tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64068419756732273262024-03-14T02:55:41.960-05:00Information Woman!A librarian is always surrounded by facts and fiction, whether on the shelves, online or in the world around her. It's her challenge and her joy to revel in the fantasies and stories that enrich our hearts and souls and to cut out the fallacies and dead ends to get to the truth. This blog is about a personal and professional search for both truth and fiction and how to tell the difference.Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.comBlogger148125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-89111804808534133722024-02-23T14:22:00.000-06:002024-02-23T14:22:33.596-06:00Response to a conservative friend<p>I'd like to be a consistent blogger, but right now, despite my best intentions, that is unlikely to happen. However, I am really glad to have a venue to occasionally post my thoughts that manage to get themselves arranged in a cogent whole.</p><p>About six weeks ago I read a letter to the editor in the small-town paper in the area where I grew up that was written by the man who had been our senior class president and star football captain. He is a friend of mine, someone I like and respect. I found his point of view to be different than mine and it just called for a response. At long last, I have assembled one that says at least some of what I think is important. </p><p>Since the topic is abortion, it might resonate with you as well. In it I share a painful personal experience. His letter, from the January 4 issue of the Princeton (MN) Union-Times is attached below my response. I'd appreciate any honest, but respectful comments.</p><p><span> <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>*************************************************</span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I read your January letter to the editor in the Union-Times and I felt that it needed a response.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Because I know you to be a fair and decent man, I’m sure you will give my words consideration. </p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Like you, I spend a career built around the education and welfare of our future generation.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I began as a first grade teacher and for a number of years focused on working with primary students as a school librarian before expanding to teaching middle schoolers.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Counting pre-school summer school, a summer youth jobs program, teacher professional development and community education classes for adults, I eventually worked with students ranging from 4 all the way to 84.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Along with children; women and their lives and undertakings have played a big role in my life.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I had 5 half-sisters, 10 nieces by the time I was 14, and many aunts, female cousins, friends and co-workers.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>These smart, caring and capable women, lived in a world where their strengths and abilities were not always celebrated or even recognized or acknowledged.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I was hopeful as I grew up, that women would have expanded freedom and opportunities and that seemed to be happening.</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">From my vantage point, as a woman born in the 1950’s and come of age in the 1970’s, steeped in the lives of women and children, I have a story to tell that has informed and shaped my thoughts on the important but divisive topic of women and reproduction.</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In 1980 I was living and working in Minneapolis.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>My husband and I had been married for 7 years and had a toddler son.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Life had been busy and when my in-laws agreed to take care of our boy and give us a short summer break, we were thrilled. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Along with another couple, we headed north, way north, to Lake Saganaga on the Canadian border with a boat loaded with fishing and camping gear.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It was a long drive, but I was fine sitting in the back seat.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I never got carsick, despite being in the early weeks of my second pregnancy: I felt fine and healthy and grateful for time away from the demands of a young child and a busy job.</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Things changed however, when, some time after setting up camp<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I noticed spotting and cramping.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I downplayed it for awhile, having experienced something similar during my first successful pregnancy.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>By the next day, however, I knew we would have to cut our vacation short and return home.</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The hour and half ride back to Grand Marais was difficult; the visit to the emergency room there heartbreaking, and the four hours back home seemed endless.</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That night I experienced painful labor and loss. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">My doctor promptly scheduled a D & C to clear the uterus of tissue and prevent possible infection that could have impacted my health and ability to have more children.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What happened next has stayed with me all these years. I was prepped, donned a flimsy paper gown, given a sedative and placed on a gurney to move to the operating room.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>That experience alone can strip away all the confidence that I had gathered as an educated, well-traveled married woman.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I was in a very vulnerable state after a sad and difficult few days. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The woman who was wheeling me down the hall stopped the gurney, looked at me and with disgust in her voice, announced that a blood test showed me to be pregnant (apparently hormones were still present, despite the miscarriage); implying that I was undergoing an abortion (a legal procedure in 1980) and that I deserved her contempt. By this point, the sedation prevented any response on my part, but I never forgot.</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">She chose to judge me, but she did not know my story of sadness, pain and loss.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Instead of doing her job, with care and compassion, she brought in her own moral judgment; she was heartless and <i>above all, she was wrong</i>.</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Today, in many parts of our country, politicians are placing themselves in the role of this anonymous healthcare worker. They are making judgments without all the facts, without care or compassion.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>They take incomplete or inaccurate information and create laws that harm women and make them weak and vulnerable.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>They create situations that are often harmful to both women and their children and they are unrepentantly righteous about doing so. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">My story did not end badly.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Less than two years later, I gave birth to a daughter and two years after that, we had another son. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Each pregnancy and delivery were unique experiences. In today’s world, I’m not sure a similarly happy ending could occur, at least not in Texas and other red states.</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I tell you this because it is not really that unique or unusual. When I share my abortion story (and it is an abortion story, although it was my body spontaneously creating it, not a medical intervention), I hear of many others; my close friend who experienced both a stillbirth and a miscarriage, her sister-in-law who had at least 6 miscarriages, managing to have one live birth, several close friends who traveled out of state to get an abortion when having a baby at that point in their lives would have been devastating and a friend who was never able to conceive, despite years of trying.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Another friend had an ectopic pregnancy which would not result in a living child, but could have taken her life if not aborted. You do not have to look far to find another story demonstrating the uncertainties of childbearing.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There is nothing straightforward or predictable about human reproduction. The March of Dimes reports that 10-20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage, although that number is likely higher because many pregnancies end before the person knows they are pregnant.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Miscarriages are usually the result of problems with the complex nature of fetal development, not by actions of the mother. Pregnancy is not amenable to strict regulation…there are too many uncontrollable variables and uncertainties.</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Pregnancy carries other real risks for women, particularly in America, where a maternal mortality rate of 20.1 deaths/100 thousand live births makes our country the most dangerous developed country in which to give birth, and for Black women it is more than twice as high.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>You may not want to hear it, but abortion is a very safe procedure; pregnancy is much more dangerous.</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">With only that background information in mind, do you still think is it wise to turn over women’s healthcare decision-making to politicians?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Should we be happy that politicians who are mostly white, mostly male, almost entirely untrained in and unknowledgeable about obstetrics and gynecology are making life-determining decisions for women?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Should we be happy that these politicians are placing medical personnel into untenable positions where they could be fined, jailed or lose their practice for taking actions that in their medical judgment are sound and necessary?</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Your disgruntled sports station host was excoriating Texas abortion policies.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The commentator noted that the law, as interpreted by courts and encouraged by state officials threatened the mother’s life and health and that he expressed concern for the mother and anger at the law.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Is there a different response that would have been more appropriate?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Perhaps anger at the mother for wanting to save her own life and protect her health so she could have another child?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Is that what would have been a better stance, in your opinion?</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lawmakers create public policy and in doing so they are crafting laws and regulations that shape and impact directly and indirectly the action and outcomes for the citizens in their jurisdictions; in this case, the childbearing-age citizens and those involved in the health and wellbeing of those citizens. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Let’s talk about policy for a minute.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I had an opportunity while working at our school district office to participate in policy-writing around technology issues.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Policy-making sounds about as dull as watching paint dry and reading most rules and regulations exceeds that dullness, yet, it is really important work and is very different from making personal decisions.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>My personal knowledge, needs and values can inform the policies I craft, but they cannot be the only consideration.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Good policy is clear and specific, it is relevant and capable of bringing about desired outcomes.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It is flexible and adaptable, evidence-based and informed, inclusive and participatory, measurable and achievable and promote positive social, economical and environmental outcomes.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It doesn’t negatively impact stakeholders, but improves outcomes for them. Would any of that apply to this Texas law?</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now, I don’t know everything, but I do know this, if a law endangers people’s lives or compels them to leave their homes and experience threat, danger and unnecessary expense and have their personal autonomy stripped away from them, then that is a very bad law.</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If the enforcement of that law creates vigilantism and profit from turning in your neighbors instead of helping them; then that is a very bad law.</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="color: #1a1a1a;">And it is a bad law when it creates situations that promote bad science and inaccurate conjectures (For example, in your letter you ask “why are the survivors of botched abortions (allegedly) left to die on their own?” </span>That is a talking point from the anti-abortion faction, but is generally inaccurate.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Checking out Minnesota statistics, in 2017, that situation was very rare, with only 3 abortions involving an infant born alive, and although none survived, they were given comfort care. Infanticide is a crime in all 50 states; politicians who state that Democrats support killing live infants, as Trump did recently, are spreading dangerous lies, that are refuted by existing law and even common decency<span class="s2" style="color: #0d6002;">. </span>Republicans far too often feel free to label opponents with baseless slurs and insults.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> Many of their followers are far too willing to believe those lies.</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The Texas law is dangerous, patriarchal and very misguided, however, I do believe that legislators can positively impact outcomes for women and children and minimize abortions through the laws they pass and the funding they supply.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">To a society, children are our future and as such, their potential contributions and limitations will impact our economy and the health of our democracy.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Children, raised and educated well are a social asset and lawmakers are wise to create conditions that support healthy, well-educated, hardworking and law-abiding citizens and minimize conditions that can create unhealthy, ignorant drains on society. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So, the Texas legislature, among other states, has a stated goal to protect life by prohibiting abortion.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Is that respect for life reflected in other legislation proposed or supported? <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Is it possible that a child born to a woman who felt she didn’t have the economic means to support another child will be assured of adequate food and shelter as she grows by the government that insisted she be born, or will her state do like 15 red state governors have done recently and turn away federal food assistance?</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How much love and concern do they actually have for the child they force to be born?</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If, in some magical way, you became the baby distributor of the universe, would you choose to place these precious infants under your charge with the youngest, most ill-prepared, endangered and traumatized poor women, all of whom felt they were not ready for the challenge, or would you seek out homes for these babies with families who were prepared and willing to love and care for them?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I would choose the latter, and I think most of us would; but Texas (and other red states) are crafting legislation to create the former condition.</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I keep thinking…is this the best that they can do? Really?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Make sure a child is born and then do nothing more for them, but thrust them into poverty?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Maybe that’s the point?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Creation of a perpetual underclass ripe for exploitation by the wealthy?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>A careful look at Republican policies show a distinct preference for the wealthy and a disdain for those with lower incomes, despite using anger to engender allegiance, they are willing to cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other social supports that benefit them, are willing to pollute the air and water and put the profits in their pockets.</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Couldn’t these legislatures provide free or low-cost birth control?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>A child never conceived won’t be aborted. Couldn’t they fund research into birth control for males, or other reproductive health research?