Song of the Day

Crossroads (Joyce Sutphen)

The second half of my life will be black
to the white rind of the old and fading moon.
The second half of my life will be water
over the cracked floor of these desert years.
I will land on my feet this time,
knowing at least two languages and who
my friends are. I will dress for the
occasion, and my hair shall be
whatever color I please.
Everyone will go on celebrating the old
birthday, counting the years as usual,
but I will count myself new from this
inception, this imprint of my own desire.

The second half of my life will be swift,
past leaning fenceposts, a gravel shoulder,
asphalt tickets, the beckon of open road.
The second half of my life will be wide-eyed,
fingers shifting through fine sands,
arms loose at my sides, wandering feet.
There will be new dreams every night,
and the drapes will never be closed.
I will toss my string of keys into a deep
well and old letters into the grate.

The second half of my life will be ice
breaking up on the river, rain
soaking the fields, a hand
held out, a fire,
and smoke going
upward, always up.

On The Strength of All Conviction and the Stamina of Love ( Jennifer Michael Hecht)

Sometimes I think
we could have gone on.
All of us. Trying. Forever.

But they didn’t fill
the deserts with pyramids.
They just built some. Some.

They’re not still put there,
building them now. Everyone,
everywhere, gets up, and goes home.

Yet we must not
Diabolize time. Right?
We must not curse the passage of time.

Anatomy of a Bookshelf

Shelf 1, back row: "Making of" movie books, plays, comic anthologies/graphic novels

Shelf 1, front row: poetry, London guides

Shelf 2, back row: Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, Sherlock Holmes, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, In Cold Blood, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Complete Edgar Allen Poe

Shelf 2, front row: The Peggy Lane Theater Series, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Amnesiac, The Woman in White, Dracula, The Alienist, Gone with the Wind, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Little Women, Peter Pan (11 copies)

Shelf 3, back row: Shakespeare lit crit and historical context

Shelf 3, front row: Shakespeare plays (38 volumes)

Shelf 4, back row: young adult and children's (mostly published 1960's), foreign language textbooks

Shelf 4, front row: young adult and children's (mostly published 1980's)

Shelf 5: picture books, shooting scripts, theater programs, half filled notebooks

So, basically, something like 70% of my bookshelf has a reading level of 12 or younger and the rest is Shakespeare. Sounds about right.

As If That Last Poem Wasn't Great Enough on Its Own...

Litany (Billy Collins)

You are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker,
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.

However, you are not the wind in the orchard,
the plums on the counter,
or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.

It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the general's head,
but you are not even close
to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.

And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.

It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the sound of rain on the roof.

I also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.

I am also the moon in the trees
and the blind woman's tea cup.
But don't worry, I'm not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and--somehow--the wine.

Five Videos I'm Into Right Now

(because it can't all be quotes from books I'm giving away)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

...okay, so I'm always into that last one.