Back Yard

 - Carl Sandburg

Shine on, O moon of summer.
Shine to the leaves of grass, catalpa and oak,
All silver under your rain to-night.

An Italian boy is sending songs to you to-night from an accordion.
A Polish boy is out with his best girl; they marry next month;
     to-night they are throwing you kisses.

An old man next door is dreaming over a sheen that sits in a
     cherry tree in his back yard.

The clocks say I must go—I stay here sitting on the back porch drinking
     white thoughts you rain down.

     Shine on, O moon,
Shake out more and more silver changes.

from: The Chicago Poems. Copyright 1916.

After Reading Tu Fu, I Go Outside to the Dwarf Orchard

- Charles Wright

East of me, west of me, full summer.
How deeper than elsewhere the dusk is in your own yard.
Birds fly back and forth across the lawn
looking for home
As night drifts up like a little boat.

Day after day, I become of less use to myself.
Like this mockingbird,
I flit from one thing to the next.
What do I have to look forward to at fifty-four?
Tomorrow is dark.
Day-after-tomorrow is darker still.

The sky dogs are whimpering.
Fireflies are dragging the hush of evening
up from the damp grass.
Into the world’s tumult, into the chaos of every day,
Go quietly, quietly.

from: Chickamauga. Copyright 1995.

Featured Poet - Claire Kageyama-Ramakrishnan

Claire
Kageyama-Ramakrishnan

Ms Kageyama-Ramakrishnan has published two books of poetry: Shadow Mountain, winning selection of the Four Way Books Intro Prize in Poetry, and Bear, Diamonds and Crane.

She explores tragedy and trauma as they interact with history and culture. Her poetry evokes the atmosphere surrounding WWII, with the the xenophobia that victimized Japanese Americans and the internment camps that remain an ever present shadow on so many lives. She mines the memories of her grandparents, personal reflections, Japanese American history, and classical Japanese folktales, presenting the results in an array of poetic forms.

At the center of this mix are the people.

She also continues to grow her hair and donate 8 inch locks to create wigs for cancer patients.

"If my niece and nephew protest anything it’ll be to choose between a trip to Lego Land and Disneyland. At least that’s my hope. I am hopeful that things like the Iraq war will end by the time they make that transition from childhood to adolescence."

OTHER INFORMATION:

* Four Way Books * Critical Mass (interview) * The Rumpus (online chat) *

Terzanelle: Manzanar Riot

This is a poem with missing details,
of ground gouging each barrack’s windowpane,
sand crystals falling with powder and shale,

where silence and shame make adults insane.
This is about a midnight of searchlights,
of ground gouging each barrack’s windowpane,

of syrup on rice and a cook’s big fight.
This is the night of Manzanar’s riot.
This is about a midnight of searchlights,

a swift moon and a voice shouting, Quiet!
where the revolving searchlight is the moon.
This is the night of Manzanar’s riot,

windstorm of people, rifle powder fumes,
children wiping their eyes clean of debris,
where the revolving searchlight is the moon,

and children line still to use the latrines.
This is a poem with missing details,
children wiping their eyes clean of debris—
sand crystals falling with powder and shale.


from: Shadow Mountain. Copyright 2008.

INTERESTED in DONATING HAIR for WIGS for CANCER PATIENTS?

* Beautiful Lengths (Pantene) * Little Princess Trust *  Locks of Love *

NEED a WIG?

* Breast Cancer Freebies *

The Spark is Gone . . .*

Last night my husband came in to my office and asked me if Robin Williams was really dead this time. (He had been the subject of false death stories for the past few years) It didn't take long to confirm that, sadly, it was indeed true this time. And not only was he gone from us, it was by his own hand.

As someone who grew up watching Mr. Williams and saw his talent expand well beyond its original boundaries, I feel a personal loss - but I did not know him.

The pain his family and friends are experiencing right now is beyond my imagining. My heart goes out to them and words fail me, because there are no words that can lessen their grief and loss.




I had no idea that Mr. Williams suffered with depression. But I know others who have, and it's a devastating disease.


There is no amount of cajoling that will make depression go away. It is not possible to just "suck it up" and "get over it."

Statistics on depression and suicide are sobering.

Sometimes it seems that the question is not if a person battling depression will lose the fight, but when.

What can be done?



