Daughter of Midas

I love it when somebody makes a movie based on my work! (You should hear my Academy Award acceptance speeches in the shower.) The most recent is Daughter of Midas, based on a poem of mine in Glasschord, as interpreted by Nic Sebastian, who created The Poetry Storehouse. Poets offer poems for "remix" and filmmakers do just that!--remix by re-conceiving poems in their own way, adding available video clips or filming new footage. I love it when Nic records the poem herself, as in this case, when she was also the filmmaker, here at Vimeo! So eerily beautiful!

Othniel Smith also made a film of "Daughter of Midas," and I shared it a while back, but here it is again, for comparison! What a delight.

He has a wonderful sense of humor. So does Paul Hostovsky. I reviewed his book Naming Names today at EIL. It does name names! And it made me laugh.

I needed to laugh. Because, you know, the cold is here, and I don't really want to go out. And my car is still broken. And we raked all the leaves already. Almost all. Almost all the golden leaves...

Thanks to Wikipedia, Walter Crane, and Nathaniel Hawthorne for this illustration of Midas touching his daughter and turning her to gold. Thanks to Meryl Streep for hugging the Oscar.

Second Snow

I woke to the second snow of the season this morning, this one sticking to the roofs and cracks and shadows under shrubs. In celebration of "sticking," I share with you these photos from the Stuck Series of Dana Colcleasure, up today at Escape Into Life. She's not stuck artistically, as you can see, but, instead, physically, but she'll soon be unstuck, I am glad to report! Read more about her here.

I'm coming unstuck, too, lately, a few poems bubbling, fermenting...others due soon in journals. Of course, as usual, the rejections are plentiful!--but, as the submissions have diminished of late, soon, er, won't be, I guess. "It don't worry me, It don't worry me..." (Barbara Harris, singing that song from Nashville.)

First Snow

I do love the first snow! Today it brought a mini-fiber-optic Christmas tree to the door, mis-delivered mail. (I picture the poor mail carrier shivering and overburdened with yesterday's Veterans Day mail in addition to today's.) Anyhoo, I went out in my winter coat, hat, and gloves to re-deliver it to our neighbor a few doors north. In our mail: coupons, bills, retirement account disclosures, requests from charities, and the ISU Alumni magazine, with great stories about local Route 66 doings. The first snow was minimal and is gone, but I wrote a poem about it. That matches.

Up today at Escape Into Life is my review of The Dailiness, by Lauren Camp. I have been reading this book of poems, gently, for almost a year! That's often what I do for poetry reviews--read and re-read slowly, or read a book all at once quickly, and then re-read slowly. Her original solo feature, as well as the review, are accompanied by wonderful and whimsical art by Andrea D'Aquino. Whimsy with an edge, as in Bathers, pictured above.

I am currently reading The Man Who Loved Children, a novel by Christina Stead, and The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, nonfiction by Nassim Nicolas Taleb. I recently finished Little Women of Baghlan: The Story of a Nursing School for Girls in Afghanistan, the Peace Corps, and Life Before the Taliban, by Susan Fox, the topic of tonight's book group, with the author in attendance! I do look forward to that. And I note, with glee, that it is highly improbable that a lion would blow dry his mane! Thanks to Andrea D'Aquino for that!

Iron Women

The Fate issue of Granta arrived, hitting the spot. I've been a bit sad--hence, it's a Blue Monday on what is actually Friday. A hometown girl died this week, at her new hometown in Massachusetts, and I'm sad for her family. And we had a local murder, the mother of some of the sweet volleyball girls my husband has coached. I grieve for them and remain troubled and shocked.

But good things have tumbled right out, too, as usual. Last night we saw the local high school volleyball team, Lady Iron at NCHS, win their sectional. They move on to a super-sectional Saturday and then, we hope, state!

 Right after the game, still in orange and black spirit clothes, I went to see Falling, an autobiographical play by Deanna Jent, at Heartland Theatre--beautiful performances by all. Karen Hazen plays Tami, the iron woman of that family, holding up under the relentless stress of being the mother of a severely autistic son with violent tendencies. Intense, with spots of needed humor and remarkable beauty. You'll like the feathers!

And there was such joy! My sister and my brother and his wife came to town on the Halloween weekend! My son and daughter and my nephew and his fiance joined the fun with my parents. Sort of a Hallowurkey gathering, as I like to call it! The weather was so nice on Monday, some of us walked the Constitution Trail. And I've still been raking, raking, raking...

For beauty and strength via poetry and art, take a look at this EIL feature: Kelly Cressio-Moeller paired with Meghan Howland. You'll like the feathers there, too. And thanks to Natural Garden for the blue poppy, white dogwood, and green hellebore.