Thanks Clark and Ellis for the ideas and suggestions.
Hey Ellis! by the way, welcome back!
Boris Pasternak......hmm, did he write Doctor Zhivago?
I enjoyed reading the classics in high school and college, but didn't seem to really appreciate them until years later. Why *is* youth wasted on the young?
I am very lucky to find the time get through the Sunday Post each week, but it doesn't dampen my determination to keep tackling new books. Maybe that's why I love poetry so much. I can carry little paperbacks with me and while waiting in airports or lines, I can enjoy a poem or two and actually *finish them*
I've heard of Leonard Cohen.....maybe I'm showing my ignorance here, but is he the guy who is now living as a Buddhist monk somewhere in California or perhaps that is a different Leonard Cohen?
I'm glad you liked the Whitman snippet. I would love to read the favorite passages of others here
Well, I need to get to work and at lunchtime, I'm off to buy lacquer - amazing for me since I'm not the crafty type, but my hubby brought me home a fresh chile ristra from Seattle and I must preserve it - it is too beautiful!!
We are getting cooler weather tomorrow! yeah! barefoot will become sneakerfoot again!
Yes, Boris Pasternak wrote Doctor Zhivago. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1958 but had to decline the honour thanks to the banning of some of his works by the USSR.
He was also a poet. Apparently his poetry is quite beautiful. I've read some of the translations, but I have a Russian friend who says that the poems do not translate well.
Leonard Cohen is a Canadian poet and songwriter. But he can't sing worth a damn, and he knows it. http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/
Here's one of his older poems...
"This Is For You"
This is for you
it is my full heart
it is the book I meant to read you
when we were old
Now I am a shadow
I am restless as an empire
You are the woman
who released me
I saw you watching the moon
you did not hesitate
to love me with it
I saw you honouring the windflowers
caught in the rocks
you loved me with them
On the smooth sand
between pebbles and shoreline
you welcomed me into the circle
more than a guest
All this happened
in the truth of time
in the truth of flesh
I saw you with a child
you brought me to his perfume
and his visions
without demand of blood
On so many wooden tables
adorned with food and candles
a thousand sacraments
which you carried in your basket
I visited my clay
I visited my birth
until I became small enough
and frightened enough
to be born again
I wanted you for our beauty
you gave me more than yourself
you shared your beauty
this I only learned tonight
as I recall the mirrors
you walked away from
after you had given them
whatever they claimed
for my initiation
Now I am a shadow
I long for the boundaries
of my wandering
and I move with the energy of your prayer
and I move
in the direction of your prayer
for you are kneeling like a bouquet
in a cave of bone
behind my forehead
and I move toward a love
you have dreamed for me
EGGHEAD MY BUTT!!!!! (See how ladylike and refined I am?)
I actually don't mind Leonard Cohen's singing. I prefer it to Bob Dylan. Another great poet/songwriter who should let others do the singing (sorry, I know it is sacrilege to say that...)
How about Dostoyevsky? Great stuff. These days I'm mostly reading light stuff. Why? Because.......MY BRAIN HURTS!!!!
oh yeah... Dostoyevsky is good, too. But yes... I'm not into THAT kind of stuff right now, either. In fact, I think I can safely say, "I've DONE Dostoyevsky!"
ellis, Thank you for your encouraging words. Sometimes I really feel like a shmuck, especially when everyone here seem so well educated. I wish I had taken advanced English in school, so I would have greater knowledge of Shakespeare and other great writers. I guess I went with the flow in school, and my other friends took general English so I followed them. I guess if I could get one thing accross to my children, it would be to be a leader and not a follower. I wish so much better for them, and hope they have the priviledge to learn all they can.
I love to read and write poetry. My mom writes poetry which is close to her heart, as do I , but I so love reading her work. SHe is getting on in live, will be 80 in February, and I have asked her to please pass on her poems to me. Since I was little I would curl up in my favorite chair and read each new poem she wrote, and I still go back and read them from time to time. I can not say I have a favorite poet, I like so many different types. I am currently reading The Face of Reason- AN Anthology of Canadian Poetry. My moms friend has a poem published in it entitled The Winter Storm. A funny one I just read which is very short, is called Reincarnation- by Deborah Foley
short
yellow
stumpy
quizzical face, funny face
bark like straw
bite like salt
I swim in the brown orbs
"Grandma," I say
"Is that you?"
"Arf," she says
It is kind of stupid, but funny too. I am not usually drawn to this type, but it struck me funny, and thought I would share.
I've been enjoying the discussion of "light reading" (ha!) and seeing how wonderfully diverse we all are. That, and it reminds me of high school - I failed drama because he said I "never even tried to act". The funny thing is is that the teacher totally bought the two times I acted - once I was "sick" the other time I had a "dr.'s appt" - when in reality both times I wanted out of class to go suck face with my boyfriend in my car.... must not be TOO bad an actress!
