Those who have dissected or inspected many [bodies] have at least learnt to doubt; while others who are ignorant of anatomy and do not take the trouble to attend it are in no doubt at all.
~Giovanni Battista Morgagni
You can get ideas for poems anywhere, right? Even anatomy class.
donuts By Tabatha Yeatts
in anatomy class
i learn that human
bodies are like donuts,
with circles in the middle
that travel from our mouths
to our rearmost exit points
i wonder whether a
bunch of us in a car or bus
are like a box of donuts
with assorted toppings,
and i conclude
we are the world's
noisiest donuts
all i know is
we're not crispy crullers,
and we're not raspberry-filled;
we’re soft,
yeasty sometimes,
occasionally glazed,
most definitely
hot now.
**********
Donut People by Harry W. Yeatts, Jr.
Random Noodling has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Diane!
The tea pavilion, castle of Borne Blanche photo by P.poschadel
One more quote:
If afternoon teas had started in the Oligocene Epoch, instead of the seventeenth century, we are convinced that evolution, far from discarding that useful appendage, the tail, would have perfected it. A little hand would have evolved at the end of it — such a one as might hold his saucer, while a gentleman sips from his teacup.
~Contributors' Club, The Atlantic Monthly, October 1917
For Wellness Wednesday, we're thinking about how to improve what's going on in our digestive system. Most likely this came to mind for me because my older daughter was recently diagnosed with celiac and how well she's digesting is significant to her quality of life, but in reality, it's a big deal for many people. I bought her some aloe water and ended up needing to buy more because I shared them with other folks who were having issues. It's common.
Probiotics can be a help (and can be especially vital if you've taken or are taking antibiotics). In addition to supplements, you can eat your probiotics by having yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, any fermented food. I have never tried fermenting my own food, but I really should. This Carrot and Radish Sauerkraut looks good (yes, feel free to tell me that I'm crazy).
I haven't really actively eaten prebiotics, except for Trader Joe's snack crackers and onions. Raw garlic is also a prebiotic. The Food Network has a delicious-looking set of recipes called Feed Your Probiotics, which combine pre- and probiotics.
There are lots of good teas for helping digestion. Two of my favorites are Orange Ginger Mint and Fennel (or you could make your own). Addendum: You can make your own ginger syrup -- regular ginger ale has got nothin' on ginger drinks made with fresh syrup. I use this recipe.
Bitters are good before meals to kick-start your digestive process. I made my own. (I bought bitters ingredients on Etsy.) You can also buy bitters already made. Another possibility: eating bitter greens like endive and arugula.
P.S. When I was looking up stuff for this post, I discovered that someone made a 12-hour-long video of stomach-growling noises. On the one hand, I laughed out loud when I saw it. On the other hand, people sure are strange.
Those with dementia are still people and they still have stories and they still have character and they're all individuals and they're all unique.
~Carey Mulligan
Our video for Music Monday comes with a tissue warning:
Addendum! It's the 20th anniversary of the release of Harry Potter -- can't let that go by unacknowledged:
When Keats, at last beyond the curtain
of love’s distraction, lay dying in his room
on the Piazza di Spagna, the melody of the Bernini
Fountain “filling him like flowers,”
he held his breath like a coin, looked out
into the moonlight and thought he saw snow.
He did not suppose it was fever or the body’s
weakness turning the mind. He thought, “England!”
Summer is always best through a window.
~Jens Lekman
Windows for Art Thursday. Recently when my family went to an art exhibit, my daughter Elena & I picked the same painting as our favorite -- one with an open window and billowing white curtain. It drew us right in. I can't share that painting for copyright reasons, but...
Mix up a little more shadow color here, then we can put us a little shadow right in there. See how you can move things around? You have unlimited power on this canvas -- can literally, literally move mountains.
~Bob Ross
For Wellness Wednesday, we're thinking about engaging with art.
