~Elizabeth Woody
I read Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River this week and closed the book thinking that Lawhon must be a wonderful person.
The feeling reminded me of that age-old quandary: how does an artist's personality/behavior affect how you feel about their work? Recently, a lot of people were disappointed by Alice Munro.
In this case, I'm sure Lawhon is great, haven't heard anything otherwise. I feel like I know so many ethical, big-hearted writers whose beautiful internal lives are reflected in their writing. I am still wrapping my head around the gap for some people between their writing and their lives. It's bewildering.
On to today's poetry!
Blessed by Mistake by Kim Stafford
Kim Stafford on Revising the elements of a poem
Kim Stafford's poems and prompts
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Not a poem, but:
Linescapes Drawing (Sonja and Gasper)
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Salt City Verse has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Janice!
10 comments:
Thank you, Tabatha! "fairy light" could apply to so many things! And thanks for the reminder to cheer the progress along the way to our goals.
All kinds of cheering keeps us going, doesn't it? And when one is settling into 'fairy light', it feels good! Thanks for finding the author of my poem, Tabatha! You nailed it with Chris Baron! I edited my post to give you credit! Have a great weekend!
Here's to not being perfect, excepting it as human, and for understanding others' imperfections. Love "I'm so easily charmed by error--/consoled to see I don't need to be /perfect, which the world has never been."
Oh, a happy mistake indeed! ✨✨
An inspiring poem that pairs so well with the Linescape drawings!
Ooh, we read The Frozen River in my book club and we liked it sooo much. (The rest of your post is great, too!)
Tabatha, cheering ourselves on our journey is important. Thanks for reminding us of this. I love the words Fairy light!
Yes, the disturbing things we learn about authors whose work we love and then what to do about loving their work when they are despicable...quite the conundrum. And yet, on the flip side, there's our ability to make art from mistakes. So...hmm...
I want to be outraged re: Munro (and all my other ethical disappointments)...and then I think the only person who has earned the right to be outraged is her daughter -- and outrage is not what she chose. Maybe such authors might be taught from the POV of brokenness. This is brokenness --how it writes, how it lives, how it hurts, how it's read, how it's reviewed...
This is so true - about cheering that is. Thanks for the reminder. I need to read some Alice Munro. I am not familiar with her. But it did strike me this week how some people are very offended by a negative review of Colleen Hover's book, (and now movie) "It Ends With Us." I've never liked Hoover's writing - and I read three of her books to be able to say that out loud. I think we are all drawn to different writing because we are all different. Thanks, Tabatha.
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