If anyone is wondering why I haven't posted a weekly poem in a few weeks, here's why: I was curious if I was doing something wrong by posting these beautiful poems on my page once a week. I did a search for "copyright poetry online" thinking that maybe I could find something about how old the poem needs to be for me to be able to post it. The first thing I came across was an essay by a poet who describes how it feels to find her work all over the internet and not to be paid for it. This is her livelihood. None of us want to go to work each day, be exploited, and get nothing out of it. You can read what she says here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/dec/08/featuresreviews.guardianreview14
But I hate to leave you without the idea of poetry. So, I when I post things about poetry now, I will be including one line that sticks out for me and you can find a copy for yourself in a book somewhere, that hopefully you will purchase!
It's finally gotten cold here (unfortunately) so in an homage to Autumn here you go:
"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."
- George Eliot
Ender's Game
This is less about the book, which I just read for the third time, and more about the series itself.
I read the book for the first time when my mother introduced it to me. I think it might have been about 10 years ago. I was very impressed. For a long time I had been reading nothing but Fantasy and this wonderfully constructed novel of children in space learning to be battle commanders fascinated me. As celebrated as this book is, I found myself drawn more to the Speaker for the Dead. Ender's story continues for many novels and in each one he is challenged in ways that seem impossible to live though much less continue living sanely. Speaker for the Dead drives home the message that was under the surface of Ender's Game: life is sacred, even if that life is the enemy. This is something I actually didn't truly get until this third reading. I understood it on the surface but just realized only recently how much the reinforces my own beliefs. Interesting considering my beliefs are nothing like the author's.
After reading several of the novels focused on Ender a wonderful thing happened. Orson Scott Card wrote Ender's Shadow. If it's possible, I liked Bean even more than Ender. It showed how it wasn't just Ender being self centered that made it seem like he was the entire focus of the Battle School, and yet there were so many other little dramas happening all around him that he could never have possibly known about.
So why did I read Ender's Game a second and a third time? Well, after I read Ender's Shadow when it came out, I felt compelled to look at Bean in Ender's story. I was surprised to find that a character I had suddenly come to love was barely mentioned. It made me wonder why Orson Scott Card chose to tell Bean's story instead of any number of stories that could have been written and were alluded to with the other children. So that was the second time.
This past week, Card was in Denton, TX of all places. I had the chance to see him speak about writing Ender, where the idea for the book started, and when (oh, please when????!!!!) will the movie finally be made. (He doesn't know hehehe) So, I bought a beautiful hard back copy of Ender's Game and his new book of short stories and got him to sign them. While he signed, I mentioned that even though I was having him sign this, Speaker for the Dead is actually my favorite. I was thrilled to hear him say, "That's the real story. The only reason I expanded Ender's Game into a novel was in order to write that story." That brief moment was well worth the 2 hours I stood in line. Yes, I stood in line for 2 hours to meet this man, something I've never done before and will only do for a very limited number of people. I met a wonderful girl in line and we discussed these books, Buffy (and Joss Whedon) as well as other fanstay and sci-fi we both love. Unfortunately, I don't remember her name (I'm terrible with names) but I will remember our conversations as fondly as I remember my short one with Card.
I read the book for the first time when my mother introduced it to me. I think it might have been about 10 years ago. I was very impressed. For a long time I had been reading nothing but Fantasy and this wonderfully constructed novel of children in space learning to be battle commanders fascinated me. As celebrated as this book is, I found myself drawn more to the Speaker for the Dead. Ender's story continues for many novels and in each one he is challenged in ways that seem impossible to live though much less continue living sanely. Speaker for the Dead drives home the message that was under the surface of Ender's Game: life is sacred, even if that life is the enemy. This is something I actually didn't truly get until this third reading. I understood it on the surface but just realized only recently how much the reinforces my own beliefs. Interesting considering my beliefs are nothing like the author's.
After reading several of the novels focused on Ender a wonderful thing happened. Orson Scott Card wrote Ender's Shadow. If it's possible, I liked Bean even more than Ender. It showed how it wasn't just Ender being self centered that made it seem like he was the entire focus of the Battle School, and yet there were so many other little dramas happening all around him that he could never have possibly known about.
