Reading

A Gathering of Poetry | May 2024

close up photograph of liliac blossoms

While our peonies are still tight buds, our two Miss Kim Lilacs will soon lavish our senses with purple blossoms and sweet fragrance, reaffirming exactly what poet Billy Collins knows about a spring day.

And, a thank you to Kat for the reminder that May days are passing and third Thursdays simply demand poetry.

Bibliographic credit:  Collins, Billy, Poetry magazine, © 2000

Photo credit:  Prexels – Pille Kirsi

Reading

Derek Anderson, 1969-2024

Author Derek Anderson and a group of children each holding a copy of his book, 10 Pigs

Today, I am re-reading the absolutely hilarious counting book, Ten Pigs: An Epic Bath Adventure – one of my favorites!  In 2016, I accompanied author/illustrator Derek Anderson on a round of library visits.  I sometimes acted as stagehand setting up the gigantic piggy bubble bath and, other times, I served as MC.  Derek enchanted hundreds of children, caregivers, and parents as the featured author in the Once Upon a Reader statewide one-book reading program that promoted the early literacy skills to Talk, Sing, Read, Write, and Play.  With wonderful memories of visiting libraries and having thoroughly enjoyed his ever-growing collection playful children’s titles, I am deeply saddened to learn of his death. Children’s literature and Minnesota libraries have lost a star.

Reading · Spirituality

Lectio Divina Revisited

graphic depiction of a flaming chalice on a blue quilted background

The practice of reading, thinking, and praying about a line of scripture was a frequent exercise during my Franciscan and Benedictine school years.  At the time, I did not know this by its Latin name, Lectio Divina, but I received a renewed introduction to this practice last evening.

Possibly because of the widespread dissemination of the Rule of St. Benedict, I associated the four-step practice:  read, meditate, pray, contemplate, with St. Benedict (480-547 CE) when its origins are earlier and have been adapted through time.  There is a Franciscan variation designed by St. Clare of Assisi (1194-1253 CE) and, following St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556 CE), the Jesuits expand their mediation into action.

Recognizing that wisdom may be drawn from many sources, a 21st century adaptation of the Lectio Divina encourages the participant to dwell on sacred words beyond just those of a biblical origin but still integrates four thoughtful steps:  begin, pause, reflect, contemplate.

Begin:  Read the text slowly.

Pause:  Let the words settle.

Reflect:  Meditate, pray, or write.

Contemplate:  Identify what the text calls you to do.

The appeal of Benedict’s Divine Order is that each day’s text is predetermined. The reader joins a communion of others contemplating those same words.  There is extra work required to expand the Lectio Divina to include a modern collection of poetry. Today, on a third Thursday Gathering of Poetry, I will begin my Lectio Divina with words from Lucille Clifton.

True, this isn’t paradise,

but we come at last to love it

for the sweet hay and flowers rising,

for the corn lining up row on row,

for the mourning doves

who open the darkness with song,

for warm rains and forgiving fields,

and for how, each day,

something that loves us

tries to save us.

Graphic credit:  © Peg Green

Reading

Book Club: Tom Lake

Having migrated from Zoom sessions during those closeted days of Covid self-quarantine, The Directors gathered yesterday at a lunch locale for wine toasts, shared desserts and a book discussion.  While unusual but delightfully so, we discovered that this library loving, book reading, wine-drinking group of retired friends had landed on a title that we all enjoyed – Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake.

While I have become a regular audiobook listener when knitting, I know I would score miserably low should I take an Iowa Basic Skills comprehension test for any of those titles.  I still gravitate towards a hard cover for book club selections.  However, for Tom Lake, I was intrigued by the prospect of hearing Meryl Streep read this story and wondered if I would I hear the actress or the voice of the main character?  I opted to both read and listen.  I read a few chapters and then listened to those same chapters in the audiobook format.  At times, I recognized the text well enough that I could anticipate the next phrase and, then again, a detail I missed in reading the ink on paper would be a surprise in my ear.  Even though reading2 is time consuming, I may repeat this paper copy / audiobook combo for future book club selections.

Synopsis:  Three daughters listen and question their mother’s stories about her long-ago budding acting career on stage and screen, her first love, a spotlight on summer-stock, and her life choices; some made with intention and others by happenstance.  From the New York stage to poolside Hollywood to a cherry orchard in northern Michigan, the story gently shifts between past and present. Patchett artfully reveals common threads and the different hopes and dreams of each family member.

Reading

A Gathering of Poetry | February 2024

When I think about poetry in February, the images of red and pink children’s valentines from the mid-1950s spring to mind or syrupy sweet verses, so I took a different approach for this month’s Gathering of Poetry and visited Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends for Love.

cartoon image holding a sign with a large V

Love

Ricky was “L” but he’s home with the flu,

Lizzie, our “O,” had some homework to do,

Mitchell, “E” prob’ly got lost on the way,

So I’m all of love that could make today.

And, thanks to Kat for reminding me that it is time for a third Thursday poetry post.

Bibliographic credit:  Silverstein, Shel. Where the Sidewalk Ends: the poems and drawings of Shel Silverstein.  Harper & Row. © 1974.

Reading

A Gathering of Poetry | January 2024

branches of yellow leaves against snowy backdrop

As always, Carrie Newcomer offers inspiration in song and verse.  I have been saving her poem, Blessings, to share with you on this third Thursday of January, Gathering of Poetry. Perfect as the old year ends and new days unfold…

Blessings

May you wake with a sense of play,
An exultation of the possible.
May you rest without guilt,
Satisfied at the end of a day well done.
May all the rough edges be smoothed,
If to smooth is to heal,
And the edges be left rough,
When the unpolished is more true
And infinitely more interesting.
May you wear your years like a well-tailored coat
Or a brave sassy scarf.
May every year yet to come:
Be one more bright button
Sewn on a hat you wear at a tilt.
May the friendships you’ve sown
Grown tall as summer corn.
And the things you’ve left behind,
Rest quietly in the unchangeable past.
May you embrace this day,
Not just as any old day,
But as this day.
Your day.
Held in trust
By you,
In a singular place,
Called now.