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>How about well-funded and accurate full-fledged sex-education that create informed young people who understand their own biology and their choices?</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A good step would be to create requisite training for all legislators on human reproduction and birth, training in understanding cycles of poverty and the contributing factors (family size plays a role in whether or not a family lives in poverty).</p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Requiring actual experts without a political motive to contribute to legislation.</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Develop thorough understandings of the factors that contribute to a woman’s need for an abortion and use that in policy development that would minimize those factors.</p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Finally, develop national health policies that work as well for a cost comparable to other developed countries and remove the power of health conglomerates and pharmaceutical companies that get rich off the backs of ordinary citizens and leave them poor and unhealthy. Provide affordable healthcare specifically for mothers and children. Make sure that no child in America is hungry or homeless. Stop demonizing women in difficult situations. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So, when it comes to women’s reproductive rights or to any other complex situation concerning an individual’s personal health and personal future; who is ultimately qualified to make those decisions for each and every American citizen, endowed as they are by the Declaration of Independence with “certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness?”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Would you still say it should be in the hands of the Texas legislature?</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I contend that the job of politicians is to ensure that both women and men have access to those rights, rather than to attempt to take away anyone’s bodily autonomy and jeopardize their health and future well-being by making decisions that are not theirs to make.</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I would not assume that your body should be harvested for one of your good kidneys to save the life of another, even if it was someone I loved, I would not assume that a woman should be made to carry a dead or dying fetus at the expense of her own life or health, so I would stand proudly by anyone that thinks the self-righteous and ignorant legislators in Texas are wrong in their law-making.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>When they start to craft laws that can make the lives of both women and children safer, healthier and happier, then, good, but until then, no, 1000 times NO!</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That’s my appeal to reason, compassion and using the knowledge we’ve gathered and the wisdom we’ve acquired to make the world better, not meaner and crueler.</p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">To truly value and honor life is a challenge that the Texas legislators have failed to meet, but the rest of us Americans can do better and be better by becoming more informed and more compassionate and understanding.</p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">His Letter: </p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I recently listened to a Twin Cities sport-station host excoriate - on air - the Texas legislature for their law prohibiting abortion. The situation involved a Texas woman pregnant with a child with severe genetic complications, threatening both the baby’s life and the mother’s life. He expressed his compassion for the woman in the tragic situation and his anger about that law.</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There was no expression of concern for the unborn child. Abortion has changed the way people view pregnancy.(so has birth control and improvements in healthcare and infant mortality rates) At one time, getting pregnant was a “blessed event.” Abortion was a solution to a criminal event such as rape or incest. Then it became a solution to an unwanted intrusion, and finally, a solution to inconvenience or just simply choice.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>In the meantime, it has been discovered when the unborn can feel pain and the point of viability of life came down. The main rationale for allowing abortions is that a woman has a right to decisions regarding her own body. Yet, it is not legally acceptable to commit suicide or assisted suicide. And why are the survivors of botched abortions (allegedly) left to die on their own? That child is no longer part of the mother’s body.</p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Unborn babies and abortion live births simply are without value in the world and among many in this country. There are many such groups - deaths from fentanyl, migrant children and adults sold into human trafficking, the Jewish victims of the Hamas attack, the world-wide call for genocide of the Jewish people. At the same time, many groups have been elevated beyond the value of people around them. Now, “political perspective” has become a major area of protection and status along with the usual list of race, nationality, socio-economic status, religion, and “special” people groups. (Huh?)</p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">One final point, any Americans are shocked at the brazen crime across the country and the stunning calls for a return to Jewish annihilation. The brutality of the Hamas attack is mirrored to some extent on our own streets. After fifty years of legalized abortion in this country, perhaps there is some correlation to what is happening now. Where in this country - motherhood, government’s roles in protection and rescue, and the expectation that the medical community be involved in the ending of life - are we to turn to find these bastions of civilization? Do they no longer exist?</p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-37907899690468122552023-05-18T10:20:00.002-05:002023-05-19T09:09:23.503-05:00Letter to my Congressman<p>I live in the 6th Congressional District of Minnesota, once the domain of the notorious Michele Bachmann, now represented since 2015 by the ambitious Tom Emmer. From 2019-23 he was the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the group that seeks to elect Republicans to Congress and now serves as the House Majority Whip, whose job is to corral the votes needed to pass Republican sponsored bills through the House. </p><p>Through those two positions he has cemented his position of power in the party and represents those interests exclusively. He has won reelection by a significant margins each time and he may be able to maintain his seat for as long as he chooses to do so. </p><p>This leaves me and the views of about a quarter of a million people in our district basically unrepresented and it has been so mostly recently since 2001 when Mark Kennedy (R) was elected. Republicans have held the post for 70 out of 114 years that the district has existed. </p><p>As a constituent I don't have much power. I write and I call and I get disappointing responses. I have even participated in a video call with one of his aides on environmental issues, along with others from Faith in Minnesota, a faith-based action group and also found that our impassioned pleas would fall on deaf ears.</p><p>I can understand that elections have consequences and that the majority can have their choice. However, after the politicking is over; the elected congressman works for everyone in their district, not just the ones that elected them This should mean that at the very least, the representative should have integrity and honesty and explain their positions and be accountable for their actions. They should consider how everyone is affected by the legislation they support and should listen to dissenting voices and be well grounded in facts. Ah, wouldn't that be nice? </p><p>Instead, on the subject of the debt ceiling, Mr Emmer is disingenuous and blaming. He ignores the facts and the history and makes false comparisons. He is speaking for his party not for his constituents. I'm including his most recent newsletter and then my reply, which is a stream of consciousness response, a scolding mom response. I could edit it, but whatever I would say and do, it would be unlikely to dent his armor. I just can't let such hubris go unremarked. I'm highlighting some of his blatant statements and have included several links.</p><p style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; margin-bottom: 1em; text-size-adjust: auto;">His Letter:</p><p style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; margin-bottom: 1em; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: white;">If you gave your child a credit card, and they kept maxing it out, you wouldn’t blindly raise their credit limit. You would correct their behavior. Our nation’s credit card is maxed out and it is time for a major course correction. However, due to President Biden and Senate Democrats’ inaction and refusal to </span><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">negotiate on the debt ceiling,</span><span style="background-color: white;"> thousands of Minnesotans’ financial futures are in jeopardy. </span></p><table align="center" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><tbody class="ui-sortable"><tr style="border-collapse: collapse;"><td align="center" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><a class="video" href="https://iqconnect.house.gov/iqextranet/iqClickTrk.aspx?&cid=MN06TE&crop=15969.26806310.5677634.7744999&report_id=Click+to+play+this+video+https%3a%2f%2fyoutu.be%2fdg7f7hCWIQc&redirect=https%3a%2f%2fyoutu.be%2fdg7f7hCWIQc&redir_log=894355175381186" id="Click to play this video https://youtu.be/dg7f7hCWIQc" rel="noopener" style="display: inline-block;" target="_blank" title="Click to play this video https://youtu.be/dg7f7hCWIQc"><img alt="Video" border="0" src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dg7f7hCWIQc/hqdefault.jpg" style="max-width: 100%; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" /></a></td></tr><tr style="border-collapse: collapse;"><td align="center" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><em>Congressman Emmer discusses federal debt ceiling on America Reports</em></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; margin-bottom: 1em; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="background-color: white;">It has been more than<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em>21 </em>days since House Republicans passed our<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://iqconnect.house.gov/iqextranet/iqClickTrk.aspx?&cid=MN06TE&crop=15969.26806310.5677634.7744999&report_id=&redirect=https%3a%2f%2fwaysandmeans.house.gov%2fhouse-republicans-pass-limit-save-grow-act-to-rein-in-wasteful-spending-and-grow-the-economy%2f&redir_log=328748224272866" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Limit, Save, Grow Act</a>. Since then, President Biden and Senate Democrats have been missing in action. This legislation responsibly raises the debt ceiling </span><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">while limiting wasteful government spending, saving taxpayers money and growing our economy.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> By raising the debt ceiling, while simultaneously making practical spending cuts, we are preventing a default while addressing the out-of-control spending that has become commonplace in Washington.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; margin-bottom: 1em; text-size-adjust: auto;"><a href="https://www.brookings.edu/podcast-episode/whats-happening-with-the-debt-ceiling-again/" target="_blank">In the last 30 years, the only meaningful spending reforms we have seen have been associated with debt ceiling discussions and negotiations.</a> (My note: there is no real connection or value in connecting spending reforms with a crisis situation according to Brookings Institute experts) It is time for Joe Biden to stop holding Americans hostage and negotiate a proposal that limits wasteful spending, saves taxpayers money, and works to <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/blog/roundup-analyzing-house-republicans-harmful-debt-ceiling-and-cuts-bill" target="_blank">grow the economy.</a> (My note: it's a real failure at that according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)</p><p style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; margin-bottom: 1em; text-size-adjust: auto;">Our bill is a solution to the crisis. Biden’s inaction at the negotiating table jeopardizes Minnesota families and workers. Analysts predicted that nearly 100,000 Minnesotans in the Sixth District who are nearing retirement would lose more than $20,000 in value in their 401ks if our nation defaulted. Thousands would lose their job and mortgage costs would increase. It is long past time for Joe Biden and Senate Democrats to come to the table.</p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Congressman Emmer,</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Once again, you misrepresent to your constituents what is at stake in the debt ceiling debate--there should be no debate about paying our bills. That is your responsibility! That is the 14th Amendment! President Trump created the huge debt that you are now complaining about. Your dishonesty is stunning! </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">You work for me and I expect that you do not hold the economy of the United States and by extension, the economies of the rest of the world hostage to put through very bad policies that will hurt millions of Americans. You must look at increased revenues from your wealthy donor class as well as reasonable cuts where appropriate. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">However, the climate crisis must be addressed and you should not be taking away food and other services from those in need. Many in my family have served in the military and my son continues to serve. You are willing to cut services to veterans--shameful, utterly shameful! It is ridiculous to attempt to pull back funds from the IRS under the guise of protecting privacy...it is protecting wealthy tax cheats. It's clear that the IRS has been underfunded for years and with more adequate funding and staffing, they can do the job that is needed by Americans and collect the revenues that are legally due to serve the nation. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The Republican plans are shameful, wasteful and fail to serve average Americans...quit trying to say that they do. If you don't see how awful your plan is you should get out of the business of politics or at least read the analysis by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities on what they call "the Republicans Harmful Debt-Ceiling-And-Cuts-Bill." It's actually quite clear that Republicans do not care about most of their constituents</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Someday I would love to write a complimentary letter to you, but I have yet to feel that you are representing me. Didn't your mama teach you to be honest? Don't you try to be a good example to your children? Guess integrity is not a characteristic valued by Republicans anymore. I know I'll get a boilerplate response that will not address my concerns and I'll be disappointed in you all over again. I'm sad, mad and utterly disappointed that you are in a position of power to do so much destruction to our nation.</span></p>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-30391711558771571592023-05-03T22:25:00.003-05:002023-05-03T22:25:30.226-05:00Truth isn't Truth Anymore<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuQdYgEZn45motE2R9sKE4GVA6k7kn4EYdKVx4VyczI6uigqMtxWnjVMGvUcGBKteFCe8Ni0vUwazwK0epH6lrv8thFxUVhG04rp-GxJBL4-SDfCBNd3Yyn3PW8O0xp2IqGhsRhHnDot38huiru6aMiEWipMC13xpHLldvktq4MH-xF9edAV5fYxI/s896/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-03%20at%2010.22.01%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="896" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuQdYgEZn45motE2R9sKE4GVA6k7kn4EYdKVx4VyczI6uigqMtxWnjVMGvUcGBKteFCe8Ni0vUwazwK0epH6lrv8thFxUVhG04rp-GxJBL4-SDfCBNd3Yyn3PW8O0xp2IqGhsRhHnDot38huiru6aMiEWipMC13xpHLldvktq4MH-xF9edAV5fYxI/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-03%20at%2010.22.01%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>The sky is blue,<br />The grass is green...<br /><br />Or maybe not?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">There doesn't seem to be much that we can agree on in the year of our Lord, 2023. Things that seem clear and self-evident to one side of the political spectrum are rejected as fake and unsubstantiated by the other.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Is there still such a thing as verifiable truth and if so, where can we find it and how can we communicate it to others in a way that is understood and accepted?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">That's the challenge I'm giving myself (Information Woman to the Rescue!) this month. I want to explore the big ideas of truth and lies and how we can tell them apart and why it's really important that we figure this out.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This might involve exploring ideas of logical fallacies, confirmation bias, truth vs belief, facts, fiction, lies, exaggeration, bias, slant, persuasion, perception, propaganda, tribalism, authoritarianism, political movements and trends. Some questions that I might explore could include:</div><div style="text-align: left;">Is everyone really entitled to their own opinions?</div><div style="text-align: left;">If everyone lies, is the speaking the truth worth the trouble?