The Centipede

Posted on August 18, 2011 by literarylee

Ogden Nash

I objurgate the centipede,
A bug we do not really need.
At sleepy-time he beats a path
Straight to the bedroom or the bath.
You always wallop where he’s not,
Or, if he is, he makes a spot.

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Smith Recognized

Posted on August 17, 2011 by literarylee

Imagine my pleasant surprise to learn Smith was to be given an award.  As I’ve mentioned, gardeners, though seemingly nice and mild-mannered on the outside, are really cutthroat, fierce competitors on the inside.  We want the biggest and most tomatoes, bushels of cucumbers and peppers, glamorous deep purple eggplants, and to be the one with an odd, exotic variety no one else is growing.  At least I know I do, but I’m pretty sure I’m not alone.  My first year gardening here, Smith was recognized.  Last year, it wasn’t and while that was disappointing, I don’t blame the judges.  A long, dry summer and a few missteps on my part made the plot completely lackluster.  This year was different with the plants practically bursting forth from Smith, vigorous, healthy, attractive.

Smith at judging time

The community garden brass would be handing out the award certificates at the annual picnic, which we attended for the first time in my three years of gardening there.  Here’s the email sent to the award winners: Continue reading →

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Duck 16

Posted on August 16, 2011 by literarylee

Like a you-know-what out of water

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Among the Liberators – Getting Ready for the Walk

Posted on August 15, 2011 by literarylee

Here are a few ideas that guide my writing about and also could guide your walking along Virginia Avenue.

Get it all?

I neither know it all, nor do I have enough time to research it all.  I think I know enough to make the walk fascinating and fun.  Only part of the point is the data itself, the street’s details.  Another part is the human reaction to and interaction with this particular geography.  Let me be frank:  I’d love to produce an exhaustive tome of the street and its environs.  Like making and chronicling that trip on one of America’s historic highways, I would need to work full-time, for the researching, the writing, though the trip itself doesn’t take long.  Maybe this will be the first version that, in each succeeding edition will become more detailed.  For now, the point is to enjoy the walk and in the process, get some of the information, enough for now.

A Liberator along the avenue

Continue reading →

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The Accidental Pilgrim, Part 2

Posted on August 14, 2011 by literarylee

(The Accidental Pilgrim, Part 1)

Capernaum, Mount of Beatitudes, Jordan River, Hippo/Susita

Hello from Jerusalem,

The night’s “rest” at the monastery re-emphasized for me just how rural Galilee is.  Roosters crowing even before the crack of dawn (not polite, pious roosters giving a single, helpful wake-up call like in the movies, but repeatedly every 20 minutes or so, not conducive to getting back to sleep, or to being very thankful to the Creator for this bit of animal diversity!), a donkey’s raucous hee-hawing and other assorted animal noises.  Still, I don’t think any of us woke up too angry at all the noise.  That would have been hard to do at sunrise on the Sea of Galilee.  The entire body of water is surrounded by hills over which the sun rises and sets.  Standing lakeside watching the sky change colors and anticipating the sun’s arrival was a beautiful moment, made more memorable by vast flocks of birds silently flying over the face of the water, looking for fish and moving to their day-time roosts.  Seeing several small boats of fishermen (I’m not kidding), made me certain this was a scene similar to what Jesus would have regularly seen.  The moment was holy, exciting, transcendent.

Sunrise over Galilee

Continue reading →

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The Ant

Posted on August 13, 2011 by literarylee

Ogden Nash

The ant has made himself illustrious
Through constant industry industrious.
So what?
Would you be calm and placid
If you were full of formic acid?

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The Cow

Posted on August 13, 2011 by literarylee

Ogden Nash

The cow is of the bovine ilk;
One end is moo, the other, milk.

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Buckets o’ Bounty Revisited

Posted on August 12, 2011 by literarylee

I picked my third bucket of tomatoes the other night.  I really can’t tell you just how pleased I am about it.  My first two years gardening at Smith, the tomatoes were only o.k., one year even anemic, six plants producing hardly what any one of this year’s twelve plants has.  We enjoyed what we harvested, but it was not near enough for me to consider the tomato venture a success.  Certainly not abundant.  This year, that’s all changed.  Every time I visit Smith (the largest of my three gardens), I leave with a bucket of red treasure, pounds of juicy, red joy.

Gospel measure

We have been making sauce, eating them raw and sliced, freezing some for later use, and giving those splendid red orbs away.  Last night for supper we had slow-baked tomato slices (with homegrown basil and oregano sprinkled on top) over pasta, a rich tomatoey treat almost as sweet and nice as some luscious  dessert.  Continue reading →

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Deferred Dream May Not Pay?

Posted on August 11, 2011 by literarylee

(With apologies to fans of Langston Hughes’, A Dream Deferred)

What happens to a deferred dream you worry won’t pay?
Does it just sprout wings and fly away?

Perhaps it digs a hole into the ground
And lies there quietly, making nary a sound?

Does it get angry and lash out,
Or just sit in a corner and pout?

Maybe it slides into the night,
Or just fades out of sight?

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Three Years of Memorizing Poems

Posted on August 10, 2011 by literarylee

This month I’m celebrating an anniversary all my own.  Three years ago in August, I started memorizing poems. When I first heard about the idea, it hit me immediately like the right one, something I was primed for.  Sometimes when you are shopping for clothes, you try on a garment that amazingly, almost miraculously fits precisely and looks just right.  That’s exactly what this idea was for me.

I have enriched myself in so many ways by memorizing poems.  After committing even one to memory and for sure after 66, I have a wealth of beautiful words and images ready at a moment’s notice to comfort, to entertain, to move.  Poems, I have discovered, are often a welcome addition to a conversation among friends, especially later in the evening over port or around a campfire.  Memorized poems recited have been a gift to my family, my wife and children and others, who enjoy hearing them and are moved by them.  I have even experienced emotional and psychological benefits from memorizing poetry.

Memorizing poems led to literary events over the past three years such as my wife’s fiftieth birthday party in which all the gifts were poems.  Four hours of good food, good conversation, and 50 poems, classic and original, recited from memory and read, is a powerful and memorable way to celebrate such a milestone.  Of course, memorizing poems played a role in my decision to host Burns Suppers for the last three years.  Continue reading →

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