Haiku and Readers Advisory

For “fresh haiku, delivered daily” visit tinywords at tinywords.com.  The haiku for November 28 was:

too blue
for this sky
late jay

—Ann K. Schwader
If you need a daily fix of haiku, sign up for the e-mail service!

Play around at “Literature Map” here www.literature-map.com.  Enter an author’s name to find a map of authors which are read by those who read your author.  This is a great place to get ideas for Readers Advisory or just to have fun!

Poetry Break - October 22, 2007

I thought I’d pass on an e-mail I received advertising this poetry reading: 

The National Museum of Women in the Arts
And Their Excellencies

Eva Nowotny, Ambassador of Austria
Naser M.Y. Al Belooshi, Ambassador of Bahrain
Elena Poptodorova, Ambassador of Bulgaria
Andreas Kakouris, Ambassador of Cyprus
Albert Jónsson, Ambassador of Iceland
Claudia Fritsche, Ambassador of Liechtenstein
Joseph Weyland, Ambassador of Luxembourg
Mark Miceli-Farrugia, Ambassador of Malta
Gilles Alexandre Noghes, Ambassador of Monaco
Samuel žbogar, Ambassador of Slovenia

Invite you to the  

2007 Small Nations Poetry Reading

Tuesday, November 6, 2007
7:00 PM - 9:30 PM
at the National Museum of Women in the Arts

Readings will begin at 7 p.m. followed by a reception featuring wines from many participating countries and light hors d’oeuvres.   100% of the proceeds will benefit NMWA’s “Bridging Communities” Program promoting cross-cultural exchange among elementary school children in the Washington, D.C. metro-area.   $10 general admission. Limited seating. For reservations call 202-783-7370 or email reservations@nmwa.org before November 1. 

Poetry Break for Friday, October 12, 2007

I was looking for poems about daughters in the LitFinder database and ran across this great poem by Ellen Bass.  Here’s the first lines: 

 IF YOU KNEW 

     What if you knew you’d be the last
     to touch someone?
     If you were taking tickets, for example,
     at the theater, tearing them
     giving back the ragged stubs,
     you might take care to touch that palm
     or press your fingertips,
     into the crease of a life line.

This poem went right to the gut. 

Bass is best known for her non-fiction works, including “The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivor’s of Child Sexual Abuse”.  You can read more about Bass at her web site: http://www.ellenbass.com/. 

LitFinder is always such a treat, since you can search for poems by subject.  It’s like browsing a used book store - you never know if you’ll find trash or treaure!

Poetry Break

The Look by Sara Teasdale

Strephon kissed me in the spring,
Robin in the fall,
But Colin only looked at me
And never kissed at all.

Strephon’s kiss was lost in jest,
Robin’s lost in play,
But the kiss in Colin’s eyes
Haunts me night and day.

This poem can be found in Blushing: Expressions of Love in Poems and Letters compiled by Paul B. Janeczko. It’s available for check out at the library!

Poetry Break

Jonathan Carroll shares poems that he has enjoyed on his blog.  Visit his blog to read more wonderful poems, snippets from books he is writing or has written, intriguing observations and much more - www.jonathancarroll.com/blog1/archiveMain.html.

He recently shared part of ”Foreword to New Numbers” by Christopher Logue.  Here’s a taste:

     If this book doesn’t change you 
     give it no house space;
     if having read it you
     are the same person you
     were before picking it up,
     then throw it away.

I love the way Logue breaks up his lines, cutting them off at you, you, you…

To find out more about Christopher Logue, I visited Poets.org to see a profile of him  (http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/24).  I discovered that he has also written screenplays and acted in films, so I noodled on over to IMDB.  His IMDB profile reveals that he was awarded the CBE in 2007 for his services to literature.  I can see why. 

Poetry Break - sort of …

Last Friday I came down with Labyrinthitis (http://www.american-hearing.org/disorders/unilat/vestibular_neuritis.html) and didn’t post a Poetry Break.   And, I’ll be on vacation this coming Friday.  So I declare today Poetry Break day!

I love poets.org (from the Academy of American Poets).  Today, I noticed a little link on the bottom to “Poems about Aliens”.  Check out http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19698 and discover some new poems.

They provide a link to “The Abduction” by Stanley Kunitz.  Here’s the first lines of the poem: 

     Some things I do not profess
     to understand, perhaps
     not wanting to, including
     whatever it was they did
     with you or you with them
     that timeless summer day
     when you stumbled out of the wood,
     distracted, with your white blouse torn
     and a bloodstain on your skirt.
     “Do you believe?” you asked.

It’s a wonderful poem and it’s wonderful to be able to read such great poetry online.

Poetry Break

Charles Simic has been named the 15th Poet Laureate of the United States.  The Library of Congress offers a short biography here   http://www.loc.gov/poetry/laureate_current.html.  

Here’s a fragment of his poetry to enjoy: 

     Once in Chicago, for instance,

     I caught sight of a man in a shaving mirror

     Who had my naked shoulders and face,

     But whose eyes terrified me!

     Two hard staring, all-knowing eyes!

                                             — from The Initiate

QuillQuest 2007!

On my quest to read all the books in at least ONE of the 2007 Quill Book Awards, I read Natrural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, from the Romance category. 

 Football star Dean Robillard takes to the highway to re-evaluate his empty life.  Passing through a little town, he spies a woman walking along the shoulder dressed in a  beaver costume (without the beaver head).  Naturally, he must offer her a ride….    

One down, and 4 to go!

The Water’s Lovely by Ruth Rendell

A darkly intertwined mystery where everyone is on the edge ready to fall. As usual, the characters are intertwined and quite fragile. Heather and Ismay are sisters who live together and share a secret… the drowning of their stepfather. There are twists and turns and everyone ends up in everyone elses life, yet Rendell keeps you off-balance with a big secret that may just explode.

Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee

I like books that are character studies and this fits the bill. Casey is a Korean-American trying to fit into the Princeton crowd of entitled students and dealing with her pride. This is a hefty tome and is told from many different narratives. Ted, an aggressive invesment banker who always wins, Ella, an obedient ‘good girl,’ Leah, Casey’s devout Korean mother, etc. I would compare this to “The Three Junes”  and “The Whole World Over” by Julia Glass.