</div><div style="text-align: left;">Why do some lies persist despite ample proof that they are false?</div><div style="text-align: left;">Can people's minds actually be changed by being presented with verifiable truth?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And...What have I gotten myself into???</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-73750274380415139642023-05-01T07:22:00.002-05:002023-05-03T22:26:20.020-05:00A May Basket of Media Messages<p> Back in my elementary school days, on May 1, my mother would help me make May baskets to deliver to the neighbors. When you live in farm country, "neighbors" are anyone within 2 or 3 miles of your house, or a half dozen homes or so. I don't remember many details of how the baskets were made, or what they contained, I just remember the thrill of sneaking up, hanging the basket on the doorknob, knocking, (no one had doorbells) and then skittering away so you would not be seen. </p><p>I've been constructing a May basket of sorts today, filled with information topics that I'd like to explore this month. For as long as I've been alive, I've been collecting information, facts and ideas that I can put together to help me understand the world around me...a pretty typical human trait for sure, but I may be a little obsessive. </p><p>I collected enough trivia over the years to earn a spot on the TV game show Jeopardy and I made a career as a teacher, librarian and professional development trainer in information technology. Knowing things is really important to me, and helping people find the information they need is my life's mission.<br /></p><p>Back in the days when I was climbing the shelves in the closet that served as our country school's library to find the "hard" books to read, I had a dream. I dreamed that someday there would be a magical library where everything I wanted to read, everything I wanted to know, everything I wanted to understand would be available in one place that even short people would be able to reach.</p><p>I grew enough to reach the high shelves, eventually I had access to bigger and bigger libraries and I took college classes to help me manage a library on my own. Still, that dream was unrealized, but in the 1960s, quietly, the Internet was being developed and growing, finally emerging as the World Wide Web in the early 1990's and the possibility of my magical library at my fingertips seemed totally possible.</p><p>This could only be good, I thought at first and I became a websurfer, extraordinaire. However if you find your way to Neverland, you are going to have to deal with Captain Hook; if you slip through the wardrobe door to Narnia, there is Jardis, the White Witch waiting to spoil your fun. </p><p>The immense potential of the Internet opened the door to lots and lots of information accompanied by lots and lots of misinformation. Something this powerful is bound to attract powerful forces. The dream can also be a nightmare.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5t9f8FkOPGECp7dNU-BI6f2vzpjYTRAolT46anNFNLnCGv90IGN6_nTT6a9RpPQIk3dfGXgNkWz6goamSfKnX2rORQMif5zH6OVUnO8w44KD8BYObOv0ytNT0759_dju6z7kVKdQwuAkSdQZqGM9QfCP3u0nW33tl0okLb0Fo26_nexZ92tScnQw/s3642/IMG_6088.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2763" data-original-width="3642" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5t9f8FkOPGECp7dNU-BI6f2vzpjYTRAolT46anNFNLnCGv90IGN6_nTT6a9RpPQIk3dfGXgNkWz6goamSfKnX2rORQMif5zH6OVUnO8w44KD8BYObOv0ytNT0759_dju6z7kVKdQwuAkSdQZqGM9QfCP3u0nW33tl0okLb0Fo26_nexZ92tScnQw/s320/IMG_6088.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Without any big hopes of turning the tide of misinformation, I'm going to be one small voice in the wilderness, trying to make a difference and help people distinguish truth from lies and facts from fallacies. <p></p><p>In my next post I'm going to share my list of potential topics to cover this month--to put in my "May Basket". I wonder where my wonderings will take me...I hope you'll join me...I'm going to need your help!</p><p><br /></p>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-14502491711558857202023-04-30T16:09:00.000-05:002023-04-30T16:09:00.197-05:00April is Poetry Month: Day 30 and the journey has reached its destination!<p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">A Cup of Tea</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Smoky amber in a cup. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Wisps of memory rising with the steam.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Snowflakes just beyond the lacy curtain,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBx6LVjWIH3PFuFYQiY-xMtikbz12hAv5jU_sfCn67znthxTDXTCj9LrGbl-OiRMDSeoqm8cAgCOBOrbdHpVK9prumYg2clurI7XBYBJaYJV3sUeBnLo7GyBJsUfbYVJ9gG4DPQQ5IWIMok1Nj5sNvytWCyQp8m4-Ffk3xOtELIrmCdqP1ODBkdhg/s760/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-30%20at%203.34.00%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="760" data-original-width="508" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBx6LVjWIH3PFuFYQiY-xMtikbz12hAv5jU_sfCn67znthxTDXTCj9LrGbl-OiRMDSeoqm8cAgCOBOrbdHpVK9prumYg2clurI7XBYBJaYJV3sUeBnLo7GyBJsUfbYVJ9gG4DPQQ5IWIMok1Nj5sNvytWCyQp8m4-Ffk3xOtELIrmCdqP1ODBkdhg/w268-h400/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-30%20at%203.34.00%20PM.png" width="268" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Secret radiance to dispel the cold.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Such comfort was not always mine.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">No lace curtains in our farmhouse--</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Hardly more than a shanty.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Three rooms and an entry down,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A slope-roofed bedroom up</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Where my sisters slept with</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Icicles through February.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">My mother gave me green tea<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In an antique china cup.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I was only four or five, but privileged...</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Entrusted as I was with china and ritual.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I don't remember what she said,</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I just remember Lipton's<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Was a passport to another place,</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And someday I would go there.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I have a samovar from Asia.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I have a teacup from Siam.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A copper mug from Queenstown in Tasmania.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Leaves in a tin embossed with words I cannot read,</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But they can read them in Taiwan.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The world is such a massive, huge, tremendous place<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And I have circumnavigated it.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It was much more difficult for Drake;<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Magellan, too.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But adventure is adventure.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Where you'll get a taste for it--</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Who knows?</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For me it was a rundown farmhouse on a hill,</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I was only four or five...</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> Jean Doolittle</span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> <span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">I'm going to close out the April poetry journey with one of the first poems I wrote that gave me a sense of why I write and maybe a small idea of why others write as well. </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>We spend a lot of our time growing up trying to figure out who we are, what motivates us and where we want to go. We wonder about our unique hopes, dreams, loves and hates. </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>In a world where coffee shops are ubiquitous and (at least during the earlier hours of the day) coffee is a social lubricant, I eschew the java and prefer tea. I wrote this poem to explore this preference and in the process, I had an epiphany. While creating the previous day's entry, I watched Mark Vinz talking about his process and he cited James Joyce's concept of epiphanies..."a sudden spiritual manifestation", in other words "a visionary moment of sudden insight that changes their understanding of themselves or their comprehension of the world"</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> So, in writing about how tea became important to me, I felt how the experience may have created in me the desire from a very young age to see all the wonders of the world. My childhood was limited by the world you could see between morning milking and evening milking; but I knew that the world was out there.</span><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><span><span><span style="font-size: medium;"> At this time in my life, I have been to 48 states and 45 countries. I have lived on the shore of the South Pacific Ocean, seen the peaks of the Himalayas and slept in the Afghanistan desert. There is still more to see, more to discover and always more poems to broaden our horizons.</span></span><br /></span></span></p>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-55250249179471389882023-04-30T15:17:00.000-05:002023-04-30T15:17:07.996-05:00April is Poetry Month: Day 29<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaAo3cVR0H2kiEJdIDu4ERd3XwK6Wf_7wMVBOT4S9FCJXwRWoit51y4j86-ekieC1lqNbfg_-16JKXwVkjNLwwfq3qE-skA9PW4-hA8XfBSog_4b8Kke_qVSHsn5JtyM0UK_aWK46g4tLMUmNlyANEyN5K5cA3skT6JBokhxZg8Gd-Rv6apnrJBBg/s4032/IMG_1279.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaAo3cVR0H2kiEJdIDu4ERd3XwK6Wf_7wMVBOT4S9FCJXwRWoit51y4j86-ekieC1lqNbfg_-16JKXwVkjNLwwfq3qE-skA9PW4-hA8XfBSog_4b8Kke_qVSHsn5JtyM0UK_aWK46g4tLMUmNlyANEyN5K5cA3skT6JBokhxZg8Gd-Rv6apnrJBBg/w480-h640/IMG_1279.jpeg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Taylors Falls, MN May, 2019, J. Doolittle</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Angler</b> </span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>He hadn’t been at it very long when he discovered that he was becoming addicted to something. It wasn’t the fish,which he didn’t like to handle or eat, and it wasn’t the other fishermen, which he disliked even more. He simply had to go, and the fact that he hadn’t learned to swim and was still terribly afraid of drowning did not stop him from heading into<span class="Apple-converted-space"> d</span>eeper and deeper water each time, even though he knew there were few fish<span class="Apple-converted-space"> i</span>n water of that depth. For one reason or another he filed the sharp barbs off his hooks, and sometimes he forgot to put on the bait.<br /><span> </span>He knew someday he would use up all his line,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> a</span>nd the thought still bothered him from time to time. But still he fished on alone, deeper and deeper into the dark green shadows, for he also knew that no matter how much line he let out,he would never reach bottom.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2007/04/24/vinzretires" target="_blank">Mark Vinz </a>(1942-)<br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR2Gd2Odpf4uaXn_6eqOe5jb2im7RJ3FDjFEICZMC1WgeA9xNVV4TmZx7arRmYTyTbfp9fp0ZMoRLjZ8sgKc1QD1cO1pK6PI6wAbyFUlSDZrhJICsc46nqnIZPs567IXBfSAb_oArygXZEFjtDO42-crLV6c8GrcXMOa054nXI5AYsW5RypSbxGe8/s618/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-30%20at%202.42.40%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="422" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR2Gd2Odpf4uaXn_6eqOe5jb2im7RJ3FDjFEICZMC1WgeA9xNVV4TmZx7arRmYTyTbfp9fp0ZMoRLjZ8sgKc1QD1cO1pK6PI6wAbyFUlSDZrhJICsc46nqnIZPs567IXBfSAb_oArygXZEFjtDO42-crLV6c8GrcXMOa054nXI5AYsW5RypSbxGe8/w113-h165/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-30%20at%202.42.40%20PM.png" width="113" /></a></div><br />From: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Late-Night-Calls-Mark-Vinz/dp/0898231388" target="_blank">Late Night Calls</a>, Mark Vinz, New Rivers Press, 1992.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span> For 39 years, Vinz was a professor at Moorhead State College (later Moorhead State University, now Minnesota State University Moorhead). He joined the faculty in 1968, the same year I was a freshman there. I never had a class with him, but he had enough of a reputation as a poet that his name carried weight on campus, as he worked with and developed a close friendship with Tom McGrath, an already notable poet.</span><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span><span> </span>The words above are structured as a prose poem, which doesn't look much like a poem to most of us...it is in the reading out loud that the poem emerges. I like to think of myself as flexible and open-minded and yet, after living with poems daily throughout this month, looking at this and the other poems in the book, left me a little fidgety and unsettled. What, I wondered, would it feel like if it was arranged more like a typical poem? Could those sentences line up "properly" or would they be disobedient as most prose would be, forced into an unnatural shape? </span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span><span> </span> It shaped up quite easily. Did I have a right to impose my will on his words? I think once a writer releases their work onto a page, the words take on a life of their own that interacts with the reader. It is in that interchange that meaning is made. My little exercise helped me bring meaning to this little story and linger in thought in those "dark green shadows" that he evokes. I wonder what you think about my revision...</span></span></span></div></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Angler</b></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">He hadn’t been at it very long when he discovered<br />That he was becoming addicted to something</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />It wasn’t the fish,<br />Which he didn’t like to handle oreat,<br />And it wasn’t the other fishermen,<br />Which he disliked even more.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />He simply had to go.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />And the fact that he hadn’t learned to swim<br />And was still terribly afraid of drowning<br />Did not stop him from heading into<span class="Apple-converted-space"> <br /></span>Deeper and deeper water each time,<br />Even though he knew there were few fish<span class="Apple-converted-space"> <br /></span>In water of that depth.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />For one reason or another he filed the sharp barbs<br />Off his hooks,<br />And sometimes he forgot to put on the bait.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />He knew someday he would use up all his line,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> <br /></span>And the thought still bothered him from time to time.<br />But still he fished on alone,<br />Deeper and deeper into the dark green shadows,<br />For he also knew that no matter how much line he let out,</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />He would never reach bottom.</span></div></div><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Mark Vinz<br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Wadena County Historical Society produced this in-depth interview with Mark Vinz, sharing his poetry and his ideas on the subject. </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="420" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jARChuu0xRM" width="505" youtube-src-id="jARChuu0xRM"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-21090017978166484262023-04-29T22:31:00.000-05:002023-04-29T22:31:10.000-05:00April is Poetry Month: Day 28<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: canada-type-gibson, "Gill Sans", "Gill Sans MT", Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 1.75rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">A Blessing</span></p><div class="o-vr o-vr_12x" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 60px; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto !important; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="c-feature" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.231; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto !important; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoJgXxdyvn1WZE7Ta0ddeooA0pX8loU47A0bBWcBPuCCjenzCM3BlBNwXseipwYSnZzWPhCz7cOZktjpWODoLOwnH2sYtLRR8QwhLPDyLy4wph2HXsCe2xIj3D92b1IO3q4oCFe1_TdIGA0AjjlA30v7sumzTir0gA0bd7ewrOoqGVk5qi7i184mM/s1440/IMG_7597.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoJgXxdyvn1WZE7Ta0ddeooA0pX8loU47A0bBWcBPuCCjenzCM3BlBNwXseipwYSnZzWPhCz7cOZktjpWODoLOwnH2sYtLRR8QwhLPDyLy4wph2HXsCe2xIj3D92b1IO3q4oCFe1_TdIGA0AjjlA30v7sumzTir0gA0bd7ewrOoqGVk5qi7i184mM/s320/IMG_7597.