A post about friends and gardens and garden friends

We got a little package in the mail the other day from our friend Andi.  Inside, there was a really, really sweet note, and also a miniature garden gnome.  She said that the gnome made her think of us.  I love it when someone buys a gift just because it made them think of you.  And I also love to send things to people with that same inspiration.  It’s a sign that the person is prominent in your mind.  And it also means that you know them well enough that you know what sort of little things make them smile.  In other words, its a sign of a happy friendship.  Which isn’t to say that you have to buy people presents to have a good friendship.  It’s just nice to know that someone is thinking of you, and its nice to let your friends know that they have a special place in your mind.  Which reminds me that I should try a little harder to write letters to the people I think of on a regular basis.  I even bought a bunch of fun new cards at the Salvation Army the other day.  I enjoy buying greeting cards at thrift stores because you can find really random, funny ones.  I like random funny things.

But anyway, I was posting about the garden gnome.  We gave him a position as the guardian of our bean plants.  And he inspired us to move a snail with a gazing globe on her back from inside to outside, under the nasturtiums.  It looks in the picture like she’s eating some greens.  Those little heart-shaped leaves taste sour, but pleasant.  I used to nibble them myself when I was a kid.  And they get banana-shaped seed pods.

It’s been…um…months since I posted. Woops.

I have not been keeping this blog up to date!  You may have noticed.

Anyway, here’s an annotation I wrote a little while ago about Lisa Jarnot’s book Ring of Fire.  I liked this book enough that I’m planning to buy a copy when the opportunity arises.  Right now I just have it from the school library.

(essay after the jump)

Promoting my friends :-)

I think this blog that my friend S and her friend K just started is awesome, so I am going to link to it. It’s all about books. Books are good.  I’m gonna add it to my blogroll too.

Check it out.

I was just wondering:

What does the “knee-jerk” part of the phrase “knee-jerk liberal refer to?  Or, in other words, what is a liberal like myself supposedly jerking her knees about?

It makes me imagine a form of folk dance with lots of bouncing involved.  And little bands of bells around the ankles to jingle while those knees are doing their thing.

But this is a derogatory term.  So what’s the story?

a poem by Neruda speaks to my heart

S read this poem to me earlier this evening and it gave me a fluttery feeling. I don’t get to see the ocean much, so when I do it’s a special time. Most recently, the ocean means writing and creativity to me, because of Port Townsend, Washington, and my Goddard residencies. I get to go again in February. I’ll have these words in my head when I go. And it’s sort of a full-circle thing, too, because I bought this book for S from Copper Canyon Press. From Fort Worden to Vermont back to Fort Worden, with all kinds of poetic flutters and frills in between. From the Puget Sound to the shores of Lake Champlain back to the Puget Sound. Sand in my shoes. Gathering beach glass.

The photograph above is from Coney Island, NY, another place I’ve gazed over saltwater. I’ve never been there in the summer, only in cold weather. L and I gathered shells there.

Here’s the poem I’ve been talking about: From Pablo Neruda’s The Book of Questions translated by William O’Daly

XLIX

When I see the sea once more

will the sea have seen or not seen me?

Why do the waves ask me

the same questions I ask them?

And why do they strike the rock

with so much wasted passion?

Don’t they get tired of repeating

their declaration to the sand?

trees

They had to cut down a huge old tree that grew in front of the local gay/lesbian/queer/trans/etc. community center, where I am teaching a poetry class. It makes me a little sad every time I walk past there because I used to enjoy seeing the rainbow flag peeking out under the branches. I guess it was a problem, though. The tree was growing right up against the porch. But losing this one big tree has got me thinking about how I’d really like to plant some lovely oak or maple or something in front of our house here, but the yard is so small, there’s probably not really room for one. Maybe a small tree? I could settle for that, probably. A fruit tree? An ornamental tree? And I wonder whether that little pine tree we planted at the last house will survive. One of the hard parts about renting houses is that you have to leave your garden behind when you move.

But, anyway trees: Do you believe that trees can speak to you? Or that a tree can hug you back when you put your arms around it? Sometimes I do almost believe these things, even though I find it difficult to be a believer in general. But I do feel peaceful around trees. It could be just the clean air and the shade or it could be something more.

Kali

Book: May Sarton’s collection of poetry A Grain of Mustard Seed. I mentioned this poem, the Invocation to Kali, before, back when I first bought the book. Well, I liked it so much that I ended up writing a whole annotation on it. And my enthusiasm seems to have come through in the essay, because my advisor responded by saying that she didn’t think she liked May Sarton, but now she wanted to get a copy of this book and read it for herself.

just the sounds

I know that these are just the names of shoes, but I was rather attracted to the rich sounds of the language on this sign when I walked past it this afternoon.  So many nice vowels.  Ooooloooo.  Uuugg.  Uurth.  Booooots.  I guess reading a lot of poetry trains you to think like this?  But I think I’ve always loved language.  Oooooloooo.  MerUuull.  Ooooloooo.  Uurth.  And a happy afternoon to you.

capital letters

I love poetry that gives me a push. Here’s an annotation that I wrote about Lucille Clifton’s poetry. She’s a new and exciting delight to me, and I know I should have been reading her work a long time before I actually did.

litany, litany, litany

A litany is a form of poetry that repeats and repeats, repeats and circles. I’ve been trying to make friends with it lately, both through reading and writing. Here’s a little annotation essay of mine on some of Joy Harjo’s litanies: