Summer Break

Summer just opens the door and lets you out.
~Deb Caletti

Hi folks!

I am taking a wee summer blog break...somewhere between one and three weeks. In the meantime, congrats to the Bucks, good luck to the USWNT, and here are a couple of videos:





OK, this too:

Free Printable Infinity Breath Sheet

Inhale, then exhale. That’s how you’ll get through it.
~Unknown

Hi folks! I made an Infinity Breath sheet that could be used in the classroom or elsewhere to practice taking calming breaths.

You can find it here.

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All That You Dream

You just follow the rule
Keep your eyes on the road that's ahead of you
~Paul Barrère and Bill Payne

For Music Monday, a song that popped into my head the other day. Little Feat (and a version with Linda Ronstadt):

Ready the dimples

Her poetry is the diary or autobiography...of an acute psychologist, a wonderful rhetorician, and one of the most individual writers who ever lived, one of those best able to express experience at its most nearly absolute.
~Randall Jarrell, on Emily Dickinson

While working on a set of Emily Dickinson cards (like the Basho ones), I ran across these poems. A little optimism with a dash of romance and a splash of nature-love. Just the ticket!

Dawn
by Emily Dickinson

When night is almost done,
And sunrise grows so near
That we can touch the spaces,
It 's time to smooth the hair

And get the dimples ready,
And wonder we could care
For that old faded midnight
That frightened but an hour.

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The Outlet
by Emily Dickinson

My river runs to thee :
Blue sea, wilt welcome me ?

My river waits reply.
Oh sea, look graciously !

I'll fetch thee brooks
From spotted nooks, —

Say, sea, take me !

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A Service of Song
by Emily Dickinson

Some keep the Sabbath going to church ;
I keep it staying at home,
With a bobolink for a chorister,
And an orchard for a dome.

Some keep the Sabbath in surplice ;
I just wear my wings,
And instead of tolling the bell for church,
Our little sexton sings.

God preaches, — a noted clergyman, —
And the sermon in never long ;
So instead of getting to heaven at last,
I'm going all along !

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Nix the Comfort Zone has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Molly!

Day of Solidarity

We all act as hinges- fortuitous links between other people.
~Penelope Lively

For Art Thursday, decorative hinges in Belarus. Aren't they striking?

July 16, 2020, is a special day for women’s solidarity in Belarus. On this day, Maria Kalesnikava, Veronika Tsepkalo, and I made a decision in 15 minutes to join our forces and unite our presidential campaign headquarters.
~Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is the leader of Belarusian democratic forces who beat the autocratic president Aliaksandr Lukashenka in a presidential election on August 9th, 2020, according to independent observers. She stepped into the race after her husband was arrested for his presidential aspirations. Lukashenka publically dismissed her as a “housewife,” сlaiming that a woman can't become president. Tsikhanouskaya united Belarusian democratic forces together with two other leaders – Maria Kalesnikava and Veranika Tsapkala.

Ways Tsikhanouskaya suggests to commemorate the day:
* Write letters to political prisoners in Belarus.
* Write a tweet/social media post or take a video in support of Belarusian women with the hashtag #StandWithBelarus and/or tag Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (Twitter: @Tsihanouskaya).
* Support Belarusians by donating to funds helping political prisoners and their families, such as BySol, A Country to Live In, #BY_help.

The night is good

[Evellyn's TOTEM project] seeks to open doors to new sounds and to research new horizons...inviting a deep connection between those who sing and those who listen.

For Music Monday, Lakota Lullaby • Alexia Evellyn (Autoria Desconhecida) with Claudia Dantas:

Moving like a secret

We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today.
~Stacia Tauscher

Poet Jim Harrison says "Time...can tip us upside down" and I think poetry can do that, too. Sending out a thank you to all of you who tip me upside down on a regular basis!

Seven in the Woods
by Jim Harrison

Am I as old as I am?
Maybe not. Time is a mystery
that can tip us upside down.
Yesterday I was seven in the woods,
a bandage covering my blind eye,
in a bedroll Mother made me
so I could sleep out in the woods...

read the rest here

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butterfly who moves like a yawn
Teddy Roosevelt Island

Transitory Mitzvah
by Sarah Matthes

In the subway car, a mystery of proximity: a yawn
passing from mouth to mouth,
across a line of seated strangers,
in perfect order. I watched it moving

like a secret through a row of children,
washing toward me as each person opened
their lips to swallow it up
and then, in unbroken revolution,
give it away....

read the rest here

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Reflections on the Teche has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Margaret!

Agurbash, Shlegel, and Silivonchik

This is the endless story of human relationships with the world, of the harmony and joy of life in all its forms.
~Anna Silivonchik's artist statement

For Art Thursday, two Belarusian artists who I don't have permission to share so I will just have to send you to see them elsewhere. They are colorful, romantic, surreal so I hope you follow the links:

* Elena Shlegel *

* Anna Silivonchik *

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Belarusian singer Angelica Agurbash has been placed on Lukashenko's "wanted list" for criticising his illegitimate government. She is currently in Russia, but his administration has asked for her to be deported to Belarus.



If you're on Twitter, you can keep up with Belarus current events by following journalist Hanna Liubakova.

Lifesavers

Story is that light we turn on for ourselves.
~Michelle Auerbach

Hi y'all! I am short on time this week, but have you seen Anthony Wilson's Lifesaving Poems Project? He was inspired to start keeping track of "lifechanging poems" by a remark of Seamus Heaney's.

photo by Eli Christman

I spent time with a few of Wilson's picks, but would like to read them all.

Be Kind
by Michael Blumenthal

Not merely because Henry James said
there were but four rules of life—
be kind be kind be kind be kind—but
because it’s good for the soul, and,
what’s more, for others, it may be
that kindness is our best audition
for a worthier world, and, despite...

read the rest here

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On the same page, Wilson shares Praise the Rain by Joy Harjo and Try to Praise the Mutilated World by Adam Zagajewski. He says to start with Harjo:

Praise the Rain
by Joy Harjo

Praise the rain; the seagull dive
The curl of plant, the raven talk—
Praise the hurt, the house slack
The stand of trees, the dignity—
Praise the dark, the moon cradle
The sky fall, the bear sleep—

read the rest (and the second poem) here

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Laura Shovan has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Laura!

The Square of Changes

The back and forth between residents and the authorities has placed the expansive courtyard in the spotlight. Belarusian musicians have shown up to entertain large nighttime crowds from a first-floor balcony, with the makeshift stage and the rest of the high-rise building lit up in red and white, the colors of the opposition.
~Raman Vasiukovich

Happy Art Thursday! Still waiting for Belarus to be free. This week, we have a mural. It was painted in honor of two djs who were put in jail for ten days for playing a protest song at a government rally in August 2020 (I'll include the song below).

The government keeps painting over the mural and the residents of what is now known as the "Square of Changes" keep painting it back.

Kirill Galanov and Vladislav Sokolovsky

The song they played is a Soviet-era protest song by Viktor Tsoi called "Changes." Be sure to have the closed captions on.



"Kino" Performed Their Song "Changes" At Concert In Minsk (Viktor Tsoi's son was the producer)