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="c-feature-sub c-feature-sub_vast" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 33px; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto !important; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto !important; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="c-txt c-txt_attribution" style="border: 0px; color: #494949; display: inline-block; font-family: canada-type-gibson, "Gill Sans", "Gill Sans MT", Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 1.4px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">BY <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/james-wright" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto !important; transition: color 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; vertical-align: baseline;">JAMES WRIGHT</a> (1927-1980)</span></div></div><div class="c-feature-bd" style="border: 0px; font-size: 1.25rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto !important; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="o-poem isActive" data-view="PoemView" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; scroll-behavior: auto !important; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,<br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.<br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">And the eyes of those two Indian ponies<br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">Darken with kindness.<br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">They have come gladly out of the willows<br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">To welcome my friend and me.<br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">We step over the barbed wire into the pasture<br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">Where they have been grazing all day, alone.<br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness <br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">That we have come.<br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.<br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">There is no loneliness like theirs. <br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">At home once more,<br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness. <br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,<br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">For she has walked over to me <br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">And nuzzled my left hand. <br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">She is black and white,<br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">Her mane falls wild on her forehead,<br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear<br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">That is delicate as the skin over a girl’s wrist.<br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">Suddenly I realize<br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">That if I stepped out of my body I would break<br style="scroll-behavior: auto !important;" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; scroll-behavior: auto !important; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">Into blossom.</div><div><br /></div><div>From: The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 1975</div><div><span> Another poet who died young, who understood despair and loneliness. It's not necessary to live in pain and sadness to create art, but so often art is the phoenix that rises out of the ashes of suffering. Would we have Sunflowers and Starry Nights if van Gogh had been a happy accountant or carefree aristocrat? The Bloomsbury Review praised this poet-- </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 22px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">"James Wright wasn't afraid to find out who he really was, no matter how frightening that self may have been. This is the essence of the pure, clear voice we encounter in his poems, and this is why James Wright endures." </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 22px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span> I am grateful everyday that whether in joy or sorrow, there are artists around us bringing their vision and their beautiful messages to us through the works of their minds, their hearts and their hands. </span><br /></span></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div></div><div class="o-grid" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto !important; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="o-grid-col o-grid-col_10of12" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; scroll-behavior: auto !important; vertical-align: baseline; width: 638.367px;"></div></div>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-24979904441744218762023-04-29T20:51:00.000-05:002023-04-29T20:51:35.204-05:00April is Poetry Month: Day 27<p><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnuuatEon3ss8ma7wcDxYyg6XcHHg-H-oLgDlFf8peW0nXER8afDTDQkuXzuzyxr18TBoifQuD_SLX24ZVTtJZZSITSl2HeCqptOpu7XJ16tg4O0qzyKncggKlwwT8o8c8te0pgy4y5H35OQQVgIfKNM2XORlJjdQLw88BeL2TMLffj3BN55RZ-Ls/s5472/IMG_5546.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3648" data-original-width="5472" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnuuatEon3ss8ma7wcDxYyg6XcHHg-H-oLgDlFf8peW0nXER8afDTDQkuXzuzyxr18TBoifQuD_SLX24ZVTtJZZSITSl2HeCqptOpu7XJ16tg4O0qzyKncggKlwwT8o8c8te0pgy4y5H35OQQVgIfKNM2XORlJjdQLw88BeL2TMLffj3BN55RZ-Ls/w400-h266/IMG_5546.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">J.Doolittle, March 2016</td></tr></tbody></table></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;"> April</span></b></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A bird chirped at my window this morning, </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And over the sky is drawn a light network of clouds.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Come,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Let us go out into the open,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For my heart leaps like a fish that is ready to spawn.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I will lie under the beech-trees,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Under the grey branches of the beech-trees,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In a blueness of little squills and crocuses,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I will lie among the little squills</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And be discharged of this overcharge of beauty,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And that which is born shall be a joy to you</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Who love me.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> Amy Lowell (1874-1925)</span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha4CnEcg_85gbHUJAJI1Niq97WJnUJKTVyJD0ckynNC2obP0DeTmW4s7-6AnWA1zMgsSXp5MemYQk8mUf3-s8lQeVPIeRpgi4SRVNYR8j8yTtX1JZL8d_LBMpfhRDXLS_iQLSY2EnUlbcnrMJLCLU9NE0aeL1ODZX0dCwr0B01R9txs1hEOpgljp4/s848/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-29%20at%208.01.48%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="848" data-original-width="568" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha4CnEcg_85gbHUJAJI1Niq97WJnUJKTVyJD0ckynNC2obP0DeTmW4s7-6AnWA1zMgsSXp5MemYQk8mUf3-s8lQeVPIeRpgi4SRVNYR8j8yTtX1JZL8d_LBMpfhRDXLS_iQLSY2EnUlbcnrMJLCLU9NE0aeL1ODZX0dCwr0B01R9txs1hEOpgljp4/w134-h200/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-29%20at%208.01.48%20PM.png" width="134" /></a></div><br />From: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Nature-Poem-Every-Night-Year/dp/1849946221" target="_blank">A Nature Poem for Every Night of the Year,</a> Edited by Jane McMorland Hunter, Batsford, 2020.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> <span> Amy Lowell, from a rich, distinguished New England family, a spinster, an overweight, suspected lesbian, an admirer of Ezra Pound, outspoken and opinionated, recipient of a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Poetry after her early death at age 51, was a prolific poet and a proponent of the Imagist school, which promoted a return to classical values.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span> Sometimes the little side trips I take into the poets' lives are as fascinating as anything they put on paper. Who was she writing this poem to? Was it the same person who inspired this short and lovely poem? </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><b>Decades</b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>When you came, you were like red wine and honey,</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>And the taste of you burnt my mouth with its sweetness.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Now you are like morning bread,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Smooth and pleasant.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I hardly taste you at all for I know your savour</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But I am completely nourished.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Below is a 3 minute video about her life.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="409" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xkVSwqiDAIk" width="492" youtube-src-id="xkVSwqiDAIk"></iframe></div><br /><span><br /></span></span></div>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-17098964860221576512023-04-28T17:27:00.001-05:002023-04-28T17:27:00.127-05:00April is Poetry Month: Day 26<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH0zKf8fHjmpP0ddw4d6HS_jvN28wfI4cI86rZwEndSPLRE6LmO15Uh1nBgxAWdDDeJz-dDXtMNEEs_pNFRK2dd1AoiBAgAtOI-JihkWq-6lNwO5RwvPeHpF5PKB8R9HcIHVIrZsQKLrPevm1XiLxrKVlDoqC8hGqx7T7vr_A6e20pTpjJY7hcnBM/s1288/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-27%20at%2011.33.19%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="958" data-original-width="1288" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH0zKf8fHjmpP0ddw4d6HS_jvN28wfI4cI86rZwEndSPLRE6LmO15Uh1nBgxAWdDDeJz-dDXtMNEEs_pNFRK2dd1AoiBAgAtOI-JihkWq-6lNwO5RwvPeHpF5PKB8R9HcIHVIrZsQKLrPevm1XiLxrKVlDoqC8hGqx7T7vr_A6e20pTpjJY7hcnBM/w400-h297/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-27%20at%2011.33.19%20PM.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><h2 style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-family: Oswald, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 36px; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 39.6px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">The Owl and the Pussycat</h2><div><br /></div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> In a beautiful pea-green boat,</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">They took some honey, and plenty of money,</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> Wrapped up in a five-pound note.</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">The Owl looked up to the stars above,</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> And sang to a small guitar,</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">“O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> What a beautiful Pussy you are,</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> You are,</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> You are!</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">What a beautiful Pussy you are!”</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">II</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">Pussy said to the Owl, “You elegant fowl!</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> How charmingly sweet you sing!</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">O let us be married! too long we have tarried:</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> But what shall we do for a ring?”</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">They sailed away, for a year and a day,</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> To the land where the Bong-Tree grows</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> With a ring at the end of his nose,</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> His nose,</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> His nose,</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> With a ring at the end of his nose.</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">II</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">“Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> Your ring?” Said the Piggy, “I will.”</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">So they took it away, and were married next day</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> By the Turkey who lives on the hill.</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">They dined on mince, and slices of quince,</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> Which they ate with a runcible spoon;</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> They danced by the light of the moon,</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> The moon,</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> The moon,</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">They danced by the light of the moon.</div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: right; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></strong></div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: right; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>Edward Lear 1812 – 1888</strong></div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: right; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></strong></div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: right; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></strong></div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: right; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></strong></div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvRF88AVBfY8O1QYr5gy8tGrZz5fLdxjyQem04f5Cq1-S9JpOvp7C6feGLnhsai5c4mRvE4RNucIPZM4xVZp_rEwkBsL3hq1467o08qbvGaVS_k_6UjLrMbS3925A_ctR1sFWm_tRrBbqucBVsZuQkAVMQjZKeGgR4tSra8Hrixax8jII2vx7Rv1g/s474/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-28%20at%203.26.02%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="454" data-original-width="474" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvRF88AVBfY8O1QYr5gy8tGrZz5fLdxjyQem04f5Cq1-S9JpOvp7C6feGLnhsai5c4mRvE4RNucIPZM4xVZp_rEwkBsL3hq1467o08qbvGaVS_k_6UjLrMbS3925A_ctR1sFWm_tRrBbqucBVsZuQkAVMQjZKeGgR4tSra8Hrixax8jII2vx7Rv1g/w200-h191/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-28%20at%203.26.02%20PM.png" width="200" /></a></div><br />From: Poetry to read Out Loud, Edited by Robert Alden Rubin, Algonquin Books, 1993.</strong></div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></strong></div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>This was such a cute book, The square shape, along with its brightly-colored dust jacket just called out..."read me, read me" but the choices made by the editor, Robert Alden Rubin, left me a little cold. </strong></div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>Maybe I was in a bad mood. Perhaps that's it--I found myself wondering if his mother called him ROBERT ALDEN!" when she sent him off to clean his room. I'm not usually so churlish. But in the end, there are plenty of poems out there and he can pick his favorites and I can pick mine. </strong></div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> Perhaps if I just go eat some mince and slices of quince, everything will be fine! (Where's my runcible spoon??)</span><br /></strong></div><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #494949; font-family: Montserrat, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; scroll-behavior: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></strong></div>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-89955172350051936402023-04-28T16:22:00.001-05:002023-04-28T16:22:00.123-05:00April is Poetry Month: Day 25<p> Today's poem is by one-time Poet Laureate, Stanley Kunitz (1905-2006) He was 5 years old when Halley's Comet was visible from his birthplace, Worcester, MA. When he was nearly 90, the memory of that encounter. which had been simmering so long, finally emerged as a poem.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGKFFnXpQFAFYOkQAlSS5Kl0jKvldK0RFRTU-wJHHg82e0yBi_rQPQDl3wWS9waNo8yHgZwbxRVKVy3Q8pN-sG0Hf0gFdhjFKM6fCyv6FgSoQshTBrgA7pa-gwvngKizD7PtxRud3kv-3365CEnzuJDS_ihPS88QWvuciHt1QkTbKQse4Ic9N8A-8/s1136/IMG_2129.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="1136" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGKFFnXpQFAFYOkQAlSS5Kl0jKvldK0RFRTU-wJHHg82e0yBi_rQPQDl3wWS9waNo8yHgZwbxRVKVy3Q8pN-sG0Hf0gFdhjFKM6fCyv6FgSoQshTBrgA7pa-gwvngKizD7PtxRud3kv-3365CEnzuJDS_ihPS88QWvuciHt1QkTbKQse4Ic9N8A-8/w400-h225/IMG_2129.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><b style="text-align: center;">Halley's Comet</b></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">Miss Murphy in first grade</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">wrote its name in chalk</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">across the board and told us</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">it was roaring down the storm tracks</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">of the Milky Way at frightful speed</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">and it it wandered off its course</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">and smashed into the earth</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">there'd be no school tomorrow.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">A red-bearded preacher from the hills</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">with a wild look in his eyes</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">stood in the public square</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">at the playground's edge</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">proclaiming he was sent by God</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">to save every one of us,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">even the little children,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">"Repent, ye sinners!" he shouted,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">waving his hand-lettered sign.