If you know someone who lives with depression, please recognize that it is not a character flaw or an attempt to hurt you. It is a painful and insidious disease that ends lives. Love and support are what is needed, not judgement. This link will take you to a page listing {Suicide Warning Signs}.

If you, yourself, are the sufferer, please reach out. There are Suicide Prevention Hotlines. There are support groups. There are therapies and medications. Just as there are many reasons for clinical depression, there are also many ways to fight it. The path out is different for each person. This link is to the {International Suicide Prevention Wiki} which will give you resources all over the world. The link also remains permanently on my side bar for whenever it might be needed.

You will be greatly missed Mr. Williams. 

Rest in Peace.

                      {Official Robin Williams Website}

* "You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't loose it."

                                                                                                                                     - Robin Williams.

Eight Whole Years Old!

Happy Birthday

Sweety!

Kilt Monday!

'Cause let's face it,

Mondays can be so rough, hard, difficult.

Series: IV - Cats

 

 
I'll confess right up front.

I like cats.
I like murder mysteries.

And you would be surprised at how many murder mystery series involve cats these days.

I suppose that once they took over the internet, 

it was all but inevitable.

The first name many people think of when linking murder mysteries and cats is Lilian Jackson Braun.

Her Cat Who books were the first cat mysteries I ever read.  Although rather simple and formulaic, they were always enjoyable.

The plots are not difficult, and as for the characters, I've always suspected that Jim Qwilleran was, forgive me, in denial about his sexuality, and Polly Duncan, his off again on again paramour, was not actually traveling to visit relatives or attend conferences, but cutting loose on wild adventures of her own.

Diehard Cat Who fans are probably calling for my head on a platter after that supposition, but with all the heavy, dark murder mysteries I've been reading lately, I've come to mistrust the light.

Rita Mae Brown's Mrs. Murphy Series has also been a long time favorite. Although Sneaky Pie seems to have gotten a bit preachy as of late. Mary Minor "Harry" Hairsteen was once the spunky individualist and outsider loved by all but the bad guys, and while most main characters in a series evolve, I'm not completely loving the evolution of these characters. (not that I'll stop reading)

I also enjoy The Joe Grey Cat Mysteries by Shirley Rousseau Murphy. The cats have an interesting back story and are quite adept at solving crimes, and likeable.

There are a number of other cat sleuths I turn to from time to time, light and entertaining even if they fall short of being literary classics.

While the prior three grace my shelves, I read the rest of these on my nook.

* The Mattie Winston Series - Annelise Ryan * The Magical Cats Mysteries - Sofie Kelly *

* Cats and Curios Mysteries - Rebecca M. Hale * Cats in Trouble Mysteries - Leann Sweeney *

* Dixie Hemingway - Blaize Clement * The Black Cat Bookshop Mysteries - Ali Brandon (Diane A.S. Suckheart) *

Some people like vampire stories, others prefer zombies or werewolves. Whatever your inclination there is literature to be found. 

Now you know my guilty pleasure. 

What is yours?

Saturday Farmer's Market - A Little Indoor Gardening

Created by Heather at Capricious Reader, and now hosted by Chris at Stuff as Dreams are Made on.

The top of the Terrarium is Benny's (Benicio del Ghatto) favorite place to nap.

He's up high. He's in a warm place. And he is able to watch the wildlife playing outside the front window.

His hair also finds its way through the two small vent holes in the top in large enough quantities to decorate the inside.

I've never been able to get good pictures of the inside, but it is filling in.

I only have Ficus and Peace Lilies so far, but they're doing okay.

In fact, the Peace Lilies are doing better than okay. 

This one is getting ready to bloom!

This is a shot of the 'Conservatory.' Again, It's not a very good picture, but you can just see on the right where we have expanded the space.

The expansion is really just a door jamb about eight inches deep, but it gives me a much better working space.

. . . And here is another one of my little friends.

The Oven Bird
- Robert Frost

There is a singer everyone has heard,
Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird,
Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again.
He says that leaves are old and that for flowers
Mid-summer is to spring as one to ten.
He says the early petal-fall is past
When pear and cherry bloom went down in showers
On sunny days a moment overcast;
And comes that other fall we name the fall.
He says the highway dust is over all.
The bird would cease and be as other birds
But that he knows in singing not to sing.
The question that he frames in all but words
Is what to make of a diminished thing.