Tag: literature

Sweet Weekend, Part I

If days were desserts this past weekend would have been a fresh slice of orange sponge cake, piled high with luscious red strawberries and topped with cream cheese icing. It was that good.

After a ridiculously pleasant night’s sleep Friday night (thank you Tempur-pedic!), a refreshing shower, and a hearty breakfast I dressed and headed into Tallahassee on Saturday for the Word of [South] Festival of Literature and Music.

This marks the festival’s second year. I was in La Antigua de Guatemala last April and missed out. Not that I’m complaining. My week in Antigua was the experience of a lifetime. And from what I hear the festival saw its share of rain in 2015.

There was not even a hint of precipitation this time around, though, as authors, musicians, and artists from all over the country shared their time and talents with those of us in Tallahassee. There was something for everyone, from gospel, folk, soul, rock, and jazz on the musical spectrum and every imaginable genre on the literary side.

Cascades Park hosted the event and one had only to walk from one venue to another within the park to experience a completely new vibe. And did I mention that with the exception of two concerts  the event was free of charge? Sweet!   

I wandered aimlessly for a bit before finding a schedule of events for one of the stages.

  
The Biergarten stage was just one of five venues featuring performers. Seeing Rita Coolidge’s name on the list I hurried over to grab a seat. I had no idea who Leslie Poole and Paul Garfinkel were, but I arrived as their set was in progress and fell in love with their words and message.

  
Ms. Poole, the author of several books about Florida, read from her most recent published work, Saving Florida. I’m not a native Floridian, so learning about the efforts of women on the front lines of environmental activism in the Sunshine State was an eye-opening experience. 

Mr. Garfinkel’s engaging folk songs woven around Florida’s delicate ecosystem bestowed even greater weight to Ms. Poole’s vignettes as the two traded places in the spotlight. Their performance was a lively, thought-provoking give and take.

Leslie Poole, left, Paul Garfinkel and his accompanist.

Then the beautiful Rita Coolidge took the stage.

   

Rita, a graduate of Florida State University, read from her memoir Delta Lady, and entertained the crowd with tales of her bohemian days as an art major here. 

Rita, like all of the artists and authors, signed books after her presentation.

 

My friend Julie and her lovely mom enjoyed Rita’s talk with me. We hadn’t arranged to meet at the event; it just happened. Sweet, right?

After Rita’s presentation I had lunch at the Edison and ran into yet another friend, Cathy, who made room for me next to her place at the bar. We then hustled over to another of the stages to hear Diane Roberts read excerpts from her book, Tribal: College Football and the Secret Heart of America.

  

Having grown up in Texas, I could completely relate to Diane’s college football obsession. This woman, a professor at FSU, is hysterically funny. If you have any love for the game you need this book. Even if you despise the game you need this book. 

I knew Studly would be getting restless, so I headed home shortly after having Ms. Roberts sign my newly purchased copy of her book. When I got home he was chomping at the bit to take the Goldwing out for an evening drive, so we suited up (“all the gear, all the time” is our motto) and rode over to Havana for a meal at a local Italian restaurant, providing the perfect ending to a perfect day.

Tomorrow I’ll share photos of Sunday at the festival. I’m still on an intellectual and emotional high after my experiences. 

Peace, people!

Sideways

I fell into your poem sideways,
not top to bottom as you likely wrote
it about love, and loss, and maybe

the taste of food.

A word stood out, midway through
your second stanza, so my brain followed
my eyes and without thinking

i read horizontally backwards.

Oddly enough, it made perfect sense and
I wondered, did you intend for me to
explore your words this way;

did you create a new form?

Only on my second pass did I find your
opening line and its nuances. Beautiful
rightside up and inside out.

A masterpiece.

John Scalzi Presents Day Four

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2015/12/03/whatever-holiday-shopping-guide-2015-day-four-fan-favorites/
Day Four of John Scalzi’s Holiday Shopping Guide gives fans an opportunity to provide input.

Do you have a favorite author, artist, or musician whose work you want to promote? Go to the link above and check out the criteria. Then make your pitch. 

Almost an irrelevant photo; alrhough, I am a big fan of this guy who’ll be 13 on Dec. 6.

John Scalzi Presents!

Hi Friends,

I know that many of my followers and friends are published authors or songwriters. Others are looking for that motivation or big break. It’s difficult to know how to get your work and your name out there. 

Let me introduce you to science fiction author John Scalzi. I’m a big fan of his work. It’s witty, fast-paced, and not so mired in the sciences that a casual reader of scifi will feel lost. I’ve begun following John Scalzi on Facebook and Twitter and strongly suggest that you do as well.

John started as an indie author and has made a big mark in the scifi world. And, he’s a generous guy, it seems. Starting today, he accepts blurbs from folks like us. Each day this week John is seeking posts from authors and other artists with one category featured each day. For instance today he’s accepting submissions from folks who want to promote a book or audiobook they’ve had published through traditional publishing routes.

I could go on and on, but John Scalzi explains it all much more concisely than I on his WordPress site, “Whatever”.

So, here’s the link. Get busy and get some FREE promotion. Best of luck.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2015/11/30/whatever-holiday-shopping-guide-2015-day-one-traditionally-published-books/

The Chrysanthemums

John Steinbeck’s short story, The Chrysanthemums, is one of my favorites and the inspiration for this poem. I’ve linked to the story below, and if you’ve never read it, I hope my poem encourages you to do so. I really hope it doesn’t discourage you! That would be awful!

Eliza’s Fate

She looked forward
to the small pleasures
after all:
ladybugs and
budding flowers,
the songs of
passing birds,
the smell of lilacs
in the spring.
What else was
meant for her
she’d never know,
but perhaps
this was it.

Most days she
thought nothing
of the lacks
in her life.
Most days she just
went through the motions.
Most days she felt
it was enough.

But.

Other days she
privately railed
against the sameness.
Other days she cried
silently in the kitchen.
Other days she felt the
absence of color.

When he rode through,
that stranger, speaking
in a familiar way,
her need clawed raw and
subversive. Embolding.
What if today? Maybe he?
She dared the unthinkable
opened herself to him.
Like chrysanthemums,
of little consequence.

http://thereycenter.org/uploads/3/4/3/2/3432754/the_chysanthemums-steinbeck.pdf

These are actually called Steinbeck’s Crysanthemums. How about that?

Reading Doldrums

 Circling in the waves,

Caught up in an

Eddy,

Reeling from
the done,

The finished,

The read. 

Now what? 

Am I supposed
to forget 

Those I grew to love,

to fear, 

to hate? 

Where do they go 

When I turn the

Final page,

When we part ways?

I finished book two in a three-part series yesterday. Rushing to shop in my Kindle bookstore I was dismayed to discover that book three won’t be available until March. Of 2016. I’d cry if I thought it would do me any good.

The point is, I broke my Cardinal rule of reading: Thou shalt not begin a book series until at least three books are available to purchase.

Three is a great number because many series end there. If I waited until every book in a series had been written and made available to the reading public I might not ever have gotten to read the Game of Thrones series.  As it is I’ll probably die before knowing what happens to John Snow, et. al.

Thank heaven for Facebook, though. After posting a plea for good book suggestions my feed was pleasantly inundated with not just good, but great recommendations, including that of a novel, The Adventure of the Yrsa written by a friend under the pseudonym, Lillian Sullivan.  

My cup runneth over!

Peace, People.