So why did I read Ender's Game a second and a third time? Well, after I read Ender's Shadow when it came out, I felt compelled to look at Bean in Ender's story. I was surprised to find that a character I had suddenly come to love was barely mentioned. It made me wonder why Orson Scott Card chose to tell Bean's story instead of any number of stories that could have been written and were alluded to with the other children. So that was the second time.
This past week, Card was in Denton, TX of all places. I had the chance to see him speak about writing Ender, where the idea for the book started, and when (oh, please when????!!!!) will the movie finally be made. (He doesn't know hehehe) So, I bought a beautiful hard back copy of Ender's Game and his new book of short stories and got him to sign them. While he signed, I mentioned that even though I was having him sign this, Speaker for the Dead is actually my favorite. I was thrilled to hear him say, "That's the real story. The only reason I expanded Ender's Game into a novel was in order to write that story." That brief moment was well worth the 2 hours I stood in line. Yes, I stood in line for 2 hours to meet this man, something I've never done before and will only do for a very limited number of people. I met a wonderful girl in line and we discussed these books, Buffy (and Joss Whedon) as well as other fanstay and sci-fi we both love. Unfortunately, I don't remember her name (I'm terrible with names) but I will remember our conversations as fondly as I remember my short one with Card.
I Think I Know No Finer Thing Than Dogs
Week 5 Poem
Through prejudice perhaps my mind befrogs,
I think I know no finer thing than dogs:
The young ones, they of gay and bounding heart,
Who lure us in their games to take a part,
Who with mock tragedy their antics cloak
And, from their wild eyes' tail, admit the joke;
The old ones, with their wistful, fading eyes,
They who desire no further paradise
Than the warm comfort of our smile and hand,
Who tune their moods to ours and understand
Each word and gesture; they who lie and wait
To welcome us - with no rebuke if late.
Sublime the love they bear, but ask to live
Close to our feet, unrecompensed to give;
Beside which many men seem very logs -
I think I know no finer thing than dogs.
Hally Carrington Brent
Through prejudice perhaps my mind befrogs,
I think I know no finer thing than dogs:
The young ones, they of gay and bounding heart,
Who lure us in their games to take a part,
Who with mock tragedy their antics cloak
And, from their wild eyes' tail, admit the joke;
The old ones, with their wistful, fading eyes,
They who desire no further paradise
Than the warm comfort of our smile and hand,
Who tune their moods to ours and understand
Each word and gesture; they who lie and wait
To welcome us - with no rebuke if late.
Sublime the love they bear, but ask to live
Close to our feet, unrecompensed to give;
Beside which many men seem very logs -
I think I know no finer thing than dogs.
Hally Carrington Brent
The Sugar Queen
This is the second book by Sarah Addison Allen and I was just as impressed with this book as I was with Garden Spells. Allen's writing flows well and she lets you see into the heart of every character. I was very moved by the different stories. In fact, I was so moved by the story of an elderly woman who mourns a relationship from her twenties that I actually had to put the book down and walk away for a few minutes. It was too much. The main character, Josey, is fairly irritating and you want to smack some sense into her but everyone she meets through the story is so intriguing that you have to just keep going and hoping she'll change.
The book opens with a woman hiding in Josey's closet; a closet with a secret stash of sweets. The stash is many shelves large and is so important to Josey that she lets the woman stay for fear that someone will find out about her sweets. The big surprise twist at the end was a little predictable but I got the impression the book was writting in such a way that you're supposed to figure it out before the author tells you.
This was wonderful and quick read. I stayed up past midnight one night finishing it because I simply could not put it down. That's a big deal considering I get up before the sun!
The book opens with a woman hiding in Josey's closet; a closet with a secret stash of sweets. The stash is many shelves large and is so important to Josey that she lets the woman stay for fear that someone will find out about her sweets. The big surprise twist at the end was a little predictable but I got the impression the book was writting in such a way that you're supposed to figure it out before the author tells you.
This was wonderful and quick read. I stayed up past midnight one night finishing it because I simply could not put it down. That's a big deal considering I get up before the sun!
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