April is Poetry Month

 When I lived and worked in New Jersey, one of the (few) things I loved about April was celebrating poetry. 

    Put a Poem in Your Pocket

    a Poetry Assembly

    Reading all the fun, funny, poignant poems shared here and there. 

That and a few forced forsythias kept me smiling through what was often dreary weather.

Fast forward a few years and we've found ourselves back on the East Coast in a more southerly spot, Washington DC.

Where the weather is more agreeable and the flowers are earlier. So April is fast becoming a favorite month. And there's still POETRY to be shared. Now I'm sharing it with one of my dearest friends.

The idea came when Judith Viorst addressed a group I was part of. At the end, a questioner asked her how she kept so sharp. Sudoku? Crossword puzzles? 

Nope, she memorizes poetry!

I was all over that. So now my friend Beverly and I memorize a FEW VERSES AT A TIME of a favorite poem. We both agree that this was something we did in Mrs. Glassco's senior English class, from Robert Burns to William Wordsworth, and a lot in between (not so much after, however). 

Her first poem contained many stanzas. Christopher Marlowe! She learned them all!       (But I have too much fluff in my brain! Like how to drive to the nearest CVS, or the library, or Beverly's house! Driving directions, among many other new things, are clogging my brain.)

So mine was a more modest attempt, Mary Oliver.

 

My new choice is a short, wonderfully metered Emily Dickinson verse.   

(Note to self. Easier to memorize poems that rhyme.)

Oh, and I didn't find this week's selection, "Hope is the thing with feathers" this way but I loved reading this, about her poetry just now in Publisher's Weekly.

It's been a long time and not-so-many words since I last blogged. But I want to keep up with these poems so I'm going to attempt to track them here. Stay with me if you'd like and tell me your favorite poem. 

Have you memorized anything lately? 

Do kids even do this in school? 

Thoughts for the Day

Life has been busy and crazy, and my poor blog has been overlooked. I've been writing, but it's hard to be inspired with all that's swirling around us.

Then this morning on a walk I saw this bumper sticker.

Today, while re-reading an email, I noticed this on Irene Latham's signature. 

(If you want to be treated to gems like this on a regular basis, read her blog. So good.)

"NOT knowing when the dawn will come

     I open every door."  - Emily Dickinson

  


And while I was writing this post, a friend shared this photograph from their Irma evacuation.

That should do very nicely for inspiration, don't you agree?

Library Walk

I've been to the New York Public Library a gazillion times.

I never knew this existed.

A short street, right in front of the 5th Avenue entrance.

 My friend Ivy and I discovered it while strolling on a gorgeous fall day.
For those of you considering making a stop at this delightful exhibit:  

THE ABC OF IT, Why Children's Books Matter,
be sure to make the side trip down a side street and read the quotations.

CLICK HERE for an interesting piece, recently published in The Nation, on the exhibit.

Love the story of the little girl, possibly not even two, in the exhibit with her mom.
I also loved the library cards when I saw them. Especially Eudora Welty's and Anne Carroll Moore's. Unlike that child, I did not consider making paper airplanes.

But back to the Library Walk.
Both sides of the street are lined with wonderful quotations. Here are a few.

Lucille Clifton. Sigh. Baltimore poet laureate. Love her.

  (Yes, a favorite poem. I know, I know...)

Coconut cake!

There, I got your attention. It's Easter weekend, and I'm remembering those lamb-shaped coconut cakes decorating long ago Easter Sunday dinner tables. Remember those? I love coconut. But I don't think I'll attempt the lamb shape.

Here's a recipe, or as she surely knew it, a receipt, from Emily Dickinson. Her favorite cake for birthday celebrating. Mine, too.

http://thehistorykitchen.com/2011/12/09/emily-dickinsons-coconut-cake/#

 Speaking of cakes. Have you read Lisa Graff's brand new middle grade novel? A novel filled with magic, multiple characters, mysteries and quests-And cake recipes. Such fun!

My review from the Christian Science Monitor. ⬅

A link to read more about TANGLE OF KNOTS, and order your own copy.


I'm also a fan of Red Velvet cake. It made its way into my novel, GLORY BE.
My friend Nancy McIntyre made this one from scratch for our gathering in June.

While I was writing, novelist Helen Hemphill shared a story about how her editor laughingly said every time he turned a page of her first book's manuscript, somebody was cooking or eating. With that in mind, a lot of fried chicken and pimento cheese got the ax from Glory's story early on. But many food references and events stayed in.

I made a Pinterest board about the Food in Glory Be. Check it out here. 
I'm not so great at Pinterest but sometimes something just strikes my fancy and up it goes.

In a story I'm noodling now, there's a character who cooks. Maybe I'll include a recipe or two. Hmmm. Good idea or not?

It certainly worked in Lisa Graff's new book. Then again, she's a baker. Me, not so much.
Maybe I'll stick to writing.

Happy Easter, everyone! 


Past Posts, possibly related:
Helen Hemphill interviews me
BOOK FOOD, pimento cheese
Home Food

My Quote of the Weekend...

"Forever is composed of nows."        
                                               Emily Dickinson

(thanks to writer friend Kerry Madden for this one)

P.S. Write Soon

Sadly, I no longer write letters. I have proof that I once did. For a momentous birthday, my friend Patty presented me with a box of our correspondence. A decorated, beautiful box, tied with grosgrain ribbon. And inside were all the letters we'd written as new wives and young mothers. A treasure. I have other boxes of letters, saved over the years, mostly because I wanted to remember an event or a place or, most likely, the friend who wrote to me. My father wrote beautiful letters and I've saved some of those. I've tossed a few letters, too. I once burned a fat pack of love letters written on heavy parchment by an out-of-favor boyfriend, burned them away, standing tearfully in the alley behind my house with my best friend as witness.

So I love this post from the Novel Journey blog, about letters, penpals, writing. I like the quotes, including this from a letter published in a book my friend Joan gave me, Letters to Children by C.S. Lewis:

“If you are only interested in writing you will never be a writer, because you will have nothing to write about.”

Joan still writes the occasional note to me. But mostly it's email. I recently read an article about Facebook and Twitter. In the article, the defender of what many contend will be the end of "real" writing compared some of the abbreviated status updates and quick replies we've all come to love/ hate to the brevity of one of our most treasured writers:

This is my letter to the World/ That never Wrote to Me.

OK, none of my Facebook updates even come close to Emily Dickinson.

So you won't find me burning letters in my alley these days. I'll hang on to them as proof that letter writing once existed. But letters aren't the only way to stay connected with things to write about. We can count our modern day penpals- our email connections. Why else would writers save hundreds of their emails, squirreling them away into labeled folders with names like "good words," and "characters" and "quotes."

When was the last time you wrote a real letter, a long one, with a stamp and an envelope, nice stationery, C.S. Lewis-worthy?