tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38503694611433250202024-02-21T19:18:09.240-08:00American WitchThe Spell of PoetryAnnie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-86360624290284446722012-05-16T18:23:00.002-07:002018-06-24T22:32:09.635-07:00NEW HOME FOR THE "AMERICAN WITCH" BLOG<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-29190075567499277672011-11-26T10:21:00.000-08:002011-11-26T10:21:15.089-08:00Give Thanks for Mercury Retrograde<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.. For the first time in many years, I spent the day with friends and my own family, but no-one from my family of origin. One result: I ended up appreciating how precious my family of origin is to me!<br />
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For several years now I've actually been enjoying Mercury Retrograde. The transit seemed to become less stressful after I turned a corner in the healing process, so that at last there was less I needed to clear up from the past than I wanted to experience in the present. Here's one of the more <a href="http://www.tarot.com/blog/?p=1163">useful posts</a> i've seen on the positive aspects of Mercury retrograde. Enjoy, and, as my dad used to say, "happy days!"</div>Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-63707911291206612332011-10-28T18:00:00.000-07:002011-10-28T18:11:57.052-07:00Getting Ready for Samhain<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlbJ35ZolMyFPNAVU4mhlLW0XcULxAv9AHt8CbI-qfwHiihYRjdJHO2tZiS43yRI4fVl6H38yG9hG6CsRXvO-8Y4a5HMmgWoQWX36QGZkiZDufWNUskjKoi2ySgkUgYEkgGyJxC3MmELaZ/s1600/RavenGhouls+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlbJ35ZolMyFPNAVU4mhlLW0XcULxAv9AHt8CbI-qfwHiihYRjdJHO2tZiS43yRI4fVl6H38yG9hG6CsRXvO-8Y4a5HMmgWoQWX36QGZkiZDufWNUskjKoi2ySgkUgYEkgGyJxC3MmELaZ/s320/RavenGhouls+poster.jpg" width="247" /></a></div>I'm very excited about Samhain this year. On Halloween, I'm going to celebrate my 55th birthday with a special gathering of a few witchy friends—and at the same time, celebrate and inaugurate the beginning of the writing of my memoir <i>American Witch</i>—the story of the long strange trip that brought me to be here, on this blog, writing to you all about the beauty and power I find on this magick path and in this sacred world. If you enjoy this blog, please send a thought my way on Sunday night as I officially start out on this project. After 40 years of focusing entirely on poetry, it's scary and electrifyingly intense to be embarking on a big nonfiction book project—but I feel lots of support and love and encouragement from many quarters. So I say, "Bring it on!"<br />
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And then last night, I performed my poem "Samhain," from <a href="http://www.cmu.edu/universitypress/pages/2010/finch524-4.html"><i>Eve</i></a>, as part of the Halloween show at Poets Theater of Maine. The promotions described it as a "ritual poem," and it felt that way, perhaps more than any time I've read it in the past. Was it the costume—black cloak, white dress, amber beads? Was it the fact that for the first time for any poetry performance, I worked with a director, Assunta Kent, to prepare? Was it simply (and not simply—very importantly!) that I was truly "off book" and able to channel the words to the audience without the interference of the page? Was it that my daughter was part of the performance, acting the part of my "young mind" in Kent's staging? Whatever the reason, it was a special way to usher in the season of this profound <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">New Ye</span>ar in the pagan calendar when the veil between living and dead feels so thin, because it brought me close to my beloved Grandy, described in the poem (you can see a photo of Grandy and me in an earlier post <a href="http://annieridleycranefinch.blogspot.com/2010/10/samhain-journeys.html">here</a>). May you all find beautiful ways to bring meaning to the season by connecting with those you love, living and gone. Here's the poem. Blessed be, and Happy Samhain!<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Samhain<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the season leaves should love,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">since it gives them leave to move<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">through the wind, towards the ground<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">they were watching while they hung,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">legend says there is a seam<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">stitching darkness like a name.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now when dying grasses veil<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">earth from the sky in one last pale<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">wave, as autumn dies to bring<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">winter back, and then the spring,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">we who die ourselves can peel<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">back another kind of veil<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">that hangs among us like thick smoke.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tonight at last I feel it shake.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I feel the nights stretching away<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">thousands long behind the days<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">till they reach the darkness where<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">all of me is ancestor.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I move my hand and feel a touch<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">move with me, and when I brush<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">my young mind across another,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I am with my mother's mother.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sure as footsteps in my waiting<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">self, I find her, and she brings<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">arms that have answers for me,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">intimate, waiting, bounty.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Carry me." She leaves this trail<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">through a shudder of the veil,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and leaves, like amber where she stays,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a gift for her perpetual gaze.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">from <i><a href="http://www.cmu.edu/universitypress/pages/2010/finch524-4.html">Eve</a></i></span><br />
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</span></div></div>Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-27096225462740248492011-10-05T12:40:00.000-07:002018-06-24T22:26:00.796-07:00On Yoga, Sprawl, and the Black Earth Institute<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I'm getting ready to head out to the annual retreat of the <a href="http://www.blackearthinstitute.org/Black_Earth_Institute/Home.html">Black Earth Institute</a>, where I have the honor of being a Senior Fellow this year. It's always an extraordinarily inspiring weekend, with powerful presentations by Fellows on their work in progress, hard-hitting and urgent conversations, and, not least, memorable wine from BEI founder <a href="http://www.patricia-monaghan.com/">Patricia Monaghan</a>'s homegrown organic grapes. How fitting a way to acknowledge this time of rich, succulent early-October ripeness.</div>
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It was at BEI that I met Cristina Eisenberg, which that ultimately to my writing the play "<a href="http://web1.uct.usm.maine.edu/~afinch/NEWSITE/Theatre/Wolfsong.htm">Wolf Song</a>." The theme of our readings for this year's discussions is "Hope and Renewal"; who knows where this year's conversations may lead? </div>
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This year, one thing I plan to talk about is my passionate belief in the ideas expressed in<a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/james_howard_kunstler_dissects_suburbia.html"> this talk by James Howard Kunstler.</a> Kunstler's book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Geography-Nowhere-Americas-Man-Made-Landscape/dp/0671888250">THE GEOGRAPHY OF NOWHERE</a> was what I was reading when I gave birth to my daughter. That book seemed to point the way to a more inhabitable world. </div>
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It's easy to live in the head and forget the importance of the physical. Poetry, particularly the rhythms of of formal poetry, reminds me constantly that the physical IS the spiritual--and in the last few months, as I've been getting back into doing yoga after a long hiatus, I've been reminded that this is true in every sphere, not just that of poetry. And it seems to be, in turn, the gist of Kunstler's urgent message for the architecture of our public realm. </div>
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Poetry, yoga, the built environment: sphere inside sphere, all working towards greater balance and harmony. It's a challenging time right now for all of us on the planet--but what beautiful, and increasingly sustained, glimpses we keep getting into more hopeful and renewing ways of living.</div>
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Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-37853536227917825822011-09-27T10:32:00.000-07:002011-10-28T17:37:59.161-07:00Merry Mabon: Equinox Invocations and Andy Goldsworthy at the Beach<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mabon was glorious this year. For the first time, I cast a circle by using the invocations to the directions I wrote to structure my new book of poems. It has taken me two years to get up the courage to use these invocations, maybe because I was so afraid they would sound forced instead of magickal. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But they <i>did</i> sound magickal; they worked! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Palatino, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><u5:p></u5:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Palatino, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Compared to a normal circle, where we just improvise our invocations according to the spirit of the moment, this time I felt a significant difference: the circle was much more tangible. What a special feeling to create a magic space out of words you have crafted; it reminds me of how I felt after writing the Rune poem in the ancient Celtic form of <a href="http://annieridleycranefinch.blogspot.com/2011/01/wrought-words-on-writing-first-rionnard.html">Rionnard tri-nard</a>. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Palatino, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><u5:p></u5:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Palatino, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Later, Glen and I went to the beach, where I thought about <a href="http://www.rwc.uc.edu/artcomm/web/w2005_2006/maria_Goldsworthy/TEST/index.html">Andy Goldsworthy</a>, one of my favorite artists, as I found myself crafting spirals and tunnels. Then we walked along the beach and found that other humans had left very similar traces--more sacred circles, silently invoking their own sets of four directions. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Palatino, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><u5:p></u5:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Palatino, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU-9fxhRHBJoZtmF012endxWLlCXwX4tpHX4tMaBBLjKj6rkUirtvoupKZlKD002TLqlR5ks-ejBPB54gbInyMlcbnGIXYTGNHu8FPRrpfJyhUgdqZOM5P8O_TwcsHarAAwO7RsO8t8vef/s1600/beach1+.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU-9fxhRHBJoZtmF012endxWLlCXwX4tpHX4tMaBBLjKj6rkUirtvoupKZlKD002TLqlR5ks-ejBPB54gbInyMlcbnGIXYTGNHu8FPRrpfJyhUgdqZOM5P8O_TwcsHarAAwO7RsO8t8vef/s200/beach1+.JPG" width="150" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We humans are amazing creatures!<u5:p></u5:p><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Palatino, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br />
