In Jewish tradition, after someone dies, it is customary to bring food to those left behind and to sit with them in a practice known as shiva. It shouldn’t be that surprising to find food associated with grief. Food is in its way a form of showing love and support that it may bring succor… Continue reading The Light of the World by Elizabeth Alexander
Tag: poetry
Writing Recipe Headnotes for the Heart
Words can stick like dried honey to a countertop, catching any stray bit of paper towel. They can swirl and fuse into a person like stirring a spoonful of honey from a jar into a hot mug of tea. Sometimes we can be so carefree with our words, forgetting this quality they possess that rivals… Continue reading Writing Recipe Headnotes for the Heart
Surprises by Maxine Kumin & a Tribute
SURPRISES by Maxine Kumin from “Nurture” published by Penguin Books, 1989. This morning’s red sun licks dew from the hundred California peppers that never set fruit in my Zone-Three garden. After fifteen summers of failure why this year do I suffer the glut of inordinate success? They hang in clustered pairs like newly hatched sex… Continue reading Surprises by Maxine Kumin & a Tribute
Redo’s and Reckonings
The sun is hiding like a child playing hide and go seek. These mornings, darkness greets my lumbering body coercing its way from sleep. Along the linoleum floor in the kitchen, my feet pad and slap, as my arm reaches for the light switch. It is morning. It is night. Darkness stands like two bookends… Continue reading Redo’s and Reckonings
Honeycomb by Carol Frost
This time it started with bees. We were hunkered down in the Great Hall listening to poet and faculty member, Carol Frost, share a few poems from her newly released book “The Queen’s Desertion.” As she began to read the apiary poems, I found myself transfixed and caught like a fly in the spider’s carefully… Continue reading Honeycomb by Carol Frost
“254” by Emily Dickinson
Back in Sunday school class many moons ago, we memorized Bible verses. That simple act of committing words to memory acted as both a game and challenge to my budding brain. If you didn’t go to Sunday school or attend church, how did memorization play its part in your life growing up? What about now?… Continue reading “254” by Emily Dickinson
“Tucson” by Stephen Dunn
Poetry curated. Believing poetry can change the world, the intention here is to introduce and discuss compelling poems. My desire is to invoke a sense of longing in you to find a poem and a poet whose work speaks to your soul. When it happens, it can set your skin ablaze. In a good way.… Continue reading “Tucson” by Stephen Dunn
Meter and Flow
Sometimes I’m too quick to make a judgement. Up until recently, I have been quite biased and worming my way out of ignorance when it comes to the function of rhyming in poetry. If I had to put a finger on it, I think it might have something to do with ease and lack of… Continue reading Meter and Flow
Poetry Curated: “Daisies” by Louise Glück
I know what you’re going to say, “Annelies, it’s not April anymore. Poetry month has passed us by.” I agree with you on the first point. The latter point would require conversation. Life is rife with poetry- why subject it to only one month’s notice? I have wrestled with the suitability of posting other people’s… Continue reading Poetry Curated: “Daisies” by Louise Glück
“Daisies” by Louise Glück
I know what you’re going to say, “Annelies, it’s not April anymore. Poetry month has passed us by.” I agree with you on the first point. The latter point would require conversation. Life is rife with poetry- why subject it to only one month’s notice? I have wrestled with the suitability of posting other people’s… Continue reading “Daisies” by Louise Glück
Astoria by Malena Mörling
When I conceived of the idea behind the name of this blog, it felt a bit cheeky- an inside joke with myself of a life lived en route. At the time, I found myself a tea-wallah, jettisoning from one end of the country to the other all in the name of flavonoids and theanine. During… Continue reading Astoria by Malena Mörling
“The Guitar” by Federico Garcia Lorca
Poetry. Maybe the last time you picked up a book of poems (if ever) was in high school. You might think they’re boring, inaccessible or just not for you and I’m not one to disagree with the last point. But hear me out for a moment: I have a hunch that given the right poem… Continue reading “The Guitar” by Federico Garcia Lorca