Marly Youmans's Blog, page 157
March 20, 2011
Mike-diary: On the Markets
Dispatches from IndochineI have just eaten a durian.For the morally correct among you, those who view your stomach as your servant and not your master, this statement will be meaningless. But from the gastronomes who read this there may be frank envy. You see, the durian is perhaps the most storied of produce. Large, spikey, it is a Jupiter among the tree-fruits. And like Jupiter it is the
March 19, 2011
A second scrumptious book with Clive Hicks-Jenkins
The Book of Ystwyth will be the most splendiferous poetry book on the planet come May! Until then, it's definitely The Throne of Psyche, thanks to a scrumptious jacket by Clive Hicks-Jenkins himself. The Book of Ystwyth is profusely illustrated, with poems by the late Catriona Urquhart, writer and dear friend of Clive's, as well as Dave Bonta, Callum James, Andrea Selch, Damian Walford Davies,
March 18, 2011
Reminder: pre-order discounts ending soon
If you are a discount shopper and want to purchase The Throne of Psyche, know that pre-order prices for both the hardcover and paperback will be evaporating soon! Thanks for supporting my place in the world of books by reading here and by reading and purchasing my books. Book information via amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Throne-Psyche-P...
March 17, 2011
C.R.A.S.H. Japan
Artist Makoto Fujimura, who has one foot in the states and one in Japan, suggests this group for disaster relief donations.
The words, the world, the birthday--
Today my mother is 82. I know that I said she would be 83, but it turns out that she is a mere sprat of 82. Math was never my strong suit, I fear. She is hosting my eldest son for his spring break and weaving on her big new loom and doing I-don't-know-what. Probably she has been spending a good deal of time cooking for Ben.In her honor I have written a Precious Wentletrap poem, "The Fool Thinks
March 16, 2011
"Elegy for Japan"
"This 17th Century masterpiece by Tawaraya Sotatsu of Matsushima has now become, in my mind, an elegy for Japan." --Makoto Fujimura Click to see a larger image. Freer Gallery of Art.
March Madness
I must be feeling a little jaded...THREE HAIKU FOR THE PRESIDENT'S MARCH MADNESS PICKS*Japan, firefighters,Libya, rebel fighters--Spring inspiration.Salamander, coldOn a stone that gathers moss...All around, March fires.Obama-san's spring:What a social calendar!Stance: "above-the-fray."***from The Huffington Post:The president's bracket is fairly safe, with two 1-seeds and two 2-seeds advancing
March 15, 2011
Wroth, wroth with Ted Hughes
Dear, dead, evidently-irresistible Ted Hughes, there I was sailing along, enjoying your unscabbarded lines, the force of your word-twisting, your leaps like a salmon who tosses up rainbows. And you broke it! You broke my reading! Why on earth did you write that poem? No, no, I know why. Not a good reason. But why did you keep it?With luck, I shall be an old woman in the future. Ideally, I shall
March 14, 2011
Ghosts by Gaslight available for pre-order
Ghosts by Gaslight(Harper, forthcoming September, 2011)Edited by Jack Dann and Nick Gevers1."The Iron Shroud" by James Morrow2."Music, When Soft Voices Die" by Peter S. Beagle3."The Shaddowwes Box" by Terry Dowling4."The Curious Case of the Moondawn Daffodils Murder As Experienced by Sir Magnus Holmes and Almost-Doctor Susan Shrike" by Garth Nix5."Why I Was Hanged" by Gene Wolfe6."The Proving of
March 13, 2011
Mike-diary: Cockfight at Yen Son
I must say that I do not perceive my husband as he was portrayed in the "plump and red" story earlier, nor as he paints himself here. His long blond hair may be gone, and he may be a little cuddly around the middle, but I say that he's cute. While he is off in Vietnam as a volunteer academic neurologist, he is, however, a wild man who has, indeed, hunted in the Yukon and the Crazy Mountains. He