</span></div></div>Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-41655973637390678562011-08-04T06:48:00.000-07:002011-10-28T17:39:23.586-07:00A Chant for Lammas--and my Garden<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrgQSs8b3xO-sx42kRkhsgX46Ikmq8To-d4rq_eOg0IdCZ5aXgOKMch7aTccy1rP8bQIBZckf99VwGpE0UyLCGL_vfa53LK-yoNz1AjeyEWiYQ9VXNvm-lnSO-vmfVOehEgnFDOdmRa-Bq/s1600/garden.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrgQSs8b3xO-sx42kRkhsgX46Ikmq8To-d4rq_eOg0IdCZ5aXgOKMch7aTccy1rP8bQIBZckf99VwGpE0UyLCGL_vfa53LK-yoNz1AjeyEWiYQ9VXNvm-lnSO-vmfVOehEgnFDOdmRa-Bq/s1600/garden.jpeg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">photo by Georgia Etheridge</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Happy Lammas, All! Here is the lammas chant from <i>Calendars</i>. Though it says two voices, we performed it the other day in four groups of voices, just moving through the poem three times, and it worked out great. If I can get the technology down, I'll also add the audio version from the<a href="http://www.tupelopress.org/cd/calendars_cd"> <i>Calendars </i>CD</a><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 1.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'New Century Schoolbook';"> LAMMAS CHANT<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'New Century Schoolbook';"> (August 1)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'New Century Schoolbook';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'New Century Schoolbook';"> (<i>two voices, alternating</i>)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><i><span style="font-family: 'New Century Schoolbook';">Fill the earth's belly full. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.75in;"><span style="font-family: 'New Century Schoolbook';">Fill the earth's belly full.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.75in;"><span style="font-family: 'New Century Schoolbook';">Bring the food, bring the grain.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.75in;"><span style="font-family: 'New Century Schoolbook';">There are cold months ahead<br />
Give them peace in the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><i><span style="font-family: 'New Century Schoolbook';">Bring the food, bring the grain.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.75in;"><span style="font-family: 'New Century Schoolbook';">Fill the earth's belly full.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.75in;"><span style="font-family: 'New Century Schoolbook';">bring the food, bring the grain.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.75in;"><span style="font-family: 'New Century Schoolbook';">There are cold months ahead.<br />
Give them peace in the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><i><span style="font-family: 'New Century Schoolbook';">There are cold months ahead.<br />
Give them peace in the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.75in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Fill the earth's belly full;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.75in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">bring the food, bring the grain.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.75in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are cold months ahead.<br />
Give them peace in the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.75in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.75in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.75in;"><span style="font-family: 'New Century Schoolbook';">From <i><a href="http://www.tupelopress.org/books/calendars">Calendars</a> </i>(Tupelo Press, 2003)<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-57126682281939404542011-08-03T08:43:00.000-07:002011-08-03T09:02:34.186-07:00Among the Goddesses review<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIAnTQgyrDTYOOhmh-K8O9xHVInKm0-t8uhvtzO3C_sEHrIwMd8J_BAvHYbGgbL5CT8EUloi2KekbRoiwxdGXXZ9gfRNuOGUHWPOlBNI1DLCDl5aUymTXel0tPZpWlYsWjsaUo_PBPzMt0/s1600/ATG+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIAnTQgyrDTYOOhmh-K8O9xHVInKm0-t8uhvtzO3C_sEHrIwMd8J_BAvHYbGgbL5CT8EUloi2KekbRoiwxdGXXZ9gfRNuOGUHWPOlBNI1DLCDl5aUymTXel0tPZpWlYsWjsaUo_PBPzMt0/s320/ATG+cover.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>Yay! Here's a nice little <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Among-Goddesses-Libretto-Seven-Dreams/product-reviews/1597091618/ref=sr_1_5_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1">review</a> of <i>Among the Goddesses!</i><br />
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And if you like the book, here's the<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Among-the-Goddesses/145208892155875"> page</a> where you can <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Among-the-Goddesses/145208892155875">like</a> it on Facebook--it has some fun information too!</div>Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-28450753972193722402011-07-20T12:12:00.000-07:002011-07-20T12:12:47.798-07:00Sand, Close UpThe wonder never stops! Photos by<a href="http://www.sandgrains.com/artist.html"> Gary Greenberg</a>:<br />
<img alt="Incredible: To think we are walking on 'these tiny treasures'" class="blkBorder" height="688" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/07/05/article-2011471-0CDEE1FD00000578-150_964x688.jpg" width="964" /><img alt="Magnified:The grains are shown to be delicate, colourful structures each as unique as a snowflake." class="blkBorder" height="770" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/07/05/article-2011471-0CDEE30300000578-402_964x770.jpg" width="964" />Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-54198714004464107102011-07-05T06:48:00.000-07:002011-07-06T11:31:10.184-07:00forward, forward<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzV_9_mT0_TWNcW9kOETWcwoJNlBDTq6THlhZXs72xvtuzSGKNlQNcpnrkZ8a3Xww1WqhiRxyw92Eg6H10ihgMuJXbnXmkdxEdlctZExvQJWSsRA7Wak_2Xuvz42u8CgAyUdqLu2bMz3l7/s1600/Julia+Jackson+1867.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzV_9_mT0_TWNcW9kOETWcwoJNlBDTq6THlhZXs72xvtuzSGKNlQNcpnrkZ8a3Xww1WqhiRxyw92Eg6H10ihgMuJXbnXmkdxEdlctZExvQJWSsRA7Wak_2Xuvz42u8CgAyUdqLu2bMz3l7/s320/Julia+Jackson+1867.jpeg" width="258" /></a></div>I picked up a copy of an odd book at a library sale over the holiday weekend: <i>Ethel Morton at Chautauqua</i>, by Mabell S.C. Smith, published just about a century ago, in 1915.<br />
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It's an eye-opener to see what things were considered wild and modern at that time: not only airplanes and electric lights, but also learning to swim, kids earning money (considered "commercialism" and cause for concern among parents), and girls wanting to be considered "individuals" : <br />
<a name='more'></a> "[Helen] was too young to realize it, but it was the cry of her time that she was trying to express—the cry of the woman to be considered as separate as the man, to be an individual." (p. 106)<br />
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These <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umxoNNUMpDY&feature=related">Julia Margaret Cameron photographs</a> of girls are beautiful. They also strike me as sad, and I don't think it's just the slow-lensed technology. As <i>Ethel Morton at Chautauqua</i> reminds me, in Cameron's day, girls were even more imprisoned and their parents far stricter than they would be in Ethel's day; there's an extended discussion in the book of how they are less strict in 1915 than in previous generations.<br />
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When I look at the faces of Cameron's women with their open eyes and flowing hair, in a way they remind me of women I know now, so many sensitive and beautiful women I have met in my various spiritual groups and endeavors, all working on strengthening ourselves, healing from the past—sometimes from many generations of the past—and becoming stronger, happier, and freer human beings. <br />
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I like to think that we are doing it, on some level, for them. Not only for ourselves, but for all those women before us, equally complex and sensitive, who had so much more to contend with than we do, for whom sexism, sexual abuse, and limited opportunity were so much more daunting, who literally did not have, most of them, the power we have to be free human beings. <br />
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The big difference is that for most middle class women now, even with financial and other responsibilities, the main thing holding us back on our path is ourselves. As Cara, one of the women in my coven, said recently: "to take as good care of ourselves as we would of someone else--what a radical idea!"<br />
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Radical, and the necessary next step. So, for those of us who are still afraid of being "selfish,"let's do it not just for ourselves but for Helen, for Ethel, for those sometimes sad looking, long-gone-but-still-here sisters in the photographs.<br />
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It's them we are freeing, and it's us. Let's do it!Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-51108350047156789812011-06-13T05:02:00.000-07:002011-06-14T10:54:00.240-07:00Yeats Springs Eternal: Happy Birthday WBY!<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2vBD8IXKabTZJGwhUH33F5ri9dvw0xE2aCtcklIgHJ2tBpgLtGTV3vAr5BNYzillTUDtvk5QY6qvS63-W0sZHXQaunGevRV2zGt2NAmF7o8L83oPnPAINfUuApc1twXLU-k9ZIbqt4PwY/s1600/AF+at+yeats+exhibit.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2vBD8IXKabTZJGwhUH33F5ri9dvw0xE2aCtcklIgHJ2tBpgLtGTV3vAr5BNYzillTUDtvk5QY6qvS63-W0sZHXQaunGevRV2zGt2NAmF7o8L83oPnPAINfUuApc1twXLU-k9ZIbqt4PwY/s320/AF+at+yeats+exhibit.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Happy Birthday to you, William Butler Yeats! I am inspired by a myriad of poets, but perhaps you inspire me most of all; <br />
