John Leax

Hosted by Cara at Ooh...Books!
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One of the fun things about participating in Cara's FreeVerse is getting to revisit poets and poems I've already shared, either here or on my previous blog.

I wrote about John Leax and his Tabloid News collection last April. You can click here to read a little more about both. Tabloid News is a very unusual book. The poems take several readings to appreciate and even then, probably don't appeal to some. I like to think that's the point of this exercise, though... introducing others to poetry they might never have experienced otherwise. Try this one on for size:

Baby Born with Antlers

John Leax

Might we assume that he is a he?
Perhaps not. The antlered whitetail
familiar to our autumn woods
is a buck, but the reindeer doe
is antlered into spring.
There is no absolute in nature
on which to ground our thought.

We may, however, assume the mother bore
her child in pain. Look at those things!
Eight points, a rack for Boone and Crockett.
Let's hope the antlers were soft
and malleable, floating like golden locks
during the passage down the dark canal,
only hardening at the shock of air.
Or perhaps the birth was breech.
Either way, we may assume the child
cried at the slap of birth. There's nothing
new in that, nothing to report. But did
the mother cry? What did she think
when the midwife placed the child,
wet and wriggling, in her arms?
Did she scream, blurt out, "Monster!"
and push the double-natured thing away?

I think not. I think she recognized
her image in its flesh and loved him,
though she'd no warning of how,
when she nursed, she'd have to guard
her eyes from the sudden lifting
of his head. I think, when she first
held him, tenderly exploring his small
body, her hand touched a tiny hoof-
a baby born with antlers
would have, at least, two hooves-
and she thought, almost absently,
that she would purchase him a flute.

All Aboard!

When I was a little girl my dad had a fantastic model train set. Laid out in a U-shape, it covered the equivalent of about three ping-pong tables and included residential, industrial, and business districts. My favorite thing was the haunted house with buttons I could push to make different colors flash in the windows.

I received an e-mail from my cousin featuring a model train set that puts my dad's to shame! I believe things like this bring out the child in all of us. Check it out!

Soup for a Winter day

It's the right time of year for a warm, comforting bowl of soup so I thought I'd rehash a couple of recipes from my old blog. Both are quick, easy, and delicious.

Easy Tortilla Soup

2 (10.5 oz.) cans condensed chicken and rice soup
1 (10.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes with green chili peppers
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
8 ounces tortilla chips
4 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese

In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, combine the soup, tomatoes & chilies and tomato sauce. Bring just to a boil and remove from heat. Place some tortilla chips in the bottom of an individual bowl and sprinkle cheese over the chips. Pour soup over the chips and cheese. Yield: 2 servings.

This recipe is easy to double or quadruple for more people. It's also easy to tweak with different varieties of cheese, chips, canned tomatoes, or the addition of meat.

Refried Bean Soup

Darlene Brenden of Salem, OR in Simple & Delicious

1 can (16 oz.) spicy fat-free refried beans
1 can (15-1/4 oz.) whole kernel corn, drained
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) chicken broth
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) stewed tomatoes, cut up
1/2 cup water
1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chilies
1/4 cup salsa
Tortilla chips

In a large sauce pan, combine the first eight ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 8-10 minutes or until heated through. Serve with tortilla chips. Yield: 8 servings (2 quarts).

Again, this is an easy recipe to change to fit the tastes of your family. It's on the menu at our house tonight. Yum!

Mercy Me ~ Snow!

Our little community has a nice "Municipal Auditorium".... a great venue for concerts and other programs. Other than the regional symphony, a couple of dance recitals, and a few random events, it rarely gets used. We aren't exactly a tour stop for big-name groups. Occasionally we have a rare treat and last night was one of those times. Mercy Me, a popular Contemporary Christian band, came to our town and put on a fantastic show for more than 1800 fans. They performed many of their more popular hits including the clip I've included here. In addition, they shared a song from their next album due to be released in May along with the background for the album's theme. It was a wonderful evening that flew by all too quickly. Local band Two Empty Chairs opened for them and gave a great perfomance as well.






