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friday feast: mind the sharp edge, or, are you living with a dull blade?

~ jama


photo: i love art a lot.

I get so excited whenever I “discover” a new poet. Even better, when the poet lives in Virginia (Falls Church, to be exact)!

Have you heard of Eleanor Ross Taylor? Even though she published her first collection of poetry in 1960, received many awards, and has kept company with the likes of Randall Jarrell, Robert Lowell and Robert Penn Warren, she’s managed to stay largely under the radar all these years.

I suspect she won’t be able to keep a low profile very much longer, as 2010 has been a banner year for her. In March, she received the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America, and was a Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. And then in April, she was awarded the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. She’s been compared to Marianne Moore, Elizabeth Bishop and Emily Dickinson.

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sum-sum-summertime menu

~ jama

"Of all the wonders of nature, a tree in summer is perhaps the most remarkable; with the possible exception of a moose singing ‘Embraceable You’ in spats." ~ Woody Allen          

  
 photo by fruitcakey.       

Happy June, my sweeties!

Hello, brand new month of dads, grads, weddings, and roses! 

Doesn’t matter what the calendar says. Bold, brash summer has already blown in. Cover your eyes, I tell myself. Even if you don’t want them to, people will start showing more skin. And they’ll cruise around in their sporty cars with the tops down, their radios boom-da-booming at deafening decibels, and your neighbor with the hairy back and blue Speedos will be out barbecuing every weekend. *shudder*

Despite the inherent dangers of the season, summer has its shimmery moments, too: the much anticipated bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables, blissfully long hours of daylight, lazy, dress-down days ripe with possibility, the only season of the year when serious play earns respect. Shocking pink flip flops will likely make an appearance, along with cool cotton dresses, white linen suits, and tropical drinks garnished with pineapple wedges and cute little paper umbrellas.

        
         Pina Colada just for you! (Randy Son of Robert).

Best of all — the BOOKS! All year long, we amass giant to-be-read piles that *ahem* every time we walk by. "Read me now," the spined ones mutter, "I won an award, your friend wrote me for god’s sake, this craft book was highly recommended, the NY Times called me a must-read, what about all the ARCs you need to review?"

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aloha to the merry month of may

~ jama


In Hawai’i, children and sweethearts are also referred to as "lei." (photo: Makena G.)

Wow. Seems like I just wished you a "Happy Lei Day," and now the month of May is coming to an end.

Just in case you’re cruising by on this long weekend, thought I’d serve up a little snack. Here are several pics from this year’s Lei Day Festival in Hawai’i. They had their usual lei making contest at Kapiolani Park on Oahu, and I must say how impressed I am with the high level of artistry and creativity displayed in the entries.

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what i want to be remembered for

~ jama

"Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness." ~ George Sand

"No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted." ~ Aesop

friday feast: poetry friday roundup is here!

~ jama


 photo by Tarevale.

Hello there! Welcome to Poetry Friday at alphabet soup!

Make yourself at home and help yourself to some tea and cookies. If you’ve brought a poem or review to share, please leave your links with Mr. Linky below. Be sure to include the name of your poem or the book you’re reviewing in parentheses after your name.

Remember when Charles and Debra Ghigna brought their sleeping bags to the Poetry Potluck last month? They revealed themselves to be real party animals (albeit polite and delightful ones). Well, just so happens Debra never left! In between tap dancing and drinking endless cups of rooibos tea with cinnamon, she managed to write the perfect poem for today’s gathering. Thanks, Debra. Please stay as long as you want — you’re definitely my kind of guest! ♥


 rooibos tea by Hindrik.

POET TEA
by Debra Ghigna

I’m making us some poet tea
From poetry I’ve known,
And petit fours with metaphors
And similes with scones.

We’ll share some conversation
To while away the time.
It’s sure to sound delicious since
We’ll only speak in rhyme.

We’ll dine upon a quatrain,
A sonnet, maybe two,
While drinking from a couplet
Just like the poets do.

© 2010 Debra Ghigna. All rights reserved.

While we’re on the subject of poetry and tea, here are a couple of teacup haiku to send you on your way:


 Antique haiku teacup by summerchele.


 Haiku teacup available here.

drink me, dear alice
graceful fall to wonderland
pocket watch gleaming

LEAVE YOUR LINKS HERE, THEN SIP AND SAVOR:

1. Jeni Bell (Original poem, ” The Pitcher, the Scientist”)
2. Charles Ghigna
3. Shelley (Dust Bowl Story)
4. Stacy Nockowitz (“Adolescence”)
5. Julie Larios (” Disobedience”)
6. Laura Evans (Original Haibun)
7. Tiel Aisha Ansari (Dormancy)
8. John Mutford (Inter Alia)
9. Amy LV (My Po WriYe #44 – ” The Bridge”)
10. Gregory K. – Foods That Scare (originally here!)
11. Mother Lode – poetry primers
12. tanita (Dandelion)
13. Mary Lee (drowning in end- of- school- year ” stuff”)
14. Heidi Mordhorst (a family love poem by Gwendolyn Brooks)
15. Tabatha (Diane Mayr!)
16. Carol (Dear World)
17. Sara Lewis Holmes (Mary Oliver’s Reckless Poem)
18. The Stenhouse Blog (“Books”)
19. Barbara Turner(a bit of e.e. cummings) 
20. Laura Salas (Seal Lullaby – Rudyard Kipling)
21. Laura Salas (15 Words or Less Poems)
22. Laura Shovan (Prose Poems – Bly)
23. Ruth (” One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop)
24. Diane has Lewis Carroll silliness
25. Doret (The Wonder Book)
26. Mandy (Oh Theodore! Guinea Pig Poems)
27. Kurious Kitty (Robert Hass)
28. KK’s Kwotes (Robert Hass)
29. Sally at Paper Tigers
30. Jeannine Atkins (Katherine Paterson’s poetic roots)
31. Karen Edmisten (An Atticus Pick — Wm. Carlos Wms Spring and All)
32. Megan (Mythopoeia)
33. Kelly Fineman (There is no frigate like a book by Dickinson)
34. Wild Rose Reader (APPLE TREE: An Original Acrostic)
35. Christine Marciniak (How do I Love Thee)
36. Margaret Perry (The Naming of Cats)
37. Across the Page (” Window Poems” by Wendell Berry)
38. Doraine Bennett (bits of the process from Roethke)
39. Steven Withrow (The Brave Little Poet)
40. Sylvia Vardell (New 2011 Poetry Calendar)
41. Toby Speed (poem from “Sea Surface Full of Clouds”)
42. Little Willow (a quote from Plato)
43. Kevin Slattery (original tea poem in the comments!)
44. Irene Latham (original poem “To the Mourners”)
45.  paula reviews Ubiquitous by Joyce Sidman
46. Tricia-Miss Rumphius (“A Summer Shower”)
47. Janet Squires: (Carrots to Cupcakes)
48. Priya (Original poem about Rome)

 

Thanks for stopping by to share your poems. Have a glorious weekend!

*Teacup drawings by lucy rose.

Copyright © 2010 Jama Rattigan of jama rattigan’s alphabet soup. All rights reserved.