Form Poem

I'm working on creating my own form poem today... I'll let you know how it goes.

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Poetry Break

From "Like This" Pg. 136 from The Essential Rumi
translated by Coleman Barks --


When someone quotes the old poetic image
about clouds gradually uncovering the moon,
slowly loosen knot by knot the strings
of your robe.
Like this?

. . .

When someone asks what it means
to "die for love," point
here.

. . .

The soul sometimes leaves the body, then returns.
When someone doesn't' believe that,
walk back into my house.
Like this.

. . .

When someone asks what there is to do,
light the candle in his hand.
Like this.

Things That Make You Go Hmmm...

This made me laugh today, in looking up the correct spelling of "wasabi" (I thought it was "wasabai") in my confession Tuesday post I came across this on Amazon.com on the Wasabi peas page--

Frequently Bought Together:

Customers buy this item (Wasabi peas) with The Little Rascals: The Complete Collection DVD ~ Little Rascals

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Is that bizarre? "Oh, I think I'll buy some hot wasabi peas AND the complete collection of the Little Rascals to watch while I eat them?" Who thinks this way? I keep trying to figure out the connection.

Just thought I'd share this interesting part of my day.

Confession Tuesday

Dear Reader, it's been a week of fevers and not sexy fevers, like I'm hot-blooded (check it and see), or fever in the morning, fever all through the night, when you kiss me fever, but my God another fever day, and I hope this isn't serious fever, and let's all take a nap and keep our immune systems up so we don't catch this fever.

But now, we're feverless and better.


So let's begin. To the confessional--

1) I realize this week how cranky/judgmental I've been lately about a few people who just rub me the wrong way. I know when I feel this way it's time to look inward to see what's up with that... (Or maybe they just are annoying...) ;-)

2) Someone told me today that when you eat sugar, you're basically knocking out your immune system for about 30 minutes. WHAT? Is this the worst news ever? I had no idea about this. And I *heart* candy/chocolate. So today I mixed organic cocoa bean powder with agave nectar and dunked a banana in it. Does this count as sugar? It tasted like chocolate dipped banana. It would be easier just to continue eating chocolate and pretend I don't know about this fact.

3) Today is a writing day so I'm in my writing clothes-- corduroys, thermal long-sleeve t-shirt, big sweater cardigan, warm socks, slip off shoes. I'll be off to the shed after I finish typing this.

4) I want to learn how to make those cool little necklace pendants people are making that have a cool image in them (like above). I want to make myself an Emily Dickinson one, though I think these pendants might be beyond my jewelry making skill.

5) Yesterday I went to a friend's house and made "soul cards." It's where you use images from magazines to make Tarot-like cards to ponder on. Kind of like mini vision boards. I'll do a separate post about this soon with photos and some synchronicity that happened as I was looking through my old "soul cards."

6) I think soulcards is kind of a cheesy name, but I really like making them.

7) Sometimes I get the urge to write really inappropriate things on my Facebook status.

I will share one here, but the way, it is a little TMI (Too Much Information), which is why I didn't post it so be warned. (Though it *is* confession Tuesday...)

Anyway, the other day I was at a doctor's appointment and was sitting there waiting for her and was so tempted to write on my FB status, "Kelli is in a paper gown waiting for her OB-GYN listening to 'I'm Every Woman' on the clinic's speaker system." (All true, btw.) It kind of cracked me up to hear that.

But I'm afraid a status like that could end me up on www.lamebook.com, which I think is a hilarious website (though if you're easily offended, you might not see the humor in all the posts.) Again, be warned. It may not be work-friendly if your boss checks those kind of things.

8) While writing these confessions, I ate too many wasabi peas.

9) I think that is the last of my confessions. I wrote more than I thought, I though I didn't have anything to confess, but my imperfections sparkled through. Yah imperfections!


Amen.

