Francesca Forrest's Blog, page 181

Natalie Diaz, poet

dudeshoes linked me to this post on Natalie Diaz, a poet who is a member of the Mojave and Pima tribes. It features four stomach-punching poems from Diaz's new poetry collection, When My Brother Was an Aztec. The post quotes--and links back to--an interview Diaz gave to Ploughshares magazine that contains some powerful thoughts on violence and language.

On violence:

Sometimes people are overwhelmed by the violence in my poems. I guess, when we see someone’s heart ripped out, we tend to look awa...

eyes turned strange

At the jail yesterday, along with the US flag and the state flag, the black POW flag was flying. Am I the only one who finds that to be a strange juxtaposition: POW flag at a jail? This act is criminal; we must imprison you. This act would be criminal in peacetime but is sanctioned in war. This person is prisoner whose cause we champion. This person is a prisoner we'd like to forget existed. This person is a terrorist. This person is a prisoner of conscience. This person fell through the crac...

bicycles . . . and swords into plowshares?

On my way to buy legal intoxicants yesterday, I passed a parade of kids on BMX-style small bikes, four bikes, and on the first bike, two kids, a bigger kid, and a small, skinny kid hanging on in the back. On the front, draped over the handlebars, was another bike. I guess the small kid just wasn't supposed to be riding on the street? Or maybe something had broken on the small kid's bike, and they were traveling home, or someplace to fix it. I wish I had had my camera. They were such a tight g...

story pictures

Do you know what Tumblr is great for? Storing story-related pictures. Then you can go back and look at them while you're working.

Here are a few I love. I like them just as photos, but I also like them extra-special for my story. Which I was able to work on today. Yay!

On M--'s side of things, this:


(By Philip Lanyon, for National Geographic)

and this:


(The photo is by Ricardo Arduengo, but I came to it via Nijla Mu'umin, the woman with the cool film project.)


On K--'s side of things, this, which c...

haikujaguar on the art of conversation

Actually, her broad topic here is communication, and in the section I'm referring to, what she's talking about is when you want to ask a person for advice, but I thought it was good advice for having a conversation, generally, with someone you don't know well, especially if it's someone you admire. She also talks about jealousy and discouragement and also about treating others well. Link is Here

Howard Pyle Exhibit

I love the illustrator Howard Pyle (1853-1911), whom I knew as a child through his book The Wonder Clock. Currently, the Norman Rockwell Museum is hosting an exhibition of his work ("Howard Pyle: An American Master Rediscovered"), which has traveled up from the Delaware Art Museum. The exhibition will run through October 28.

Recently, we went to see it. Great fun! Here is Howard Pyle's "The Buccaneer Was a Picturesque Fellow" (1905) scanned in from a postcard of the painting:



Definitely Captain...

next, a story where I changed my mind, maybe, I think?

Last Friday's StoryCorps started out like this:

Across the western U.S., wildfires are fought in part by prison inmates.

Whoa whoa whoa. Whoa there.

Is that voluntary? my brain is asking. Because if that's not voluntary, that has got to be cruel and unusual punishment, no? And doesn't fire fighting take a lot of training? Can you just pull in someone who's never done it before and put them on the front line? Is that an effective way to fight fires? How do paid-and-trained fire fighters feel abou...

First, some poetry

I think I might post a lot today. As they say on Tumblr, I will be "all over your dash." So please do just scroll on by if you're feeling rushed/not in the mood to comment, okay?

I liked today's poem from Writer's Almanac, "Aware," by Denise Levertov, which Garrison Kiellor reprints with permission, but I, lacking permission, will merely quote:

I found the vine leaves
speaking among themselves in abundant
whispers . . .

Next time
I'll move like cautious sunlight, open
the door by fractions, eavesdro...

Scaling Mount Minivan

On my way into the center of town, I saw three small children erupt from a minivan and go inside their house. The smallest, barely a toddler, negotiated the two steps up to the threshold one foot at a time (one foot up onto the first step, then the other foot, then one foot onto the second step, then the other), using his hands to help him balance. Inside the door, I could see they had shelf for putting shoes.

On my way home from the center of town, the two older boys were climbing on the mini...

As to the true purpose of the Underwater Recovery Unit ...

For those who want to know what the underwater recovery unit actually does,
here is a link, and here is a quick summary:



Active search and rescue (Recovery or rescue of individuals who have been involved in "water-related mishaps.")
Evidence location and recovery
"This evidence may include, but is not limited to, knives, guns, ammunition, jewelry, tools, body parts, bones, and clothing. Special methods are employed by the Team to preserve evidence that has been recovered from water."
Body loca...