Midsummer Night’s…GIVEAWAY!

UPDATE: WE HAVE A WINNER! LEE F. – I CHOSE YOUR SUGGESTED POEM, “WHEN YOU ARE OLD,” BY W.B. YEATS!!!

Ah the heady days of summer. Well, actually, it’s a bit dreary here in the Pacific Northwest today, but it has been absolutely gorgeous. The days are long up around these parts, and we’ve had an unprecedented run of sunshine and warmth. Berries have been plentiful, we’ve all gorged ourselves silly on local cherries and gotten a bit drunk on summer itself.

This seasonal intoxication fills me with a profound sense of gratitude and desire to reflect on the first half of 2013. Admittedly, this year started out  miserably with illness and the sudden death of some very dear people. But it has also brought me some amazing moments, including the culmination and successful launch of Going Public…in Shorts, which began as an idea for a modest li’l listener giveback and blossomed into a phenomenal collaboration of narrators, bloggers and listeners. The first half also brought with it several rewarding projects that have lingered with me including Is This Tomorrow, by Caroline Leavitt, and Survival Lessons, by Alice Hoffman, as well as the most amazing blueberry pie I have EVER had (hey, pie rates, people).

So what to do with all this reflection and gratitude? And how best to celebrate the release of the full Going Public…in Shorts compilation? Well host a giveaway of course! Oh, and make sure it involves something that feeds the soul and transforms any given moment into something beyond: POETRY!

Here’s the deal:

• Comment below (or tweet or FB comment) with your favorite poem titles from work in the public domain (prior to 1923).
• I’ll pick one from all the suggestions and record it for the August 9th Going Public offering
• Comment by 11:59 p.m. next Wednesday, August 7th.
• Tune in to Going Public next Friday, August 9th to see if your poem was chosen 🙂
• Only open to US residents – sorry folks!

And the PRIZE?

Commenter who suggests the poem I pick will receive (drum roll please!):

• Digital download of full Going Public…in Shorts Compilation (from Downpour.com)
• Audio of Magnificence, by Lydia Millet (CD)
• Audio of Catch of the Day, by Kristan Higgins (CD)
• Print copy of Me Before You, by Jojo Moyes
• …and a batch of BROWNIES from fabulous recipe in Survival Lessons, by Alice Hoffman*um, unless I cannot manage to make them as deliciously as they deserve, in which case COOKIES will be substituted *

So – what are your favorite bits of poetry? Share! Hoping we get a good poetry discussion going and that we all make a few new discoveries…

July 26, 2013

It’s a week of nostalgia, reflection and remembrance…and of course, Tom Jones.

 

Inheritance, by Jessica Kluthe; published by Little Fiction

Read by Xe Sands

Xe  writes…

Recorded with permission of the author and publisher.

This week’s offering is a soft story. It reads like a fading photograph from the 70’s – one of those square ones that looks slightly out of focus and delicately yellowed. We read this story like we hold that photo: gently, with a bit of yearning toward a different time.

“Inheritance” comes from the wonderful Jessica Kluthe (check out her debut novel – Rosina the Midwife!) and Little Fiction. It’s a story of looking back…in time, in family, in memory, even when those memories aren’t entirely our own. And I am honored that they allowed me to voice it.

 

Gilbert and Sullivan Girls

Read by Diane Havens

Diane writes…

An unhappy occasion I recently attended nevertheless brought back some happy memories. In my youth, I belonged to a repertory company, the Light Opera of Manhattan, and performed Gilbert and Sullivan in repertory. Many of the company members gathered last weekend to honor and celebrate the life of one of the principal actors who passed away. I know most of the plays by heart, both music and dialog. I have my favorite bits of dialog, three of which I have recorded here — the vain young Yum Yum from “The Mikado”, the dignified old Dame Hannah from “Ruddigore” and the slightly snobbish Josephine from “Pinafore.”
Thank you, Gary Pitts. Thank you, LOOM. Thank you, Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Sullivan.

