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To give the Chinese proverb in its entirety, ‘Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come’ – and to extend the metaphor (or revert it … Continue reading ... →

How do you follow up the multiple award winning book, The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano? Margarita Engle continues to provide a window into the rich and violent history of Cuba with this new collection of poems from multiple points of view on the several wars for independence from 1850-1900, The Surrender Tree; Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom.

The Surrender Tree also combines real life characters (the legendary healer Rosa la Bayamesa) with imagined individuals to construct a compelling narrative of escape and hiding, heroism and healing. A former slave, Rosa (and her husband) devotes her life to caring for people, both runaways and persecuting soldiers, using only native plants and herbal remedies with skill, compassion and faith—all while living in hiding and on the run.

Set in the lush landscape of Cuba’s jungles and caves, the story-poem moves forward moment to moment across three wars fought by natives and fueled by outsiders. The plight of the Cubans themselves is a dramatic counterpoint for any war waged in the name of power and possession. But the decency and dignity of our heroine, her husband, Jos, her young protégé, Silvia, and many who prevail despite overwhelming odds makes for an inspiring and humbling saga.

I marked several powerful poems to share out loud, but chose this one as my favorite here for its understated simplicity and layers of meaning:

Rosa

This is how you heal a wound:
Clean the flesh.
Sew the skin.
Pray for the soul.
Wait.

Engle, Margarita. 2008. The Surrender Tree; Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom. New York: Henry Holt, p. 73.

What a powerful poetic voice, inspiring Latina writer, and distinctive ambassador for Cuba’s history.

For more Poetry Friday gems, go to my former student's blog, Becky's Book Reviews. Go, Becky!

Picture credit: www.schoollibraryjournal.com

I can't stop.

Yesterday I had to take the car in to "the guys". I felt like such a girl. Over the weekend it started making very very scary noises and shuddery spasms under the hood. I was terrified to drive it, and on Sunday left them a quavery voiced message trying to describe the problem and asking if I could come in Monday to have it looked at.

So 5 hours at TOS yesterday for diagnosing the problem (I needed new spark plugs and spark plug related wires and whatnot), and fixing of said problem, gave me some time to knit up some more pillow bits (and also read the entire Dec. 3rd issue of People magazine which filled my head with all sorts of shallow useless information like why Celine Dion's kid's hair is so long, how Leanne Rimes lost 10 pounds doing "hot yoga", how poor Marie Osmond is having such a hard time with the divorce and her dad dying and the fainting on Dancing with the Stars, and what all the celebs are giving for gifts, etc.).

And in case you wanted to know, a loose spark plug wire results in the sending of approximately 30,000 volts of electricity willy-nilly beneath the hood of your car, and NOT into the spark plug where its supposed to go, hence the scary jolts and noises and shudders I was experiencing. Yowza! 30,000, that's a lot.

Real illustration work is calling (which is financially a good thing) so these pillows will have to take their turn in the que of current projects and tasks that's beginning to feel like an avalanche waiting to let go. I'm hoping I can maybe at least get 2 more finished tonight. Maybe. We'll see... Read the rest of this post