<a name='more'></a>your ear and your adoration of poetry, and also your care for folk art, your passion for politics, your willingness to be a public poet, your spiritual openness. When I began to write critical prose, I read your Essays and Introductions looking for an authentic way into my own critical voice, and when I began writing memoir, I studied yours. Here are photos of me being blown away at the exhibit about you in the National Library in Dublin, taken by Ted Deppe just after he asked if I were Yeats' incarnation. Sometimes I think so. ..<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwlqcf-Y6wxvNHbn3IuoOiISLkaeCN2dCj-f34q4U12tX5C1kWiyLZ9HVY80KOfZ5J_zekPGrwbCxpAJgNkYLcnooVEGM-wDAj8dZu38CqWW4Hlhld-Sv2Ba3mreu5c7HfVKIkMjxpR8Gn/s1600/AF+reading+yeats+drafts+at+exhibit.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwlqcf-Y6wxvNHbn3IuoOiISLkaeCN2dCj-f34q4U12tX5C1kWiyLZ9HVY80KOfZ5J_zekPGrwbCxpAJgNkYLcnooVEGM-wDAj8dZu38CqWW4Hlhld-Sv2Ba3mreu5c7HfVKIkMjxpR8Gn/s320/AF+reading+yeats+drafts+at+exhibit.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>And now it seems I, like you, have started a theater company. Poets Theater of Maine got an employee ID number last week, opened our first play, Wolf Song, this weekend, and today, on the auspicious date of your birthday, I am going to put the first deposit in the bank account. I feel you with me today, I honor you, and I thank you. </div><div><br />
<div>Yeats is often acknowledged as one of the poets who knew how to write about age, but he is not as often acknowledged as one of the poets who knew how to write about youth. I have heard "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" discounted as a sentimental piece, not as rich or complex as the mature Yeats. Why not instead appreciate it as a poem of youth, of the direct passion of youth for the natural world, of youth's close attention to the inner spring of the soul's necessity?</div><div><br />
</div><div>It's one of the first poems of his I loved, and still count as one of my all time favorites. Last time I was in Ireland at the Stonecoast residency, I did my over-the-top imitation of him reciting it and we all laughed.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhos6mws0EKMjqojtEyuKjhpeOFAIOwXjT7lUgJE8qszyeoEUif1FjSuNjQ1X7m69FW-eqqBIDVsJK9WBHiSIRrjls_95XQ-epCj5fVfEOa_r85YjoWSMf2Nfb0203w5MHug9GEhHgO5bx1/s1600/channeling+yeats+performing+lake+isle+of+innisfree.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhos6mws0EKMjqojtEyuKjhpeOFAIOwXjT7lUgJE8qszyeoEUif1FjSuNjQ1X7m69FW-eqqBIDVsJK9WBHiSIRrjls_95XQ-epCj5fVfEOa_r85YjoWSMf2Nfb0203w5MHug9GEhHgO5bx1/s320/channeling+yeats+performing+lake+isle+of+innisfree.JPG" width="240" /></a></div> I hope you would have laughed as well, William! Many happy returns!<br />
<div><div><br />
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THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE <br />
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I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, <br />
<div>And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made; </div><div>Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee, </div><div>And live alone in the bee-loud glade. <br />
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And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, </div><div>Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings; </div><div>There midnight's all a-glimmer, and noon a purple glow, </div><div>And evening full of the linnet's wings. <br />
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I will arise and go now, for always night and day </div><div>I hear the water lapping with low sounds by the shore; </div><div>While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray, </div><div>I hear it in the deep heart's core. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC8U2nusHbUevOxP2MUNVGVghrm9_ffq0iTqieZ0rj1gTVnS6fcx5-FQ_zDj1C5KGMQNIogGv7fsqxV_po3W8p60Fvq5ibSIoHo5pxSa4f12NGcsgsuhwluZFDEYEe43-5pkr4s15frZ9f/s1600/Yeats+exhibit+at+National+Library.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC8U2nusHbUevOxP2MUNVGVghrm9_ffq0iTqieZ0rj1gTVnS6fcx5-FQ_zDj1C5KGMQNIogGv7fsqxV_po3W8p60Fvq5ibSIoHo5pxSa4f12NGcsgsuhwluZFDEYEe43-5pkr4s15frZ9f/s320/Yeats+exhibit+at+National+Library.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
</div></div></div></div></div>Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-33973761129871384952011-06-06T04:45:00.000-07:002011-10-28T17:41:57.325-07:00Five Commandments<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Do you notice something odd about this Biblical quote?</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> — Romans 13:9-11 (AV)</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I just came across it on John Edminster's <a href="http://www.quakerquaker.org/profiles/blogs/john-edminster-the-basic">website</a>. It's from St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans—the most important theological statement by the person who defined Christian theology.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I see only five commandments here! And they're the good ones. . .</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14px;">So why aren't the "christians" who want commandments posted in public buildings pushing for 5 instead of 10?! It would certainly be more theologically accurate!</span></div></div>Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-14943417091187652292011-06-03T17:59:00.000-07:002016-10-25T20:48:00.176-07:00Wolf Song: In Drama Begins Responsibility<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxuPW77lh_ZeqMdBJ2364y4wjU9HkLjobEeFMt8a2gEisknTUEhWgymV_twYttU9zp3yqB3nDeKeWJ78iiyR2PdZ_oljfKAyiCo8o1Ftcf2sk88_c80-prU7346U7yA4irOVDb6567Lxaq/s1600/wolf+song+poster+8.5x11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxuPW77lh_ZeqMdBJ2364y4wjU9HkLjobEeFMt8a2gEisknTUEhWgymV_twYttU9zp3yqB3nDeKeWJ78iiyR2PdZ_oljfKAyiCo8o1Ftcf2sk88_c80-prU7346U7yA4irOVDb6567Lxaq/s320/wolf+song+poster+8.5x11.jpg" width="247" /></a></div>
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I write this from the sidelines of one of the final rehearsals of my play <i><a href="http://anniefinch.com/wolf-song-a-poetic-theater-ritual/">Wolf Song</a>. </i> Its very first performances are next week. The deer chorus is singing, "deep inside the belly of the wolf/where the dark growls begin. . ." I'm<br />
<a name='more'></a>watching just a segment of the unbelievable crew of creative people—director, composer, musicians, maskmaker, puppetteers, choreographer, lighting designer--who are bringing the wolf to life in this show. It's all just a remarkable experience. <br />
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An earlier incarnation of this group actually incubated the play; act by act, I wrote it with the art of particular people in mind: images of Libby Marcus's puppets and masks, the dancing of Oren Stevens the hunter, and, as the final group took shape, Mihku Paul's props, Assunta Kent's direction. Somewhere along the line, it all led to founding a <a href="http://www.usm.maine.edu/~afinch/NEWSITE/Theatre/PoetsTheater.htm">new theater company </a>with Assunta and Erica Vega. And it was worth it. The opportunity to write a play for a living troupe, to collaborate with incredible artists, now including choreographer Brigitte Paulus, lighter Stoney Cook, costumer Kristina Skillin, and many wonderful actors, and to work so intimately with its first performance, is more complex and satisfying than I ever could have imagined. . .<br />
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As an artist, I'd say the lesson I am learning the most from all this is responsiblity. Increasingly, as I've been coming along through this life we all share, I've discovered, as maybe you have, that the limits of my strength and power are not as close as I thought they were. With the decades, the months, the weeks even, it seems I am able to get stronger, as long as I am willing to move and let go of the parts of me that I don't need. With that strengthening, that stronger stretch, comes growing power (here's Lucia Rene's blog on how <a href="http://www.unplugfromthepatriarchy.com/index.htm">power </a>is growing for women now!)--and with the power of course comes responsibility.<br />
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But this is the surprise: the nature of the responsibility. For a long time I thought of responsibility as a sense of duty, an obligation, as if a weight were being added to me. But now, since I have found my long-lost heart again (during a shamanic soul retrieval journey I will write about anon), I feel responsibility as a lightening--an increased need (and ability) to respond. <br />
<br />
The root meaning of respond is to "give back." "promise back." What I'm learning is that giving back is not only an obligation but a freedom; it creates a lighter heart.</div>
Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-33263285045719297172011-05-23T08:15:00.000-07:002011-05-23T08:17:46.919-07:00Poison Ivy Season...Does or did anyone else out there get poison ivy? Last year, using Louise Hay's affirmation for poison ivy/poison oak, I avoided it for the first time since suddenly becoming vulnerable to it 25 years ago. Here's another <a href="http://christinekane.com/blog/on-getting-over-poison-ivy-or-mind-over-plant-matter/">post</a> on the same topic. This is the kind of wisdom I want to make more widely available; I know it would have saved me decades of trouble. What are your experiences?Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-47253066440422650672011-05-23T08:14:00.000-07:002011-05-23T08:16:12.182-07:00Shamanista DawnI am in NYC just back from a phenomenal weekend of shamanic work with Shamanista Healing Circle. It confirmed my knowledge that Witchcraft and Shamanism are the same thing. The movement of energy, the spirituality of the earth and everything in/on it, the importance of intention, the centrality of freedom, integrity, and respect--it's all there--or can be.<br />
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I know I'll be writing much more about all this in future. For now, I'll just say that after doing a soul retrieval journey for someone this weekend, I felt the need to channel a small healing poem for him--a kind of a charm, talisman, that he could use to embody his healing, carry with him, and re-cast the spell whenever he needed it.<br />
<br />
The connection between poetry and healing is ancient. And one thing I learned this weekend is that the ancient things are not far away, just because they are ancient. In fact, they may be the closest to us of all, because they are the things that arise naturally out of being human.Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-79876910123591407702011-05-19T06:33:00.000-07:002011-05-19T06:55:50.136-07:00My Old Screensaver and My New ScreensaverI've had this screensaver for months now:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Iu0HYBZ49kV7jhuqKh9ULhzjx4i-67Y03rAsZNMcnuQDGxJBnXA4EGOLjtyEQYiT4db2JIoUovvo1jCZa6rLHTe59dugA39sjuaaqgu_foK2m-qz_s9ZTjL6acvJut4aBcWvdh3MQRK4/s1600/VillaTorloniaFountain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Iu0HYBZ49kV7jhuqKh9ULhzjx4i-67Y03rAsZNMcnuQDGxJBnXA4EGOLjtyEQYiT4db2JIoUovvo1jCZa6rLHTe59dugA39sjuaaqgu_foK2m-qz_s9ZTjL6acvJut4aBcWvdh3MQRK4/s320/VillaTorloniaFountain.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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</div><span id="goog_2014268327"></span><span id="goog_2014268328"></span> It's a painting by John Singer Sargent that used to hang here in the Portland Museum of Art. The brilliant curator had hung it at the end of a long, quiet corridor so you got to approach it slowly <br />