I started Art Thursday years ago to ensure that I would spend some time with art every week. Have you been getting as much interaction with art as you want? This could mean just following Art Pics Channel on Twitter so you see some art every day, or rotating prints you like as your wallpaper on your computer. Maybe you want to try coloring or making some Zentangles. You could decorate the cover of a notebook or binder with a print so you can see it when you are studying or cooking, etc. What feeds your spirit? How can you get more of it?
I have an Etsy account where I save favorites, and I encourage doing that, although it doesn't need to be Etsy. Other sites include Artsy,DeviantArt, and Society 6. You can save things that appeal to all sorts of different moods. Have fun with it -- save things you can't afford ;-)
I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.
~Jane Austen
These folks are completely in the zone when they're singing:
They are pursuing solo projects now, so here are their individual web sites:
Superfruit Kevin Kirstin Avi
It goes without saying that a fine short poem can have the resonance and depth of an entire novel.
~James Wright
Busy writing poems for the Summer Poetry Swap this week! I wrote one for the wrong person first (how is that possible, you wonder? I found a way...), plus I am doing two people for the first swap, so I have been working on three poems. I am going to be collecting poems about mistakes for an anthology, so I have been doing prep work for that as well.
The moon drops one or two feathers into the field.
The dark wheat listens.
Be still.
Now.
There they are, the moon's young, trying
Their wings.
Between trees, a slender woman lifts up the lovely shadow
Of her face, and now she steps into the air, now she is gone
Wholly, into the air.
I stand alone by an elder tree, I do not dare breathe
Or move.
I listen.
The wheat leans back toward its own darkness,
And I lean toward mine.
*************
I think immortality is a real draw for many writers, don't you? Poet by Bastille:
*************
You can find the Poetry Friday round-up at Carol's Corner. Thanks, Carol!
I like trains. I like their rhythm, and I like the freedom of being suspended between two places, all anxieties of purpose taken care of: for this moment I know where I am going.
~Anna Funder
Trains for Art Thursday. I saw the painting by Hans Baluschek and decided to run (chug?) with it.
Some foods are so comforting, so nourishing of body and soul, that to eat them is to be home again after a long journey. To eat such a meal is to remember that, though the world is full of knives and storms, the body is built for kindness.
~Eli Brow
Thinking about food this Wellness Wednesday. Healthy comfort food in particular. Do you have anything you like to eat when you are cheering yourself up? Mashed potatoes are a favorite of mine, with lots of cream, butter, and salt. Not super healthy, and honestly, a healthy version of it probably isn't going to do it for me.
My relatively healthy comfort food favorites:
soups and chili
tea and lots of it
smoothies
plain Greek yogurt with honey
coq au vin
chicken tikka masala
guacamole and tortilla chips
lasagna (okay, not healthy?)
chocolate drizzled strawberries (maybe with bananas or marshmallows...)
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.
~T.S. Eliot
"Ten Things Found in a Wizard's Pocket" is today's poem. It has been used in lesson plans as a mentor poem, which inspired me to write "Ten Things Found in a Mermaid's Pocket."
Ten Things Found in a Wizard’s Pocket by Ian McMillan
A dark night.
Some words that nobody could ever spell.
A glass of water full to the top.
A large elephant.
A vest made from spider’s webs.
A handkerchief the size of a car park.
A balm for well-kissed lips.
Some scale-shaped band-aids.
An umbrella hat for when no one's looking.
Chocolate seaweed for bad days.
A pair of special occasion stillettos.
A sailor's hair in a locket.
Dolphin mist perfume.
Another sailor's hair in a locket.
A sweet pet jelly with a zippy stinger.
Throat spray for tired singers.
**********
What might YOU find in an interesting stranger's pockets? A Year of Reading has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Mary Lee!
Somewhere close I knew spear-nosed bats flew through the tree crowns in search of fruit, palm vipers coiled in ambush in the roots of orchids, jaguars walked the river's edge; around them eight hundred species of trees stood, more than are native to all of North America; and a thousand species of butterflies, 6 percent of the entire world fauna, waited for the dawn.