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">At supper I felt sad to think</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">that it was probably</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">the last meal I'd share</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">with my mother and my sisters;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">but I felt excited too</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">and scarcely touched my plate.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">So mother scolded me</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">and sent me early to my room.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">The whole family's asleep</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">except for me. They never heard me steal</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">into the stairwell hall and climb</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">the ladder to the fresh night air.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">Look for me, Father, on the roof</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">of the red brick building</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">at the foot of Green Street--</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">that's where we live, you know, on the top floor</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">I'm the boy in the white flannel gown</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">sprawled on this coarse gravel bed</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">searching the starry sky,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">waiting for the world to end.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0g5s5mEdlNxNYhXsdB12wP4VKBFwItrAdXhLxza-6MxIsUqeEq2UOjyR94Pgw2GVQjTDu_luH3CgJ86XWgOdo5RBGKDU6BSsFjnGEhs1RHQViqDDefCIiNxSsdvRejBloViDSYJwtUYe-p_pldB7eIiPJdxqvDj_qY1bI4iXxjKENFB-yuSoCQzY/s840/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-28%20at%203.09.55%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="602" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0g5s5mEdlNxNYhXsdB12wP4VKBFwItrAdXhLxza-6MxIsUqeEq2UOjyR94Pgw2GVQjTDu_luH3CgJ86XWgOdo5RBGKDU6BSsFjnGEhs1RHQViqDDefCIiNxSsdvRejBloViDSYJwtUYe-p_pldB7eIiPJdxqvDj_qY1bI4iXxjKENFB-yuSoCQzY/w143-h200/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-28%20at%203.09.55%20PM.png" width="143" /></a></div><br />From: Fooling With Words: A Celebration of Poets and Their Craft, Bill Moyers, William Morrow & Co, 1999.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><span> For the Harry Potter fans among us, there are all sorts of wizarding items that would be so wonderful to possess; a magic wand, of course, Harry's "cloak of invisibility', various unique modes of travel, and one of my favorites, the Pensieve. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><span><span> </span>You would have to be admitted into Dumbledore's sanctuary, certainly, but once there, you could look into its shallow stone basin filled with a silvery cloud-like liquid/gas and see the memories that had been siphoned into it.</span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><span><span> In our non-magical muggle world, we do not have the Pensieve, but we do have poetry, which Kunitz's used for the same effect in "Halley's Comet". Though miles and years separated him from that childhood experience and even more miles and years separate him from me--still his experience has now become mine. I enrich it by pulling in my own experience; an encounter with my parents, a dark summer night and a UFO. Perhaps I will write about that some time, maybe, it is even now on its way to becoming a poem.</span><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><span><span> Looks like Fooling With Words will be added to my reading pile. Bill Moyers is always engaging, insightful and very readable--or maybe I'll just watch <a href="https://billmoyers.com/content/fooling-with-words-part-i/" target="_blank">the documentary</a>--there are limits on high my pile can grow! <br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><p style="text-align: left;"><b style="text-align: center;"><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></p>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-86263358338224471342023-04-28T16:00:00.000-05:002023-04-28T16:01:55.500-05:00April is Poetry Month: Day 24<div style="text-align: left;"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixDTDJKTJV97mnTfCjhLtuRFrGPGsSIrYwOQNimcon294wpL_cy6lzTIBKbNyKXwT8l6Tz29GgBkfq59VIo02t6nziMvLdS1t8EO9lwd9XgpC_fu31c50jYksp47fFSaT-uYt_2r_szAOLk6FklB_3sBktuOfmfOAm7jwPUZrCvZ8rm4gtTa_1FBc/s1103/soderholm30.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="913" data-original-width="1103" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixDTDJKTJV97mnTfCjhLtuRFrGPGsSIrYwOQNimcon294wpL_cy6lzTIBKbNyKXwT8l6Tz29GgBkfq59VIo02t6nziMvLdS1t8EO9lwd9XgpC_fu31c50jYksp47fFSaT-uYt_2r_szAOLk6FklB_3sBktuOfmfOAm7jwPUZrCvZ8rm4gtTa_1FBc/w400-h331/soderholm30.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> </b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Love Sonnet XCIV</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">If I die, survive me with such sheer force</div><div style="text-align: left;">that you waken the furies of the pallid and the cold</div><div style="text-align: left;">from south to south lift your indelible eyes,</div><div style="text-align: left;">from sun to sun dream through your singing mouth.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I don't want your laughter or your steps to waver,</div><div style="text-align: left;">I don't want my heritage of joy to die.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Don't call up my person. I am absent.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Live in my absence as if in a house.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Absence is a house so vast</div><div style="text-align: left;">that inside you will pass through its walls</div><div style="text-align: left;">and hang pictures on the air</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Absence is a house so transparent</div><div style="text-align: left;">that I, lifeless, will see you, living,</div><div style="text-align: left;">and if you suffer, my love, I will die again.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> Pablo Neruda</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNF5Hoo307pidWLlVOXU1IR0WAh3bjdQassvyJ01zJaFkzJatYz24tRNPdndF_LeIY4R8-NJqEHLSeWpxUkU7LnmiFOWQVYSZZ8R3RDUgmezBED_P0wZYBI1PW30U0pxgtvQL5RvbKPGkgNBrDRbjm4rT-CBepzZ4GAdi7-rWd-4Dz9jnMkj-3yPw/s624/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-28%20at%203.42.33%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="458" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNF5Hoo307pidWLlVOXU1IR0WAh3bjdQassvyJ01zJaFkzJatYz24tRNPdndF_LeIY4R8-NJqEHLSeWpxUkU7LnmiFOWQVYSZZ8R3RDUgmezBED_P0wZYBI1PW30U0pxgtvQL5RvbKPGkgNBrDRbjm4rT-CBepzZ4GAdi7-rWd-4Dz9jnMkj-3yPw/w147-h200/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-28%20at%203.42.33%20PM.png" width="147" /></a></div><br />From: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ten-Poems-Goodbye-Roger-Housden/dp/0307885992" target="_blank">ten poems to say goodbye</a>, Roger Housden, Harmony Books, 2012.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>April 24 was when our family said goodbye to Amanda, beloved wife of Keith, mother of Hunter, Riley, Ella and Madi. She was just 4 days shy of her 42nd birthday, taken from us by cancer. Her funeral attracted hundreds and the memories shared were joyous and reflected the impact of her life, her courage and her love. The family is strong, numerous and tight. Her husband is determined to carry on, raising the children and running the farm that she loved so much. Now the living must deal with her absence and hang pictures in the air. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> This book has so much to offer us through the poems selected. We are always saying goodbye; to loved ones, to relationships, to our youth, our careers, our once healthy bodies...grief is a frequent companion and too often we do not know what to say, or how to cope. In the quiet hours of the night, this is one place to turn.</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-39382286841137421612023-04-27T10:39:00.001-05:002023-04-27T10:50:28.417-05:00April is Poetry Month: Day 23<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3daoQhzK3ILU1mv8xBxhh7gL3cTF017SRUq9uGok_YDv6wZ49ySW0DHp8wzeWY0z-gouL1GgdAyR5FNrl9Bgf-0DvhsJlis_QrAEmQrNMRhwvVbP-7pUslJslFq4-nNDQFLvSvm5s8Y-uUxTHwQW-7IjrHXOx6ucVk9anWTunb8s8Tm_xiPDp1ok/s1010/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-27%20at%2010.29.21%20AM.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="728" data-original-width="1010" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3daoQhzK3ILU1mv8xBxhh7gL3cTF017SRUq9uGok_YDv6wZ49ySW0DHp8wzeWY0z-gouL1GgdAyR5FNrl9Bgf-0DvhsJlis_QrAEmQrNMRhwvVbP-7pUslJslFq4-nNDQFLvSvm5s8Y-uUxTHwQW-7IjrHXOx6ucVk9anWTunb8s8Tm_xiPDp1ok/w400-h288/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-27%20at%2010.29.21%20AM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">https://www.greatbigcanvas.com/view/bald-eagle-perched-on-spruce<br />-branch-overlooking-the-chilkat-mountains-alaska,2116520/</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>The Eagle</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">He clasps the crag with crooked hands;<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Close to the sun in lonely lands,</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Ringed with the azure world, he stands.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">He watches from his mountain walls,</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">And like a thunderbolt he falls.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> Alfred Lord Tennyson</span><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><br /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9mCzLdQUQVOuVftSwzxbtAfD6enkR4wq_YSmBYcNakb9xQYY_E_lDPFUz3AU8TxfpqFQKlJplA9b9LBBcMS6qsghgiw4lS-o1HFVIcLKPMZySS42T6mzfDZw0kpB8w-gLv3SF7BGAqkQWfuxT_Jcl3RCeUTLFs-VzDvvFhyXVTTCcMKDusMmLEr0/s356/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-27%20at%2010.31.41%20AM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="356" data-original-width="286" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9mCzLdQUQVOuVftSwzxbtAfD6enkR4wq_YSmBYcNakb9xQYY_E_lDPFUz3AU8TxfpqFQKlJplA9b9LBBcMS6qsghgiw4lS-o1HFVIcLKPMZySS42T6mzfDZw0kpB8w-gLv3SF7BGAqkQWfuxT_Jcl3RCeUTLFs-VzDvvFhyXVTTCcMKDusMmLEr0/w161-h200/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-27%20at%2010.31.41%20AM.png" width="161" /></a></div><br />From: The Bird Book, Compiled and edited by Richard Shaw, Warne, 1974.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span> Chances are this poem by Tennyson sounds familiar to you. It is short, yet powerful, and has an identifiable poetic structure; making it ideal for classroom study. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span><span> </span>Back in the days when memorizing poetry was "a thing" I would have been happy to be assigned this poem and not something by Longfellow (whose poems like the Song of Hiawatha, were indeed long fellows!) </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span><span> </span>It is a two STANZA poem, written in three line groups or TERCETS. The rhyming pattern is a simple AAA BBB and the rhythm or METRICAL PATTERN is an IAMBIC TETRAMETER. This means that each line contains four sets of two beats, known as METRICAL FEET or IAMBS. The first is unstressed and the second is stressed. It sounds something like da-DUM, da-DUM.</span><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span> Lest you think that I am geekier than you already do, I found this information on the <a href="https://poemanalysis.com/alfred-tennyson/the-eagle/" target="_blank">Poem Analysis website</a>. This is a fantastic site if you want to look beneath the surface of a poem, and let's face it...there is often a whole hidden universe to be found within a poem's economy of words but wealth of meaning. <br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span><span> The Eagle, for example is only 41 words long, including the title, but those few words create a world and an experience. Reading this analysis helped me see how Tennyson was able to accomplish this. </span><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span><span><span> This website is a happy discovery for me and I will return to learn more about the poems that confounds me. </span><br /></span></span></span></span></div><p> </p>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-38698260941782973052023-04-26T12:08:00.001-05:002023-04-26T12:08:12.556-05:00Consider subscribing or leaving comments!<p> It is really hard to be a consistent journalist, but I've already posted over 20 times this month and it feels good! I hope to continue to post regularly. Next month my focus will be on issues of information literacy...there is so much misinformation out there! It's like a jungle out there and I want to be your machete to chop your way through and untangle the overgrowth. Some of that misinformation is so compelling; we want to believe it. </p><p>I still believe that truth is the best way forward.</p><p>I'd appreciate your comments and support. What worries you? What bugs you? What confuses you?</p><p>There's nothing that I like more than an information challenge!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKEqVXelmr2uvdSvjMFlyqeYmWGVzZI9JL2V5PUxfX50ljc5zAUjB_pwY3aLbNUQA37IK8U8FIQNMNhG6dAYLZUWy8dyi-sAiyvYtcE7DEjc0BKxpXuMq1hj1PZ8qpwDyNwfEVy6tFPGC4euEYzgh5DGrsPRHu8gdvdnLvtnQrk4t-57ZQfv2X0dA/s586/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-26%20at%2012.07.24%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="460" data-original-width="586" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKEqVXelmr2uvdSvjMFlyqeYmWGVzZI9JL2V5PUxfX50ljc5zAUjB_pwY3aLbNUQA37IK8U8FIQNMNhG6dAYLZUWy8dyi-sAiyvYtcE7DEjc0BKxpXuMq1hj1PZ8qpwDyNwfEVy6tFPGC4euEYzgh5DGrsPRHu8gdvdnLvtnQrk4t-57ZQfv2X0dA/w400-h314/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-26%20at%2012.07.24%20PM.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-52612663432328396812023-04-26T09:50:00.004-05:002023-04-26T09:58:16.433-05:00April is Poetry Month: Day 22<p> I still have enough poetry books on my shelves to make it to the end of the month choosing a book and sharing a poem from it, but I'd like to change it up a bit and share a poem I wrote about April.</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>Morning Run in April, Interrupted by a Sudden Sound. . .</b></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><b></b><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Three geese,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS_AvaHmTB8nwiFfXE-Ey7tIPFYbYxlVHHMomoimcmSr6wOaEwLtCvEirGLIWhkfz9DIj6helqgOeHAX6eonU817_iraD0sV13RDivwrEsHmBrbnt6AqQXqE7ayB1Pe_nPfy4V3_y3baWnJucrFfzUrfEcyS7rMHoFEqCRQ6074pYkKOZCDn32iPU/s4096/IMG_8428.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4096" data-original-width="3734" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS_AvaHmTB8nwiFfXE-Ey7tIPFYbYxlVHHMomoimcmSr6wOaEwLtCvEirGLIWhkfz9DIj6helqgOeHAX6eonU817_iraD0sV13RDivwrEsHmBrbnt6AqQXqE7ayB1Pe_nPfy4V3_y3baWnJucrFfzUrfEcyS7rMHoFEqCRQ6074pYkKOZCDn32iPU/w241-h263/IMG_8428.jpeg" width="241" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">photo image created on BeCasso <br />from an original by J. Doolittle</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">dipping tails into<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">a pond of pigment,</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">rise,</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and with broad strokes<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">paint sky where there had been none.<br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">More join the canvas</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Adding clouds<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and trees--</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">budding and expectant.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I forget to watch my feet.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Two robins,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Draw a solid stripe across my path</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And settle on the grass,</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Green, without a doubt,</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Their shadows.</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> Jean Doolittle, 1995</span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span>I wrote this while I was in a poetry class and it benefited greatly from the critiques I received. It began overly verbose and sentimental, but we found that the heartwood was good and pruned it to discover the proper form and shape. I hope you can feel some of the magical transition that can happen only in spring; a transformation of the land, the life upon it, and ourselves, if we simply open ourselves to the experience. </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Arial; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-2609613565737060562023-04-25T22:26:00.002-05:002023-04-26T22:29:43.779-05:00April is Poetry Month: Day 21<p><b></b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8YZd6-bheExZba9wNvANVpA5gXX_7y4uKMrfXrAQGSPDoB9lZQoOweyoRkY4MN_s4x5JfpO6DdebthdS3pdPU6Agv-e8ZXE9NeaUwkbPTirFuuQib6jLpjdljnv4MJZ3LoJhGdaF6qe_2rY6LkYp_thpcd0XAfjSC6cPWNsOvvBfiTnZlAB_qEZU/s4032/IMG_0327.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8YZd6-bheExZba9wNvANVpA5gXX_7y4uKMrfXrAQGSPDoB9lZQoOweyoRkY4MN_s4x5JfpO6DdebthdS3pdPU6Agv-e8ZXE9NeaUwkbPTirFuuQib6jLpjdljnv4MJZ3LoJhGdaF6qe_2rY6LkYp_thpcd0XAfjSC6cPWNsOvvBfiTnZlAB_qEZU/w400-h300/IMG_0327.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Florida, Jan 2019, J. Doolittle</span></td></tr></tbody></table><b><br />What is Poetry? </b><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">What is Poetry? Who knows?