<a name='more'></a>and appreciate it from various distances. Glen and I discovered it one day and stood there together for a very long time appreciating it--the subtle, exuberant layers of white and the lightest yellow paint for the light on the stairs--it made me so happy, calm, and slightly wistful, and it evoked a long-ago memory that has haunted me for many years of squatting at the foot of my parents' gray wooden back stairs and playing in the sunlight. (I still wonder what that memory was about. . . it's the source of a line in capital letters in my book <i><a href="http://www.saltpublishing.com/books/smp/184471036X.htm">The Encyclopedia of Scotland</a>: </i>("AT THE FOOT OF FADED GRAY STAIRS". . . Here's me standing on those stairs c. 1970:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4QJ-400qLvp0HiE8mIHRzQ-8y8JkWerGZmkbPfCD85ou9M4QxGW_VRgtoNiTeq6LkJX_L0CcODWZmp3kzgFwx2kYdDy8sXj4BlzheZtSlzJdOFwwncdbKMG0TLFpV_3oGqM8Xoawm5ZS-/s1600/Annie+1970.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4QJ-400qLvp0HiE8mIHRzQ-8y8JkWerGZmkbPfCD85ou9M4QxGW_VRgtoNiTeq6LkJX_L0CcODWZmp3kzgFwx2kYdDy8sXj4BlzheZtSlzJdOFwwncdbKMG0TLFpV_3oGqM8Xoawm5ZS-/s320/Annie+1970.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><br />
A few days ago I was wondering about the Sargent painting, when and whether I would ever change my screensaver. I've had the stairs there for so long, and they've been inspiring me with the excitement of discovery. . . but lately I've been noticing the corner at the top of the stairs, and wondering what's around that bend. Still, I couldn't imagine what could ever replace those singing, operatic stairs.<br />
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And then this morning, the day after a wonderful journey with my <a href="http://www.truenorthhealthcenter.org/rysdyk_knowlton.asp">local shamans</a> which connected me joyfully with masculine divine energy and the spirit of the woods, I received this photo of fiddleheads in an email from Cathy Taylor. I don't think I know Cathy personally; she may have been associated with last year's <a href="http://annieridleycranefinch.blogspot.com/2010/11/wild-weeds-poetry-contest-results.html">Wild Weeds Poetry Contest </a>on this blog, because that phrase was in the address field. Cathy's fiddleheads have become my new screensaver! Thank you, Goddess, spring, and Cathy, not to mention the Green Man whose energy these ferns convey to me so deeply, for their gorgeous, searching, eloquent new beauty.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvu-4AVf8wdLRKkhI0oS0oFNNLQYCEr17TocaskIdi07h3GPlO0NIe6fAAlhyphenhyphen9c_YjDSHOxzVdaJcF_AIawqy7VHOC_sMz8guJ9Hvoz8-5J757b0ukcb6apit-im0ZsEuiB1R3nJvSQcr9/s1600/fiddleheads.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvu-4AVf8wdLRKkhI0oS0oFNNLQYCEr17TocaskIdi07h3GPlO0NIe6fAAlhyphenhyphen9c_YjDSHOxzVdaJcF_AIawqy7VHOC_sMz8guJ9Hvoz8-5J757b0ukcb6apit-im0ZsEuiB1R3nJvSQcr9/s320/fiddleheads.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<span id="goog_493281550"></span><span id="goog_493281551"></span>Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-77276631656242917822011-05-17T15:51:00.000-07:002011-05-17T15:51:55.360-07:00Scottish Beat Burning Man Wolf SongThanks to Wendy Babiak for telling me about this link to Scottish <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEq9Qhx1bGI&feature=share">drummers and pipers</a> at the Edinburgh Festival. The more I learn about the world, the clearer it seems that we are all so closely linked physiologically, artistically, psychologically. Meanwhile, I've been thinking about the connections between meter, rhythm, wicca, and shamanism while developing ideas for a workshop on Spell Rhythm for the upcoming Burning Man Festival. And listening to the incredible music for the Wolf Song play, the rhythms of the instruments, singers' voices, and dancers' feet bringing my words to life as if had always been meant to be heard that way...Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-19176031994322426552011-05-05T09:26:00.000-07:002011-05-10T11:58:20.236-07:00Answers for KaileeKailee is a high school student who wrote me a note one day. Here's our correspondence:<br />
<br />
<blockquote style="font-family: Palatino;" type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="hmmessage" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">Hello Annie,</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';"></span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">My name is Kailee Hocker. I live in Hiawatha, KS and I'm a junior in High School. Our english teacher wanted us to do research on a famous poet that we like; as well as contact them in any way and ask questions. I looked at a lot of poets and I thought your poems were very pretty. I would really like to get to know more about you. So, please e-mail me back ASAP :) I have some questions I would like to ask you regarding your poetry!</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';"></span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';"><a name='more'></a> Thank You.</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';"></span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">Your New Fan,</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';"></span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">Kailee Hocker :)</span></em></div></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Palatino;">Dear Kailee,</span><br />
<div style="font-family: Palatino;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Palatino;"><div>Thanks for your email. It's always nice to hear from people who appreciate my poems! I'm really busy working on my next book of poetry, so I can't answer your questions in detail.</div><div><br />
</div><div>You can find out a lot about my poems and how I wrote them in the Readers Guide to <i>Calendars </i><a href="http://www.tupelopress.org/rc/calendars"><i>here</i>:</a> There are also some interviews at my website <a href="http://www.usm.maine.edu/~afinch/NEWSITE/newinterviews.htm">here</a>, and some audio interviews <a href="http://www.usm.maine.edu/~afinch/NEWSITE/annienewaudiovideo.htm%0A">here</a></div><div><br />
</div><div>But if you still have a particular question about a certain poem that you feel you can't find the answer to anywhere else, email me back and I will try to answer as soon as I can.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Meanwhile, here are a couple of facts you might like to know just to get you started:</div><div><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px;"><div style="font-size: medium;"></div></span></span></div></div></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Palatino;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Palatino;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;">The original title of "Pearl" was "Voyeur."</div><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><br />
</div><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;">The second stanza of "The Intellect of Woman" was written 10 years after the first.</div></span></div></span>"Imbolc Chant" has four different meters in it, and it was written to be danced.</div><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><br />
</div><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><br />
</div><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;">Above all, please be sure to hear my poems aloud--it's how they were meant to be heard. You don't have to actually read them aloud (though that would be great) -- you can also read them aloud silently by hearing them inside your head as if they were spoken.</div><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><br />
</div><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;">Enjoy!!</div></span></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder" /></div><div>Love and blessed be,</div><div><br />
</div><div>Annie Finch</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div>PS By the way, is Hiawatha named after Longfellow's poem? That is a wonderful poem! Here is my blog post about listening to the whole poem in one afternoon: <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2010/04/audacity-of-voice-the-poet-as-actor-michael-maglaras-hiawatha-marathon-and-how-i-made-my-cd/">http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2010/04/audacity-of-voice-the-poet-as-actor-michael-maglaras-hiawatha-marathon-and-how-i-made-my-cd/</a></div><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;">The part about Hiawatha is in the last 3 paragraphs.</div><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><br />
</div><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-style: normal;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">Dear Annie!,</span></em></span></i></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Palatino;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';"><br />
</span></em></span></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Palatino;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">I would like to start off by saying... I am terribley sorry for the LONG amount of time it took me to get back to you. I feel aweful. I did not see that you relplyed back to me! Plus I have been very busy with athletics and other school work. I feel extremely estatic that you replyed back to me tho! :) I was hoping you would. There are many questions that I would personally like to get from YOU... If that's okay :)</span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';"></span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">1) How did you begin to write poetry? Age?</span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">2) What inspires you to write? People? Places?</span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">3) What do you enjoy most about writing?</span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">4) Are there other poets that you look up to or that inspire you? Who? Why?</span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">5) Did you always want to write?</span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">6) Do you do it as a hobby... or is it a job?</span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">7) Where do you like to concentrate and write your poetry? Why?</span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">8) Do you ever get stuck on a poem or get stressed?</span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">9) What is your favorite poem you've written? Overall? (Any poem from any poet)</span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">10) Last but not least... What quote of advice do you give admirers and fans to live by? :D</span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';"></span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">I know it's a lot! But I really wanna know a lot about you! Just answer them as best as you can. </span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';"></span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">Also...The thing about Longfellow's poem... The Song of Hiawatha... Umm... Well I am not completely sure. I asked my mom about that one. She said she thinks it is modeled about his poem. I mean we have a street named Longfellow up by my High School and Hiawatha is an indian name. Our school mascott used to be the Redskins (unfortunately now the Redhawks). But I guess it's about a lil' indian boy named Hiawatha... but I'm not sure if it's actually linked to our town. I will do some research on it though! I think my grandparents actually have the poem (A.K.A. pretty much a book lol) at their house. So I will try to see but Im not sure! :( Lol</span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';"></span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">Your New Fan,</span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';"></span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">Kailee Hocker :)</span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></span></div></div><br />