The afternoon and evening brought something else to our area that we don't see often: Snow! It began falling mid-afternoon and gently snowed all evening. We awoke to a beautiful layer of white on everything except for the roads and sidewalks. That's what made it extra lovely in my opinion.... enough snow to look pretty, but not interfere with travel! We got about 2.25 inches at our house. It's already melting, but it was nice while it lasted.

FreeVerse - Ted Kooser

Hosted by Cara at Ooh...Books!
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A couple of years ago we were fortunate to have Ted Kooser, former U.S Poet Laureate, visit our town's community college as a guest speaker. The real bonus was a free poetry workshop with Mr. Kooser held earlier that day. A friend and I arrived early, anticipating a crowd. Unbelievably only ten other people showed up! We were embarassed at the turnout, but it ended up being to our advantage in that we enjoyed a more relaxed, informal workshop.

I love Ted Kooser's poetry and have several of his books. Here are a couple of my favorite poems from his Delights & Shadows collection.

A Jacquard Shawl

A pattern of curly acanthus leaves,
and woven into one corner
in blue block letters half an inch tall:
MADE FROM WOOL FROM SHEEP
KILLED BY DOGS. 1778.
As it is with jacquards,
the design reverses to gray on blue
when you turn it over,
and the words run backward
into the past. The rest of the story
lies somewhere between one side
and the other, woven into
the plane where the colors reverse:
the circling dogs, the terrified sheep,
the meadow stippled with blood,
and the weaver by lamplight
feeding what wool she was able to save
into the faintly bleating, barking loom.

Tattoo

What once was meant to be a statement -
a dripping dagger held in the fist
of a shuddering heart - is now just a bruise
on a bony old shoulder, the spot
where vanity once punched him hard
and the ache lingered on. He looks like
someone you had to reckon with,
strong as a stallion, fast and ornery,
but on the chilly morning, as he walks
between the tables at a yard sale
with the sleeves of his tight black T-shirt
rolled up to show us who he was,
he is only another old man, picking up
broken tools and putting them back,
his heart gone soft and blue with stories.

Favorite Five - Actors

We watched several movies over the weekend which brought to mind a good topic for a Favorite Five entry: actors.

Many actors (and actresses...which I'll save for a future post), started out in television before moving on to the big screen. I'm sure that's worked in reverse as well. Then there's theater.... an entirely different genre and one I know very little about.

When choosing your favorites, feel free to draw from whichever medium you want. That's what I did. And just for the record, this was really tough for me!

1. Tom Hanks - Talk about a versatile actor!! I think my favorite performances were Forrest Gump and Cast Away.

2. Mel Gibson - Okay, I know he's made a lot of enemies in recent years, but I still like his movies starting way back with Mad Max. Signs was one of my Favorite Five Movies.

3. Tom Selleck - He had already been around awhile by the time he starred in Magnum, P.I., but that was my first exposure to him. Quigley Down Under almost made my top five list.

4. Charles Bronson - Bronson appeared in a wide variety of movies including numerous Westerns. However, my favorite role he played was Paul Kersey in the Death Wish movies.

5. James Stewart - One of the all-time best! From everything I've read about him he was not only an outstanding actor, but also a fine person off screen. I loved him in Rear Window and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, both mentioned in my top five post.

Runners up: Harry Morgan, Liam Neeson, Clint Eastwood, Bruce Willis, Robert Duvall, William H. Macy.

As always, I know I'll think of others later that I should have included. This will have to do for now.

Westerns

My husband was flipping through the channels last night and landed on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) which was showing True Grit. It's the only movie for which John Wayne received an Academy Award and it includes one of my favorite movie lines: "I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man." The next movie up was The Shootist, John Wayne's last movie and one loaded with an all-star cast. Despite the fact John Wayne is an actor many folks enjoy making fun of, he starred in well over 100 movies and made a name for himself in the world of "Westerns".

... Which brings me to wonder ... What ever happened to the Western?? Hollywood rarely puts out Westerns anymore. I can think of only two in recent years: 3:10 to Yuma and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Both seemed to do well at the box office... so why haven't there been more?

Just wondering.

