November Poet: Kay Ryan, Pt 4

One last poem from Kay Ryan!

The Elephant in the Room

It isn't so much
a complete elephant
as an elephant
sense --perhaps
pillar legs supporting
a looming mass,
beyond which it's
mostly a guess.
In any case, we
manage with relative
ease. There are just
places in the room
that we bounce off
when we come up
against; not something
we feel we have to
announce.

There's no place like home

I'm home! I've spent the last couple of days traveling around visiting family and just got home a short time ago. I'm very glad to be home!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

November Poet: Kay Ryan, Pt 3

Well Carol wanted a cheerful poem this week and I did try! Actually I suppose this could be cheerful - what do you think?

Here's an interesting 2008 interview from the Charlie Rose show. It features Kay Ryan and James Billington, the Librarian of Congress. Ryan's poetry has been compared to Marianne Moore and Emily Dickinson.  She mentions in the interview that she was recently compared to Robinson Jeffers and she liked the comparison because of the violence in his poetry. She says that Jeffers focuses on raptor claws and she'd like to think there are some claws in her work. I would say there are claws in her work. There are claws in this poem. 

Sheep in Wolves Clothing

Of all the unpleasant
affectations of soi-distant
wolves, the most unpleasant
is their teeth: blunt ruminant
sheep stumps built up
to something no one could
really kill with. Decorative
in the worst sense. An offense
to economy and outright
blasphemy in the context
of true wolf philosophy,
which states very clearly
that every bluff must
promote good. Which means
you eat what you've fooled:
all of Little Red Riding,
from her shoes to her hood.

Kay Ryan

It's raining!

The wet, cold, gloomy view from my patio this morning!

Musical Monday

And now it's officially tattooed on my arm. . . 

And once again. . .

Why do I persist in doing what makes me feel bad and NOT doing what I know will make me feel good? Ah forget it, it was a rhetorical question. I haven't been walking much lately but I woke up early today and decided I'd go for a short walk. I ended up walking further than I'd planned because it felt so good being outside and walking. I know I'm going to feel better when I do it but I come up with excuses and sit around being lazy instead. Anyway here's a couple of pictures. I love this time of year. The trees are beautiful and piles of leaves are in the street and it's a more than a little cold outside right now. Things feel good today. Finally.

November Poet: Kay Ryan, Pt 2

Continuing on with the Poet of the Month, Kay Ryan.

Ryan's awards for poetry include (among many others) the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize from The Poetry Foundation in 2004; a Guggenheim fellowship the same year; a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship; the Union League Poetry Prize in 2000; and an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award in 1995. One of her poems, How Birds Sing, is permanently installed at the Central Park Zoo in New York City.

From a New York Times article: You can’t help consuming Kay Ryan’s poems quickly, the way you are supposed to consume freshly made cocktails: while they are still smiling at you. But you immediately double back — what was that? — and their moral and intellectual bite blindsides you.

That's one of the things I enjoy about her poems. You read them and it may take a minute or a day or a week but all of a sudden the meaning sinks in and you realize how amazingly sly and witty she's been in saying it. I like that!

On a somewhat unrelated note I have to say that I'm quite ashamed of myself. I type about 95 wpm. Instead of typing in this very short poem, I found it online and cut/pasted. I think I've reached new heights of laziness.

This poem is from the book Niagara River.

Hide and Seek

It’s hard not
to jump out
instead of
waiting to be
found. It’s
hard to be
alone so long
and then hear
someone come
around. It’s
like some form
of skin’s developed
in the air
that, rather
than have torn,
you tear.

A tree and a basket

I took this picture of the tree from my patio. I was looking at the different color leaves but I didn't really think they'd show up well especially taking the picture at night. It came out pretty good though!

I love Christmasy, glitzy stuff and I love baskets. So when I saw this one on sale for 40% off, I had to buy it! I have no idea what I'm going to use it for but I'm quite pleased with it. 

Ok, that's all I've got for today. I was just so pleased with my tree picture and basket I had to share them!

Bead Journal Project!

