Writing your own journal while reading another

Life experiences in third person distance the reader from the author. But it also facilitates the imagination of the reader to direct inward and think of his/her own experiences. Pedantic way of listing all the addresses he's ever stayed at makes the reader recall their addresses and incidents there of. Somehow you get the sense of cherishment of the nostalgic self, while if I were in the author's place, I would send away chunks of me that dont fit in little boats. Which brings us to the question of the person we want to be in selection and/or entirety.

ModPo class essay

I taste a liquor never brewed

‘A liquor never brewed’ refers to the instantaneous, nectar made by flowers which is not fermented or boiled. It is present naturally. This liquor is better than what is available by the Rhine.

‘Inebriate of Air’ – drawn to the fragrance of the flowers

‘Debauchee of Dew’ -  addicted to dew formed on the flowers overnight

Endless summer days – length of the day, and continuous ritual

When landlords – The caretakers, mothers?

When butterflies renounce drams – does this refer to the time the butterflies stop drinking – night.

Foxglove’s door – wiki says that there is a myth that fairies live in foxgloves. So when Dickinson next talks of till ‘Seraphs swing their snowy hats’, is this vision a result of hallucination caused by foxgloves. Could it also refer to the passage of time from summer to snow.

To see the little tippler lean against the sun – drink until morning.

The poem has the traditional bee: flower :: man: woman metaphor going on but while listening to Al about sonnet’s main use of proclaiming love and dead metaphor of love, even though it is against the grain of modernism to employ the silly bee, flower symbols, I believe the ‘alcohol’ refers to love. Love is potent in that once you taste it, you are addicted to it like the victims of ‘La Belle dame sans Merci’. No body or no time is going to restrain the narrator’s being in love which she expects to exalt her. She will continue to love day in and day out.

Like in the ‘I dwell in the house of Possibility’, the metaphor of lover seeking love/nectar in the form of bees, butterflies is repetitive if they are to mean the same. The narrator must be referring to some difference in the nature of bees and butterflies.

poetry today

There's always a debate about what can be subject matter of poetry. When its simple things like Humidifier, beauty emerges. In India, mom opens the nasal passages of baby with Vicks VapoRub and warm touch.

Why the clouds make you stop and look? Its the biggest painting one can see.

There is only one way to read this book. Slow and steady.

The author is a child from the 70s.

"She(mom) told us that our gifts helped us to understand our purpose."

The narrator of each poem is different.
places where God hasnt been.

Stories evolving from stories

In bones contest, pop and fly happened to be words to be used in the writing. In this book, I came across 'pop fly'. A baseball fan could make sense of it. A day or two ago, I watched kids play baseball at a local park. There were atleast 4 games going on in different fields.

When Nicholas found a folded letter addressed to his dad, he opened the letter and read it. Sailing, making a movie didn't fit with a dad who went to Africa as a doctor to help people. There must be another man with the same name as his father.
That's the logical conclusion he reaches. Later he comes upon the movie his father made. The Seaweed strangler. Was that for real?
Once he finds a friend in the town where his summer is to be spent in a house without a TV, the lake, its secrets send them in questions spirals. As they search and find things, there's more ground to be covered.
Like the crime investigation shows, theres replay of incidents from 2 decades ago. Something happened many summers ago, here where his father spent his summer with Uncle Nick. His father has been pointed as the miscreant. Nicholas has to clear his father's name.
All this while learning how to bike, sailing and finishing up what his dad left incomplete - a boat and a movie.
The end is a well thought litany of surprises for Nicholas's father. the second half gets very creative with the main crew acting their own version of the mini legend.
The twin sisters and their Broadway antics, British accents add much wanted comic relief to the suspense of finding out what happened so long ago.
The book seemed slightly long if targeted at preteens. The sailing jargon pulls the reader into the world of sailing.

A teenage life

The narrator calls a lady as stick insect. Today at Safeway I found a stick insect in their bug collection. The book reminded me a lot about 'The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime'. Especially the train.
Winalot.

Adrian seemed to complain a lot.

The dentures on the cover are that of an elderly person that Adrian takes care of. The book is certainly funny. For all the things that happen, he has an active life. He might not concede so.
Sometimes he shows his ignorance (confusing philanthrophy with philately) and innocence (making sense of what adults talk to each other)
I wonder what frog writer means?

Author: Joy Harjo

Her caricature on her website is reminiscent of Oscar Wilde's Salome.

In Why we read memoirs by musicians, the writer says its for the the devil that shows up at the beginning and sticks around.