What I'm Reading... (Mini Reviews)

I'm going to do some larger book reviews coming up in the next few weeks, but just wanted to let you know what I'm reading or have read lately--

Marrying George Clooney: Confessions from a Midlife Crisis
by Amy Ferris - I'm completely hooked on this book and am almost finished with it. The author is both honest and hilarious in her look at menopause and being in her 50's. Complete candor, she has no fear to say how she's feeling, what's annoying her, odd things her husband does, and just her thoughts on life in general.

She dropped the F-bomb throughout the book, so if you're a reader who dislikes that word you'll either get used to it by page 7 or be completely annoyed and put down the book (sort of like my mum did when I suggested she watch "Pulp Fiction" - dear God, what was I thinking with that recommendation?)

Anyway, fantastic book! I plan to devote a whole blog post to it because it has some things (such as font size, photos of cats, etc) that I haven't seen with memoirs that I want to discuss.

Final thoughts-- HIGHLY RECOMMEND (while women may like this more than men, I think men with a wife 45ish and up might appreciate having a look into what craziness happens -or may happen- during menopause)

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In the world of poetry, I'm reading-

Sharp Stars (American Poets Continuum) by Sharon Bryan.

First a note of full disclosure- Sharon was my mentor at PLU for a year, but I have been a fan of her work for awhile now.

A remarkable collection of poetry full of well-crafted poems with humor, wordplay, and poignancy. Most collections have a couple "clunkers" in them, a poem that just doesn't feel as well-crafted or reworked, but all of Sharon's poems shine. You will not find extra words or anything in the poems that shouldn't be there.

Then, Something: Poems
by Patricia Fargnoli - Another collection of poetry that brings in nature and meditates on aging and life. I plan on doing a larger review on this book as it's one I've really loved reading this year.

Mister Skylight
by Ed Skoog- On the 12th, I'll have a full review of this book. I wasn't a reader of Ed's poetry, so his work and style is new to me. I have favored his shorter poems over the longer ones, so far, but I am not completely finished reading it, so full review to come soon.

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These final three I'm reading are just my kind of books. They are all non-fiction, include some sort of studies in them, and discuss the human thought process or our human experience in them. I love the weird facts they each include and they are what a friend called "edu-tainment" - educational stuff shared in an entertaining way. These are the books where I always learn something and understand myself or the world better because of them.

These make great Christmas presents because 1) you look smart giving them 2) people feel smart receiving them 3) they are gender-neutral - both men and women love them (though if I think I had to choose what gender would prefer them, in general, I might lean towards men- though I've had a few women friends read them and enjoy them greatly)

ALL THREE OF THESE ARE HIGHLY RECOMMEND (so far...)--


Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School by John Medina

Okay, I love this book. It has great information (including that the brain needs an afternoon nap- I knew this!) There are 12 principles on how the brain works and how we can improve our minds. While that sounds a little self-helpy (and maybe there is that), it's intriguing to learn these ideas on how our brain functions best.

Like the other 3 books, I'm in the early chapters, but really enjoying this. (Though for some reason, I spent the week referring to it as "Brainwise" and not BRAIN RULES - which tells you a lot about why I am reading this book...)


Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
Dan Ariely - I'm in the early stages of this book, but already am fascinated about how companies and restaurant market us knowing how humans make choices. Even we might choose a mate in bar (clue: always go to a bar with someone who is just a little less attractive than you, if you want to be picked up!)

This is a quick summary of how the brain works and as I said, I'm still in the early chapters of this book, but already loving it.



SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubnar - This book is currently receiving pretty poor marks on Amazon, which makes sense to me as it's the follow-up book to the fabulous Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.), a book I loved.

Had others not read Freakonomics first, I think they'd love or highly like this book, but because there is something to compare, it comes in second. I feel this would be a fair assessment so far (again, I'm still on the early chapters of this and I read one review that when the authors hit the chapters on global warming, the books goes off a cliff...), so I'll let you know.

So far though, I'm finding it quite interesting.

For Christmas gifts, start with Freakonomics and move to this for a follow-up birthday gift.

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