Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (Sonnet 18)

by William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

From: Poets.org

Happy First Unofficial Day of Summer everyone...

a poem for a long weekend -- Lake Isle of Innisfree

THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE

By William Butler Yeats

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a-glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear the water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

1892

Yahoo group invitation - 2nd edition

Let's see if this works better.... we are moving the discussion for Crafted Poetry to a Yahoo group. I think (I hope) this button will bring you to a screen that allows you to join, but doesn't automatically join you --

Click to join crafted_poetry

Maybe we can use this blog to post crafts and such? Or, if we'd prefer, we can upload photos to the Yahoo group -- we'll all just have to figure this out together!

Today's Poetry Daily selection

TO THE SOUL


Is anyone there
if so
are you real
either way are you
one or several
if the latter
are you all at once
or do you
take turns not answering

is your answer
the question itself
surviving the asking
without end
whose question is it
how does it begin
where does it come from
how did it ever
find out about you
over the sound
of itself
with nothing but its own
ignorance to go by


W. S. Merwin
Migration: New and Selected Poems
Copper Canyon Press

Copyright (c) 2005 by W. S. Merwin.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.

One of my Favorites

This is a quote from Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice. It is one of my favorities. I can't remember the names of the two characters right off the top of my head, but what's funny about it is that the young man in the play is telling his girlfriend this, and she doesn't get it. She's like 'yeah, whatever'.

"harmony is in immortal souls;
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it."

William Shakespeare

Post-Angelou

Thank you Jenni for posting that wonderful poem. I grew up in a neighborhood filled with women, and women to be, who embodied what Still I Rise projects. So many memories came back as I read it :)

There are two more days in the Angelou focus, though of course the more the better.

Starting next week I thought it would be fun if we all posted bits of poetry, or metaphors that appeal to us. They could be familiar, found, just thought up, funny, sad, peculiar; in other words no theme except that it is a bit or piece that catches your attention

For example:

" whisper your name in an empty room

brushed past my skin

as soft as fur"

Other Voices, R. Smith

Sound good?

Melanie will be the close reader leader in June. I snuck a peak :) She's gonna be good***CV

"Still I Rise" Maya Angelou

Still I Rise
by Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise. Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, Weakened by my soulful cries? Does my haughtiness offend you? Don't you take it awful hard 'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin' in my own backyard. You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise. Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs? Out of the huts of history's shame I rise Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise.

Next we have....

Last week was E.A. Poe (no not Hoffman) and this week is Ms. Angelou.

*hangs head in shame*

I know of her but not about her work. Please step forward all you Angelou'ians and illuminate - please :) ***CV

grains of sand

Speaking of musical uses of Poe: there is a group called Propaganda which has recorded Dream within a Dream. The female lead has this wonderful northern european accented voice which is wonderfully suited to the poem.

In fact I use this recording as my test for a good sound system ;) **CV

Not exactly the boy next door

I love to experience an artist or author through the genre-bending idiosyncracies of another. Even the most uninspired collection of "covers" can lead me to an insight. These two interpretations of Poe's poetry and prose go far beyond "covers," and lead me to experience Poe's mad art very, very directly.

Lou Reed's CD, "The Raven," is a rock and roll carnival and play about Edgar Allen Poe, who is, according to Reed, "not exactly the boy next door." Spoken tracks (with music) include readings of "The Raven, "The Tell-Tale Heart," and "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Willem Dafoe, Amanda Plummer reading "Annabel Lee" and "The Bells, " and Elizabeth Ashley's "The Valley of Unrest." Steve Buscemi, Laurie Anderson, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Ornette Coleman, David Bowie, and (of course) Reed himself contribute to the words, music, and atmosphere - pure Poe, filtered through the sensibility of Lou Reed, whose zesty, decadent interpretation captures Poe's raw madness and genius. (Lest you think the collection is humorless, you will never again hear a faux-jazzy lounge singer's interpretation of a Broadway song without recalling Steve Buscemi's spot-on take-off, "Broadway Song.")

Seemingly from another world, Donovan's musical setting of "El Dorado," on "Sutras," is both driving, with its complex guitar work, and evocative, with a yearning melody.
"Over the Mountains of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly, ride," the shade replied,
"If you seek for Eldorado."

SOS*

I would really like this group to continue.

So I was thinking that instead of having one group leader for Poe and Maya Angelou we could all post our favorite Poe'isms whether they be literary, musical, parody or inspired by, for one week and do the same for Ms. Angelou the following week.

True it wouldn't be a close reading ( I'm still trying to figure out what a close reading is. I figure I'll just deluge you all with what I like and think about my guy...er....um poet) but, we would get to know each other better through our selections and interpretaions in the meantime.

Maybe (*gasp* shock* horror*) you don't care for Poe or Angelou. Great! Tell us why.

Jan my heart goes out to you. Check in when you can even if it's to just read what we're up to 'kay?

santih ***CV

***I just couldn't title this entry with the acronym for Save Our Blog ;)

Urgent Assistance Needed

I won't go into details here, but I have had a major crisis in my personal life. I have spent the last 10 days about 80 miles from home at the hospital with my dh! He is out of the immediate danger, stable for now, but is by no means out of the woods yet. I am home for a few days to take care of some of personal business, but will go back to be with dh.

Because of this I will not be able to lead this month. I am sorry, I can occassionally check emails and blogs from the hospital, but cannot lead I am sorry. Please forgive me.

A Cat's tale

Since Jan will be doing the Raven I found a parody version last year which is on my blog chitta'svrtti

Enjoy!

I'm looking forward to your reading Jan :)***CV

Poe boy

Since we will be led to read Poe closely soon by Jan, I thought I would mention that I have been by Poe's 'hood. I was in Baltimore a couple of years ago and discovered that that is where Poe lived for the majority of his life.

So of course I had to go and see his pad.

My dad was visiting at the time so he drove us to the Poe site. I don't think it's the same building but if it was? I can see why Poe drank. ***CV

Goblin Market Project

I made a Goblin Market inspired sewing pouch!

It is very Victorina and the fabric is decorated with various types of berries: blackberries, cherries, blueberries. It has a small pincushion in the center and eight pockets for thread and various sewing items. I even crocheted a doiley for the center of it using some sport weight wool that I had in my stash. I am new to crochet and found it quite fun.

It is a celebration of feminity and fruit. Fruit really isn't that threatening after all!