A new obsession

I usually claim that I'm not much for watching TV, preferring to read, work puzzles, or spend time on my computer. November, December and January afford more opportunity for television. In years past I've mostly stuck with GSN (Game Show Network) or channels where I can catch old sit-coms, all in limited amounts.

This year I discovered something new: The Food Network!

Obviously from my mention of the original Iron Chef in my Reality Show post, I've visited the channel some in the past. This year a new laptop with decent battery life allowed me to spend more time in the room with the TV (tuned to Food Network), discovering all sorts of wonderful shows and chefs! I was already familiar with many of the names, but had never seen them in action. What a treat! My favorite is Bobby Flay.

I've always considered myself a fairly decent cook. Now I'm not so sure. Depending on which show I'm watching, I'm either inspired to put on my apron and head to the kitchen or just shake my head in disbelief that I ever attempt to cook anything! Regardless, my mouth is watering.

We have a winner!

Thanks so much to everyone who submitted an entry in my Caption Contest. All of them were wonderful and I'm glad it didn't fall on me to make the final decision. It would have been far too difficult!

I shared the submissions with a number of people today and they all agreed that the entire lot was worthy of winning. However, there was one that always brought a smile and seemed to be the favorite. So without further ado, the winning caption is....

"SQUIRREL! Squirrel? SQUIRREL!!"

Congratulations, Marion!! To give you a little taste of what you have to choose from at Bush Babe's, here are my BB prints. I had a little trouble trying to photograph them.....kept getting reflections in the glass. (which might have been nice for my earlier "reflections" post, but not for showcasing my prints!)

Pam's Poetry

Hosted by Cara at Ooo...Books!
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Today I would like to share a few poems from my favorite poet, Pam Patterson. Her heartfelt writing is drawn from personal experience and never fails to speak to me. Could this be because she is my sister? Perhaps, but I prefer to think it's because she's an incredibly talented person. Judge for yourself with these selections from her chapbook Passages, published through Shadow Poetry.

Circles

Tomorrow my daughter turns nineteen.
A neophyte in the circles of women,
she advances with no pause or turn
to grasp for receding circles of childhood.
She did that last year.

This morning my brother announced
the birth of his second girl child.
I spoke to my six-year-old niece
who had wished for a sister.
One brother was more than enough.
Now she wants bunk beds, a toy box that locks.
She senses the price tags thumb tacked to wishes.

Over lunch, over the phone, my sister shared
the latest day smile and night tempest of her daughter,
three months old, the first child.
When my mother died my daughter was seven,
my sister only seventeen.
Her circles colliding, she turned around a woman
standing in a link where the child should have been.

Tonight I learn of a close friend's miscarriage,
of her brush with death during delicate surgery.
Mother and child, their circles colliding,
were linked for a heartbeat
while passing through twilight sleep.

I look out at the moon
drawn by the sway
as the circle flows into and out of itself.

Passages

As we lose the pieces of our past,

person by person,

as we cut the cords,

one by one,

of our invulnerability,

we are left to wobble

uncertainly

in the vast realization of our own mortality.

Unfinished Business

(For my mother)

I don't think you realized
the force of your words,
the power of negative thinking
that carried you through
until fate granted your wish.

The day the call came
saying you'd slipped away
I'd been watching sparrows
dive into the reflected world
of my windows,
stunned by the force of reality.
After Daddy died
you curled up inside him,
left us, except for your youngest,
her graduation your expiration date.

What of my son, first grandchild,
the one you clutched as your own,
who crept under the wing you spread?
He curled up in silence
when I told him you were gone.

What of the grandchildren who will know you
by photos and secondhand memories?
Three months ago I stood in for you,
held your youngest's first child
through her first night at home,
the warmth of new life against my cheek.
Feeling the tiny wings of her heartbeat
I thought of the sparrows
on the day of your death.

When the phone rang
I knew you were gone,
my sister's graduation
only days in the past.
How many times had your wish sliced our hearts?

The Cancer that severed Daddy
so suddenly from our lives
chewed up your body,
organ by organ,
spit you out of our world
right on schedule.

In that moment before flight
did you turn to confront the love
that couldn't hold you here?
When you severed the ties,
slipped out of your pain,
did you briefly pass through ours?