The End of Science Fiction: Poem In Your Post

The End of Science Fiction

This is not fantasy, this is our life.

We are the characters

who have invaded the moon,

who cannot stop their computers.

We are the gods who can unmake

the world in seven days.

Both hands are stopped at noon.

We are beginning to live forever,

in lightweight, aluminum bodies

with numbers stamped on our backs.

We dial our words like Muzak.

We hear each other through water.

The genre is dead. Invent something new.

Invent a man and a woman

naked in a garden,

invent a child that will save the world,

a man who carries his father

out of a burning city.

Invent a spool of thread

that leads a hero to safety,

invent an island on which he abandons

the woman who saved his life

with no loss of sleep over his betrayal.

Invent us as we were

before our bodies glittered

and we stopped bleeding:

invent a shepherd who kills a giant,

a girl who grows into a tree,

a woman who refuses to turn

her back on the past and is changed to salt,

a boy who steals his brother’s birthright

and becomes the head of a nation.

Invent real tears, hard love,

slow-spoken, ancient words,

difficult as a child’s

first steps across a room.

                  - Lisel Mueller

This is my pick for Poetry Out Loud.  Any poem that gives me a shiver and speaks a truth I didn't know I knew is a poem I'm ready to learn and perform.  Plus, it boasts many allusions to mythology that my students will "get", a true bonus.

If you're a parent, student, teacher, or poetry lover, you will admire and enjoy the offerings at the Poetry Out Loud website, which also provides information about this nationwide poetry performance contest sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with state arts councils.

What's your poem du jour?  Post the poem or a link to it in the comments below...

MFB,

L

Top Ten of 2011: Edgy Does It.

What a fine year in reading.  So many potential "bests".  For this blog hop, I'll limit myself to the requisite ten, but I hope you'll take a gander at my "Books, Ratings, Reviews" page tabbed above to sample the many additional worthy tomes that didn't quite fit today.

That said, I would recommend each and every one of these books to readers who enjoy the skillful use of language to illuminate thought-provoking content. The links below are (except when otherwise noted) to my longer review posts for the books.

A word to the wise reader: Many of these books shake us out of our everyday thinkin,g in part through the use of some decidedly edgy content (sex, violence), so I would not necessarily recommend them for all readers.  Write to me in the comments if you're considering some of these reads and would like additional background on them - I'd be happy to elaborate.

Do you agree with my choices below?  Of those on my list, which would you champion too?

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Greene and David Levithan.  Certainly the best young adult novel I read this year, this also boasts two protagonists, each voiced by one of today's top Y.A. novelists.  Themes: love, tolerance, identity.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. Reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe in Hamid's use of an unreliable narrator plus elements of mystery to keep us hooked from cover to cover in this novel of globalization, terrorism, the lure of the dream of America, and the tyranny of the dollar.  Bonus:  The title reveals our own prejudices or preconceptions as it doesn't refer to what you'd expect...

My Tender Matador by Pedro Lemebel.  I've never read prose like this:  luminous, dreamy, sensuous, elegiac.  And the content's anything but predictable.  Another multi-voiced novel: an aging and delicate one-time drag queen, General Augusto Pinochet of Chile and his malcontent wife.  Definitely not for the prude, but a reading experience and characters you'll never forget.  (I didn't review this novel here - I read it for my IRL book group - so I linked to Amazon so you can "look inside".)

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.  Yes, it's long, but the characters in this classic set in the Napoleonic Wars become so intimately known that they feel like friends and neighbors to the reader, and one reads this chunkster with increasing emotional investment in the soap opera of their lives. Definitely worth your (considerable) time. (I didn't review this novel here - I read it for my IRL book group - so I linked to Amazon so you can "look inside".)

Bright's Passage by Josh Ritter. Standout all-American post WWI novel, set in Virginia when a returning soldier must escape with his young child when his wife dies giving birth and her despicable family members vow to take their son.  It's the literary debut of a lauded singer-songwriter, so the prose and imagery are as gorgeous as you'd expect too.