Check out the new Facebook page for the Bead Journal Project!

Musical Monday

I like the Nina Simone version better but couldn't find it on YouTube. This isn't bad though!

Silent Sunday

More than anyone wants to know about me

I borrowed these from another blog called Life of a Middle-Aged Student. She had the patience to answer 250 questions but I gave up at 20!

1. What is the last thing you said out loud? Pippin, you're driving me crazy with that licking. (Pippin is my cat.)


2. Does time really heal all wounds? No but I think it makes them easier to live with.


3. Do you tend to be aware of what is going on around you? Yeah. Sometimes I like to pretend that I don't know but 99% of the time I'm paying attention.


4. Three causes you believe in more than any other causes? Keeping libraries open no matter how bad the economy, same-sex marriage, spaying/neutering animals.


5. If you could meet any person in the world who is dead who would you want it to be? Elizabeth Tudor


6. Is there a movie that you love so much you could watch it every day? Anne of the Thousand Days


7. Have you ever saved someone's life or had your life saved? I've never saved anyone's life but I'd say that a couple of people have saved mine.


8. What is your idea of paradise? Uh duh - a library!


9. Do you have any deep dark secrets or are you pretty much up front? Um yeah - one or two deep dark ones.


10. What song was on the last time you danced with someone? More by Harry Connick Jr. - although I should say I really don't know how to dance!


11. Would you consider yourself to be romantic? Yeah . . . sigh.


12. In Star Trek people 'beam' back and forth between different places. If you could be beamed anywhere on earth anytime you wanted where would that place be? Again, duh - London! (by the way the duh's are only for people who know me well or have been reading my blog for awhile - they should know the answer!)


13. Is there anything really interesting in your family history? My great-grandfather may have killed his neighbor and left town in the middle of the night because of it. Which (leaving town) would be wise if you've killed someone.


14. Of the following, which word best describes you: bold, charming, dependable. While I'd like to say bold or charming, to be honest I have to say dependable.


15. When you were little, where did your parents tell you babies come from? Well my mother had that "talk" with me. I thought it sounded gross and she was making it up.


16. You have to choose. Would you be happier marrying someone rich for their money or living in the streets and subway tunnels with someone you love? You missed the answer to the romantic question? Living in the streets & subway tunnels of course!


17. If someone wanted to understand you what book could they read that would help? Little Women


18. Do you photograph well? Check out my pictures - no!


19. Who is your favorite poet of those who are alive right now? Louise Gluck.


20. Would you consider yourself to be naive? Well I consider myself to be worldly and sophisticated. People who know me quite well consider me to be somewhat naive. . . what do they know though. I'm sticking with worldly & sophisticated.

BJP! BJP!

I've posted here before about the Bead Journal Project that I participate in but just wanted to remind everyone that registration for the 2011 BJP began November 8th and goes through December 8th. If you're interested you can click here for registration info. If you think you might be interested but haven't done bead embroidery before, check this video from my beading friend Lisa at Indigo's Beads. It's a great introduction!

I have to post this and try to encourage people to join because I'm a promotion angel for the 2011 project! Very cool and impressive isn't it? I get to do blog posts to encourage people to register. Well it may not sound exciting but I like it! Anyway here's one of my projects from last year. See how I've managed to sneak in both poetry and history. Pretty clever of me wasn't it!

This was based on the poem Whoso List To Hunt by Sir Thomas Wyatt and on the necklace Anne is wearing in this picture. The poem was written by Wyatt for Anne Boleyn. I did this project for May - Anne was crowned Queen of England May 29, 1553 and executed May 19, 1536. I am deeply enamored of British history and particularly the Tudor era. Anne Boleyn has always been my favorite of Henry's Queens.

Whoso List To Hunt
by Sir Thomas Wyatt

Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,
But as for me, alas, I may no more.
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,
I am of them that farthest cometh behind.
Yet may I by no means my wearied mind
Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore
Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,
Since in a net I seek to hold the wind.
Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,
As well as I may spend his time in vain.
And graven with diamonds in letters plain
There is written, her fair neck round about:
Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am,
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.

