Family photos

Sometimes I think that garden photos are about as boring as photos of someone else’s unknown family members on vacation, but this month, I can’t resist. Everything is just so lush:

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And I made my first dinner completely from the garden last night: Fava, parsnip, onion, garlic and tatsoi stir fry.  Yum!

 

In praise of bad poems

MatthewsBW2After finding my childhood diary, I’ve been thinking about the huge numbers of bad poems one must be willing to write to arrive at a few good ones. Even the best poets seem to have to publish a lot of mediocre work and, I’m sure, throw away a lot more to achieve a few dozen gems. While I was thinking about this, I stumbled on this poem by William Matthews that at least partially addresses this very point.

Mingus at the Showplace

I was miserable, of course, for I was seventeen,
and so I swung into action and wrote a poem, Continue reading “In praise of bad poems”

An exemplary sentence

Sentence DiagramI keep a long list of books to read, and occasionally update it with what I have read. The list mostly comes from book reviews, and once in awhile the review itself has a really great sentence, like this one today from Marilyn Stasio, from her review of Richard Lange’s ANGEL BABY in the NY Times Book Review:

“When you find yourself rooting for the killer in a grisly crime novel, you know you’re in the hands of a real writer.”

This reminded me of my reaction to Evan Connell’s masterpiece, Diary of a Rapist, which I read decades ago. Not that I was exactly rooting for the rapist, but I felt I was seeing him from the inside. Needless to say, Angel Baby is now on my list.

 

 

Travels with Larry

Larry battingAfter years when one of us had to be managing things at home–kids, work, whatever, Larry and I got used to separate vacations. But recently we traveled together to Sedona for a few days.  I remembered how much fun it is to travel with Larry.  Here are a few remarks.

When I was wondering what created the mountains that seemed to uniformly end in long broad plateaus, Larry said, “They ran into height restrictions in the building code.” Continue reading “Travels with Larry”

May garden

Everything here is blooming, spouting, burgeoning.  The hens are laying, the bees are busy, and I watch the vegetables grow as much as an inch a day:

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It’s hard to be indoors at all…

An exemplary sentence

Sentence DiagramI’ve been enjoying a book of essays on poetry, Madness, Rack, and Honey, an excellent read for literary-minded. I’ve mentioned the author, Mary Ruefle, before. There are many thought-provoking ideas interlaced in her very conversational, deceptively rambling style. Here’s one I like, from “Someone Reading a Book is a Sign of Order in the World”:

“Once this thought crossed my mind: every time an author dies, out of respect a word should also pass out of being. A word the author loved and used repeatedly in writing–that word should be theirs and die with them. Continue reading “An exemplary sentence”