<div style="font-family: Palatino;"><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Dear Kailee,</span></div></span></span></div><div>Here are your answers. I hope they are helpful. I am planning to post them on my blog to that other students might be able to find them useful. Do you mind if I use your name there, saying that you wrote asking me these questions? I can just say"Kailee H.," or I can just not use your name and say "a student."</div><div><br />
</div><div>Good luck finding out about Hiawatha. It does sound as if a lot of people in your town used to love that poem, at least!</div><div><br />
</div><div>Annie</div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';"> 1) How did you begin to write poetry? Age?</span></em></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';"><br />
</span></em></span><br />
I began to write poetry at age 7 or 8. I think it might have been a school assignment, but I just never stopped. I showed some poems to a librarian in the public library when I was 9, and she sent them to a magazine which published them.<br />
<blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="hmmessage" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">2) What inspires you to write? People? Places?</span></em></div></span></blockquote>Feelings that come from people, places, ideas, or experiences.<br />
<blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="hmmessage" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">3) What do you enjoy most about writing?</span></em></div></span></blockquote>The feeling of doing what I am meant to do.<br />
<blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="hmmessage" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">4) Are there other poets that you look up to or that inspire you? Who? Why?</span></em></div></span></blockquote>Yes, there are hundreds. A few of them are W.B. Yeats, George Herbert, Langston Hughes, Rumi, Audre Lorde, Gerald Manly Hopkins, Thomas Hardy, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Hart Crane, John Keats, Sara Teasdale, Gwendolyn Brooks, Basho, Frank O'Hara, Marina Tsvetaeva, Hafiz, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Gwendolyn MacEwen, Odysseus Elytis, Sylvia Plath, Edmund Spenser, and Emily Dickinson. Each of them inspires me through their skill in poetic language and music, and I look up to them because they had the courage to follow their unique path and"Wh vision.</div><div style="font-family: Palatino;"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="hmmessage" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">5) Did you always want to write?</span></em></div></span></blockquote>Yes<br />
<blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="hmmessage" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">6) Do you do it as a hobby... or is it a job?</span></em></div></span></blockquote>It is a calling. I guess you could say that a calling is sort of a combination of a hobby and a job. <br />
<blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="hmmessage" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">7) Where do you like to concentrate and write your poetry? Why?</span></em></div></span></blockquote>Sometimes I like to have people around--in a cafe, on a train, on a plane, on a bus--and sometimes I like being alone--at a desk, or lying on my bed, or outside in nature. Either way, it's better when I'm not interrupted.</div><div style="font-family: Palatino;"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="hmmessage" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">8) Do you ever get stuck on a poem or get stressed?</span></em></div></span></blockquote>Sometimes, but then I try to just leave it alone and do something else until I can come back with a fresh approach.<br />
<blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="hmmessage" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">9) What is your favorite poem you've written? Overall? (Any poem from any poet)</span></em></div></span></blockquote>A lot of my poems feel like favorites. A few of them are: "Walk With Me," "Summer Solstice Chant," "Landing Under Water," "Butterfly Lullaby," "Chain of Women," "Goddess,"</div><div style="font-family: Palatino;">and "October Moon." I have hundreds of favorite poems by all the poets listed above and by others. Some of the first poems I loved when I was young are "Where Go the Boats" by Robert Louis Stevenson, "Your Catfish Friend" by Richard Brautigam, "Little Tree" by e.e. cummings, and "The Tyger" by William Blake. Other favorites are: the Anglo-Saxon poem "The Seafarer", "The Flower-Fed Buffalo" by Vachel Lindsay, "Nuns Fret Not" by Wordsworth," "A Birthday" by Christina Rossetti, ""The Illiterate" by William Meredith, "We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar, and "Do Not Go Gentle" by Dylan Thomas.</div><div style="font-family: Palatino;"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="hmmessage" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';">10) Last but not least... What quote of advice do you give admirers and fans to live by? </span></em></div></span></blockquote> "If it harms no-one, do what you will."</div><div style="font-family: Palatino;"><br />
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<blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-family: Palatino; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="hmmessage" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';"></span></em></div></span></blockquote></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium';"><i><br />
</i></span></div>Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-88347571053715779252011-04-27T05:18:00.000-07:002011-04-28T08:49:22.756-07:00Anapestic Ribaldry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-T-ixeXyvmsNFtk2PLaXMTvepJ8Ut9SoVfWPY09AeAnEbUccb4zM5XfJV5bd2flR434Zn_j9fBBG3VhS4Drh0eyjQ7HX-Q3YCMQHqylZuvU37VdlwvlP0EVQP94hySzpDVHEygWFyHPtY/s1600/51APh7FegLL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-T-ixeXyvmsNFtk2PLaXMTvepJ8Ut9SoVfWPY09AeAnEbUccb4zM5XfJV5bd2flR434Zn_j9fBBG3VhS4Drh0eyjQ7HX-Q3YCMQHqylZuvU37VdlwvlP0EVQP94hySzpDVHEygWFyHPtY/s1600/51APh7FegLL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I read at the University of Vermont a week or two ago, and Glen and I had the pleasure of meeting the very charming Irish-born poet <a href="http://wruvwriters.net/2010/03/05/angela-patten/">Angela Patten</a>. Yesterday arrived in the mail a remarkable gift from Angela: a copy of Ciaran Carson's translation of the 1780 Irish comic narrative poem, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_319965304">The Midnight Court</a></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.wfu.edu/wfupress/catalog.php?p=productsMore&iProduct=5&sName=Ciaran-Carson--The-Midnight-Court-(paperback)"> </a>(Wake Forest U Press, 2006). Wow. Thanks Angela! I plan to read it on the plane to LA today, for the story—apparently it's about a Faerie court of women trying a man for his (non)use of his sexuality, rather a pagan theme—but meanwhile, what a treat to see a recently-written poem that uses meter--let alone a noniambic meter!— with such skill and wit! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> It's a rare recent poem—or translation— that reminds you why poetry<i> is </i>considered an art for the ear. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I think this one is a must for </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Poetry in Rhythm</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, working title for an anthology of metrically diverse poems I am coediting with Canadian poet and Stonecoast MFA student <a href="http://www.futurecycle.org/FutureCyclePoetry/AlexandraOliverBio.aspx">Alexandra Oliver</a>. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Check out this excerpt:</span><br />
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</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Not long was my slumber when nearby, thought I,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the land rocked and rolled and a turbulent sky</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Brought a storm from the north, an incredible gale</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That lit up the harbor as fire fell like hail.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the blink of an eyelid--a thing I still see—</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A female approached from the side of the quay,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Broad-arsed and big-bellied, built like a tank,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And angry as thunder from shoulder to shank.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Of her stature I made an intelligent guess</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Of some twenty-one feet, while the hem of her dress</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Trailed for five yards behind, through the mire and the muck,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And her mantle was slobbered with horrible guck. . .</span><br />