I've always had an appreciation for Shakespeare - I think for his time he was brilliant. I just wish I could understand the way of speaking more - maybe if I started with the sllooooow version of his work??
Wantstoloose - I liked that poem! You're right, it's a little odd, but it strikes a chord...
Hello Ladies, anyone still here that remembers me? Of course there are a million posts since I have been here last so bear with me if I ask any questions that everyone knows. I am back to stay though now, so look out, those long rambling posts are back! Ok I know that I can't catch up, but I am off to read a few posts to just see who is still here & who is new!
Virginia, that's so beautiful re: your mom and her poetry. You're really fortunate to be able to share that with her. My mom writes too, and I'm always encouraging her to keep it up. She's close to your mom's age, and I know it'll be a blessing to me to have her stories when she's gone.
And PLEASE!! Do NOT feel like a shmuck anymore! Frankly, I think you're one of the brightest buns in the basket. Education? We SPIT on educated people!
Chris dear... we've all been enquiring about you... of COURSE we missed you!
Terri, I like your "acting story".
Den, I'm reading "The Collected Stories of Colette". I'm enjoying them.
I'm trying to claw my way up from the pit of despair...coming here and reading all your posts helps...keeps me out of the kitchen for a while, anyway. I'm going to drag my fat arse to the gym too...that also helps.
Welcome back, Christina! I'm so glad to hear things are going well...take it easy, woman!
When I'm busy with courses and kids and life in general, I read youth fiction. There are a ton of excellent writers out there... Sharon Creech who wrote The Wanderers and quite a few others and one I just read last week by Celia Rees who wrote Witch Child. I read them and recommend them to my daughter...
During the summer I concentrate on reading mostly Canadian writers, we have so many good ones.
My education is mixed, not one certificate in a bloody thing, but I'm a both smart and wise 40 year old!
My fav Leonard Cohen was Suzanna... or Suzanne. About a river.
Womynspirit is a woman-only festival that takes place in southern Ontario each Samhain (Halloween). It's a gathering of mostly Pagan (but you don't have to be) women, of all ages and very open to the Bisexual/Lesbian community...
I'm not attending this year because it's on the weekend of Nov 1st, my youngest childs 6th birthday.
At Womynspirit there is a Friday night gathering ritual, workshops throughout Saturday and a Sat night ritual, where we usually honour our ancestors and welcome those new births... Sun there is a closing ritual and it all winds up by 2ish.
Workshops vary depending on who attends the festival. They don't hire workshop facilitators, but many registrants will submit workshop ideas like ear candling, or tarot, or journalling, or sacred circle dance... and so on.
Anyway, that's womynspirit.
Have a great day to all.... I'm relaxed from Yoga class #2, and going to make some very healthy veg. soup....
Kat, do you need a hug? What's the matter... feeling a little depressed? I think it's an epidemic.
Yes, get to the gym... you'll feel good for having gone. And then do something nice for yourself. I can't think of anything... I'm depressed right now, too... and for some reason I've decided to clean the cupboard under the sink... it's full of damned mouse dirt. The first mouse was cute, but we've caught 7 so far, and I've HAD IT!!
Hugs Kat...
HEY!! When I say light stuff I mean detective novels and Sci Fi!! NOT Dostoyevsky and Shakespeare!!!
Wanttolosealot-I think it is great that you and your Mom write poetry! DH is a writer, and I have written a few poems. Formal education is great as far as it goes, but I think I have learned more just living than I did in college!! I think the important thing is just LEARNING rather than having everything in life just bounce off of you. And PLENTY of "well educated" people are under the misconception that there is nothing else that they can learn!!
Punkin-Your drama teacher reminds me of my 9th grade English teacher. I wrote a stupid poem about ants, and he kept on talking about how "deep" it was!!! Lost respect for him right then and there!!! I still think that watching a film that uses the original language is the best way to get into it. The action suckss you in, and all of a sudden you just understand what they are saying. Then you can go to the play and read it easier. Once you have done that all the other plays are easier too!!!
Christina-WELCOME BACK!!! Glad to hear that things are going well. Don't push yourself too much right now sweetie. You need your strength!!!
Ellis-You are doing better than me in the reading department!!! I finished Frank Zappa's Autobiography a few weeks ago and have been playing computer games ever since!!!!
Katrina-Don't hide because you are feeling bad. NOW is the time to come in and get support. There are a lot of us alternachicks who struggle with depression. Despite my medication I STILL have bouts of it, and coming here can really lift your spirits!!! Hope you start feeling better soon!!!
Phew! I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who reads children's books, Lois! I've got a shipload of them, including a lot of oldies. I love them when I'm stressed and need something familiar and cozy to read (can't read Dostoyevsky ALL the time!). I've got a mixed education with no certificates, too (I'm a two-time college dropout ), and I used to NEVER tell anyone about my kids books. Now I feel confident enough not to give a damn.
Education? We SPIT on educated people!