 

 

Poems from Long Ago “Old Romney Church” and “Eastbridge,” by Peter Davey

Read by Sonia Vilim

Sonia writes…

Recorded with permission of the author.

Old Romney Church

The clock
beats, leafy shadows wave
upon a sunlit wall;
can all of human history be held
within one moment of a summer’s afternoon?
the clock’s beat
which bore our planet out of emptiness
will bear it back again – the clouds, the trees,
the birds chattering beyond the windowpane;
yet, growing older, time
is crossed and recrossed constantly with hints
of something else, imbued by every scent and texture
of this ancient place; experience
and dreams
and memories
and new experience attained through art
are more real to me now
than time and space
and shadows of reality we move among

Eastbridge

As the daylight fails,
as the ruined tower darkens
on the fading clouds,
as the blackbird, scolding,
swoops among the bushes,
in remembered voices and in silence
comes the moment of reconsecration
on this empty land

Image by Peter Davey

 

 

 

Tom Jones – Book 5, Chapter 7, by Henry Fielding

Read by Mark Turetsky

Mark  writes…

Book 5 Chapter 7 of Tom Jones.

This is part of an ongoing project in which I will record and post one chapter per week of Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones over the course of four years.

This chapter deals with the imminent death of Mr. Allworthy. Yes, it seems that even the most, er, worthy of men will someday shuffle off their mortal coil. But of course, Fielding can’t have a serious and melancholic chapter without making fun of French accents.

Allworthy takes this moment on his deathbed to discuss his will with his friends, family, and servants. He’s leaving the bulk of his estate to his nephew, Blifil, with a generous amount of money set aside for Bridget, Tom, Thwackum, Square, and his servants. Of course, Tom’s sadness takes center stage, and, in a true playwright’s fashion, a messenger has come from afar bearing news, which we’ll find out about next week.

July 19, 2013

Seems to be a week of reflection and digestion of what we have lost.

No Man Is an Island, by John Donne

Read by Diane Havens

Diane  writes…

I’ve been thinking of this poem for some time now. We are so interconnected, and every loss does indeed diminish the rest of us.

 

 

Strain, by Amy Lowell

Read by Xe Sands

Xe  writes…

Just when I think I’ve discovered all there is of Amy Lowell, a new snippet of anguish or joy or epiphany will reveal itself to me at exactly the right moment.

Usually I have a bunch to say. But this week, I find I am distracted by many things, mundane and not so mundane. So this piece will just have to stand on its own.

Which, as it’s Lowell we’re talking about, shouldn’t be a problem.

July 12, 2013

Relatively quiet week with a bit of reflection on the nature of survival and the continuing saga of Tom Jones.

Courage, by Anonymous

Read by Xe Sands

Xe  writes…

…by and for an amazing friend

This piece comes out of the struggle of striving to survive wherever you find yourself, physical, emotional…whatever place in which you find yourself.

Written by my friend who is struggling to reconcile their identity with their surroundings (internal and external), after seeing these flowers growing in a place so incongruent to their true nature. It speaks to me of a “quiet resistance” we all face and then choose or fail to choose throughout our lives.

 

 

Tom Jones – Book 5, Chapter 5, by Henry Fielding

Read by Mark Turetsky

Mark  writes…

Book 5 Chapter 5 of Tom Jones.

This is part of an ongoing project in which I will record and post one chapter per week of Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones over the course of four years.

Well, here’s an end to Tom’s conflicting affections for Molly Seagrim and Sophia Western! It turns out that while Tom’s been recovering from his broken arm, Molly has been seeking the affections of another man. And not just any other man, but the hypocrite Square! Turns out that back when Molly was being attacked at the Church, Mr. Square got a good look at her and decided he liked what he saw, and has been seeing her ever since.