Nothing by Janne Teller. This young adult novel explores not only the lengths a small group of young people will go to to find meaning in their world (think Lord of the Flies themes, in a tranquil suburban/rural setting with escalating acts of surprising betrayal and violence), and then moves on to help us consider the commodification of meaning.  Yet it's all concrete, substantial, psychologically intriguing, and even darkly funny. 

And The Pursuit of Happiness by Maira Kalman.  Perhaps the single uplifting tome in my list, Kalman's illustrations and quirky prose make this luminous recounting of her pilgrimages to historic American sites a joy from cover to cover.  Kalman's engaging voice with a unique perspective on life landed this one on my list.

The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok. Simply gorgeous, this memoir of Bartok's childhood, which was dominated by the actions of her beautiful, artistic, but also mentally ill mother, seems to have set the standard this year.  Mira's a wonderful artist herself, and this book's popularity is well deserved, in my view, as she recounts the saving graces of day-to-day beauty with intensity and grace and offers a compassionate yet sometimes painfully honest perspective on her mother's illness and its ravaging repercussions.

Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel. This semi-allegorical novel is Life of Pi author Martel's allegory about the Holocaust, with nods to the tragicomic worldview of Beckett.  For me, a reader reasonably fluent in literature of the Holocaust, it packed an emotional and intellectual wallop well worth experiencing. 

Off to find the best book finds of the year from the other bloggers at The Broke and The Bookish.

With gratitude for a year of plenty, at least as far as books were concerned,
L

It's In Every One Of Us: My Favorite Holiday Sentiments (with Muppets!)

"Alfie the Christmas Tree" is a beautiful little poem for all, Christmas-celebrators or not.

And then there's one of my favorite tunes, with a beautiful lyric:

It's in every one of us to be wise:
Find your heart, open up both your eyes.
We can all know everything
Without ever knowing why.
It's in every one of us, by and by.

(song lyrics by David Pomeranz)

A little whimsy, a little beauty for this holiday season. 

Happy Holidays, One and All!
L
(Yes, it's John Denver.  Get over it!)

last minute gift idea: writer, illustrater, filmmaker Peter Sis (any of his books!)

Yes!  I charmed it and it arrived!  The Conference of the Birds by Peter Sis is everything I'd hoped for and more.  Consider it for your bird- and book-loving friends this year.

And talk about a sensorily satisfying reading experience: even the texture of the pages is a tactile luxury. 
What is it?  Sis's illustrated re-telling of the classic twelfth century Persian epic poem that's a sort of allegory or parable about life's journey and spiritual transcendence.  There's really no need to say more, as The Conference of the Birds is truly a visual road one should travel directly.  And in this season of over-abundance and sensory overload, it will be a welcome respite of peace that one can certainly experience in one sitting, and then return to many times over.

I'd recommend it to anyone who admires mythic storytelling, haunting illustrations inviting many explorations, or birds.

This is a book that might appeal more to teens or adults, but Sis has also crafted gorgeously illustrated books suitable for younger readers as well.  All of them are worth exploring.

MFB, and I don't even know the guy!
L



Here's what it looks like.  Now go get it
at your local bookseller or indiebound.org
or betterworldbooks.



And here's the one that got me hooked on Sis:
a gorgeous visual homage to the life and legacy
of Charles Darwin.

And another (about the subtitle).

And another (about Galileo).

See what I mean?  They're all good and giftable for most any adult - or sophisticated younger person - on your list.

Top Ten Books I Hope Santa Brings

Where to start?  In fact, I'd be grateful for any book a friend or family member thinks I'd enjoy.  That's the truth.  But if The Broke and the Bookish affords me the opportunity to proffer a few bold hints, here goes...

1. The Conference of the Birds by Peter Sis.  I've already ordered and paid for this illustrated text based on a twelfth century Persian poem, but I've been waiting on alibris to deliver it for a couple of weeks now.  Can't wait to enjoy this promising new work from one of my favorite illustrators.  (I linked to an Atlantic Monthly article about the book.  It includes slides of some of Sis's illustrations and a review too.)

2. The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides.  The latest novel from my fellow Brunonian has garnered strong reviews, and I'd enjoy reading it.


