Sunday Sonnet
I have several books dedicated to sonnets & The Making of a Sonnet: A Norton Anthology, edited by Edward Hirsch & Eavan Boland is one of my favorites. I’m not even sure where I got this book. I think at some used book store in New England, when I was living there a few years ago. But I don’t remember. I collect so many books, especially collections of sonnets. I really love the sonnet form.
I have always loved Norton anthologies. I have a bunch of them. They’re the best. Not only do they have a great collection of literature within their covers, but they also have really great analysis of the poems, stories, essays.
As for this this collection, I can open up this book to any page & find a wonderful poem to read … to recite out loud … to share with a friend … it’s the most wonderful book. ALL my sonnet books are great but this is one of the very BEST.
So for today … this is the sonnet I’m sharing. & I just opened up the book! I didn’t plan ahead or anything. Here it is:
Ya know, I don’t even care about the rhyme scheme or anything. This is sublime. & it’s so lovely to write poems to poets that you love. I’m so happy that I read this poem today & that I was able to share this with you. (or you’s … I’m from Buffalo, after all).
References
Hirsch, Edward & Boland, Eavan. The Making of a Sonnet: A Norton Anthology. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008.
Saturday Caturday
Today is International Cat Day! My three buddies are taking their morning naps. Here they are:
Jack on my bed (one eye opened when the camera flashed).
Bobby on the couch (pissed off because I woke him up).
Radar on the Moroccan rug. (I wonder what my little sweetheart is dreaming about?)
all photographs © polly macdavid
If you are affluent
Truth
…capitalism is basically a system where everything is for sale, and the more money you have, the more you can get. And, in particular, that’s true of freedom. Freedom is one of the commodities that is for sale, and if you are affluent, you can have a lot of it. It shows up in all sorts of ways. It shows up if you get in trouble with the law, let’s say, or in any aspect of life it shows up.
Noam Chomsky
Language and Politics
Chained Sonnet Notes
More of an effect than a set sonnet form the chained sonnet can be used with any sonnet variant the poet chooses. Each line begins with the last word of the preceding line. For a cyclic chained sonnet the last word of the last line should be the first word of the first line.
Structure: As per chosen variant
Meter: As per chosen variant
Schema: As per chosen variant
Example using the Ivorian Sonnet as the sonnet form
Captivation by Jez Farmer
Love, when you hold me my feelings run free
Freely expressing what you mean to me
Me and you entwined in that warm embrace
Embracing our senses once locked inside
Inside and outside we found our own place
Placing our lips to make a tender kiss
Kissing love until our eyes gaze above
Above desire in our ecstatic bliss
Blissful murmurings make sense, well, kind of
Of how…
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Radical Individualism ….
An Indescribable Crime
Perhaps last week’s revelation that Il Trumpe was going to let Democratic states die from COVID-19 for electoral gain is just another casualty of the Trumpian strategy of flooding the zone with shit (this was sort-of confirmed by a NY Times reporter, who inexplicably didn’t see this as newsworthy). Maybe it’s just so hard to keep up with the torrent of horror during Trump’s misrule that leaving tens of millions of Americans to die because they belong to a different political party doesn’t register.
But I think David Atkins makes a good point–we don’t really have a way to describe the evil that position entails (boldface mine):
If this is true–and there is very little reason to doubt its veracity, despite the White House press secretary’s denials–it would constitute perhaps the greatest crime against humanity of any president in American history. Andrew Jackson’s Trail of Tears…
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Poisons Are Wisdoms
Greed, Hate and Delusion are known as the Three Poisons in Buddhism.
Greed manifests as egocentrism, misplaced desire, unhealthy attachments and feelings of entitlement that are not aligned with human rights.
Greed is an unquenchable thirst and void that seeks to be filled up by hook or by crook. Even when goals are attained, satisfaction is fleeting and chronic discontent returns.
Chronic greed infects personal lives, businesses, religious institutions and politics, creating a cycle of suffering and deprivation.
Hate manifests as senseless anger and repulsion towards others and repressed feelings of self-discomfort.
Senseless hatred is hostility, aversion or ill-will towards a person or group of people based upon their humanity, ethnicity, race, socio-economic status (i.e. people that are poor or unhoused) or religion. Hate is a privileged expectation that one is entitled to feel homogeneous and comfortable at all times. A hateful mindset is frenetically pre-occupied with scapegoating, control and…
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