Kelli Russell Agodon's Blog, page 20

Review: All the Odes (Bilingual Edition), Pablo Neruda edited by Ilan Stavans

All the Odes (Bilingual Edition), Pablo Neruda edited by Ilan Stavans
First line: Pablo Neruda wrote 225 odes.

Since today is Pablo Neruda's birthday, I thought I'd recommend this beautiful book.

If you love Pablo Neruda or his odes (or both), you need this giant book on your bookshelf.

What I love about it? The English translation is on the SAME PAGE as the original Spanish ode. It's perfect.

n his late 40's, Pablo Neruda began writing an ode a week. Every ode is now included in this collection.  If you haven't read his odes, they are short-lined, and deal with so many topics from seagulls to couples to sun to a train in China to the atom to typography to... (you get the idea).

I think this book is a great resource for poets in that it includes so many diverse topics.

All the poems are in alphabetical order, so it's easy to find an ode as needed. And if you haven't read his odes, they are accessible, so this is a lovely book to give as a gift to anyone who is a reader.

I also love how it allows you into these years of Pablo's life, where he is writing and appreciating and not appreciating and yes, bringing the romance into some of these (as in Ode to Her Scent).

But gems throughout. This book will be thoroughly underlined.



~ Kells
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Happy Birthday, Susan Rich! & a poem "Cloud Pharmacy"

From a party at Susan's a several years ago.
From our Poets in Pajamas reading at the Alexis Hotel




My good friend (and talented poet!!) is having a birthday today, so in honor of her birth, I will share a poem from her and her book, Cloud Pharmacy!  (Yes, it's the title poem!)

(Oh and a special treat, her book CLOUD PHARMACY is only $6.99 in the Kindle store - and $2.99 if you bought her book from Amazon...take the cloud with you!)


Cloud PharmacyHow many apothecary drawers
could I fill with these deliberations?The pharmacist’s paper cone
parsing out a quarter cupof love’s resistant drug,
spoons measuring new prescriptionsfor my uncertainty, hipsway, gesture.
Give me cobalt bottlesleftover from aunt iska’s cures,
albastrons of ointments, resins to resolvethe double-helix of desire inside of me.
Where is the votive, the vessel,the slide rule calculation—
to know how much good lovealchemically speaking is
good enough?I want spindrift nights on swimmer’s
thighs. I want an Egyptianelevator inlaid in camphorwood and ivory;
a West African drumbeat, an eggnog, a god.I want waves and summer all year long.
I want you. And I want more.First published in  City Arts
~ Kells
Don't Miss a Post ~ Subscribe to Book of Kells by EmailKelli Russell Agodon
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Postcard from Wallace Stevens

“Throw away the light, the definitions, and say what you see in the dark.” Wallace Stevens

~ Kells
Don't Miss a Post ~ Subscribe to Book of Kells by EmailKelli Russell Agodon
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Join Me in Vaughn, Washington with Reid Jamieson! Words & Music (and art!) July 12th at 7 pm Watermark Music & Art Series

Watermark Music & Reading Series in Vaughn, Washington

July 12, 2014 at 7 pm 
Vaughn, WA

Okay, even if you're not a fan of poetry, how can you not be a fan of this guy. What a talent!

I said yes to reading here just to hear him perform!







If you can join us, here's the info, but do RSVP with Jerry before ( 253-778-6559) or email  jerry.libstaff (at) watermarkwriters.com
Our address is 5106 Madrona Beach Lane KP N, Vaughn 98394.http://www.watermarkwriters.com/Events.html 253-778-6559  (RSVP) or email him at  jerry.libstaff (at) watermarkwriters.com

Hope to see you there!

~ Kells
Don't Miss a Post ~ Subscribe to Book of Kells by EmailKelli Russell Agodon
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Happy 4th of July!