3.  The Complete New Yorker on CD rom.  Can you imagine?  Eighty years of impeccable stories, poems, in depth journalistic pieces, and cartoons, all at your fingertips?  Ultimate gift!


4.  The Apothecary by Maile Meloy.  Somehow, my copy never arrived from her publisher, but I'd love to read Meloy's new middle reader fantasy.

5.  My own copy of Howl's Moving Castle and the other two in Diana Gwynne Jones's fantasy trilogy.  Loved Howl's, but I'd appreciate my own copy to lend out to friends - pay it forward, I say.

6.  T.C. Boyle's newest: When The Killing's Done.  I simply enjoy anything that guy writes.

7.  The Best American Short Stories 2011.  This collection always offers treasures and pleasures aplenty, and I tend to purchase my own copies if I don't receive them as gifts. Bonus this year: Geraldine Brooks, one of my favorite American writers, is this year's guest editor.  And among this year's authors: Jennifer Egan, Nathan Englander, Elizabeth McCracken, and Joyce Carol Oates.


8.  Wildwood by Colin Meloy (Maile Meloy's brother, of The Decemberists).  This children's fantasy reads well from its first sentences on, and I'd love to enjoy it in its entirety.

9.  2011 National Book Award non-fiction winner The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt.  I adored his speculative biography of Shakespeare, Will In The World, and would be grateful to read his latest.

10.  Whatever Santa and his elves wish deliver, I'll read with relish.

What's on your list this year?  Visit The Broke and the Bookish if you're looking for a few more good books to add...

MFB,
L

In My Mailbox: Cyborgs and Fairy Tales

I still can't get over finding excellent books at my doorstep.  This week I was happy to find...

Cinder by Marissa Meyer (ARC copy of this Jan. 2012 futuristic young adult fantasy from Macmillan: Thanks!)

and


A Princess and Her Garden by Patricia Adson, PhD. (perusal copy from the Center for Applications of Psychological Type - again, thanks!)

Clearly, I am channelling Cinderella... I'll keep you posted on how these twin volumes illuminate the age-old fairy tale that's really so much more - and frankly more empowering - than the Disney version might lead us to believe...

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren.  Link up there to find out what others are reading (or at least collecting) this week...

MFB,
L

Poem In Your Post: The Death of Santa Claus (read on at your own risk!)

The Death of Santa Claus

He's had the chest pains for weeks,

but doctors don't make house

calls to the North Pole,

he's let his Blue Cross lapse,

blood tests make him faint, 

hospital gowns always flap

open, waiting rooms upset

his stomach, and it's only

indigestion anyway, he thinks,

until, feeding the reindeer,

he feels as if a monster fist

has grabbed his heart and won't

stop squeezing. He can't

breathe, and the beautiful white

world he loves goes black,

and he drops on his jelly belly

in the snow and Mrs. Claus

tears out of the toy factory

wailing, and the elves wring

their little hands, and Rudolph's

nose blinks like a sad ambulance

light, and in a tract house

in Houston, Texas, I'm 8,

telling my mom that stupid

kids at school say Santa's a big

fake, and she sits with me

on our purple-flowered couch,

and takes my hand, tears

in her throat, the terrible

news rising in her eyes.

-          Charles Webb

I admire how Charles Webb works me up into a fit of shocked indignation and then uses the surprise he's conjured to create empathy for the young speaker and his mom here.  It's a skillful manipulation of emotion for a worthy end, reminding us how painful the loss of our imaginary heroes and their magic can be.

Then I thought of this Wordsworth sonnet, a classic of the Romantic period, in which he more straightforwardly exhorts us to return to the magical intensity of times past (albeit focused on connection with the natural world).  Rather interesting to ponder the first few lines in this season of shopping as well. (Did I say shopping?  I meant 'giving'.)

                                                                  The World Is Too Much With Us

The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,

The winds that will be howling at all hours,

And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,

For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be

A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

                                      - William Wordsworth

Do you have a favorite seasonal poem to offer?  I would be so grateful if you would share it in the comments, or on your blog with a link in the comments.

MFB,
L