today, she would probably blog her poetry under a pseudonym. Since she was born in 1830, she composed reams of golden verse and hoarded them away in dark bureau corners. After she confined herself to home-a situation that was gradual, and not a fierce, sudden statement-she kept up with the outside world via the epistolary arts. Letters make the best (auto)biographies. They are a time capsule, a locus for self-mythology and the only genuine source of a person’s thoughts, feelings and actual opinions. For these reasons, I have long loved volumes with the chutzpah and heart (not to mention access to original material) to combine professional output with personal words. This book is a winner all around.
- Motivation: Emily Dickinson is one of my preferred poets. Neruda is always and ever in the top spot, but she holds a place of honour in the court.
- Times Read: Cover-to-cover:2/Random poems: countless
- Random Excerpt/Page 288: “You wonder why I write so. Because I cannot help. I like to have you know some care-so when your life gets faint for its other life, you can lean on us. We won’t break, Mary. We look very small, but the reed can carry weight.”
- Happiness Scale: 10+++
Ubiquitous Emily Dickinson photo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A Small Press Life: Books. Art. Writing. Life. Tea. 