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</span></div><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I could imagine settling in to hear a full reading of this poem, just as <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2010/04/audacity-of-voice-the-poet-as-actor-michael-maglaras-hiawatha-marathon-and-how-i-made-my-cd/">I described doing at Michael Maglaras' reading of Hiawatha</a>, which recently kept a sizable audience (and not an audience of poets, either!) happily listening for over five hours. . .</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</div>Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-90699088805875869312011-04-25T15:09:00.000-07:002011-04-26T08:00:55.303-07:00Cousin Chas on Graffiti<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0qudMeDiTmDVS4g3ltibbu81npXCf9oeSWennYk0s6mElyIYPB8nAeeEnqKkvOyjaPWAMaStzLenTFJhub13VzChU_21hwj3LvsZ-s8SqCASiJ_nt6qD6KqU1jfgyZoMYVT4dN2JuE_hY/s1600/charlie-finch-4-25-11-6s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0qudMeDiTmDVS4g3ltibbu81npXCf9oeSWennYk0s6mElyIYPB8nAeeEnqKkvOyjaPWAMaStzLenTFJhub13VzChU_21hwj3LvsZ-s8SqCASiJ_nt6qD6KqU1jfgyZoMYVT4dN2JuE_hY/s1600/charlie-finch-4-25-11-6s.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One of my favorite of Chas's art </span><a href="http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/finch/graffiti-the-noblest-art-4-25-11.asp?sms_ss=email&at_xt=4db5e699cbe92ffd%2C0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">posts on the topic of a graffiti exhibit</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> which i hope to see when I'm in LA next week to read from Among the Goddesses @ the <a href="http://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/">LA Festival of Books</a>. Every time I see great graffiti, I feel like I'm in the presence of a powerful wild animal, one that looks me in the eyes and knows far more than i do--like Aldo Leopold's moment of encounter with the Wolf: "We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes—something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters' paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view." Thank goodness, we have learned a bit from the mistakes of that generation and now we can look out the train window and appreciate the wolf's eyes, maybe even bring them into the museum, maybe even begin to build a true ecosystem, like this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9jghLeYufQ">collaboration between Yo Yo Ma and Lil' Buck</a>. You tell em, Chas!</span>Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-70391933428082858622011-04-25T01:09:00.001-07:002011-04-25T08:13:52.661-07:00Ostara Vibrations--<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_zJv8qGJlxw63JFLEfKPOGn_LVT7MItoFHWj5ZpVQsRiuAJOCWP3F6Dr6zExpXx8lNaagV3V9qGssUF4Kpo1d6mOuUpxBRKENn4ZteM93HUOKYBeuE-RvLZfRMRw8cKq1XxSbx-ml6jap/s1600/IMG00097-20110424-0918.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_zJv8qGJlxw63JFLEfKPOGn_LVT7MItoFHWj5ZpVQsRiuAJOCWP3F6Dr6zExpXx8lNaagV3V9qGssUF4Kpo1d6mOuUpxBRKENn4ZteM93HUOKYBeuE-RvLZfRMRw8cKq1XxSbx-ml6jap/s320/IMG00097-20110424-0918.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Positive!!!<br />
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This is my favorite Ostara altar ever, thanks to daughter Althea.<br />
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love to all for spring!Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-12005890173766239422011-04-10T03:06:00.000-07:002011-04-11T05:23:52.584-07:00Choice Among the Goddesses, or How I Finally Wrote About My Abortion<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #7a7a7a; line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here is a guest post I wrote for Ruth Ellen Kocher's very fine blog </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #7a7a7a; line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://aboutaword.org/2011/04/03/annie-finch-choice-among-the-goddesses-or-how-i-finally-wrote-about-my-abortion/">Aboutaword</a></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #7a7a7a; line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, which I wanted to share also with you, dear loyal readers of American Witch. . .</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My book <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1673473149"> </a></span></span><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Among-Goddesses-Libretto-Seven-Dreams/dp/1597091618">Among the Goddesses: An Epic Libretto in Seven Dreams</a></span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">came out recently and now I am doing readings and a blog-tour about the book--(there's even a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Among-the-Goddesses/145208892155875">Facebook group</a> started by the press where you can share experiences and get updates on readings and performances of ATG). The book has a unique structure; it intertwines an epic poem and a poetic opera libretto that tell the same story in narrative and dramatic form, spiraling around each other if you read the book straight through. You can also read one side of the page only as an epic poem, the other only as a poetic libretto.</span></span><br />
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I am having an unusual time publicizing this book for several reasons. I’m still figuring out how much to sing and how much to speak when I perform, with or without musicians. Also, the tangled history of writing the book, described briefly below, sometimes makes it feel like I’m living in two or three decades at once. The main reason, however, is the abortion.</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The book’s only review so far (by Jane Galer, in <a href="http://sites.google.com/site/mythandtheatre/">Coreopsis</a>) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">points out that </span></span><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Among the Goddesses</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> “might be the first opera about abortion.” Even when I first conceived (pun intended) the poem around twenty years ago, I knew that an abortion would constitute the climax of the action. I had not had an abortion. But I still felt it was the most important theme I could write about. I wanted to help create, or express, a spiritual basis for reproductive freedom: not just a tolerance, but a reverence for women’s ability to become pregnant and the consequent power that has always lent us over human life and death while a baby is part of our own body.</span></span><br />
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<div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://aboutaword.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/finch-dos-madres-cover.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-663" height="206" src="http://aboutaword.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/finch-dos-madres-cover.jpg?w=132&h=206" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 5px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(159, 206, 241); border-left-width: 5px; border-right-color: rgb(159, 206, 241); border-right-width: 5px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(159, 206, 241); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 5px; float: right; height: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 490px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Finch.Dos Madres.cover" width="132" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When I started writing </span></span><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Among the Goddesses</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, I had not had an abortion. But eventually, in fact, I did. I became pregnant by accident, at age 44 with two carefully-spaced children including a 1-year-old baby, a struggling marriage, financial challenges, and three demanding careers. I agonized over the choice, and my husband and I finally chose abortion as the best course for our family (afterward, I was interviewed for Jennifer Baumgartner’s wonderful film </span></span><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">S<a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2006-01-17/news/video-on-the-loss-to-my-own-heart/">peak Out: I Had An Abortio</a>n </span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">; someone has posted a brief excerpt of the interview </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgLONBeB9dU">here</a>.</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I am a deeply spiritual person who finds life and death intense and almost unbearable mysteries. It was impossible for me to think of an abortion as a purely physical act, “just like going to the dentist,” to quote Maude’s daughter on the 1972 </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6fvqHbFgKg">TV episodes</a> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">which seem to be not only the first but possibly the only positive depiction of abortion ever broadcast on U.S. network television. And it was equally impossible to take the only other choice offered by mainstream culture: to frame my abortion within the values of a male-centered, judgmental religion based on the dualistic denial and transcendence of death. It was a no-win dilemma.</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After the abortion, although the epic poem was finished, I pulled it from its scheduled publisher and began another decade of work on the project. I wanted to add to the story’s mass without diluting its archetypal force. Over ten years, I turned the epic poem into an opera libretto, put the two side by side, and finally interwove them, finding, in that new and spiraling shape, the kind of repeating, archetypal oral tradition I had been looking for. Just before the book was published, I added as an appendix the most personally revealing piece of writing I have ever published: a ritual I wrote for my family to heal ourselves when it became clear that believing in a spiritual context for abortion was not enough. We needed to act ritually on that belief as well, in order to fully enact the abortion and also to heal from the pain created by the mainstream no-win dilemma. The ritual had worked, freeing me to move forward in peace with the book and my life, and I wanted to share it with others who might finish reading the book and wonder about a possible next step.</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://aboutaword.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/atg-cover1.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-664" height="300" src="http://aboutaword.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/atg-cover1.jpg?w=201&h=300" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 5px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(159, 206, 241); border-left-width: 5px; border-right-color: rgb(159, 206, 241); border-right-width: 5px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(159, 206, 241); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 5px; float: left; height: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 490px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="ATG cover" width="201" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At the launch of </span></span><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Among the Goddesses</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> at the AWP writing conference last spring, given Red Hen Press’s two-hour challenge to sell as many copies as I possibly could because otherwise I’d have to bring the leftovers home in the suitcase I’d already stuffed to overflowing with other people’s books, it was hard to have any doubts about the book’s future. “It’s the feminist epic of the 21</span></span><sup style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">st</span></span></span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> century,” I told anyone who would listen. “Isn’t the cover gorgeous?” (it is). A lot of people listened, and I sold 60 copies in two hours. People loved the title, and several told me that goddesses are “coming back” now. They also enjoyed the epic-libretto format. In fact, in a van on the way to the airport, several writers cooked up a plan for me: I would travel the country performing benefit performances of the book with local musicians, for birth control clinics and feminist groups. What a great idea!