Art Np2

The other day I found a book of poetry at the library.  It is The Best American Poetry of 2005 . "Home to Roost" reminds me of a conversation Jake and I had this morning.  We were talking about the results of behavior.  A person cannot keep doing the wrong thing and not expect negative consequences.  We know because it has happened to us.  We know because we have observed it in the world around us.  It does not always go that way but plenty of times it does. Kay Ryan knows. "Home to Roost" The chickens are circling and blotting out the  day. The sun is  bright, but the  chickens are in  the way. Yes, the sky is dark with chickens,  dense with them. They turn and  then they turn  again. These  are the chickens you let loose one at a time and small— various breeds. Now they have  come home to roost—all the same kind at the same speed.

Copper Beech Tree I was in the library the other day and checked out  Now That My Father Lies Beside Me: New and Selected Poems, 1970-2000 by Stanley Plumly.  The hardcover was published by in 2000 by Ecco Press , an imprint of Harper Collins.  I am always looking for poets and poetry, but I'd never heard of him.  I live in Maryland.  Stanley Plumly is the Director of Creative Writing at the University of Maryland and the Poet Laureate of Maryland.  Plumly was at a library a few miles from where I live two months ago.   These are the websites I read to find out about him.   Stanley    Plumly   Anyhow, now I temporarily possess one of his books and have found a few pieces I like and understand. There's a poem titled "Conan Doyle's Copper Beaches" on page 35 of the softcover that was published in 2001.  I read a lot of Sherlock Holmes mysteries and am familiar with  "The Adventure of The Copper Beaches" ...

This poem is from Weavings 2000: Poetry For The New Millennium .  Edited by Michael S. Glaser. "At The Library" See the young girl beside the window bending over a book, her dark hair shines with floating dust fired by sun tilting through glass. See how she lifts her face to the wall, see nothing, seeing everything. She is not here, yet she is here. I see her motionless, tense but perfectly still, She rides the invisible flow of inspiration, on a stream of language, probes her own ideas fused with vast musings from the book she holds open with slim fingers. She fashions her own visions guarded by a mysterious smile, suspends the moment - a flash where life gushes and flows in a fountain of light. My heart tells me the young gather food for the mind as naturally as sparrows hunger for ripe seeds sorted form grass. Stacey Tuthill  (March 10, 1925 - October 19, 2010) resided in Baltimore, Maryland.  

writing about Sula and I am but, my litcritsh*t is still not finished.  I will tell everybody about this struggle when I get finished with it.  In the meanwhile, I keep going to the library or bookstores and giving into passionate temptation.  This week I found The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta.  Okay, I went looking for it because I heard him being interviewed on the radio, and even though I have never read about the rapture or any Tom Perrotta books, this book did sound interesting. Then Chris Abani pulled my attention to the South African writer, artist, and activist Bretyen Breytenbach through one of the poems he wrote.  Click here to read.   Until I read the poem, I had never heard of him.  I "found" the book Return To Paradise in which Breytenbach writes about his imprisonment during aparthied in South Africa.  I don't know if I can handle reading about such a nightmare, but I will check it out.   Also, I've been...

I have some problems, but I am only going to talk about one of them in this blog post.  I have too many damn library books.  These are the books I have to finish in the next three weeks: The Taste of Salt  by Martha So uthgate .   It is the story of black woman scientist's struggle to deal with issues of race, class, family, and addiction. The book looks interesting.  I think I'm going to like this, probably because I liked all her other books.   It was intitally published in softcover by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. http://www.amazon.com/Taste-Salt-Martha-Southgate/dp/1565129253 The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of Dyslexic Brain by Brock L. Eide, M.D., M.A. and Fernette F. Eide, M.D.  I am interested in minds that see the world differently than I do and this book discusses and gives examples of the strengths of dyslexia. http://www.amazon.com/Dyslexic-Advantage-Unlocking-Hidden-Potential/dp/1594630798/ref=sr_1_...

Last weekend our local library had a story time for children.  We had a lot of fun listening to stories and creating crafts.  Here is some of what we did.  Books and fun are an important part of every community.  

I'm back from not having internet coverage for a few weeks.  I was with a ISP that had very unsatisfactory service and then I tried to go with another, but couldn't understand their customer service or technical agents.  They were friendly, patient, and in India.   I never did figure out how to set up their DSL.  Finally, I found a company that set me up in a few days.  The library allowed to do a few things online here and there, but it's not like being at home.   Speaking of the library... I'm in there answering an email and this boy about twelve or thirteen is sitting next to me at a computer trying to practice cussing.  Now I was a woman Marine.  I've heard and on occasion emitted some exquisitely disgusting expressions of profanity, so I thought what he and his companion were saying pretty common, but what knocked me to the floor was that they were cussing in my presence. Some say I don't look my age, but come o...

Today I have Anthony Hamilton playing in the background while I am blogging and trying to make some rich brown gravy.  That has nothing to do with my post but I just can't help myself.  I love to write about everything that's going on around me. I have been volunteering at the library once a week because if I have enough hours in I don't have to pay fines.  I never want to give them their books back anyway sooo.... A young black man is tutoring a young black woman in algebra.  I know because I was tutored too.  She's not catching on to cubing and square roots.  He's so patient with her and knowledgeable.  Her small son is running around playing with the puzzles and stuffed animals in the children's section.  Why isn't this perspective of black manhood more often written about? One of the clerks there is a black woman whose mother loves opera.  I don't understand opera unless they speak English.  I suppose it makes sen...

Image by Pratham Books via Flickr In November I started tutoring first graders in reading through the local library.  Although I had no experience and very little training in teaching young children to read, I wanted to try my hand at it because of my love of books and reading.  Instead of the sweet, lady-like, giggling girls I had in mind, I was assigned two delightfully rambunctious, intelligent boys. They are the kind of boys who regularly squirm out of their seats, run down the hall with untied shoe strings, and walk backwards claiming magical seeing powers.  One of the boys repeatedly asked if I was "gonna give him something good that day."  All I have to give was reading practice, stories, and a occasional little gift such as a pencil or bookmark.  Let's just say he's lucky smacking knuckles with rulers have been outlawed because I was taught by that kind of dis...