You can join the poetic fun every third Thursday as shared by Bonnie and Kym.

Bibliographic notes:  From The Beautiful Not Yet:  Poems, Essays and Lyrics.  Available Light Publishing.  ©2016 Carrie Newcomer.

Photo credit:  © Carrie Newcomer

Reading

A Gathering of Poetry | November 2023

blue vintage china, loaf of bread, and tin coffee pot sitting on a wooden table by a window

I recently found A Gathering of Poetry which encourages poetry loving bloggers to offer a personal salute to a favorite poem or a recently discovered poet by sharing the verses on the third Thursday of the month.  (If this is not correct, I hope Kym or Kat will gently nudge me in the right direction.)

As I will help with Sunday morning worship on Thanksgiving weekend, I moved from poem to poem this week seeking that “perfect” reading suitable for this food focused holiday but with a goal not to mention turkeys, pumpkin pie, or marshmallow sweet potato casserole.  Our former poet laureate, Joy Harjo, provided the inspiration.

Perhaps the World Ends Here

The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live.

The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has been since creation, and it will go on.

We chase chickens or dogs away from it. Babies teethe at the corners. They scrape their knees under it.

It is here that children are given instructions on what it means to be human. We make men at it, we make women.

At this table we gossip, recall enemies and the ghosts of lovers.

Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around our children. They laugh with us at our poor falling-down selves and as we put ourselves back together once again at the table.

This table has been a house in the rain, an umbrella in the sun.

Wars have begun and ended at this table. It is a place to hide in the shadow of terror. A place to celebrate the terrible victory.

We have given birth on this table, and have prepared our parents for burial here.

At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow. We pray of suffering and remorse. We give thanks. Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are laughing and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.

Bibliographic notes:  From The Woman Who Fell From the Sky (W. W. Norton, 1994) by Joy Harjo. Copyright © 1994 by Joy Harjo.

Photo credit:  Pexels-pixabay

Reading

On the Road with Banned Books

purple bookmobile with people in blue shirts waiting to enter and a sign that reads - banned bookmobile tour

Long ago, my bookmobile days were spent on the byways of rural west central Georgia and southeastern Minnesota.  The custom-built school-bus sized vehicles carried a general collection of books and media for children and adults; fiction and non-fiction and, maybe, some of same titles that are on the new Banned Bookmobile.

Unlike a traditional bookmobile where materials are available for check out and must be returned to the mobile library when the route repeats every few weeks, the mission of the Banned Bookmobile is simply to get banned titles into the hands of readers.  The titles in this giveaway collection include those most frequently challenged in schools and libraries.  Titles like Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Amanda Gorman’s The Hill We Climb and the delightful picture book, and Tango makes three, based on a true story and re-told by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell.  When the Banned Bookmobile made its debut in Orlando on July 5, all of the copies were gone in just 10 minutes! 

In the coming weeks, the Banned Bookmobile will visit Florida, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin with a goal of “giving people access to books that are inclusive of the full diversity and experiences of all of our communities.”  In addition to distributing free books, the tour will be customized by location and include presentations by authors whose works have been banned, as well as working with local officials and activists to encourage the freedom to read.  

Photo credit: MoveOn

Knitting · Reading

2022 Highlighted in Knitting & Books

Taking an inventory of the old year is by no means a unique task.  It is, however, not something I have done previously in this blog.  So here are a few highlights of my 22 knitting projects (some of which you will have already seen) and my titles read – 82 – although to be honest, I indulged in a number of quick read YA fantasies and enjoyed a variety of easy-listening titles while driving to-and-from Eau Claire and hours spent gardening last summer in order to reach this quantity.

Reading · Travel

American Bloomsbury

I have a copy of Michael Holroyd’s definitive biography of Lytton Strachey.  A gift from a friend, the two-volume boxed set serves as a bookend anchoring a shelf of history titles.  My friend was a Bloomsbury aficionado.  He read everything he could about these post-Victorian intellectuals even waiting patiently to purchase The Letters of Virginia Woolf published in six volumes; book-by-book over 10 years.  He also gifted me his extra copy of The Loving Friends: A Portrait of Bloomsbury by David Gadd.

When the Pilgrimage to Massachusetts reading list (yes – an actual two-page bibliography of primary and secondary sources) included American Bloomsbury by Susan Cheever, I thought this title could be the primer I needed (just as The Loving Friends had been) to better understand our American literary giants.  As the subtitle describes, American Bloomsbury focuses on the lives, loves, and work of Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau. 

These profoundly talented people moved among each other, sometimes living together, sharing books, reading what each other wrote, and relishing in deep philosophical discussions.  In the introductory “Note to the Reader” Cheever describes her intent to work chronologically but to do so from each of her primary character’s perspectives thus her timeline moves back and forth as she describes overlapping incidents and conveys the stories of their lives life in Concord and the surrounding environs during the 1830s – 1890s.

Their individual accomplishments – Little Women, The Scarlett Letter, Walden, Or Life in the Woods – create for us a tableau of 19th century life; a young country, a growing divide over slavery; and women’s rights still but a wishful glimmer only in some minds.  But, taken as a whole, these hearty New Englanders defined a literary, philosophical, religious, and political movement that we call Transcendentalism with its core belief in the inherent goodness of the individual and nature. 

I leave early (4:45 am) tomorrow to see their homes and haunts.