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Winterberries and Apple Blossoms: Reflections and Flavors of a Mennonite Year by Nan Forler illustrated with paintings by Peter Etril Snyder (Tundra Books, 2011)  takes the reader month by month through a calendar year in an Old Order Mennonite girl’s life.   Old Order Mennonites are a religious community that live in and around the Waterloo region in southern Ontario.  Similar to the Amish, they live simple lives with very few modern conveniences.  They do not own cars nor computers or televisions.  They work on farms, making their living on what they grow and sell.

Naomi is the young girl from whose perspective the reader views her world.  Each month is written about in poems.  For example, January opens with a poem called “The Quilting Bee.”

Matilda Martin and Edna Bauman
Mam and Lucinda and me –
my first time quilting with the women.
Noisy greetings as we settle in around the quilt frame,
then silence as each begins.

A lovely painting of Naomi stitching amongst the women is depicted on the facing page. And so the months go, poem by poem, Naomi’s life unfolding before the reader. A Mennonite girl’s life is clearly different from a boy’s — in May’s poem “The Bicycle” for example, we see Naomi covertly attempting to ride her brother’s bike and suffering for it (she crashes, her skirt getting caught in the greasy chains) but two months later in “The Ball Game” we see Naomi whack the baseball well past the older boy’s reach even though they had moved in field expecting her to be a weak hitter.

I liked the pacing in this book. The poems are slow and thoughtful like the kind of lives these children live in their pastoral farm communities. And the paintings that depict the life are easily as bucolic and delightful as the poems.  And as an added bonus, there are recipes at the back of the book, one for each month celebrating the seasonal culinary delights of the community.

Poetry Friday this week is hosted by Elaine at Wild Rose Reader.

A year ago this January, well known and beloved Canadian poet P.K. Page died.   She was 93.  In the latter part of her career, Page wrote some children’s books, and in particular a poem called “A Grain of Sand” (Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2003) that was illustrated by Vladyana Krykorka.  A Grain of Sand is a very short book, based on the famous lines of poet William Blake –  To See a World in a Grain of Sand/And Heaven in a Wild Flower.   It was written at the request of Derek Holman for his oratario, An Invisible Reality.

The book is very simple with lush illustrations expressing what it is to be filled with wonder and awe as a child, and how one’s imagination “Can see in a daisy in the grass/Angels and archangels pass”  or “See outer space become so small/That the hand of a child could hold it all.”    I’m not surprised at all that Page was requested to write this book as she is a poet most fond of the mystical paradoxes of life, some of which are hard to grasp for children.  My daughter, for one, found this book perplexing;  however, I enjoyed exposing her to it nonetheless — call it paradoxical parenting!  That some things indeed, are a mystery is part of this book’s appeal.

For more on P.K. Page, you might want to check out the Canadian literary journal The Malahat Review‘s P.K. Page: A Tribute , but I do also recommend her books.  The Glass Air was one of my favorites in my undergraduate years.

This week’s Poetry Friday host is Elaine at Wild Rose Reader.

Wild Rose Reader encompasses a wide range of topics including but not limited to reading, writing, literacy, poetry and more. This blog is an excellent resource for those looking for title suggestions on different topics ranging from various types of poetry to writing resources to interesting children’s books.
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"Dreams are illustrations . . .  from the book your soul is writing about you." ~ Marsha Norman
        

Last week, Tricia of The Miss Rumphis Effect wrote a lovely post entitled, "Why I LOVE the Kidlitosphere." 

I agree with many of the reasons she listed, such as sharing the love of books with like-minded people, participating in worthwhile events like Robert's Snow, and the generosity shown by fellow bloggers with regard to book giveaways, highlighting other bloggers' posts, and thoughtful emails sharing links to information that may be of interest.

I'd like to add something else: sweet dreams!

Last week I dreamed about Elaine of Wild Rose Reader, whom I've never met in person. I was living at my parents' old house in Hawai'i, and one afternoon, the doorbell rang and there was Elaine on our front step. I was surprised and so happy she dropped by, trying frantically to remember whether I had invited her and forgotten all about it. 

I greeted her and noted the silky white nightgown she was wearing (probably Vera Wang). Diaphonous, I tell you, and scintillating. What else would one expect from a Wild Rose?

I realized I had to feed her something, but when I checked the fridge, all we had was some leftover spaghetti and a few brown lettuce leaves.

Oh no! It was like the Queen had come to visit, and all I had was a few crumbs.

Meanwhile, my parents came into the kitchen, so I introduced them to Elaine. While they were chatting, I opened the refrigerator again, hoping and praying that something good would appear.

And it did! There, on the second shelf, was the most beautiful tossed salad ever -- fresh, crisp lettuce, carrots, peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, you name it. And I knew, in my heart, that my husband had made it, even though I wasn't married and he wasn't there -- he just knew I needed it, and had provided it.

     
                                  salade a la elaine

Elaine was so gracious! She said she didn't mind leftover spaghetti one bit. I don't remember much about our conversation after that, but when Elaine saw the salad, she sighed and said, "Such poetry!"  

I love how the subconscious works. Sometimes, you might just skim a blog here and there; other times, you may become absorbed in a post. Either way, your mind has recorded something. That "virtual persona" you have encountered may represent only part of who the real, whole person is, yet it is distinct and can only be perceived through a computer. It differs from the reflective, private voice found in handwritten letters, the crafted voice driving a work of fiction, or the spontaneous voice that may speak to us in person. Traveling through cyberspace, a virtual persona is as ethereal as the wildest dream.

On Monday, I learned that Elaine's going to devote more time to writing poetry, so she'll be away from her blog for awhile. She didn't say whether she'd be working in her nightgown.

For now, I'm going to stock up on lettuce, just in case she drops by again.

                                        

P.S. Anybody out there good at interpreting dreams? I'm wondering about the unexpected visitor and the tossed salad. Do you think Elaine came to say "goodbye for now?" :) 

 

Poet Janet Wong’s energy and dynamism really struck me when I interviewed her for our current issue on the main PaperTigers site and these qualities really come through in her recent interview with Elaine at Wild Rose Reader. It focuses on “her experience as a student in a master class on poetry taught by the late Myra Cohn Livingston, one of America’s foremost children’s poets and anthologists” – as well as being a great read itself, the comments that follow on from the interview have kept the discussion going…

Not only that, but Janet and Elaine have also invited readers of the interview to write their own poems including the words ring, drum and blanket, as this used to be one of Myra’s homework assignments. You can still join in – and if you need inspiration, you can read Janet and Elaine’s own offerings; there’s a great poem called Dragon Boat Festival by Diane Davis; and Cloudscome, Miss Rumphius Effect and Writing and Ruminating have all taken the challenge in wonderful and very different directions too.

Earlier this week my parents, my kids and I took a walk around the Diamond Valley Lake Reservoir in Southern California. The wildflowers were in full bloom, the sky was a beautiful clear blue, and the newly-created lake sparkled below us. California poppies covered the hillsides along with a dozen other types of wildflowers in blue, yellow, and purple. It was a wet winter in California, so these flowers must have been a gift of repayment.

In honor of their short-lived beauty, my Poetry Friday entry this week is from Maya Angelou's "California Prodigal":

Around and through these
Cold phantasmatalities,
He walks, insisting
To the languid air,
Activity, music,
A generosity of graces.

His lupin fields spurn old
Deceit and agile poppies dance
In golden riot. Each day is
Fulminant, exploding brightly
Under the gaze of his exquisite
Sires, frozen in the famed paint
Of dead masters. Audacious
Sunlight casts defiance
At their feet.

You can read the entire poem here at PoetryFoundation.org.

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Elaine Magliaro is on the roundup at Wild Rose Reader. Elaine always does Poetry Friday right. Don't miss her post this week on "Gearing up for Poetry Month 2008." She has list after list of poetry resources available for us all.
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Photo from the National Park Service.

Manuel Ramos

SAM QUINONES
We received the following note from the University of New Mexico Press:

Sam Quinones' Antonio's Gun and Delfino's Dream (UNM Press, 2007), a book of immigration vignettes, picked up great reviews from the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal, among other publications. The newest feature of Sam's website is a link where the public can tell their True Tale, based on Sam's first book, True Tales From Another Mexico (UNM Press, 2001).

Here's the link: http://www.samquinones.com/other_stories.asp

You can read La Bloga's interview with Quinones, by Daniel Olivas, here.

And a review of Antonio's Gun and Delfino's Dream, by R. Ch. Garcia, here.


GENERATION TO GENERATION
Stories on Stage (Theater of the Imagination) begins its 2007-2008 season on August 26 with a program entitled Generation to Generation. Stories on Stage has taken a great concept and turned it into a great series of entertaining events. The concept? Excellent literature read by accomplished and acclaimed actors. Not plays, not performances: readings. The motto for Stories on Stage is Adults Deserve a Great Story ... and Cookies & Milk, Too!


Generation to Generation features four selections: The Queen of Mold by Ruth Reichi, My Son the Fanatic by Hanef Kureishi, Vanderbilt Genes by Augusten Burroughs, and an excerpt from Migrant Souls by Arturo Islas (William Morrow, 1990). The Islas piece will be read by Adriana Gaviria, who performed last year in Hermanas at the FringeNYC and the 52nd Street Project's Power of Ten: Plays That Count at the Public Theater in New York. Her other credits include Anna In The Tropics, September Shoes, and The Birds. She's worked with numerous theater companies including the Immigrants' Theater Project, Young Playwrights, Inc., and Pregones and Repertorio Español. Other readers are Annette Helde, Joshua Coomer, and Shishir Kurup.

Migrant Souls has an excellent reputation. The Library Journal's review of this book said: "Continuing the saga of the Angel family that began in Rain God, Islas explores the effects of life on the border. Burdened by the pride of matriarch Mama Chona, all her children and grandchildren are raised to hate their Mexican, dark-skinned heritage, valuing a mythical light-skinned Spanish ancestry. Islas contrasts rebel Josie Salazar, dark and divorced, who fights the family on every front, with Josie's widowed aunt, Jesus Maria, who attempts to maintain Mama Chona's values despite the scorn of her children. The author displays consummate skill in portraying the anguish of Hispanics living on both sides of a literal and figurative border in the second volume of a proposed trilogy. An excellent addition to fiction collections."

Generation to Generation is scheduled for August 26, 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM, Stage Theater, Denver Center for the Performing Arts.