Your Other Name by Tara Sophia Mohr

Oh, how this poem shimmers & shines!!!  I found it in an anthology while going through my zillions of books to pass along to my younger daughter and granddaughter. (Last year, my college student grandson asked for some of my American Classics.  I rounded him up 90 or so!) Sarah likes poetry, April, not so much, so I've reluctantly been parting with some of my favorite books.  Sarah loves Mary Oliver---she heard Mary Oliver speak when she was in college, so I picked those first and kept only one for myself.  I cried as I boxed up about 75 books.  So many wonderful memories attached to those reads!!  My books are like a journal or road map of my life...

Pet peeve:  This is why I HATE electronic books (beside the fact that they've become exorbitantly expensive...only a dollar or two less than a 'real' book), you can't pass them down to your family or friends.  They're a total ripoff.  Okay, hopping down off my soap box.  :-P

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving filled with love, family and friends.  xo, Marion

Amazing, Cerebral, Fascinatingly Beautiful Books! My Favorites of 2015!

“What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open.”

―Muriel Rukeyser

I read a brief description of this series on Fliver and was instantly intrigued.  It is a woman's soul split wide open; an epiphany; a 1,600 page praise prayer to life; a spirit-reviving miracle.  And more.  It is what books are meant to be... It's why ink and paper were invented.  Yes, these books are that good, and better.

So I ordered only the first book in the series to see if it lived up to my high expectations...BIG MISTAKE!  I read it in one day and immediately got the last three books.  I've never read a series quite like this.  At the heart of the story is a lifelong friendship between two brilliant girls who grew up in a poor Italian neighborhood...(horrid oversimplification!) The author is a uniquely gifted storyteller and nothing I can say can adequately describe the beauty, depth, horror, insight and joy contained in this story...All four books are one continuous story that you never want to end.  

So, if you're looking for something riveting, luscious, and magnificent to read to finish up your reading year, definitely read these amazing books. You can thank me later. ;-) xo, Marion

God's World by Edna St. Vincent Millay

God's World

BY EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY

O world, I cannot hold thee close enough! 

   Thy winds, thy wide grey skies! 

   Thy mists, that roll and rise! 

Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag 

And all but cry with colour!   That gaunt crag 

To crush!   To lift the lean of that black bluff! 

World, World, I cannot get thee close enough! 

Long have I known a glory in it all, 

         But never knew I this;   

         Here such a passion is 

As stretcheth me apart,—Lord, I do fear 

Thou’st made the world too beautiful this year; 

My soul is all but out of me,—let fall 

No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.

Mirror, Mirror by Tom Healy

MIRROR, MIRROR

By Tom Healy

What do we do when we hate our bodies?

A good coat helps.

Some know how to pull off a hat.

And there are paints, lighting, knives, needles,

various kinds of resignation,

the laugh in the mirror, the lie

of saying it doesn’t matter.

There is also the company we keep:

surgeons and dermatologists,

faith healers and instruction-givers,

tailors of cashmere and skin

who send their bills for holding

our shame-red hands, raw

from the slipping rope,

the same hands with which we tremble

ever so slightly, holding novels in bed,

concentrating on the organization

of pain and joy

we say is another mirror,

a depth, a conjure in which we might meet

someone who says touch me.

~~~from What the Right Hand Knows. Copyright © 2009

_________________________________________________

I avoid mirrors.  I haven't recognized the woman in my mirrors for a long time now.  Pain makes you ugly, depressed, sad and sick.  People hate sickly people.  They run screaming if, when they politely say, "How are you?", and you answer truthfully, "I feel like shit, everything hurts and I haven't slept all night for many years now...How are you?"  They trip over their feet to get the hell away from you.  Few people have sincere empathy, which is to truly imagine yourself in the other person's place.  

I'm grateful for the people in my life who've shown me empathy in spite of wanting to run.  You know who you are.  Bless you all & have a Thanksgiving filled with love, empathy and gratitude. xo, Marion

Louisiana State Fair Memories

                                    Louisiana State Fair, 2015, taken by my niece.

The Louisiana State Fair was the best part of every year when I was growing up.  We saved our hard-earned spending money (Quarters from selling Coke bottles, picking pecans, shelling peas and raking or hoeing the garden, picking peas, tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, etc.)

It was a real sacrifice to have to go a month to six weeks without our candy/comic/RC Cola and Moon Pie fix, but we knew magic was at the end of our great sacrifice:  Like candy apples & caramel apples, blue & pink cotton candy, andouille sausages cooked with onions & bell peppers, cradled in a soft, steamed bun...and that's just the food!!!  We tried our hands at coin toss and breaking balloons with darts, while the little kids picked up rubber ducks for a prize.  

We carefully chose as many rides as we could afford on our little budgets.  Then there were the free areas:  the stock barn where all the animals were judged and ribbons given out.  Next was where the jams, pickles and preserves were judged and sold.  It was as pretty as a rainbow...all those Mason Jars full of colorful figs, strawberry jam, apple jelly, blueberry jam, pears.  I don't know how we'd have kept going if it hadn't been for the huge quantities of sugar we consumed.  We often barfed up our treats after the roller coaster ride, but we kept right on going till the fair closed at 10:00 p.m. 

Uncle Warner carried us into the house because we fell asleep from pure exhaustion and excitement on the 30 minute drive home.  We'd be sticky from head to toe and Aunt Mace would wash our faces, hands and feet with a warm wash cloth and put us to bed.  It seems like day before yesterday, but it was over 50 years ago.  That blows my mind.  Time, she flies...  Nostalgically yours... ~Marion xo