First Hour, by Sharon Olds
Wed, 06/16/2021 - 8:09pm — KristiI picked up my copy of 180 More, and instead of picking a random poem, I decided to start with the first one:
"First Hour," by Sharon Olds.
This is a lovely, jarring poem that lifts me out of my immediate life into the moment she's describing.
I immediately wanted to know more of her work, and found a large collection at PoetryFoundation.org. I haven't read them all yet - I want to take them slowly - but I'm anticipating more surprising, welcome alien images.
Using WikiHow to practice languages
Thu, 06/10/2021 - 8:02pm — KristiI recently discovered that WikiHow articles are often available in other languages - and now they're my favorite source of dual-language practice.
I can bring up an article in the target language (Spanish, French), and read it to practice comprehension and find new vocabulary words. It's terrific for the specialized vocabulary that goes with a particular hobby or daily activity, like playing the piano or making an omelet.
Tom Stoppard: A Life
Thu, 06/10/2021 - 7:47pm — Kristi
This is a fantastic biography. It's incredibly well researched (literally: I find it hard to believe how much time and trouble the author took to talk with everyone, read every archived document, chase down every source), and clearly and compellingly told.
Pencil, by A. E. Stallings
Sun, 04/18/2021 - 4:26pm — KristiI am lucky enough to own a couple of volumes of poetry by the amazing A. E. Stallings.
Randomly picking a few poems to read while sipping my tea, I came across "Pencil."
I love the rhymes, the occasional repetition or additional rhyme on the first and third lines.
She's so masterful, so skilled.
To the Dust of the Road, by W. S. Merwin
Sat, 07/10/2021 - 4:02pm — KristiI found this in my 180 More anthology. I love the careful rhyming that is quieted by the lengths of the sentences, how, reading it aloud, I want to pause mid-line, making the rhymes fall irregularly internally.
That structure, that soft nudge toward reading it conversationally, in a low voice, finding my way to the invisible punctuation, made me want to read it three times, four, five, and I in my initial rush read it as if it were a poem about travelling, about the dust on your own feet as you rush through and across the world, but no, it's an ode, to dust, to road dust,
Gabriele Münter and Breakfast of the Birds
Wed, 04/07/2021 - 10:19pm — KristiThis week I discovered Gabriele Münter; I was looking up famous German women, and her name appeared on one of the lists I found.
The National Museum of Women in the Arts has her Breakfast of the Birds, which is a lovely work that I think I'm going to copy or at least follow for Draw a Bird Day.
Driving Over Lemons
Wed, 02/17/2021 - 2:19pm — Kristi
I picked this up at the library book sale a few years ago when I was paying extra attention to the travel section.
