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A Poem for a Thursday #95
Photo by Jongsun Lee on Unsplash I have been puttering around for ages trying to pick a poem for today and all the ones that I like are by Mary Oliver. I know I have featured her poems many times before and I try to feature a variety of poets but today that does not seem to matter. Mary Oliver is the only acceptable choice for today. I was sad all day, and why not. There I was, books piled on both sides of the table, paper stacked up, words falling off my tongue. The robins had been a long time singing, and now it was beginning to rain. What are we sure…
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Book Review//Dangerous Ages by Rose Macaulay
Dangerous Ages by Rose Macaulay tells of the Hilary family, the women in particular, and the dangerous ages they all face at different stages of their lives during the summer of 1920. The book opens on the morning of Neville’s (a woman despite the name) forty-third birthday. Quickly, you realize that the premise of the book is the hurry of time, the missed opportunities, the almost frantic need to do things before it is too late, and to find meaning in life no matter what age you are. To think suddenly of Rodney, of Gerda and of Kay, sleeping in the still house beyond the singing wood and the silver…
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A Poem for a Thursday #94
Photo by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash Margaret Atwood is a Canadian novelist, poet, essayist, and inventor. That last one surprised me. She invented the LongPen device which makes it possible to remotely write using a tablet and a robotic arm. The list of her books is impressive. The Handmaid’s Tale is probably the one most people are familiar with especially since it has been adapted for television. I haven’t read much of her poetry but I like this. This is the plum season, the nights blue and distended, the moon hazed, this is the season of peaches with their lush lobed bulbs that glow in the dusk, apples that drop and rot sweetly,…
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Dreaming of a Different Life
Have you ever heard of miniature cows? Go ahead and Google. You won’t regret it. They are adorable. My daughter showed me photos of them and tried to convince me we needed one. Now, we live on half an acre in a residential section of a small town in Connecticut. It is not exactly the prime location for owning cows, miniature or otherwise. However, for one brief moment, I was seduced by the cuteness and very tempted. I quickly returned to reality but the thought did lead to me being happily occupied for the evening planning a totally imaginary, self-sufficient, mini-farm somewhere. Did you know you can buy 5 acres…
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A Poem for a Thursday #93
Leo Marks was an English writer and cryptographer. During WWII he worked for the SEO in their codes office. Famous poems were used to encrypt messages for the Resistance fighters but they were found not to be secure enough. Marks started writing and using his own poems. The Life That I Have is one of those poems. My favorite piece of information about Marks is that he is the son of Benjamin Marks, one of the owners of Marks & Co., the bookshop that was made famous in Helene Hanff’s 84, Charing Cross Road. The life that I have Is all that I have And the life that I have…