~ Kells
Don't Miss a Post ~ Subscribe to Book of Kells by EmailKelli Russell Agodon
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Recommended Summer Reading: Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey

Daily Rituals: How Artists Work Great book for writers, poets, artists, musicians, and all in the creative arts.
The book is full of daily vignettes of creative people and their schedules.  
What I've noticed-- there's an awful lot of writers & creatives who have servants or maids to serve them food or wake them up precisely at 5 am.
A lot of creatives use both uppers and downers, drink a lot or use alcohol to write.
Many have very specific schedules and many either write in the morning or very late at night. Habits seem important and definitely sticking to their self-created schedule.
I was surprised to learn Joseph Cornell lived with his mother and Proust (I think!) had 1 or 2 croissants and strong coffee every morning and not much else (he also had someone bring them to him when he rang a bell).

Funniest routine is Gertrude Stein going into the country with Alice B. Toklas to watch a cow.  If the cow did not inspired Stein, Toklas would get up hit the cow with a stick until it moved and bring in a second cow for Stein to be inspired by.

The book has SO many artists, writers, poets, musicians, etc. in this book from Plath to Kafka, Gershwin to Picasso.  
Read the full summary on Amazon here.  I'm listening to the audiobook version and loving it.



~ Kells


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Postcard with Roman Candle from Jack Kerouac

"...the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars."

from On the Road, Jack Kerouac


~ Kells
Don't Miss a Post ~ Subscribe to Book of Kells by EmailKelli Russell Agodon
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Summer Plan(s)

Just checking in with a few things before I disappear for the summer.


1) Poet Postcard Posts: I have prescheduled some "poet postcards" throughout the summer, most will post Mondays, but some weeks there will be two.

Just realize they are prescheduled, so I'm not really here, which is to say please read thought #2.


2) Disconnecting:  Just so you know, if you leave a comment on my blog and I don't respond. Or if you write to me on Facebook & I don't respond. Or if you email me and you don't hear from me. 

It's because I'm disconnecting for a bit and absolutely nothing personal, just the time of year, I need to clear my head, reconnect with nature, and well, disconnect.

Someone asked me why I disconnect--

I think for me, sometimes the internet can almost rewire my brain in way that doesn't feel completely healthy. It makes a person (me!) think that there's emails to be answered. Facebook to be checked. It puts me on a response mode instead of an active-creating mode.

Summer is also my time to fill up and reconnect with the outdoors, with my more physical side--hiking, paddleboarding, mountain biking. As well as my intellectual side-- reading, reading, reading. 

The internet has a way of sucking me in. And while I've very productive, I need to retrain myself out of any bad habits so I can begin my writing/work year (which starts in September) fresh. 

Leaving my phone home, putting my email literally on Pause (by the way, if you have Gmail, this is something you can do and I HIGHLY recommend it! It's called InBox Pause and I SO recommend it if you are someone who checks email too much. You can schedule your email to come in at one or two (or more if needed) times a day, but until those times, you don't receive email--I sometimes do this during my work year) is my way of uncluttering my mind. 

I guess I also disconnect because I want to make sure I'm using my time well.  By June, I'm usually not as disciplined as I was in September.  I'll waste time on Facebook, and I know I need to walk away from the computer when I find myself on Pinterest!

So that is why I unplug in the summer.  To renew and rest and read...


3)  New Interview:  Here's an interview I did on my book, Hourglass Museum, along with a few other things including The Daily Poet and Two Sylvia Press's The Poet Tarot.

It will air in a month or two in the New England area on NPR.  

4)  Thank you: I just want to say thanks to anyone who reads my blog.  Blogs are not the thing anymore. Short form content like Twitter and Facebook has left what was once a neighborhood filled with interesting poets with empty houses.  I'm still around.  I always wonder when I'll leave, but I hang on, repaint my house and see what happens.

You don't have to be reading this, but you are.  So thank you.

I look forward to writing more interesting blog posts in the fall.

Enjoy the summer!  

And continue to write and create. It really does make the world a better place.


~ Kells
Don't Miss a Post ~ Subscribe to Book of Kells by EmailKelli Russell Agodon
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Postcard from Gertrude Stein "In the morning, there is meaning, in the evening there is feeling."

"In the morning there is meaning, in the evening there is feeling.”
― Gertrude Stein, Tender Buttons
~ Kells 


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Postcard Poem by Frank O'Hara: As Planned

~ Kells
Don't Miss a Post ~ Subscribe to Book of Kells by EmailKelli Russell Agodon
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