</div><div style="text-align: left;">Not a rose, but the scent of the rose;</div><div style="text-align: left;">Not the sky, but the light in the sky;</div><div style="text-align: left;">Not the fly, but the gleam of the fly,</div><div style="text-align: left;">Not the sea, but the sound of the sea,</div><div style="text-align: left;">Not myself, but what makes me</div><div style="text-align: left;">See, hear, and feel something that prose</div><div style="text-align: left;">Cannot: and what it is, who knows?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_Farjeon" target="_blank">Eleanor Farjeon</a> (1881-1965)<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbKlrp-KQk_F78_-GfPBB21gIhupRIQ57FKgHTkGR_K1J1Gw7OFJn48OAYpQD2nn8uEJ_OrJ5NTExAUWy67OUbKj5UTv0h4vkG3YfMeaOX0AmmIBNGXFsSfWKk72Qa1Rg3WNXafhlqv48ykHwGAPxXytFWatHp0GlJqha8C3iOQoK5dZfeGLnU91k/s438/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-25%20at%2010.14.47%20PM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="438" data-original-width="292" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbKlrp-KQk_F78_-GfPBB21gIhupRIQ57FKgHTkGR_K1J1Gw7OFJn48OAYpQD2nn8uEJ_OrJ5NTExAUWy67OUbKj5UTv0h4vkG3YfMeaOX0AmmIBNGXFsSfWKk72Qa1Rg3WNXafhlqv48ykHwGAPxXytFWatHp0GlJqha8C3iOQoK5dZfeGLnU91k/w133-h200/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-25%20at%2010.14.47%20PM.png" width="133" /></a></div><br />From: <a href="https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/pass-the-poetry-please-9780064460620" target="_blank">Pass the Poetry, Please</a>, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Harper, 1987. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span> This is a book that I used as a teacher and the title inspired me to develop a "poetry menu" as a theme for poetry presentations I made to teachers at retreats and conferences. It has lots of good ideas for teachers to use in their classrooms. Rhythm and rhyme, wordplay and imagery, will always have a place in classrooms, at least I hope so. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span> </span>Maybe we can all fit in a little more poetry into our lives...if you look it's all around you...in advertising jingles, playground chants and songs on the radio, and maybe in some neglected books on your shelf.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span> </span> I'm attaching a video of Morning Has Broken, sung by Cat Stevens (born Steven Demetre Giorgiou, and now know as Yusuf Islam) The words to this song were written as a hymn by Eleanor Farjeon, the featured poet. She also wrote a poem that I found myself voicing out loud just tonight as we observed our cat, JJ, sleeping on the window ledge, his head resting on several stones displayed there.</span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span> Cats Sleep Anywhere</span><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span>Cats sleep, anywhere,<br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span>Any table, any chair</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span>Top of piano, window-ledge</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span>In the middle, on the edge,</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span>Open drawer, empty shoe,</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span>Anybody's lap will do,</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span>Fitted in a cardboard box,</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span>In the cupboard, with your frocks--</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span>Anywhere! They don't care!</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span>Cats sleep anywhere.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNGhKoofxewlrt_zptfh2ylNFqOKkz0z3KS5IIlTuBk_u2Prjt39_T03Y00PltS5xCaOnrBRQf5nRVPjiuIjkU6UWq7nAVJgGnOV93vn4j3KcAazHHhSbhpTgJ-022HlkioGniOL7mA0OS-RqSWd3vAx1Ycae_5e81od6iMPNUda5dJDombH54ik0/s1760/IMG_0037.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1760" data-original-width="1320" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNGhKoofxewlrt_zptfh2ylNFqOKkz0z3KS5IIlTuBk_u2Prjt39_T03Y00PltS5xCaOnrBRQf5nRVPjiuIjkU6UWq7nAVJgGnOV93vn4j3KcAazHHhSbhpTgJ-022HlkioGniOL7mA0OS-RqSWd3vAx1Ycae_5e81od6iMPNUda5dJDombH54ik0/w240-h320/IMG_0037.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Percy, exhausted after chasing the computer</span> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">mouse</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuOKVUsBCqRro19flSuUlPJcVS499l8Ch3ufIj90nesOvgjdwHa7Hw2MsJP_nRRFJwb_eC3S5k9bavbShTkV070z1Eb5MRBSmdGQu_0H82tT_06oDaXzhQgvybL_COQ2LfD_S_vUziMpEU2zaisVYHCxy3fZ46eq8gwaSdDi6UP7XqeMimA64gV40/s4032/IMG_1001.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuOKVUsBCqRro19flSuUlPJcVS499l8Ch3ufIj90nesOvgjdwHa7Hw2MsJP_nRRFJwb_eC3S5k9bavbShTkV070z1Eb5MRBSmdGQu_0H82tT_06oDaXzhQgvybL_COQ2LfD_S_vUziMpEU2zaisVYHCxy3fZ46eq8gwaSdDi6UP7XqeMimA64gV40/w240-h320/IMG_1001.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Kit Kat "plants" himself in terracotta</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="408" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uZAsfB1Np-8" width="491" youtube-src-id="uZAsfB1Np-8"></iframe></div><br /><span><br /></span></div>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-13163250692257927082023-04-25T21:01:00.003-05:002023-04-25T21:01:29.433-05:00April is Poetry Month: Day 20<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJEvVJlYp-Xi1n2E27lD_IL1Uo8vODtTncYvIfXCP4TUZYGUSuN4lp0kYmNa44P4MPZc__n7prBwU1wkzGLbOGMGfNEehp2mYJqbawBSJoXI4HgsT84xPnjKqLtPZ7JDGvVj--aB4gaBHHtNPoPcQ6Tfz6NfGcbfp3ueam30UpiEIFgQOFwe6WMe8/s3398/IMG_7302.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2612" data-original-width="3398" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJEvVJlYp-Xi1n2E27lD_IL1Uo8vODtTncYvIfXCP4TUZYGUSuN4lp0kYmNa44P4MPZc__n7prBwU1wkzGLbOGMGfNEehp2mYJqbawBSJoXI4HgsT84xPnjKqLtPZ7JDGvVj--aB4gaBHHtNPoPcQ6Tfz6NfGcbfp3ueam30UpiEIFgQOFwe6WMe8/w400-h308/IMG_7302.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Bee! I'm expecting you!<br />Was saying Yesterday </div><div style="text-align: left;">To Somebody you know<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">That you were due--</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Frogs got Home last Week--</div><div style="text-align: left;">Are Settled and at work--</div><div style="text-align: left;">Birds, mostly back--</div><div style="text-align: left;">The Clover, warm and thick--</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">You'll get my Letter</div><div style="text-align: left;">By the seventeenth; Reply</div><div style="text-align: left;">Or better, be with me--</div><div style="text-align: left;">Yours, Fly</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> Emily Dickinson</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">From: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Poetry-Where-Poems-Write/dp/0871161818" target="_blank">Writing Poetry: Where Poems Come From and How to Write Them</a>, <a href="https://english.fsu.edu/faculty/david-kirby" target="_blank">David Kirby,</a> The Writer, Inc, 1989. <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/david-kirby" target="_blank">David Kirby</a> created a fun and accessible book on writing poetry, with lots of examples from noted poets and some of his students as well. No doubt he's had lots of students in his<b> 54</b> years at Florida State University and poetry and the teaching of it has given him lots of joy and insight. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>I chose to feature another Emily Dickinson poem because it seemed so appropriate for our late spring which has been as anxiously awaited as Fly has anticipated Bee's return. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>Today I introduced 20 little lettuce plants to the great outdoors to harden off for a few hours with hopes that I can put them into the garden this week and have some Black-seeded Simpson leaf lettuce to harvest in early May. (They'll be back outside again tomorrow for a little bit longer) The winter-sowing milk jug greenhouses that I set out in February and that spent many weeks buried under snow also have some tiny lettuce seedlings that will go into the garden in a few weeks. Bee...I'm waiting for you too!</div>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-87977353424940516252023-04-25T15:55:00.002-05:002023-04-25T15:59:11.490-05:00April is Poetry Month: Day 19<div style="text-align: left;"> <b>Woodstock</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">I came upon a child of God</div><div style="text-align: left;">He was walking along the road<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJofpLm2QQYuK87q2bq52c_4HvGiir3GxEKQ2d45QhLgZzaDUeEDAg_tr4MN658WHirYKcQ_mcS_oHICc5cIuIZ0PKEliKJEOYMIrA9XQHW3cbRhtlsCbc-19iuYpQG2yjYNU19LtQP9fcADHASO4-sSABNldwdUJvakNSQs_2zWSdkDTC2Cn7VR0/s916/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-25%20at%203.23.15%20PM.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="790" data-original-width="916" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJofpLm2QQYuK87q2bq52c_4HvGiir3GxEKQ2d45QhLgZzaDUeEDAg_tr4MN658WHirYKcQ_mcS_oHICc5cIuIZ0PKEliKJEOYMIrA9XQHW3cbRhtlsCbc-19iuYpQG2yjYNU19LtQP9fcADHASO4-sSABNldwdUJvakNSQs_2zWSdkDTC2Cn7VR0/w320-h303/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-25%20at%203.23.15%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">And I asked him, where are you going </div><div style="text-align: left;">And this he told me</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'm going on down to Yasgur's farm</div><div style="text-align: left;">I'm going to join a rock 'n' roll band</div><div style="text-align: left;">I'm going to camp out on the land</div><div style="text-align: left;">And try an' my soul free</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span><span> We are stardust</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span> </span><span> We are golden</span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span> </span><span> And we've got to get ourselves</span><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span><span> </span><span> Back to the garden</span><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span><span>Then can I walk beside you</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span><span>I have come here to lose the smog</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span><span>And I feel to be a cog in something turning</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span><span>Well maybe it is just the time of year</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span><span>Or maybe it's the time of man</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span><span>I don't know who I am</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span><span><span><span>But life is for learning</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div> We are stardust<br /></div><div> We are golden<br /></div><div> And we've got to get ourselves<br /></div><div> Back to the garden</div><div><br /></div><div>By the time we got to Woodstock</div><div>We were half a million strong</div><div>And everywhere there was song and celebration</div><div>And I dreamed I saw the bombers</div><div>Riding shotgun in the sky</div><div>And they were turning into butterflies</div><div>Above our nation</div><div><div> We are stardust<br /></div><div> We are golden<br /></div><div> And we've got to get ourselves<br /></div><div> Back to the garden</div></div><div><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><br /></div><div><span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> Joni Mitchell, 1969</span></span></div><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9wK2I70LcLSKmzJhS82mtXrvr_T7Q6pkqLyMuTlbFob6oMbEqem3pluRM_hSLV6tFICqoVQJWQ0XYIjAXLplAM0OiHXEi_5XWiMlfYtxTunEzPDAGXFes17Wjv-wSjKdgmUV2YOfTQALYOT0BKOofksNQDBtgy73OCQ_F8b4ZglgKZA6k1RujBe8/s720/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-25%20at%203.34.13%20PM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="534" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9wK2I70LcLSKmzJhS82mtXrvr_T7Q6pkqLyMuTlbFob6oMbEqem3pluRM_hSLV6tFICqoVQJWQ0XYIjAXLplAM0OiHXEi_5XWiMlfYtxTunEzPDAGXFes17Wjv-wSjKdgmUV2YOfTQALYOT0BKOofksNQDBtgy73OCQ_F8b4ZglgKZA6k1RujBe8/w148-h200/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-25%20at%203.34.13%20PM.png" width="148" /></a></div><br />From: <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=norton+introduction+to+literature+shorter+3rd+edition&source=lmns&tbm=shop&bih=736&biw=1422&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiF5c-_8MX-AhWdKN4AHdCBApEQ0pQJKAF6BAgBEAQ#spd=4603955190969416007" target="_blank">The Norton Introduction to Literature</a>: Shorter Third Edition, Edited by Carl E. Bain, Jerome Beaty, J. Paul Hunter, Norton, 1982.</span></div><div><span>I didn't keep many of my college textbooks, only a couple of Norton anthologies of literature. However, I wasn't in college in 1982; I had two small children at that time, so college wasn't a part of daily life. It must have been another addition to my bookstore that didn't sell. This volume weighs in at 942 pages...and it's the "shorter addition!" It was satisfying to find song lyrics from <a href="https://www.npr.org/artists/14857713/joni-mitchell" target="_blank">Joni Mitchell</a> between the covers. The poem reflects some of the naive optimism of that time..."bombers turning into butterflies" but the ideals we had back then of peace and simplicity are powerfully stated. It was also satisfying to see that she was able to return to performing at the Newport Folk Festival, 8,660 days after her last performance at the age of 55. She had suffered a debilitating brain aneurysm that left her unable to walk or talk. That she was able to relearn the guitar and be able to perform again at the age of 78 is amazing. This is a woman who has been amazing...stardust and golden...her whole life!</span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="411" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q3SjqGfe-yM" width="494" youtube-src-id="q3SjqGfe-yM"></iframe></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><br /> </span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="401" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4lx86B6a3kc" width="483" youtube-src-id="4lx86B6a3kc"></iframe></div><br /></div><div><span><span><br /></span><br /></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></div>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-41268685770690533582023-04-23T23:31:00.000-05:002023-04-23T23:31:41.218-05:00April is Poetry Month: Day 18<div style="text-align: left;"><b>Starlings</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Can you keep it so,</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_1zsqkXy-0vJNZbbsuW8krNaMrAdb_ttg5S4w67vmqEJri5i42qZPWWmAfIyrTXeCHTrkG5Ad4Kvhelm78diDsi7GjGsYDA75M0DEioxbadbeIT6RXyf6BZF5iymdu20T6O_kqYH01kBHDEye5jRY0ctxZaQiiuFgy7pU-QCxA1myWdM-vyLRJgs/s1222/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-23%20at%2010.36.43%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1132" data-original-width="1222" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_1zsqkXy-0vJNZbbsuW8krNaMrAdb_ttg5S4w67vmqEJri5i42qZPWWmAfIyrTXeCHTrkG5Ad4Kvhelm78diDsi7GjGsYDA75M0DEioxbadbeIT6RXyf6BZF5iymdu20T6O_kqYH01kBHDEye5jRY0ctxZaQiiuFgy7pU-QCxA1myWdM-vyLRJgs/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-23%20at%2010.36.43%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>cool tree, making a blue cage</div><div style="text-align: left;">for an obstreperous population?</div><div style="text-align: left;">for a congregation of mediaeval scholars</div><div style="text-align: left;">quarrelling in several languages?</div><div style="text-align: left;">for busybodies marketing</div><div style="text-align: left;">in the bazaar of green leaves?</div><div style="text-align: left;">for clockwork fossils that can't be still even</div><div style="text-align: left;">when the Spring runs down?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">No tree, no blue cage can contain</div><div style="text-align: left;">that restlessness. They whirr off</div><div style="text-align: left;">and sow themselves in a scattered handful </div><div style="text-align: left;">on the grass--and are </div><div style="text-align: left;">bustling monks</div><div style="text-align: left;">tilling their green precincts.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> Norman MacCaig</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE5-s04WMfyrfpo2czqJ8MY33mY-vBqddr2KgI8lANkckYEC0dsaQDeQB2qeNUSKJe1uRL_lbJuhMoSF5TGsQ0xARkufdbJOZtlnkO7G05-7spShqmi861BEnFpBkzFQ7Xwu-D0iqT1EFo5OcvrEb_59GBiPCTWcL5dXN9V8lX2346cAF32zY1BOE/s490/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-23%20at%2010.42.07%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="380" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE5-s04WMfyrfpo2czqJ8MY33mY-vBqddr2KgI8lANkckYEC0dsaQDeQB2qeNUSKJe1uRL_lbJuhMoSF5TGsQ0xARkufdbJOZtlnkO7G05-7spShqmi861BEnFpBkzFQ7Xwu-D0iqT1EFo5OcvrEb_59GBiPCTWcL5dXN9V8lX2346cAF32zY1BOE/w155-h200/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-23%20at%2010.42.07%20PM.png" width="155" /></a></div><br />From: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3907994-flights-of-imagination" target="_blank">Flights of Imagination: An Illustrated Anthology of Bird Poetry,</a> compiled by Mike Mockler, Blandford, 1982. <br /><span><span> </span>The other day, my phone failed to complete an operating system download and got stuck in a verifying loop, thus requiring a trip to the Apple Store at Rosedale Center. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span> </span>On the way back home, my daughter at the wheel and my granddaughter in the backseat, we found ourselves at a stoplight and had time to watch a "congregation" of starlings bustling around in the grass, seemingly impervious to all the busy human comings and goings on a hectic Saturday in the city. <span> </span><span> </span>Starlings are not native to America. A hundred birds were first brought over </span>and released in Central Park by Shakespeare enthusiasts in the 19th century because they wanted us to have all the birds that he had ever mentioned. Being adaptable and assertive birds, the offspring of those original immigrants now number around 200 million birds from coast to coast. You can learn more about them at the Cornell Ornithology Lab <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/European_Starling/overview" target="_blank">website</a>. Fascinating stuff, at least to me. I can't begin to tell you how interesting I found this book to be...I didn't expect that reaction. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> Over a period of about 12 years I operated an online bookstore which I called Ginger Tea Books. It was never wildly successful, but most years, I generated a small income from it and realized some tax advantages but the actual "raison d'etre" (reason for being) was being able to go out and buy books! I'm pretty sure this book was acquired in one of those buying trips, but never got sold and finally found a place to nest by all my other poetry books. It's going to now spend some time on the groaningly big stack of books by my bedside along with copies of Living Bird magazine. I support the Cornell Lab with donations and get their beautiful full color periodicals. The birds of America are so diverse and learning about their habits, lifecycles and migratory adventures is eye-opening. Our birds are citizens of the planet and their welfare and success is wedded to our own. I hope you choose to look closer at the lives of birds in your neighborhood and become amazed and motivated to protect and preserve them. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span> Speaking of amazing...check out this video of the "murmurations" of the starlings over Rome.</span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="401" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UVko9jyAkQg" width="483" youtube-src-id="UVko9jyAkQg"></iframe></div><br /><span><br /></span></div>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-48376862086524387132023-04-22T12:57:00.000-05:002023-04-22T12:57:50.228-05:00April is Poetry Month: Day 17<div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimewZmOfdXj7FcGew7z-U_ntAXL4kTejJSDUTTVFIKCBO9-CgWd8IqxlrvYyz_NWF0j65CxsBSBHprMJa1-vFPmeZwJBG3WBUOkJug_9hSsaa4OnxcZFO3uPYMg7HJWgt8pzJRZ-YaeTCk5yZYI0EP5rPLMWeUyjaoVt1MXiA0ICQO5Y7cpvjh1m8/s4032/IMG_9218.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimewZmOfdXj7FcGew7z-U_ntAXL4kTejJSDUTTVFIKCBO9-CgWd8IqxlrvYyz_NWF0j65CxsBSBHprMJa1-vFPmeZwJBG3WBUOkJug_9hSsaa4OnxcZFO3uPYMg7HJWgt8pzJRZ-YaeTCk5yZYI0EP5rPLMWeUyjaoVt1MXiA0ICQO5Y7cpvjh1m8/w240-h320/IMG_9218.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Hawaii, Oct, 2018, J. Doolittle</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Wild Nights--Wild Nights!</div><div style="text-align: left;">Were I with thee</div><div style="text-align: left;">Wild Nights should be </div><div style="text-align: left;">Our luxury!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Futile--the Winds--</div><div style="text-align: left;">To a Heart in port--</div><div style="text-align: left;">Done with the Compass--</div><div style="text-align: left;">Done with the Chart!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Rowing in Eden--</div><div style="text-align: left;">Ah, the Sea!</div><div style="text-align: left;">Might I but moor--Tonight--</div><div style="text-align: left;">in Thee!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> Emily Dickinson<br /></span><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDW5Ako_PTUQ3DwV9C71VrA7UZJ12VfrGEpUitCnK1s6OZ418taTtxGlmBXJp92DKJNxuLFpZTVn1fiuWMH_8DfarPpSYy6QK-yzURSwCXYOBBuUiskOxScGOVfM3Iavg9qAIgY7LW3PfgDE51X_UyjZpfcqowpol4ouuT_aU6E67P4HDLQbiiy4w/s616/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-22%20at%2012.40.07%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="616" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDW5Ako_PTUQ3DwV9C71VrA7UZJ12VfrGEpUitCnK1s6OZ418taTtxGlmBXJp92DKJNxuLFpZTVn1fiuWMH_8DfarPpSYy6QK-yzURSwCXYOBBuUiskOxScGOVfM3Iavg9qAIgY7LW3PfgDE51X_UyjZpfcqowpol4ouuT_aU6E67P4HDLQbiiy4w/w130-h200/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-22%20at%2012.40.07%20PM.png" width="130" /></a></div><br />From: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/139782.Into_The_Garden?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=8kwKGWzpuI&rank=1" target="_blank">Into the Garden: A Wedding Anthology, </a><i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/139782.Into_The_Garden?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=8kwKGWzpuI&rank=1" target="_blank">Poetry and Prose on Love and Marriage</a>, </i>Edited by Robert Hass & Stephen Mitchell, Harper Perennial, 1993.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Emily probably wrote this passionate poem when she was about 28 or 29 years old. She never married and lived reclusively, but had a rich inner life. The authors feature this poem in their introduction and I'm going to share their interpretation.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">"I've just recently realized why this poem is so mysterious and beautiful to me. When you first read it, you get the impression that the speaker in the poem is throwing out the charts to navigate by the freedom of her feelings in the open sea. But it isn't so. She has thrown them out because she is in port, in safe harbor. And that, I saw, is what we want from each other most intimately: wildness and safety, or a magical space that includes both. That is what is mean to <i>row in Eden.</i> Dickinson herself came to believe, I think, that the dream wedding was only possible in a passionate mind, which is to say in a poem. I don't think she thought you could have both in the real world. It's my experience that you can have both, not all of the time but some of the time and that this possibility depends on the other more durable things that love means. And the root of these is trust." </div>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-81667699248799472172023-04-17T18:44:00.001-05:002023-04-17T18:44:09.498-05:00April is Poetry Month: Day 16<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhilM3fFS8DjQObv8eshUeh1KqvwzWvqj5OYV9Z49pCzc91Yh-ySqukUpC8rSKmu4k-ouAvhtsyqLPOUnYs-UoGSmsZm5AHPDwY9d_PHD4A13--WWTGtXSs2hwrrTvQh2UJ_f6wmw0uwiqWpkorF3aEAO6opTyAh-ehS5hlSjYSHMjfiCgu1hlzE38/s1136/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-17%20at%206.20.28%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1118" data-original-width="1136" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhilM3fFS8DjQObv8eshUeh1KqvwzWvqj5OYV9Z49pCzc91Yh-ySqukUpC8rSKmu4k-ouAvhtsyqLPOUnYs-UoGSmsZm5AHPDwY9d_PHD4A13--WWTGtXSs2hwrrTvQh2UJ_f6wmw0uwiqWpkorF3aEAO6opTyAh-ehS5hlSjYSHMjfiCgu1hlzE38/w400-h394/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-17%20at%206.20.28%20PM.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"> <b>Future Ark</b></p><div style="text-align: center;">Imagine a world where humans would </div><div style="text-align: center;"> Do their best for the planet's good:<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Water pure and forests fair--</div><div style="text-align: center;">No pollution to kill the air.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Can we change our ways much faster</div><div style="text-align: center;">And avoid complete disaster?</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">For without space to live in peace</div><div style="text-align: center;">The animals will soon decrease</div><div style="text-align: center;">Then disappear without a trace--</div><div style="text-align: center;">Could robot creatures take their place?</div><div style="text-align: center;">There isn't time to wait and see...</div><div style="text-align: center;">The microchip can't make a tree.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">James Marsh</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggEsKrBOMowkq3EbQ9LrR6ULgaEOB8W6HXBJVzQfIcUXMioVLTo3t2qXIWIxSVz6tguICYCHGRPp9uUm8JT6l_3CvK8nys0vRbowJp6wUrSxpWWfKsGbSiP046hRlgW9LBAfuyz-CHzEesQK35Dk1f7d9X8Eh-q2cYlONTM0DiQh7RlAC6ywQ0o14/s396/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-17%20at%206.15.54%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="396" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggEsKrBOMowkq3EbQ9LrR6ULgaEOB8W6HXBJVzQfIcUXMioVLTo3t2qXIWIxSVz6tguICYCHGRPp9uUm8JT6l_3CvK8nys0vRbowJp6wUrSxpWWfKsGbSiP046hRlgW9LBAfuyz-CHzEesQK35Dk1f7d9X8Eh-q2cYlONTM0DiQh7RlAC6ywQ0o14/w200-h198/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-17%20at%206.15.54%20PM.png" width="200" /></a></div><br />From: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3991594-bizarre-birds-and-beasts" target="_blank">Bizarre Birds & Beasts</a>, written and illustrated by James Marsh, Dial, 1991. The illustrations may be stronger than the verses, with their vibrant colors and rich and quirky details, but the poems are short and catchy and together create a book that is a joy to spend time with. I'd like to frame each and every illustration. The selected poem is the last one in the book and has a message we've been hearing for years and have failed to act on. <a href="https://www.earthday.org/how-climate-change-is-threatening-our-species/" target="_blank">Fifty percent of our world's animal species</a> could become extinct within this century without action. Think of that....50%! We continue to worry about how expensive gasoline is, how we can continue to live our comfortable lives without inconvenience and species are struggling to survive, from pole to pole, across all the oceans and the continents. Their beauty, diversity and value to our planet disappearing. We must do more to protect our wondrous planet! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-7755111232474221602023-04-17T12:37:00.000-05:002023-04-17T12:37:52.974-05:00April is Poetry Month: Day 15<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Open Secrets</b> </span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Because you are beautiful I will have to tell you a number</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span> of my secrets</span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>(What does anyone hid anything for except to have</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span> it found?)</span><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span>I have concealed from you too long the fact that space</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span> is curved,</span><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span>That I have invented the night the better to see you by </span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span> that</span><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span>If I seem upset at times it is because of the way you walk,</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span> leaning into the wind.</span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span>That most of my secrets are doors that open onto other </span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span> secrets--</span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span>(Vistas of fields and beaches and columns stretching on</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span> forever),</span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>That even these words are secrets with turquoise doors</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span> in them,</span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Opening out to one side or the other, letting you glimpse</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span> for two seconds</span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Herds of speaking horses, temples full of starfish</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span> Clandestine moons,</span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>And as you walk, leaning into wind, into the terrible landscape</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span> of your own beauty,</span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>These secrets are my gifts to you, these signs that lead you</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span> to my door.</span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> --Gwendolyn MacEwen (1941-1987)</span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAFBhhhqJfjaXRGdyZA5pLTd93NCMxGFpP_hG9vMukI36a2-eHBvD3KBCpW3dBJ529UF4Hj4oqckLjnrhikZ_k5wAchBgVCJiXAlTkoqxz0XwESbrRzc9knqbzhONHoGyD6IViYmoWxYnATn8nqvqNvca6-nkdQlclvh7aRePIxE-gEjXqGP3eemw/s4096/IMG_9598.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4096" data-original-width="3072" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAFBhhhqJfjaXRGdyZA5pLTd93NCMxGFpP_hG9vMukI36a2-eHBvD3KBCpW3dBJ529UF4Hj4oqckLjnrhikZ_k5wAchBgVCJiXAlTkoqxz0XwESbrRzc9knqbzhONHoGyD6IViYmoWxYnATn8nqvqNvca6-nkdQlclvh7aRePIxE-gEjXqGP3eemw/s320/IMG_9598.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Reykjavik, Iceland, 5/2022, photo image</span> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">J. Doolittle</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span>A poem is a peculiar, particular thing; often compact (the depth of a novel in the space of a page).<br /> Every word chosen <i>JUST-BECAUSE</i>- no other word could quite say it as clearly or deeply. The line breaks, the punctuation, Capitalization (or not), the way the words and lines sit on the page--all of those things can enlarge the poem, convey the meaning, expression the emotion, dictate the cadence. A poem is the essence of gestalt, a thing greater than the sum of all its parts. </span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span>For example, this poem on my Facebook post looks different and may not "sound" the same when you read it (even in your silent reading mode), so check out how it looks and reads on my blog and see what you think.</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span>Writing a poem about love is a common undertaking (Roses are red...etc.)and yet an enormous challenge to capture "the bright elusive butterfly of love." Poets and non-poets alike have nevertheless continued to try. All too often the poems we read represent only one side of the equation; women poets have been underrepresented in anthologies on this subject. Of course, men can write beautifully about love. I cite Robert Browning: </span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span>Escape me? </span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span>Never--</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span>Beloved!</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span>While I am I, and you are you,</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span> So long as the world contains us both... </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span> </span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span>But don't we also need to hear his beloved, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's response?</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span>How do I love you? Let me count the ways.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span>I love thee to the depth and breadth and height</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span>My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><span><span><span><span>For the ends of being and ideal grace.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2N-nu8OxgD2pzL7XlCmDyYl_Z8nxqbFVCIriHWHh38s2NbxswQbkLLj_MXidG5ldOboOBuHIVPnNBXsEDONBRyQCPqf9t8x-XnB4BgBPW_KFqbk96NeylYc0A22eHcW1vSdeTGDoiPSK4aS4GfHipyzf63RHG9PewS9F_tFF0u3S4f9BSLqcr7W4/s842/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-17%20at%2012.04.59%20PM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="526" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2N-nu8OxgD2pzL7XlCmDyYl_Z8nxqbFVCIriHWHh38s2NbxswQbkLLj_MXidG5ldOboOBuHIVPnNBXsEDONBRyQCPqf9t8x-XnB4BgBPW_KFqbk96NeylYc0A22eHcW1vSdeTGDoiPSK4aS4GfHipyzf63RHG9PewS9F_tFF0u3S4f9BSLqcr7W4/w125-h200/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-17%20at%2012.04.59%20PM.png" width="125" /></a></div><br />Jill Hollis has attempted to rectify that shortcoming in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Loves-Witness-Centuries-Poetry-Women/dp/0786700300" target="_blank"><u>Love's Witness: Five Centuries of Love Poetry by Women</u>, </a>Carroll & Graf, 1993. She mingles the bitter and the sweet and introduces us to women writers we are sure to have missed in our English classes. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The poem I've shared, with its beautiful images of doors and secrets and of our longings for someone to open those doors and discover our wonders was so appealing. It became even more intriguing when I learned a little about the author, a Canadian poet, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwendolyn_MacEwen" target="_blank">Gwendolyn MacEwen</a>, who grew up quickly, died </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">tragically</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">, but lived richly and fully in her 46 years on earth. </span></div>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-37283450361978676482023-04-16T13:19:00.001-05:002023-04-16T13:20:08.217-05:00April is Poetry Month: Day 14<p><b>Little Girl as Earthquake Lit by Stars</b></p><div style="text-align: left;">She is embarrassed by the steadiness<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyFQvJE7DOvvkPqoe4R7poP0V_xJss7VRowe70zsyShGmHWQE8Izy271zdWpXrKcEJspFJN1sB_59aHhQdVg4it9TO_QTmAMf0Ow8h3zO-IfeNCHmTe0L2bRhDXmp9agLnWLLvYLIqeCflykcZl5ZJ9CyZK4n3V7aP5wFeyfAN_9n04HXJd2hsup0/s5472/IMG_0976.