Uncategorized

friday feast: let the beauty we love be what we do

~ jama ~ 32 Comments

~ This post especially for cloudscome at A Wrung Sponge, with love, hugs, and healing thoughts.


      photo by NBeuscher

Seems for most of my adult life, Rumi’s poetry was always there, gracing beautiful leather bound journals, appearing in a calligrapher’s hand, shared among friends whenever there was a need for comfort, inspiration, or spiritual guidance.

I remember seeing a PBS special about well-known Rumi translator, Coleman Barks, a long time ago. I ran out immediately and bought a couple of Rumi volumes, and from time to time, I go through them and marvel anew at all the wisdom, beauty, insight, and passion contained in his words.

Continue reading →

we have three winners!

~ jama ~ 13 Comments


The official alphabet soup kitchen helpers have had a busy month.

At the beginning of January, they were told the most well behaved bear would get to draw the winning names in the Dumpling Soup giveaway.

Ever since then, they’ve done everything they can think of to impress me.

Continue reading →

soup of the day: absolutely maybe by lisa yee!

~ jama ~ 12 Comments

          

       
Everyone, it’s time for some whistles, cheers, and big time whoops!!

Today, we are celebrating the official release of Absolutely Maybe (Arthur A. Levine Books, 2009), penned by the one and only Lisa Yee! Woo Hoo!!

     
       ABSOLUTELY MAYBE by Lisa Yee (Arthur A. Levine Books, 2009),
       Young Adult, 288 pp.

That’s right, the former Miss America and author of the wildly popular Millicent Min, Girl Genius; Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time; So Totally Emily Ebers; and Good Luck, Ivy!, has written a funny, touching young adult novel about 16-year-old Maybe (short for Maybelline), who hitches a ride from Florida to California, where she discovers just what she is made of. Phew! This book is coming out just in time; ever since I finished Good Luck, Ivy!, I’ve been suffering from serious Lisa withdrawal, simply wanting more more more from this Sid Fleischman Humor Award winner.

Anyway, Maybe’s life is pretty tough. Her mom, who goes through men like Kleenex, takes her scuzzball boyfriend’s side after he tries to rape Maybe, so she’s left no alternative but to run away from home. She takes to the road with her friends Hollywood and Ted, hoping to find her real father, whom she thinks is a famous movie producer. 

After they get to California, her friends get in the groove right away. Hollywood, who’s been accepted to the USC film school, starts working on a documentary, and Ted finds a job and moves in with the famous Gloria de la Tour. This leaves Maybe to fend for herself. She is traumatized by the idea of babysitting triplets, stops for some tacos (my kind of book!), and ends up working at Taco Truck #4, where she proves to the owner and herself that she’s capable of creating some pretty awesome stuff. 

What else? Finding her real birth father is not as easy as she thought it would be. She does meet her former stepfather and his girlfriend, but is hurt and betrayed when she sees Hollywood’s documentary. Who are her true friends? More importantly, if she’s not the charm school beauty queen her mother wants her to be, just who is she? There are many life lessons to be learned for this determined, spunky, resourceful main character who eventually comes into her own — Kool-Aid dyed hair and all. It promises to be a great read!

Now, in honor of Lisa, put on your sunglasses, grab a taco, and slurp some souperstar soup. Oh, and have your peeple call my peeple.

      
   
Today’s Special: Glitterati Gumbo (guaranteed to induce delicious fantasies
of Brad and Colin, maybe).

Absolutely Maybe may be purchased through IndieBound or your favorite online bookseller. What are you waiting for?

Be sure to check out Absolutely-Maybe.com.

Scholastic did a series of wonderful interviews with Lisa that are not to be missed. It’s totally cool hearing about all her books and her writing journey.

Lisa’s official website is here, and her Live Journal blog is here. 

friday feast: did you want horseradish with that?

~ jama ~ 40 Comments

 

If you’re a vegetarian, please go away.

If you’re a rapacious omnivore who’d rather eat a pig than dine with one, toodle-oo.

Just to be on the safe side, if you tend to giggle, guffaw, or snort uncontrollably at the slightest provocation, better go back to your little corner until we’re done here.

I simply can’t be held responsible for people who like to laugh for no good reason. And, please, in the name of decency, make sure your feet are clean before you read this poem. (Was that a smile? Stop that, immediately!)

THIS LITTLE PIGGY WENT TO MARKET

is the usual thing to say when you begin
pulling on the toes of a small child,
and I have never had a problem with that.
I could easily picture the piggy with his basket
and his trotters kicking up the dust on an imaginary
road.

What always stopped me in my tracks was
the middle toe — this little piggy ate roast beef.
I mean I enjoy a roast beef sandwich
with lettuce and tomato and a dollop of horseradish,
but I cannot see a pig ordering that in a delicatessen.

I am probably being too literal-minded here —
I am even wondering why it’s called “horseradish.”
I should just go along with the beautiful nonsense
of the nursery, float downstream on its waters.
After all, Little Jack Horner speaks to me deeply.

I don’t want to be the one to ruin the children’s party
by asking unnecessary questions about Puss in Boots
or, again, the implications of a pig eating beef.

By the way, I am completely down with going
“Wee wee wee” all the way home,
having done that many times and knowing exactly how
it feels.

~ from BALLISTICS by Billy Collins (Random House, 2008).

Startling Confession #2468: I’ve never eaten horseradish. Am I missing something?

Please trot on over (and wee all you like) to Adventures in Daily Living for today’s Poetical Roundup.



those bawdy hawaiians

~ jama ~ 4 Comments

Recently, while searching for a Hawaiian mele to share with you, I came across a lovely video of the Peter Moon Band (PMB) performing "Mauna Loa." 

It’s vintage, quintessential Hawaiiana, so typical of the "no hurry" mindset I miss so much. The sweet, sublime harmonies draw out the emotions of the lilting melody, and I was so sipping ambrosial liquid from a coconut shell and walking along the beach at sunset with Tom Selleck, when a disturbing thought occurred to me: I had no idea what they were singing about.

I guess the common assumption is that most Hawaiian songs are about green mountains, tropical flowers, palm trees swaying in the breeze, and the rolling waves of the sea. Some of them probably are, but I found, much to my amusement and amazement, that this one wasn’t.

Listen to the song, let it transport you, then try to guess what it’s about. So deceptively sweet!

Apparently, this song is about a spurned lover, a man who’s married to a promiscuous woman with hips as wide as a ship. He’s giving her the final brush-off, comparing himself to the roach eaten hanky used to wipe her pointy shoes.

Hawaiians are famous for using a sly, centuries-old poetic device called kaona, or multi-layered metaphor. Innocuous images are often used to mask a not-so-innocent statement. There is much carnality and bawdiness in Hawaiian songs, and kaona allows the singer to convey double or triple entendre, with relative ease. Hence, the metaphor of the ship named "Mauna Loa," never returning to the same port.

Next time you hear a Hawaiian song mentioning rain or mist, take heed; these images are the poetic equivalent of lovemaking. *fans self*