Centerpieces, Herbal Tea, and Book Meme Days 15 & 16

[apple_pathways]

LJ is being totally wonky. Replies people make to my comments aren't showing up in my inbox, and the ones I am receiving have all apparently been made "two hours ago", despite showing up in my inbox 10 minutes previously. You get a wag of the finger, LJ!

I chose a theme for the wedding shower I'm throwing for my future sis-in-law: "love birds"! They had these adorable, ready-to-paint birdhouses at the craft store for just $1.00 each, and this other store had decorative bird cages in bright colors, also for $1.00. I painted the birdhouses in colors to match the cages, and bought cute little fake birds. I was gonna take pics to share, but everything is all packed away now, so that'll have to wait.

I packed away all the herbs I dried for tea, and brewed myself up a cup. Delicious! I need to look up some tips for drying lemongrass, and also harvest some sage. I'm so sad that summer is over and my gardens are dying!



Day 15 - Your "comfort" book

I don't have one particular that I would call a "comfort" book. I re-read books all the time, and any of the novels I've mentioned already as favorites could fall into this category.

Day 16 - Favorite poem or collection of poetry

My taste in poetry tends to change with the seasons, but I do have quite a few stand-by favorites. One of them is Morning (Love Sonnet XXVII) by Pablo Neruda. My username is taken from the translated version of this poem. ("apple pathways" is "caminos de la manzana" in Spanish.) Here is the complete poem (translated):

Naked you are simple as one of your hands;
Smooth, earthy, small, transparent, round.
You've moon-lines, apple pathways
Naked you are slender as a naked grain of wheat.

Naked you are blue as a night in Cuba;
You've vines and stars in your hair.
Naked you are spacious and yellow
As summer in a golden church.

Naked you are tiny as one of your nails;
Curved, subtle, rosy, till the day is born
And you withdraw to the underground world.

As if down a long tunnel of clothing and of chores;
Your clear light dims, gets dressed, drops its leaves,
And becomes a naked hand again.

Simple, elegant, and so erotic! His imagery is clear and concise, and the pictures he paints so vivid. This is one of 100 love sonnets he dedicated to his wife Matilde, and I can't help but conclude that she was a very, very lucky woman.

Comments

[tourdefierce.livejournal.com]

I WANT TO SEE THESE BIRDS. THIS SOUNDS ADORBS AND CRAFTY. SEND ME ONE.


Neruda is such a mother fucking BAMF. I love him. If you do want to get into poetry, I have some amazing recommendations. ; )

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Pictures are undoubtedly on the way as the date nears. I started making the invitations today.

I love poetry! I've been trying to start writing it again, and some of my (very amateurish) attempts are tagged under poetry. But like books and music, I am always interested to hear what poetry other people recommend! So lay it on me: who should I check out?

[tourdefierce.livejournal.com]

If you don't read Richard Siken's Crush then your life is just not complete. Whitman's Leaves of Grass is honestly as good as its hype. Granted by Mary Szybist is amazing. If you like modernist-fuck-with-your-mind poetry than Gertrude Stein will redefine words for you. No shit. Depressing, but beautiful work can be found in Thomas Hardy's poetry. His novels are equally as depressing but not as beautiful. Anything by Eileen Myles WILL ROCK YOUR WORLD. YOU AREN'T HUMAN IF HER WORK DOESN'T MOVE YOU.

Enough? Lol. Novel wise, Dancer from the Dance by Andrew Holleran. I hope this helps!

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Leaves of Grass? Big thumbs up! Love Walt Whitman. His poem "Oh Captain, My Captain" recently came up in a trivia game, and I had to literally bite not my tongue to keep from bursting out the answer when it was someone else's turn.

The others I promise to investigate. I love getting recommendations from people whose taste I can trust.