book·ish : A Holiday Gift Guide.

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With Christmas just around the corner, I’ve been browsing Etsy for gift ideas. I’ve found plenty for family, and of course, plenty to pine over for myself. Here are a few gift ideas for the word nerds in your life.

A Bookish Gift Guide. This one is conglomerative – Woolf, Bronte, Shakespeare, Austen are all noted here, but there are some functional pieces as well. And what reader doesn’t love a good houndstooth scarf?
Let Shakespeare do the talking. Say I love you and Merry Christmas with one of these beautiful pieces.

book·ish/ˈbo͝okiSH/Adjective

1. (of a person or way of life) Devoted to reading and studying rather than worldly interests.
2. (of language or writing) Literary in style or allusion.
3. (of art and all manner of lovely things) devoted to the written word as a form of art and as a way of seeing the world.
4. (of SheWritesandRights.blogspot.com) anything of the aforementioned characteristics as they are found on the interwebs and reposted by Bethany, because bookish and writerly things always give reason for amusement.

Poem: The Return.

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I’m returning to days now -

Monday

Tuesday
Wednesday…
 
A natural order of things. 


I think in grief, to return to simplicity is the only way to seek restoration, to find healing, to cope, to comfort one another. 

The sound of your loved one’s steady breath, 

a clock as it flicks mutely in the dark, 

a bed that is our own.

book•ish: holiday party outfit

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So after a rough couple of weeks I’m back home in Chicago and ready to move forward. We brought Mom home from the hospital on Thanksgiving Day and set up in-home hospice care. I’m thankful that for the time being we are all okay. But more on that later when I’m feeling brave.
For today, I’m dreaming of happy holidays and a great outfit to wear to them. Indulge with me.

I’m thinking that with these earrings and my red suede pumps and a little black dress, this bookish bracelet will be the icing on the perfect New Year’s outfit for a party downtown? Oh yes. And since it’s Cyber Monday, now would be the perfect time to buy it all for me, right? [Hubby, are you reading this?]

book·ish/ˈbo͝okiSH/Adjective

1. (of a person or way of life) Devoted to reading and studying rather than worldly interests.
2. (of language or writing) Literary in style or allusion.
3. (of art and all manner of lovely things) devoted to the written word as a form of art and as a way of seeing the world.
4. (of SheWritesandRights.blogspot.com) anything of the aforementioned characteristics as they are found on the interwebs and reposted by Bethany, because bookish and writerly things always give reason for amusement.*
*All items posted in the book·ish section are found by myself and posted of my own accord unless otherwise stated. If you would like to be a sponsor or host a giveaway, please contact me at shewritesandrights[at]gmail[dot]com.

Guest Poem: Joe Bunting

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Today’s poem was written by Write Practice blogger Joe Bunting, and we’re bringing a little bit of the Write Practice process to Writes & Rights. This is Part I of a two-post dialogue about what makes a poem good. Tomorrow I’ll share a new poem I’ve written over at Write Practice, but for today, we’re looking for constructive criticism on Joe’s piece. So share your thoughts- what parts of Joe’s poem stick with you, resonate and tap into your innermost thoughts? Or does it? What parts of the poem are effective, and what parts need work? Do the imagery and message behind it speak clearly through Joe’s language? Join the conversation about good poetry.

~

Learning, Still, to See

Where are you?
Do you see that white bird
in the red branches of the shrub?

Do you see this pile of dead leaves
pushed into a ditch from a parking lot
sprinkled with soda cans?
And do you see me, sitting atop this yellow
flower quilted hill—did you look close?
Did you notice each flower is the size of an ant?
Did you notice each is shaped like a stretched out bell?
Did you see the millions of ant-sized yellow bells?
If not, where are your eyes?
Where are your eyes and where are your feet?
Did you dance while God played the pipe in those red branches?
Did you weep when God played a sad song in that pile of leaves?
And did you see the old man dressed in a cornflower gown?
Or the old woman wheeled against the wall?
He stares dead ahead. Drool drips down her lip.
(They watch television and wait to die.)
Old man will you teach us to dance?
Old woman will you teach us to weep?
And will you teach us to see that white bird
Singing sad dance songs in the red
branches of a shrub I do not know the name of.
Maybe then you will learn to see.
(Maybe we’ll learn to see too.)
~

Joe Bunting heads up The Write Practice, a blog of writing prompts for people who don’t do writing prompts, where he considers himself the community editor. As a day job, Joe is a ghostwriter and canopy tour guide. (seriously. he hangs out in trees all day long.) Follow him on Twitter. Woohoo!

What Makes a Poem Good?

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“Good poems tend to incorporate some story, some cadence or shadow of story… You could, without much trouble, commit these poems to memory and have them by heart, like a cello in your head, a portable beauty to steady you and ward off despair.” 

Today I’m thinking about how thankful I am for words and that feeling that you get when you read something that feels so right, so accurate that it taps into your innermost being. I’ve been rereading Garrison Keillor’s Good Poems, and I finally read the introduction. He had some beautiful and amusing ideas about what makes a poem good, but I love this point in particular.
It is this concept that has motivated me to paint and produce artwork, and now share it with others. I am deeply interested in the steadying effect that art and poetry have on human nature, the way that these things color my world, bring it to life when everything feels grey and desolate.
This week I’m swapping guest poems with another blogger, an exercise meant to open the discussion about the process of writing poetry, and using language to tap into the deepest parts of ourselves. Stay tuned.