</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But even if I do a traveling musical tour, even if the book bears on a living moment and a contemporary controversy, it remains timeless in the same way as my other poetry. In the final analysis, isn’t it in the timeless realm that I want it to live? This is the way I’m used to thinking about my poems. A poet for as long as I can remember, I’ve given readings for many hundreds of people, and I’ve read to a dozen. I’ve published in magazines with huge circulations, and magazines with the teeniest of circulations. And it’s all been fine to me; it hasn’t really mattered. All my poetry has been written for the eyes of the Muse and the future.</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_669" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f8f8f4; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(230, 230, 230); border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(230, 230, 230); border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(230, 230, 230); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; float: right; height: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 490px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 1px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline; width: 146px;"><a href="http://aboutaword.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/demeter973411.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-669" height="229" src="http://aboutaword.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/demeter973411.jpg?w=136&h=229" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 490px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 4px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="demeter9734[1]" width="136" /></span></span></a><br />
<div class="wp-caption-text" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Greek Goddess Demeter</span></span></div></div></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But this book is turning out differently. I never anticipated, when I added my personal post-abortion ritual as an appendix at the last moment, that because of that action, the whole thrust of the book could change. All along I had known there was a lot at stake for me. As a woman, I wanted to create a spiritual context in which the deep, free, and responsible choice for my own abortion in my own body could be recognized as part of a greater sacred whole. As a citizen, I wanted to feel I was helping tip the culture out of that no-win dilemma which undermines female-centered spirituality and, thus, ultimately, women’s capacity for full self-empowerment. And as a poet, I needed to ground the most dramatic theme I could imagine in the most charged imagery I could conjure.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now that the book is out, I’m beginning to learn more about what’s at stake for others. At a party last week, I met a women’s studies professor who told me that two students had come to see her the previous week in agony because they felt they needed abortions, knew that was the right thing to do, yet had no spiritual context in which to conceive of doing so. She said she would share</span></span><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Among the Goddesses</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> with them, not only for the poem (these were girls who don’t normally read poetry) but also, or maybe even more, for the appendix at the end.</span></span></div><div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_666" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f8f8f4; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(230, 230, 230); border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(230, 230, 230); border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(230, 230, 230); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; float: left; height: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 490px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 1px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline; width: 129px;"><a href="http://aboutaword.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/inanna-359230901_std.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-666" height="159" src="http://aboutaword.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/inanna-359230901_std.jpg?w=119&h=159" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 490px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 4px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="inanna.359230901_std" width="119" /></span></span></a><br />
<div class="wp-caption-text" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sumerian Goddess Ianna</span></span></div></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The more I notice the rollback of women’s reproductive rights and freedoms (like today’s </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_892297914">news</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/31/indiana-lawmaker-will-clo_n_843332.html"> </a>of the closing of a so-called loophole for rape victims in Indiana, or the shocking attempt to defund Planned Parenthood as part of the federal budget agreement) and the closer my own daughter and her friends get to the age of sexual activity, the more it matters to me that this ritual is out there, that people have a concrete, physical model for a new approach to abortion. (I'd also like to mention, and thank, and recommend, a very wise and useful book that helped me get to the point of realizing I needed a ritual: <a href="http://www.peaceafterabortion.com/">Peace After Abortion</a> by Ava Torre-Bueno. </span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the final version of the poem, the poem’s heroine, Marie/Lily, receives guidance and company from the goddesses Demeter, Kali, and Inanna—all balancers of life and death, as goddesses tend to be— as part of her journey of self-determination, which takes her through a symbolic mythic abortion and out the other side. Only many years after that experience does she finally have her baby, and when she does, the baby is welcomed into a community she has helped to build and never could never have dreamed of, the first time she became pregnant.</span></div><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_667" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f8f8f4; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(230, 230, 230); border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(230, 230, 230); border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(230, 230, 230); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; float: right; height: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 490px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 1px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline; width: 139px;"><a href="http://aboutaword.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/maha_kali.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-667 " height="185" src="http://aboutaword.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/maha_kali.jpg?w=129&h=185" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 490px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 4px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="maha_kali" width="129" /></span></span></a><br />
<div class="wp-caption-text" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hindu Goddess Kali</span></span></div></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After twenty years of gestating this odd and fully-formed newborn young adult, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I need to acknowledge that it’s here, it’s come out, it’s been born—and like any newborn, it has a life utterly its own ahead. I find myself mystified and surprised when I think about the future of my creation and the new world into which it has emerged. I’m surprised at how central that abortion ritual feels to me, like a seed, or a baby, cast out on huge, dark, unknown water in the boat of this strange book, </span></span><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Among the Goddesses</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. And I’m mystified as I wonder what their fate will be.</span></span></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong></strong></div></div></div>Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-88625296971422012462011-04-03T10:08:00.000-07:002011-04-03T10:08:35.705-07:00Recipes at Thea's Kitchen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2m6MX3DjB-zyrvlmbN_K1QRmcageQt73ugPxccNPDZdHPhJddisAWQsmCffurOMtWcFekFhN30v4o97rT4oSYgrJ-6rZv_sdffAqEwU4o05Vv5WIdvlFGinDu-ndBZ2fDKF8vZGFvQ20C/s1600/springsalad3_9778.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2m6MX3DjB-zyrvlmbN_K1QRmcageQt73ugPxccNPDZdHPhJddisAWQsmCffurOMtWcFekFhN30v4o97rT4oSYgrJ-6rZv_sdffAqEwU4o05Vv5WIdvlFGinDu-ndBZ2fDKF8vZGFvQ20C/s320/springsalad3_9778.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Snow still on the ground here after a white April Fools Day surprise, but thank the goddess I just came across these heartening and very witchy<a href="http://www.theaskitchen.blogspot.com/"> early spring recipes</a> at Thea's Kitchen.Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-37564217949123704542011-03-19T14:28:00.000-07:002011-03-19T14:37:55.936-07:00On Hokusai, Wind Farms, Pound, and My Old Friend Michi<blockquote style="font-family: Palatino;" type="cite"><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj5LI9esBuER-_BZg5hyywds1cqU04KjaZNv-CCi_xWtR2R8Lc2jgWzjT4oASoEjbcdT3tg4rQVbIg2eblf6_9HHxPvcqLV40xzmAy_TeUJf18pInp56iOZPz2pAyphsibiXXJUAFXSAWA/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj5LI9esBuER-_BZg5hyywds1cqU04KjaZNv-CCi_xWtR2R8Lc2jgWzjT4oASoEjbcdT3tg4rQVbIg2eblf6_9HHxPvcqLV40xzmAy_TeUJf18pInp56iOZPz2pAyphsibiXXJUAFXSAWA/s320/Unknown.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>So my cousin the art critic writes a review of an uncanny and moving <a href="http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/finch/bye-bye-kitty-3-17-11.asp%20%20---">art show</a> at the Japan Society in New York, which strangely prefigured the tsunami in the work of a group of brilliant young artists. And my husband the environmentalist forwards a pointed <a href="http://www.grist.org/article/2011-03-18-japans-wind-farms-save-its-ass-while-nuclear-plants-flounder">article</a> in Grist called "Japan's wind farms save its ass while nuclear plants flounder," showing windmills standing heroic and simple above the waves. And Yoko Ono <a href="ttp://twitter.com/#!/yokoono/status/47604177257496576">tweets</a> how to donate. And I can't stop thinking about </div></blockquote><blockquote style="font-family: Palatino;" type="cite"><div><a name='more'></a>Aunt Evelyn's gray silk kimono with the cranes that I used to dress up in, and Aunt Jessie's embroidery of the chickens, gifts of the Japanese government, and the prints that filled one of my favorite books almost as soon as I could look at books, and the blue china and the secret wooden boxes and the rhythm of haiku. Japan seemed to send me generous and wordless reminders that life could be simple and complex and meaningful, even when it had no words.</div></blockquote><blockquote style="font-family: Palatino;" type="cite"><div>Or when words came last, as Ezra Pound learned from Ernest Fenollosa that they could. And as all the legacy of poetry I inherited in the 20th century told me they could. And though I struggled under the yoke of that idea, still all the objects and images grew with me, grew from the china and the haiku to the chopsticks and the futon, all of it part of a beauty that was never far off like a fresh scent down the years, taken for granted so often and now thrown back into a fragile treasure under the new and powerful light tragedy casts. </div></blockquote><blockquote style="font-family: Palatino;" type="cite"><div>Dearest Michi, though we haven't managed to get together since college and I didn't make it to Tokyo that time a few years ago, I'm thinking of you a lot, as I have over all these years, wishing a core of peace to you and your family that radiates outward all around you in waves of love. </div></blockquote><blockquote style="font-family: Palatino;" type="cite"><div>Love, Annie</div></blockquote>Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-43070994641105627212011-03-09T13:26:00.000-08:002011-03-09T14:40:52.047-08:00Happy Ninth Wave!So this is it, the first day of the ninth and last wave of the Mayan Calendar, known as the time of universal consciousness, the beginning of the age of love and the end of separation. Brooke Medicine Eagle has good insights about these times in her series of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHOPUeB2AX0&feature=related">videos</a>.<br />
