Estes Park Tea Time Readers; 2nd Wed. of each month at 2p.m.
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Dear Friends,
Here is a review of some of the poems /stories we read over the past few months.
I hope you can join us for future "readings and discussions".
best wishes, Kathleen Spring (303) 823-0997……12/15/08
At the beginning of each are initials of the person who brought the piece in to share; and followed by initials of the person who gave some discussions points. I hope this will entice you to get a hold of a copy of some of these poems (and books).
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July and August we went on "field trips"...
September 08 _ theme: "Youth"
KS read="Youth" by Samuel Ullman
This poem was admired by the Japanese, but the man and his work are largely unknown in the US. He
wrote letters, essays and poetry. Gen. Douglas MacArthur hung a framed copy of the poem on his office wall
in Tokyo and often quoted it in his speeches. The message emphasizes optimism and its challenge to remain
true to one's ideals.
"Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks…it is
a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep
springs of life." "if the aerials are up…there is hope you may die young at eighty."
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October 08 _ theme: "Motion"
LM read="A History of Weather" by Billy Collins.
The poet lays on the grass and looks up at the clouds. "a flower-ruffling breeze…cirrus clouds sweeping over this house… rain…wind…snow…"
"History before history…when not a soul lay in any of the earth's meadows."someone was looking up at the clouds.
BK commented=A lot of similar poems about "weather" describe it as "moving"
———————BK="The Practice Cage" by Claudia Emerson Book="Late Wife" book is mostly about the past, but this poem is about the present.
"Taking her routine run, she saw "behind the stand was a dozen crows…a hawk (was) stuck in a net "his eyes resigned". He hung and let her work him out of the net. "I would round that same turn again and again" …"Like 2 ships passing in the night; you'll never see it again; you'll remember It every time you pass."
————————KS read="Bath After Sailing" by John Updike
Talked about blond Vikings, and we are still doing it...going to sea as an adventure.
"From 10 to 5 we whacked the waves" "now, after 6, I lie at ease…in my saltless sea, my size" (his bathtub)"I was afraid of heeling over in the wind and inhaling bubbling lead and sinking, opaque as stone"
KS commented=his choice of words gave us a vivid feeling of a rough sea trying to tear apart his boat
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November 08 _ theme: "fabric"
BK read="The five-year Shirt" poem from "Thin Air" book, by Chris Ransick
About a woman whose husband has died. "She sits in the chair by the window…watching crows…she sews the 5-yr. shirt" "B&White photos come to life. Time moves backwards." "Wind turns the trees to mimes" " The full moon loves new snow" It takes that long to sew bec. "the thread is invisible…waiting for his body."
Comments:
KS=nature is manipulating the world around us.
BK=She thinks her dead husband will come back at the end, when she finishes the shirt.
KS=I feel that she just needs the time to heal and weave together the memories.
————————KS read="The Spider and a Bee" by Jonathan Swift.
The bee brings disaster to the perfectly spun web.. "Who is nobler?" the dirt of the spider or the honey of the bee. It references the debate betw. the "Modern Mind" and the "Classic Mind" in the 1730-40 era. The spider says that he is "a domestic animal, furnished with a native stock within my self." "The (web) is all built with my own hands and the materials extracted altogether out of my own person." He says the bee is a "plunderer" and "parasite." The bee says the web is made up of "dirt" and "poison" and says that he "by an universal range, with long search, much study, true judgment, and distinctions of things, brings home Honey and Wax." He represents the Classic Mind who gathers things to come up with some Universal Truth.
————————LM read="Tuesday 6/4/91" by Billy Collins
He got out of bed and describes his morning "I feel like the secretary to the morning." If he had not written down his observations they "would quickly be forgotten…as I sit here empty-headed." "This is what stenographers do in the court room.. alert … taking down every word. When there is a silence, they sit still as I do, waiting and listening,.." KS=shows how a writer writes, where they get their ideas
LM comment=describes the dawn as a little poor girl, fragile cotton dress.
————————BK read="A Breath of Snow on Ashes" from The Outlanders"Dragonfly and Amber" by Diane Gabaldon (novel) = Most of her stories are on time travel. The heroine is a nurse in modern times. She and her Old World lover's time is limited. The villages are burnt down. They talk about experiments and colors of current vs. old days.
Comments:
BK=she spun the clothes; life is like the thread
Elly=their actions are innuendos of romance.
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December 08 _ theme: "denial"
BK read="Mmmm Good" a poem by Bonnie Kohl
She used "denial" and "Mouth" as characters. It ends with a moral. Denial tries to talk a person out of eating chocolate, but she does so anyway: "Denial says, `It's fattening and will give you hickies'. The Mouth says `My heart says it healthy and ooh so good.'"
KS comment=it takes common words `out of the box' and personifies them so we pay attn. to the dialogue.
————————LM read="Where I Live" by Billy Collins
Describes his property, looking at it from different perspectives. His dad was buried last week; he sees that
life goes on as usual.
"The house sits at one end of a two-acre trapezoid..behind the geometry of the nine rooms, the woods run up a hillside...standing at one window, then another...or sitting in a chair...I am amazed at how the small drops stream down the panes of glass, as usual, gathering, as they always have, in pools on the ground."
Comments:
BK=it shows we cant go home again.
KS=it shows that his dad is an integral part of his property
———————KS read="The Mine" by Joan Murray
About a coal mining town, and an elderly brother and sister who have returned to the town in their old age, to die there. They deny that they are dying and talk about happy things. Her poems put just enough detail in to get the picture; and mix in fun with solitary sadness. "…his legs can hardly make it over to her court(yard)..'When the weather gets warmer, I'll take you out and whirl you around like Fred Astair' She smiles to let him know that she's aware of what he means. 'What will she do when I cant cross the courtyard anymore?"
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