Iris
barely buried by the barn
caliche covered at drive’s end
along the retaining wall
poetry
Saturday Night
Read two pages,
“Ghana Must Go”.
The wife’s Nigerian,
Yoruba, Igbo.
She sells flowers,
not in Nigeria.
The author’s name
Ethiopian?
Sip zinfandel
flowered glass.
Take a bite
chocolate filled
peppermint,
lick peppermint
fingers.
Read two pages:
“Africans…the indifference of the abundantly blessed…
who can’t accept, even with evidence, that anything native,
occurring in abundance, is exceptional without effort,
has value.”
Does anyone?
First Iris
First spring iris
early evening light glows
soft wind whispers
Note: for those interested in growing iris, these rebloom. They will bloom at a minimum again in the autumn. They are so prolific, that I separate them annually and throw them everywhere I have a blank space like here near the barn. They will bloom for at least a month.
Poem for Today
Inspired by a friend’s poem, I decided to take a look at some of my book stacks and write a poem from their titles–in honor of National Poetry Month.
Now Is the Time to Open Your Hearts
the tongue’s blood does not run dry
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
A Simple Havana Melody
Alejandro Blue
The Spirit of Indian Women
Still Life With Bread Crumbs
Ring of Fire
Gardens in the Dunes
Daughters of Fortune
The Way to Paradise
The Bingo Palace
Uppity Women
How We Became Human
Close Range
Native Guard
Things Fall Apart
Gone Home
Poem for Today
Rewriting Religion: the radical poetry of Aemilia Bassano Lanier by Mary Sharratt
This illustrates how recently in history English speaking women have gained the right to openly display their talents, how hard won these gains have been. These rights can just be as easily be lost unless we remain vigilant.
Aemilia Bassano Lanier (also spelled Lanyer) is the heroine of my new novel The Dark Lady’s Mask. Born in 1569, she was the highly educated daughter of an Italian court musician—a man thought to have been a Marrano, a secret Jew living under the guise of a Christian convert. She may have also been the mysterious, musical Dark Lady of Shakespeare’s sonnets, although most academic scholars dispute this. What we do know for a fact and what really matters is that she was the first woman in England to pursue a career as a published poet.
In Italy women such as Isabella Andreini published plays and poetry on a wide variety of secular subjects, but in England Lanier effectively had only one option—to write devotional Protestant verse. Her English literary predecessors, Anne Locke and Mary Sidney, wrote poetic meditations on the Psalms.
But Lanier turned this…
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2016 Africa Reading Challenge
Want something new to read, what to expand your knowledge of the wider world, read literature from Africa, Latin America, anywhere that is not your culture.
Welcome to the Africa Reading Challenge.
This will be the fourth time that I’m hosting the Africa Reading Challenge. Details and requirements are the same this year as for the 2012 Africa Reading Challenge, which started with: “I have absolutely no reason for hosting nor urging you to participate in this challenge save for the joy of discovering and reading African literature!” Here are the details:
Challenge Period
January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2016
Region
The entire African continent, including its island-states, which are often overlooked. Please refer to this Wikipedia “list of sovereign states and dependent territories in Africa”. Pre-colonial empires and regions are also included.
Reading Goal
5 books. That’s it. There will be no other levels. Of course, participants are encouraged to read more than 5 books. Eligible books include those which are written by African writers, or take place in Africa, or are…
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My 27-Book Haul from @AkeFestival #AkeFest15
This perfectly fits my goal to expand awareness of literature from non-western cultures. Reading remains one of the best ways to expand intercultural awareness especially if you cannot travel there.
I didn’t do badly this first time at Aké; I come home with 27 books!
Books I Bought:
- The Birth of Illus by Jumoke Verissimo. This is Jumoke’s second collection of poetry. I’m a fan of her work.
- Bound to Secrecy by Vamba Sherif. A detective novel set in Liberia. A new-to-me writer.
- Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor. The first of Okorafor’s books that I own. It’s been a long time coming.
- Minaret by Leila Aboulela. She has a new book, The Kindness of Enemies, out. I’m trying to catch up.
- Blackass by A. Igoni Barrett. I”m behind on my reviews but I loved Igoni’s Love is Power or Something Like That. This is his newest book.
- A Killing in the Sun by Dilman Dila. Speculative fiction. I first came across his work in Jalada’s Afrofutures issue.
(In a special category) The Etisalat Prize Longlisted Books
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E Pluribus Unum: The Woman From Africa by Stuart Dean
Source: E Pluribus Unum: The Woman From Africa by Stuart Dean I am sharing both this post and also where I found it because both are filled with fascinating information about ancient history and how so much applies to our lives now.
Sunday Haiku
Watching sunset and storm clouds
Great Cosmic Mother
Weeping for lost and lonely women
writingontherim 