November Poetry: Kay Ryan

So I was sitting here trying to decide what to post & I thought I'd post a poem. Then I came up with a very clever idea: I'll do a different poet each month and share their poems and information about them! Clever isn't it? Ok, maybe I need to get out more. Anyway I decided November would be Kay Ryan.

Kay Ryan is a California poet, born in San Jose and currently living in Marin County. In 2008 she became the 16th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress and held the post until May of this year. I like her poetry a lot. It's funny, serious and witty. She packs a lot into mostly short poems. They are easy to remember but often require multiple reading to get the point. This is one of my favorites. Mellifera (the most beautiful cat in the world) was sitting on my lap so I read it to her. I'm sorry to say she was unimpressed although it mentions cats.

A Cat/A Future

A cat can draw
the blinds
behind her eyes
whenever she
decides. Nothing
alters in the stare
itself but she's
not there. Likewise
a future can occlude:
still sitting there,
doing nothing rude.

Mall Decorations

I spent the evening wandering around Arden Fair mall. I don't really like malls but I had to have tires put on my car and I went to Sears which is in the mall. Since it took about 2-1/2 hrs I had plenty of time to look around! While I don't like malls I love Christmas decorations and they had plenty up already. It seems a little early but I enjoy looking at them and I doubt I'll go back to the mall before Christmas so I'm glad I got to see them! I liked the little elves in window in the last picture.

Silent Sunday

How far would you go?

I read an interesting post tonight called How far would you go to protect a friend or lover? It discusses a woman whose girlfriend killed seven men and she didn't turn her in. Should she have turned her in? When? After the first murder, the second, the seventh?

Would you protect a spouse, lover, child, sibling, parent? If only one, why not the other(s)? Sue Russell the author of the article asks: Have you ever stayed silent while a friend cheats on a spouse, or looked the other way when a friend drinks and drives, maybe with children in the car? How many secrets would you keep or lies would you tell? Where would you draw the line, and have you ever truly been tested?

I wrote a post about something similar a couple of years ago and after reading the article I went back and re-read it. I'm not an amoral person. For myself there are things I would never do. I wouldn't willingly kill someone in self-defense, I think I'd rather be killed. That's theoretical of course. In an actual situation I don't know what would happen. I do know that there are people I would kill to protect.

And, though it may make me a, I'm not sure what kind of person, there are a small handful of people I'd protect if they killed someone. After reading the article I realize I'd have to add a disclaimer to what I wrote two years ago. If one of these people came to me and said they'd accidentally killed someone and would I help protect them, yeah I would. That would be knowing it was accidental and that they weren't just flipping out and murdering people. Maybe that's a copout though.

I don't know. Really, really, really I'm a very nice person! I don't lie (ok I've lied upon occasion but I'm quite bad at it), cheat or steal. I've never murdered anyone except in my head. I'm nice to stray animals and people. Well I could go on and on. How many secrets would you keep? I've kept more than a few and still have a few. Did keeping them hurting anyone? Yeah I suppose so. And given a chance to make things right, I'd probably do the same thing again.

So. . . how about the rest of you? Where do you draw the line and have you ever truly been tested? Don't I ask nice questions!

25 things that make me happy

I borrowed this idea from another blog I read! I'll admit I didn't think I could come up with 25 things but it wasn't that hard. So what makes you happy?

1. Flowers
2. My cats
3. Reading
4. Working on my bead projects
5. Writing
6. Listening to music
7. Long drives just to drive
8. Being with my daughter
9. Hugging someone I like
10. Going for a walk
11. Blogging, Facebook, Twitter
12. Books
13. Being outside at night
14. Staying up until 2 or 3 am
15. Visiting Soledad Mission
16. Talking about British history
17. Candles
18. My iPhone 
19. Figuring out how to do something
20. Being with someone I'm really comfortable with so I don't have to talk if I don't feel like it but I'm not alone
21. Libraries
22. Finding a new book by an author I like when I wasn't looking for it
23. Going to the fabric store & touching all the fabric
24. Museums
25. Bookstores

Musical Monday