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Till 6 pm today, EST, there is a "synchronized global breathing event" in the <a href="https://www.doasone.com/BreathingRooms.aspx?RoomID=1">Universal Breathing Room</a> where you can breathe with others to usher in the ninth wave with others around the globe, in oneness through the wonders of the web.Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850369461143325020.post-54586300393921665852011-03-05T13:58:00.000-08:002011-03-05T14:12:58.680-08:00On Meter Rhythm, and Birds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid6UjGR3zosVui6zFXIzP4jABn7coTnp8AIcXb7Ti1LG0T_7ZWYWqgqla5UIDm6bQO7mbCXbsTiErFxHLeTnAT7zUDZ3murF0dN4nLP7R0NcJpmvdk5JP1prlNM6v0oXEAoKk83nAESqlT/s1600/illummanu.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid6UjGR3zosVui6zFXIzP4jABn7coTnp8AIcXb7Ti1LG0T_7ZWYWqgqla5UIDm6bQO7mbCXbsTiErFxHLeTnAT7zUDZ3murF0dN4nLP7R0NcJpmvdk5JP1prlNM6v0oXEAoKk83nAESqlT/s320/illummanu.JPG" width="247" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I've long promised to post here some of the original posts from the predecessor blog to <i>American Witch.</i> Today's archival post is inspired by a marvelous </span><a href="http://www.world-science.net/othernews/110225_music"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">news item</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> about a newly-discovered genetic connection between human music and birdsong, which I posted on Facebook this morning, and by the link<a href="http://www.colorado.edu/English/faculty/facpages/zemka.shtml"> Sue Zemka</a> sent in response, to an </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080423/jsp/entertainment/story_9173107.jsp">equally amazing story</a> about birdsong-chants passed down over the millenia in India.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">On Meter, Rhythm and Birds</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I’m convinced that humans learned poetic refrain from birds. . . In dry southern California this morning, between readings in San Diego and LA, I wake in my sister’s riding trailer, used to follow horses on </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a name='more'></a>week-long mountain races. Birds are very close—unfamiliar birds, with a drier and quicker call than I am used to in New England. I hear their harmonious chatter in a new way. I think of the questions and answers after yesterday’s reading at UC San Diego: much talk about music, timing, pacing, meter, and rhythm. In response to a question from<a href="http://www.eileenmyles.com/"> Eileen Myles</a>, I found myself articulating a relationship I have long felt between meter and rhythm, but never consciously remarked. The standard late twentieth-century rap has been that rhythm embodies itself in the whole wide flexible music of language, while meter reduces rhythm to a few certain repeatable patterns. In this model, meter is something of a killjoy, a librarian, a sexless uptight track-keeper, while the real deep juice and joy of poetry is in the rhythm—and by implication, of course, in free verse, the poetry of real men and women (the order of these nouns is conscious) from Whitman on: the spurting blood-jet of poetry (with apologies to the ghost of Sylvia Plath for using her phrase in this way) that, to use Dr. Williams’ phrase, “ends the idea of poetry for ladies.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Yesterday, I found myself articulating an alternative model in which meter is, poetically, broader or at least as broad as rhythm: meter (coming simply from the Greek word for “to count”) is any system based on a structuring language element that can be counted, and hence predicted (and, perhaps, departed from) as an element of poetic shape. A pattern of counted words, counted phrases, counted erasures (to erase every third word of a text in a predictable pattern, for example) could be the basis of a meter. Rhythm is the play of accent and lightness (also syllable length, articulation and pause) in speech. In the area where rhythm and meter intersect—where accented and light syllables are the basis of pattern—arise the patterns we usually think of as meters.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I confessed to Eileen that I sometimes choose the word ‘rhythm’ when I should technically use ‘meter’—for example, in the poem spirals on my website, where if you click on the spiral called </span><a href="http://www.usm.maine.edu/~afinch/spiral/spiral14.htm"><span style="color: #0018e8;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“rhythms,” </span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">you will find numerous meters. I do this because I know that when people see the word ‘meter’ they tend to imagine only iambic meter, so they ignore the whole realm of meter as something overly familiar, narrow and confined—not the huge, complex, intricate array of intersecting patterns that is my understanding of meter, and which I hope the feeling of my rhythm spiral conveys. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Before the reading, I had the pleasure of visiting the <a href="http://www.mingei.org/">Mingei Museum of Folk Art </a>with <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/rae-armantrout">Rae Armantrout</a>. There we discovered a treasury of intricately patterned silverwork, rooms of wrought silver things spanning centuries and continents: headdresses, buckles, and necklaces, anklets and wristlets, some from places across the globe bizarrely similar, some aesthetic worlds apart. Last night as I described all this silverwork to my sister, I was physically encompassed, almost overwhelmed, by the physical memory of being among such a wealth of patterns. This is also how I feel when I imagine the metrical universe—I feel surrounded, almost massaged, by such a wealth of combinatory possibilities, each pattern rich with the memories or possibilities of so many words that have been worked into it.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And this encompassed, massaged feeling is how I imagine people used to feel about birdsong, when to be human meant to be surrounded by birds, before our sprawling destruction of their habitat started to drive them away and destroy them. A couple of years ago, when asked to comment on “noise” in a poem, I chose “Spring” by <a href="http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/nashe.htm">Thomas Nashe</a> (love that website soundtrack!):<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Spring, the sweet Spring, is the year's pleasant king;</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Then blooms each thing, then maids dance in a ring,</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing,</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The palm and may make country houses gay,</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Lambs frisk and play, the shepherds pipe all day,</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And we hear aye birds tune this merry lay,</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The fields breathe sweet, the daisies kiss our feet,</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Young lovers meet, old wives a-sunning sit,</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In every street these tunes our ears do greet,</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Spring! The sweet Spring!</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">After being reminded of the magnificence of this poem at an MLA conference panel organized by Bruce Smith, I had found I couldn't get it out of my head. I suspect the reason is that the noise in it is untranslatable. It is what it is. And then I began to understand something else: a person walking out of a rural or village house in the Renaissance, before automobiles and the destruction of habitat had so impoverished our ears of birdsong, would have heard so much more of a riotous and inspiring music from the birds than we can ever hear now. This makes the noise in this poem even more precious: a missive from the past, a time capsule from a time before tape recorders. (comments on "Spring" adapted from my comments in </span><a href="http://www.triplopia.org/inside.cfm/ct/460"><span style="color: #0018e8;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Triplopia</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And now I hear that songbirds can think in appositives; starlings have been </span><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/04/27/new_research_suggests_grammar_is_for_the_birds/"><span style="color: #0018e8;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">trained</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> to use “recursive grammar,” another of those many things that humans used to think exclusive to humans and which we are finally learning characterize non-human persons (a term I learned in Peter Nabokov’s extraordinary book about Native Americans and the land, </span><a href="http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,0_9780670034321,00.html"><span style="color: #0018e8;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Where the Lightning Strikes</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Thanks to the birds, centuries ago, and now, this spring, for your inspirations of refrain and joy. . .<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> (originally posted </span>on <i>Confessions of a Postmodern Poetess, </i>April 28, 2006 )<br />
<i></i></div>Annie Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874209585098408777noreply@blogger.com4