~Edward O. Wilson
Art from the Biodiversity Heritage Library today. I really had a hard time stopping. So many pleasing and curious things! (Click to embiggen.)
from The naturalist's miscellany, or Coloured figures of natural objects
by George Shaw, 1751-1813
illustrated by F.P. Nodder and R.P. Nodder
from De dieren van Nederland by Hermann Schlegel, 1804-1884
from De dieren van Nederland by Hermann Schlegel, 1804-1884
from De dieren van Nederland by Hermann Schlegel, 1804-1884
from Himalayan journals; or, Notes of a naturalist in Bengal, the Sikkim and Nepal Himalayas, the Khasia Mountains, &c.
by Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, 1817-1911
from Flora of America, drawn after nature on the spot. Rich collection of most remarkable plants, flowers & fruits of size & natural size.
By Etienne Denisse
from The plums of New York ... by U.P. Hedrick, 1911
from The main gifts of Dutch East Indies by P. A. Ouwens
from Exact description of the main natural curiosites of Albert Seba's magnificent cabinet
Albertus Seba, 1665-1736
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
Today for Wellness Wednesday, we're thinking about making sure our relationships are uplifting and not "vexations to the spirit."
One of my mottos is "Protect what you value," which I often think when I see people on motorcycles without helmets, but applies to many ways we spend our time. Do you value your peace of mind, your self-confidence? Protect them!
Maybe you don't have vexatious relationships, but maybe someone you love does. Other people's choices are generally out of our hands, but I have seen young people make better choices after they become more informed about healthy and unhealthy relationships. Information sharing can be helpful.
How can you tell whether a relationship is healthy? What can be done about it if it isn't? Here are some articles on those topics:
I don't know why we take our worst moods so much more seriously than our best.
~Tim Kreider
I read a poem that wowed me this week, but a) I don't have permission to share it, and b) it was quite dark. Darker than I'm feeling. To read it (which I do recommend), go here.
Instead, I'm sharing Ogden Nash.
No Doctors Today, Thank You by Ogden Nash
They tell me that euphoria is the feeling of feeling wonderful,
Well, today I feel euphorian,
Today I have the agility of a Greek god and the appetitite of a
Victorian.
Yes, today I may even go forth without my galoshes,
Today I am a swashbuckler, would anybody like me to buckle
any swashes?
This is my euphorian day,
I will ring welkins and before anybody answers I will run away.
I will tame me a caribou
And bedeck it with marabou.
I will pen me my memoirs.
Ah youth, youth! What euphorian days them was!
I wasn't much of a hand for the boudoirs,
I was generally to be found where the food was.
Does anybody want any flotsam?
I've gotsam.
Does anybody want any jetsam?
I can getsam.
I can play chopsticks on the Wurlitzer,
I can speak Portuguese like a Berlitzer.
I can don or doff my shoes without tying or untying the laces because
I am wearing moccasins,
And I practically know the difference between serums and antitoccasins.
Kind people, don't think me purse-proud, don't set me down as
vainglorious,
I'm just a little euphorious.
*******
It's June! (This made me laugh, especially when she describes what happened...)
*******
Buffy Silverman has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Buffy!
I remember my childhood names for grasses and secret flowers. I remember where a toad may live and what time the birds awaken in the summer -- and what trees and seasons smelled like -- how people looked and walked and smelled even.
~John Steinbeck
Unloading the boats, Newlyn Harbour by Harold Harvey
Motiv von der Insel Rab (Arbe) by Marie Egner
Mühle by Marie Egner
"Yestreen Queen Mary had four Maries, This night she'll hae but three; She had Mary Seaton, and Mary Beaton, And Mary Carmichael, and me" (Mary Hamilton) from Eleanor Fortesque Brickdale's Golden Book of Famous Women
Bottom and Titania by Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale
The Uninvited Guest by Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale
