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Showing posts from March, 2014

And with no time left for intellectual pursuits

Taste: banana boysenberry Sight: the sky tinged with pale green and deep violet; the sky a brilliant orange; the dark windy road; the stormy bridge a glare of green light Sound: how quickly he speaks; reading Stray Birds to a dying man “TRUTH in her dress finds facts too tight. In fiction she moves with ease.”  "RELEASE me from my unfulfilled past clinging to me from behind making death difficult. LET this be my last word, that I trust in thy love." ― Tagore, Rabindranath Touch: sobbing, heaving shoulders Smell: cinnamon Extra: “A book won't move your eyes for you like TV or a movie does. A book won't move your mind unless you give it your mind, or your heart unless you put your heart in it. It won't do the work for you. To read a good novel well is to follow it, to act it, to feel it, to become it—everything short of writing it, in fact. Reading is a collaboration, an act of participation. No wonder not everybody is up to it.” — Ursula K. Le Guin,...

Review: AWP Conference, Seattle - Eco-fabulous!

Underwood typewriter on display at Ashland Creek Press. Seek and ye shall find. I was heartened by how easily I found connections with writers seeking to use their literary powers in fantastic ways as a force for good at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference in Seattle. This was my first AWP and the conference feels certain to make my best of list for 2014. The event switched me into creative overdrive. Soon I will be planting my magic seeds and watching them grow (thanks Fairy Tale Review ! ).  AWP may be the Burning Man of writers conferences. It's a quickly formed community with a packed and varied event schedule. Make of it what you will. Just as Burning Man can be yoga retreat, art festival, extreme outdoor adventure or constant rave; AWP can be about poetry, author events, presses or parties. Go from panel to panel on craft, attend every reading, browse the bookfair or just hang out and hobnob. Find your community of writers, teachers, publi...

He chases dreams of libraries, youth and music

Taste: Earth Balance vegan cheddar kettle chips ; raspberry smoothie   Sight: father, found Sound: mmms of appreciation; poet Joan Naviyuk Kane reads from " Hyperboreal ," stunning language English/Inupiaq Touch: painful sitting Smell: nutty soy sauce and rice Extra:  "Everything beckons to us to perceive it, murmurs at every turn ‘Remember me!’ A day we passed, too busy to receive it, will yet unlock us all its treasury." — Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926) He dreams of five story libraries with deep collections. Grateful for: contentment

Book love forever as sung in a dream by pink dogs

Taste: chocolate and lime; almond tart Sight: Valentine's Day roses; the man crossing the road with the girl with the pink backpack; shadow cat; man playing ball with his dog glow in the dark ball; the lighted trees in Freeway Park   Sound: Dear lord, when I get to heaven Please let me bring my man When he comes tell me that you'll let him in Father tell me if you can Oh that grace, oh that body Oh that face makes me wanna party He's my sun, he makes me shine like diamonds — Lana Del Rey, Young and Beautiful Touch: the heft of a book; flipping through pages   Smell: Cookie #5 Skydottir  Extra: attacked by a cougar, scissors and pillows for defense; she was the kind of woman who rolled down the window to greet the neighborhood dogs; the blue room   Grateful for: Books!