Happy Easter!

It's National Poetry Month!

Here it is, National Poetry Month, and I almost forgot about it. Fear not, I have a poem for you.

Today I give you one of my favorite poems, "Letter With No Address" by Poet Laureate, Donald Hall. This poem can be found in Without, a collection of poems Hall released after his wife, poet Jane Kenyon, died of leukemia. "Letter With No Address", like every other poem in Without, was written for Jane.

LETTER WITH NO ADDRESS
by Donald Hall

Your daffodils rose up
and collapsed in their yellow
bodies on the hillside
garden above the bricks
you laid out in sand, squatting
with pants pegged and face
masked like a beekeeper’s
against the black flies.
Buttercups circle the planks
of the old wellhead
this May while your silken
gardener’s body withers or moulds
in the Proctor graveyard.
I drive and talk to you crying
and come back to this house
to talk to your photographs.

At five A.M., when I walk outside,
mist lies thick on hayfields.
By eight the air is clear,
cool, sunny with the pale yellow
light of mid-May. Kearsarge
rises huge and distinct,
each birch and balsam visible.
To the west the waters
of Eagle Pond waver
and flash through popples just
leafing out.

Always the weather,
writing its book of the world,
returns you to me. Ordinary days were best,
when we worked over poems
in our separate rooms.
I remember watching you gaze
out the January window
into the garden of snow
and ice, your face rapt
as you imagined burgundy lilies.

Your presence in this house
is almost as enormous
and painful as your absence.

I stole this from another blog...

And I enjoy making lists

10 THINGS YOU CURRENTLY WANT:


1. a really good book

2. something new to listen to

3. Seinfeld to be on Netflix

4. something sweet

5. graduation to get here

6. summer vacation

7. a winning lottery ticket

8. a farm

9. a pig

10. my current class to be over

9 MUSICIANS/BANDS YOU LOVE (IN NO ORDER):

1. New Order

2. U2

3. The Smiths

4. Joy Division

5. Weezer

6. The Doors

7. The Replacements/Paul Westerberg
8. David Bowie

9. Manic Street Preachers

8 THINGS YOU DO EVERYDAY:

1. brush my teeth

2. check email

3. wash my face

4. get kisses from my dogs

5. complain

6. read something

7. clean

8. work on something

7 THINGS YOU ENJOY:

1. books about music

2. singing in my car

3. a clean house

4. my pets

5. walking

6. driving

7. learning new things

6 THINGS THAT WILL ALWAYS WIN YOUR HEART:

1. humor

2. my dogs

3. a good song

4. intelligence

5. a good book

6. a tear jerker movie

5 FAVORITES: MOVIE, SONG, BOOK, FOOD, SEASON:

1. The Royal Tenenbaums

2. Age of Consent (New Order)

3. On the Road (Jack Kerouac)

4. Pizza

5. Autumn

4 SMELLS OR SCENTS YOU ENJOY:

1. rain

2. cake

3. fruit

4. the inside of a new car

3 PLACES YOU WANT TO GO:

1. England

2. Russia

3. Alaska

2 FAVORITE HOLIDAYS:

1. Halloween

2. Thanksgiving

1 PERSON YOU’D MARRY ON THE SPOT:

1. Already married him (...oh, and Spock from the new Star Trek movie)

What's with all the Barbie bashing?

Growing up, I was never very interested in baby dolls. I remember playing with the little dolls that came in boxes with different outfits. I confess, I just liked those dolls for all the little clothes. Baby dolls just didn't do it for me. I didn't have fun carrying them around, pretending to feed them, and who wants to change a diaper for fun? I didn't understand the appeal of baby dolls but Barbie made a lot of sense to me.

I got my first Barbie when I was about 4 as a bribe. I really, really wanted one. It just so happened that I had a nasty habit of biting my nails. My mom offered to get me my first Barbie if I would quit biting my nails. Easy enough. I got my doll and, to this day, I'm not a nail-biter.

I had all kinds of Barbie dolls but never any Ken dolls. My Barbie's boyfriends were much better than Ken. They were more attractive, had better jobs, treated her better than Ken ever could, and were all imaginary, of course. (Side note: Did Ken even have a job??) My Barbie also had several different jobs, depending on what held my interest at the time. Sometimes she was a musician, other times she was a detective or a doctor. Again, all imaginary. That's what Barbie is all about, right? Imagination? So, what's with all the articles and art projects putting real measurements and standards on a toy? Yes, a life-sized Barbie would be pretty scary but just about any toy would be equally frightening in real proportions. Take a deep breath. Barbie is just a toy.

Why is Barbie a great toy for girls?


Growing up, I never dreamed of my wedding day or of the children I was going to have. Lots of my friends did, but neither of those events held my interest. I never even wanted the bridal Barbies. Barbie dolls have been made in the image of rock stars, astronauts, doctors, teachers, and many other careers. She traveled and had houses in different places. Barbie was black, Asian, Native American, and embraced a multitude of diversity that goes beyond the blonde-blue eyed doll. And if I wanted my Barbie to have a baby, I folded up one of her clothes and stuck it under her shirt. Voila! Barbie's a mom. Barbie could do and be anything from your imagination.

Eating Disorders and Self-Esteem

Some of you know the horror of eating disorders from personal experience. Waking up every day, constantly tortured by what you put (or don't) put in your mouth is a nightmare for millions of women. Even if we're not starving ourselves, women find other forms of torture in the name of beauty. Plucking brows, waxing various body parts, high heels, plastic surgery...the list goes on and on. Are we really blaming this on a doll?

But, I hear some of you saying, Barbie will make our daughters grow up to think that this is how they should look! Do we really believe that? I believe that girls and women are smarter than this. I resent the fears that a toy will cause us to develop anorexia or self-esteem issues. This fear sends the message that girls and women are not bright enough to understand the difference between a toy and reality. I never played with Barbie dolls under the guise that I would look like her when I grew up and I bet none of my Barbie-playing readers thought they would either. If anything, Barbie is a blank slate; a vehicle for imagination. Please, give our daughters some credit.