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5472" data-original-width="3648" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyFQvJE7DOvvkPqoe4R7poP0V_xJss7VRowe70zsyShGmHWQE8Izy271zdWpXrKcEJspFJN1sB_59aHhQdVg4it9TO_QTmAMf0Ow8h3zO-IfeNCHmTe0L2bRhDXmp9agLnWLLvYLIqeCflykcZl5ZJ9CyZK4n3V7aP5wFeyfAN_9n04HXJd2hsup0/w266-h400/IMG_0976.jpeg" width="266" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo image created by Jean Doolittle<br />original 9/2015, Greenport, NY</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">of adult life. Don't they know,</div><div style="text-align: left;">she wonders, there's a wind</div><div style="text-align: left;">beneath the ground too.</div><div style="text-align: left;">that birds soar through the roots.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">When she was three she wanted </div><div style="text-align: left;">to be a field of yellow grass.</div><div style="text-align: left;">At four she was determined </div><div style="text-align: left;">she would grow up to be gravity.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Now though she wants to be</div><div style="text-align: left;">an earthquake. What unsettles us.</div><div style="text-align: left;">She will stop us from ever standing</div><div style="text-align: left;">still too long. A pacemaker,</div><div style="text-align: left;">like Uncle Jack's but this one</div><div style="text-align: left;">for the heart of the earth.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Sometimes she dreams of meeting</div><div style="text-align: left;">the perfect boy, one with hair</div><div style="text-align: left;">like sawdust, one who will grow</div><div style="text-align: left;">to be a star. Not one of those greasy guys</div><div style="text-align: left;">in those movies her mother watches</div><div style="text-align: left;">in the afternoon, but</div><div style="text-align: left;">that real light that shines</div><div style="text-align: left;">across dark miles, something</div><div style="text-align: left;">measured only on its own terms,</div><div style="text-align: left;">by intensity and speed of flight.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Imagine as she does what a girl</div><div style="text-align: left;">as earthquake and boy as star could do</div><div style="text-align: left;">together. As if we might love</div><div style="text-align: left;">our own light enough to curl within it,</div><div style="text-align: left;">to fall towards ground that trembles</div><div style="text-align: left;">in anticipation of our landing. As if</div><div style="text-align: left;">light and earth could join and move</div><div style="text-align: left;">beneath us, jolt us into dance.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Imagine as she does what it is</div><div style="text-align: left;">to grow up and become rain or river,</div><div style="text-align: left;">symphony orchestra or garden, or one tree that stays</div><div style="text-align: left;">very tall no matter how far away from it </div><div style="text-align: left;">you go no matter how high you climb.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> --John Reinhard</span><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL8aTVwe2dJ8YyAoN_29sr07LCARu8U_xC2HkVANjGTEkJ3FiX23LQsb1FnI2TKhH9czaYHd_oGxuYBHCGtXNXmZW5jrte8pNVg7vs9-Tz4CyBt0Oiu6TY_AGIhMw6k2BiY1Vss9O_MuOPjv6vaKvw1XmhdnEf8KZGfHY9N51oZ97JKp33M87ydRU/s946/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-16%20at%2012.46.05%20PM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="946" data-original-width="638" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL8aTVwe2dJ8YyAoN_29sr07LCARu8U_xC2HkVANjGTEkJ3FiX23LQsb1FnI2TKhH9czaYHd_oGxuYBHCGtXNXmZW5jrte8pNVg7vs9-Tz4CyBt0Oiu6TY_AGIhMw6k2BiY1Vss9O_MuOPjv6vaKvw1XmhdnEf8KZGfHY9N51oZ97JKp33M87ydRU/w135-h200/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-16%20at%2012.46.05%20PM.png" width="135" /></a></div><br />From: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Kiss-Pages-Turning-Leslie-Miller/dp/1882506022" target="_blank">The Kiss of Pages Turning,</a> The Loft Literary Center, 1998.<p></p><p>"Life begins at 40" is often associated with a book written by Walter Pitkin in 1934 and has become something of an axiom in the 20th and 21st centuries. People in previous centuries weren't saying that because the average lifespan was so much shorter in the past; there usually wasn't much life left after 40. In our lifetimes, however, modern medical advances and decreases in infant mortality gave more and more people the opportunity to add other chapters to their lives in the years after establishing careers and childbearing and childrearing. The "mid-life crisis" was born along with that opportunity. If you had more life, what would you do with it?</p><p>I remember feeling somewhat overwhelmed with life's responsibilities at that time, sensing that I should have had more figured out and put into place by then and since I did not, just wanting to get away from it all. I had even picked out a place to disappear to...White River Junction, Vermont. Having never been to Vermont, I had no real idea of what it would be like there; just that Vermont was far away and seemed quiet, pastoral and the leaves would be beautiful in the fall. </p><p>I never packed up and went to Vermont and I don't think my family ever knew how seriously I was considering it. Instead I did do sometimes for myself outside of my home. I signed up for writing classes at the Loft. One of those classes was poetry writing with John Reinhard. The other aspiring poets in the class were enthusiastic and very talented and we continued to meet and critique each other's work long after the class was over. Several have published their poems in books and poetry anthologies...talented, indeed.</p><p>John is a great teacher and an outstanding poet. A few years after my class with him, he was one of the winners of the 1998 McKnight Arts Fellowships for Writers and his work was published in this anthology that I'm featuring, along with some other powerhouse Minnesota writers you may have heard of: Leslie Adrienne Miller (poet, collage artist and professor at St. Thomas) David Mura (Japanese-American poet, non-fiction writer, playwright and performance artist), Kate DiCamillo, Newbery Award winning children's writer) and William Kent Krueger (best-selling mystery writer, known for the Cork O'Connor series). </p><p>I love the imagery of this poem and I remember that John told us about it origins; I only wish I remembered the story he told, but somehow I find myself singing "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" when I read it.</p>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-242747571352489622023-04-14T20:46:00.001-05:002023-04-14T20:46:56.205-05:00April is Poetry Month: Day 13<div style="text-align: left;"> <b>Cat on a Night of Snow</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cat, if you go outdoors you must walk in the snow.</div><div style="text-align: left;">You will come back with little white shoes on your feet,<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgblTTw39wq6onCbdTNUxLjw35Qn5kWvROfTL4fcW0HKk2b5E54X5gZWBHhERkzVf4KA5WPbUviUwIKkpPnNvR3NVrFQF5_2S-ZgQgqGcJblyGhfLNPY-HtH5-fMLkoeT9ym5i8Dp6Ozrz9Z0U28IpwTFRxLv3FFXZSZpF-YdPcPZXeANtw_uACo3k/s4096/IMG_9824.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4096" data-original-width="3670" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgblTTw39wq6onCbdTNUxLjw35Qn5kWvROfTL4fcW0HKk2b5E54X5gZWBHhERkzVf4KA5WPbUviUwIKkpPnNvR3NVrFQF5_2S-ZgQgqGcJblyGhfLNPY-HtH5-fMLkoeT9ym5i8Dp6Ozrz9Z0U28IpwTFRxLv3FFXZSZpF-YdPcPZXeANtw_uACo3k/w179-h200/IMG_9824.jpeg" width="179" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">little white shoes of snow that have heels of sleet.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Stay by the fire, my Cat. Lie still, do not go.</div><div style="text-align: left;">See how the flames are leaping and hissing low.</div><div style="text-align: left;">I will bring you a saucer of milk like a marguerite,</div><div style="text-align: left;">so white and so smooth, so spherical and so sweet--</div><div style="text-align: left;">stay with me, Cat. Outdoors the wild winds blow.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Outdoors, the wild winds blow, Mistress, and dark is the night,</div><div style="text-align: left;">strange voices cry in the trees, intoning strange lore,</div><div style="text-align: left;">and more than cats move, lit by our eyes' green light,</div><div style="text-align: left;">on silent feet where the meadow grasses hang hoar--</div><div style="text-align: left;">Mistress, there are portents abroad of magic and might,</div><div style="text-align: left;">and things that are yet to be done. Open the door!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> --<i>Elizabeth Coatsworth</i><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmwPkFHJterxClSyqtx7mAH9olPxPs07CwX-zEO24DiyqgmiMCFGkGWCn8_3__iQmcz5S5X8QZykRoIzAVZbyfqcJ6TcWH0YiCtpBAtS3pqdxRmxt-e9f-SmGOroEoR_ZjefEOPjEMN1S8hERhYMmnCSBAFb3-VZvWm38qlnweZjDBdK1CIamnC1A/s682/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-14%20at%208.30.01%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="578" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmwPkFHJterxClSyqtx7mAH9olPxPs07CwX-zEO24DiyqgmiMCFGkGWCn8_3__iQmcz5S5X8QZykRoIzAVZbyfqcJ6TcWH0YiCtpBAtS3pqdxRmxt-e9f-SmGOroEoR_ZjefEOPjEMN1S8hERhYMmnCSBAFb3-VZvWm38qlnweZjDBdK1CIamnC1A/w169-h200/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-14%20at%208.30.01%20PM.png" width="169" /></a></div>From: </i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Winter-Poems-Barbara-Rogasky/dp/059042873X" target="_blank">Winter Poems,</a> selected by Barbara Rogasky, Illustrated by<a href="https://www.rmichelson.com/illustration/trina-schart-hyman/" target="_blank">Trina Schart Hyman,</a> Scholastic, 1994.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Why on earth should I share a winter poem in April? Well, this is Minnesota. A week ago we had piles of snow and winter seemed intent on lingering on forever. Then we had tropical temperatures, the snow disappeared and the leaves prepared to burst forth. What could next week bring? </div><div style="text-align: left;">I picked this poem because we have a cat like "Cat" who loves to experience the weather regardless of what it is. I like the push and pull in this poem between the warmth and comfort of hearth and home and the mystery and magic of the night in the outdoors. Now that there is at least the hope of spring coming back day after day, I want to say, like the Cat...Open the door!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-70334061845639124912023-04-14T20:00:00.002-05:002023-04-14T20:00:53.106-05:00April is Poetry Month: Day 12<p> <b>The Poem That Got Away</b></p><div style="text-align: left;">There I was and in it came<br />Through the fogbank of my brain<br />From the fastness of my soul<br />Shining like a glowing coal</div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>the nearly perfect poem!</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">Oh, it may have needed just</div><div style="text-align: left;">An alteration here or there--</div><div style="text-align: left;">A little tuck, a little seam</div><div style="text-align: left;">to be exactly what I mean--</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigzU71IK0o5FQwRtRBLSQONjajJYhz0oOuxDDD2TYHtzAebeH8FpcUQrZQ9jFBmS_UwIQB1IJ-LI4S_JmPJc6-b7Wt4jSsRCtcwer2SSmyTBnXJJb2UIXWYKLvjylwGu6PBG3SL4yNChb2vtYC3TF2vXqkBYRSpm0ovRHMmrLaxsVFUJL_VukjAI4/s3477/IMG_6364.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2842" data-original-width="3477" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigzU71IK0o5FQwRtRBLSQONjajJYhz0oOuxDDD2TYHtzAebeH8FpcUQrZQ9jFBmS_UwIQB1IJ-LI4S_JmPJc6-b7Wt4jSsRCtcwer2SSmyTBnXJJb2UIXWYKLvjylwGu6PBG3SL4yNChb2vtYC3TF2vXqkBYRSpm0ovRHMmrLaxsVFUJL_VukjAI4/s320/IMG_6364.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><i>The really perfect poem!</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i> </i>I'll write it later on, I said,<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> The idea's clear and so's my head.</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span> This pen I have is nearly dry.</span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span> What I'll do now is finish this pie,</span><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span> <i>Then on to the perfect poem!</i><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span><i><br /></i></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span>With pen in hand quite full of ink</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span>I try now to recall.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span>I've plenty of time in which to think</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">But the poem went down the kitchen sink</div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>With the last of the perfect pie.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> Felice Holman</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghm7S8aUZryGOjorqtCF5pRk_NVwf9U-UX8ZwJ9fI8A79M8WdyUn7isXf9CHXybNoKgfF4MqCGiFxyQPl62JmNM1Ed1bKZjXPnORzl9JRVnbjSmC_86YKBEWqm9DQtWjDV1G0cWNCDNopfiPzsr_Tii4HUXjCGAuuGAVCV00gZiPoKEok8FRhfX-A/s838/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-14%20at%207.52.47%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="838" data-original-width="674" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghm7S8aUZryGOjorqtCF5pRk_NVwf9U-UX8ZwJ9fI8A79M8WdyUn7isXf9CHXybNoKgfF4MqCGiFxyQPl62JmNM1Ed1bKZjXPnORzl9JRVnbjSmC_86YKBEWqm9DQtWjDV1G0cWNCDNopfiPzsr_Tii4HUXjCGAuuGAVCV00gZiPoKEok8FRhfX-A/w161-h200/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-14%20at%207.52.47%20PM.png" width="161" /></a></div><br />From: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Chimes-Bobbye-Goldstein/dp/1563970406" target="_blank">Inner Chimes: Poems on Poetry,</a> Selected by Bobbye S. Goldstein, Wordsong Press, 1992.<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span>This is such a fun book for people who like to read poetry, have ever tried to write poetry, or are just curious about the creative process. This is a book that would be found in the children's section, with charming illustrations and a spacious design; but that is an artificial separation. So much simple joy can be found between the pages; and so much food for thought (and even some tasty pie!)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span></div><p><br /></p>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6406841975673227326.post-52851645084425972242023-04-14T09:24:00.001-05:002023-04-14T09:25:15.382-05:00April is Poetry Month: Day 11<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoR6r3CyXhmYuvNkezzZoBOuEcHCDH0DbM6-8Um2qLJ6E1hc9AYO6EUHW7VZlCpZ1EdQUTFTDZmSFlRClhGtsb0wKJtQCP44TqbpDGIR7QvPNXvYkRxjOK_QN-rvVIYe5EcvK3RDLlbo1j36xALtghN2JbtBCXvrjNbE8VKUQU9KAGTkQT2y2vGcE/s5472/IMG_9036.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3648" data-original-width="5472" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoR6r3CyXhmYuvNkezzZoBOuEcHCDH0DbM6-8Um2qLJ6E1hc9AYO6EUHW7VZlCpZ1EdQUTFTDZmSFlRClhGtsb0wKJtQCP44TqbpDGIR7QvPNXvYkRxjOK_QN-rvVIYe5EcvK3RDLlbo1j36xALtghN2JbtBCXvrjNbE8VKUQU9KAGTkQT2y2vGcE/w400-h266/IMG_9036.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Oct, 2018 Jean Doolittle</span></td></tr></tbody></table><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Appetite</span></b></p><p>by Marilyn Singer</p><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Fire is always hungry.<br /><br /><span> </span>Meat or fish</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>Carrots or eggplant</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>Math books, French tests</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>Overstuffed sofas, junkyard automobiles</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>Tenements, castles</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>A stylish cafe, an old-fashioned street--</div><div style="text-align: left;">Some treats it gobbles,</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span> Others it savors slowly</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span> </span><span> </span><span> leaving a few stones, a bunch of bricks.</span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span>Fire is the least fussy of diners.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span>It likes almost anything </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span> it licks</span><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPW31sU7kQHAVRtAJZfpF_RzsDcJzOS9y3jxFoJf2pn1ro-z1WohgJGqM4OccPg_gO3bdoi2G5y200qGoJB6hEudQMrRTUu39jikQ2UC3PY4hb-AHhf2jr3NoZDhMMkR0m-_Rc6g-X9ioVwnffj-CAmQo8-mRq4GgF-wTj6sqbX8x63WQOm2i9xWU/s830/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-14%20at%209.04.26%20AM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="830" data-original-width="464" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPW31sU7kQHAVRtAJZfpF_RzsDcJzOS9y3jxFoJf2pn1ro-z1WohgJGqM4OccPg_gO3bdoi2G5y200qGoJB6hEudQMrRTUu39jikQ2UC3PY4hb-AHhf2jr3NoZDhMMkR0m-_Rc6g-X9ioVwnffj-CAmQo8-mRq4GgF-wTj6sqbX8x63WQOm2i9xWU/w112-h200/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-14%20at%209.04.26%20AM.png" width="112" /></a></div><br />From: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Central-Heating-Poems-About-Warmth/dp/0375929126" target="_blank">Central Heating: Poems About Fire and Warmth</a>, Marilyn Singer, Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.</span></span></div><p>The first poem in the book is titled, "Contradiction" and the jacket blurb clarifies that word: fire is..."cheery, beautiful, unpredictable, scary, fire is our friend and foe." Fire is elemental and we are drawn to it, but also fear its power; and well we should. Wildfire season has widespread impacts and the dangers are increasing. <a href="https://hazards.fema.gov/nri/wildfire" target="_blank">FEMA</a> has fascinating, if scary, maps that illustrate this clearly. The whole National Risk Index website is worth exploring to help us understand the impact of climate change and our cavalier attitudes to our environment.</p><p><br /></p>Jean Doolittlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17429367187831333375noreply@blogger.com0