The author's mother did Jitterbug with her as a child.

A little girl played with bees as characters in her stories until a neighbour stopped her by saying "You'll be stung!"

"I believe that if you do not answer the noise and urgency of your gifts, they will turn on you. Or drag you down with their immense sadness at being abandoned." - Joy Harjo

A poetry course

I am taking Modern poetry course offered by Coursera.
In Emily Dickinson's poem I dwell in possibility, when my head prompted the answer to 'a house fairer than prose' it was like a love connection with poetry. Another poet started his poem with I dwell ...
In her Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant poem, I actually wrote down the poem and tried to analyse the poem as the instructor did, word by word. I then got the part about parents explaining about the lightning with facts. I wouldnt have if I didnt know that in US parents use the 1001, 1002.. count to arm the child with science and dispel their fear.
9 contemporary poets read themselves through modernism.

When I told my friend, I am taking this course and reading ED. He asked me if it has symbolism. I didnt know the answer. Much less about anti-symbolism writing. That Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose is against symbolism. Contrastingly, for criticJohn Leonard, a symbol means itself and must be understood for itself.

Parataxis, makes me realise my poetry aesthetic.

Modern sleuth for ancient history

Author: Deron R Hicks

In the beginning come Monks and cathedrals and then kids pushing ipod buds into their ears. If you are relieved with this transition, you will also like the dapper way in which a tween saves her family business. That is not the only feather in her cap. She's almost certain to delve further into the deep mystery of the family treasure.
The book being a mystery about Shakespeare, even the character's name 'Colophon' is from a term in the publishing industry. Colophon is a brave girl with a desire to help her father save the family business. She suspects foul play. Her adventure as well as mystery solving spans continents. She ropes in her brother too to keep an eye on her father to save him from mischief from the `villains' in the family. Family is the cornerstone idea in the book. Sustaining the family business over centuries as a matter of pride rather than obligation.
Following the trail of clues in the family portrait with Internet search for finding clues, the characters search for clues in centuries old past.
The author explains terms like nave, transept, chancel.With interesting inclusions like that of tellurion, children will be pushed to use a dictionary, encyclopedia or a web search to be with the times.

Older than a what

One morning, Billy Collins found himself older than Cheerios.
The cheerios that I don't like for their texture, while in any other experience, I would appreciate texture.
The cheerios which will serve well as finger food for my daughter but that will leave the remains of the day grainy.
What would hate to be older than and love to be older than?

When things don't work its not all broken

It is a writer's heaven to have access to sites other than Google. But to reach that fine conclusion, you have to go through the hump of frustration. I am reading Portable MFA Creative Writing. In the 'Personal essay' section, there are references to many essays, alas I cannot get to them. Wit the constraining of Google, at least I will go ahead with the book for which I am $1.50 overdue. Usually my library is good at fore-warnings, but I wonder why it didn't tell me this time that it is due on Sept 2?

Science behind the beauty

In elementary school we had a question about the difference between a Creeper and a Climber. It wasnt apparent then but now just from the words, I feel it must be the directions they take. I am about to learn the science behind the Tendril.

The form of a tendril
an organic spring, twirlie
curls
DNA helix and the scientists
also call it coils
always seen fully formed
How long does it take?

Unwinding the cucumber tendril mystery

As kids we are awed by beauty. After growing up, finding the science behind is the beauty of it.

Exercise : Pick words in the dictionary to find all things beautiful and find their history and science and see if there is a poem in it.

A soft boiled egg can hold finger prints on it.

You go to court even if its your dog who ate your homeowrk

Author: Dan Zevin

Sometimes funny books dont translate to good stories to be retold. But this author is subjected to a case of canine impulse that brings him in touch with court and other victims snapped by the jaws of law for a moments lapse of law abidingness without breaking it.
A collection of essays.

Fashion on the Animal street

Author: Ponder Goembel

I havent heard of this famous 'Animal fair'. So I was curious to know the tale. This book has the traditional folk song and some more. The original song has 8 lines. This adaptation has many more with interesting characters like balloon pumping seals, kangaroos rattling spoons, toucans play the audience while chimps trapeze. If these are the main characters, there are the silent raccoon ballerina and the monk who is seen but not heard.
The illustrations are neat, no overcrowding. You can use the pictures to count animals of a kind. The girl, boy animals are amusing. The kids can easily make stories of their own inspired by the acessories on the animals.
The animals come with stylish hats. The climax involves a Tusker.
An Easter treat for those who find the eager bunnies.