Tom is thrilled that he no longer has to worry about Molly, since she’s already found someone new (and it seems that Mrs. Seagrim has been pimping her out). Now, pay attention to the timeline here: Molly was already visibly pregnant in the church graveyard scene, so it’s still heavily implied that Tom is the baby’s father. But, somehow, Molly’s affair with Square excuses Tom from any responsibility.

July 5, 2013

Welcome back to our regular weekly offerings! 

Let’s see…what’s on deck today? Well, some David Herbert (duh!), a bit of patriotism, a disturbing bit of tragic Brooklyn history, and the continuing saga of Tom Jones!

 

The End, by D.H. Lawrence

Read by Xe Sands

Xe  writes…

Well, after the whirlwind of June is Audiobook Month (JIAM) and GOING PUBLIC…IN SHORTS, it’s been a quiet and blessed return to my own heart…with David Herbert.

As if you had any doubt.

Of COURSE it’s Lawrence. How could it not be? Where else is “home?” Who else owns my heart the way Lawrence does? Dunn? Pastan? Oh they own my soul and capture my poetic imagination, make me cry and often sum up my daily existence…and I have been flirting with Gilbert recently…but no, it is Lawrence who has owned, abused, neglected and yet always loved and most importantly, accepted, my poetic heart since we first we met in college.

And this piece…hmm. Yesterday, I would have said that I had never read it – that it had somehow slipped by me. But today, memory has shown itself for what it truly is: a series of educated guesses. And so I have to go with: I have not felt this poem before, and therefore had no prior memory of it.

…and before this gets so purple that you can no longer muddle through, I’ll end it there.

 

Excerpt from The Declaration of Independence 1776

Read by Diane Havens

Diane writes…

For Independence Day. The opening and closing paragraphs of the document that started it all.

 

A threefold poetic pronouncement from “Poems from Long Ago”, by Peter Davey

Read by Sonia Vilim

Sonia writes…

Recorded with permission of the author.

Where the Hens lived

At home the henhouse was
dry wood slatted; it stood
down among nettles
and some wild grasses but the hens’
wandering and foraging and scratching
somehow caused
the nettles and the grass to vanish
leaving bare earth; there was an iron
watercart, swaying, squeaking as it moved,
it sometimes
slopped over, if you filled the tank too full,
and soaked your legs. I loved how
that ground was not definable – it was not
meadow, it was not
garden, it was not
farmland, it was just
where the hens lived, out the back –
wire, warmth, dry earth
some scraps of groundsel
poking through the holes in iron sheets,
and murmuring and chortling, the sudden
fast fluttering of wings, and now and then
the cock crowing

Midsummer Night at Tynepits Cottage

Windows wide upon the whirring world
the curtain stirs
between the shadow-mouths of furniture
and shifting trees, between the brink of sleep
and forest-realms of badgers, foxes, owls;
the lapsing, rising breeze
deflects the nightjar, holds
one blackbird calling
in the deep wood; is the moon
vast, round, bronze beyond the maybug’s
fumbling, the distant line of downs
still visible from Great Oaks Wood?

Windmill Hill at Two in the Morning

Vast
silence
vast silver silence
two o’clock
the soaring firmament is mine
earth
belongs to owls and badgers
weasels, beetles, maggots;
boundaries are redefined
by tiny tracks and feeding grounds,
a single cry
denotes the forest humped against the night

vast
silence
Mars suspended out across the ocean
now the sky surrounds
this planet bearing all its life in whispers
stars are underneath the earth
and suddenly you sense its giant bulk,
its massive roundness,
how
it hangs with perfect buoyancy
in emptiness

Image: Where the Hens Lived by Peter Davey

 

The Burning Of The Brooklyn Theater (1876), Part 1

Read by Wyntner Woody

Wyntner  writes…

A reading of “The Burning of the Brooklyn Theater.”

WARNING: The graphic depiction of casualties from this conflagration may upset you.

For more information on this Brooklyn tragedy, please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Theater_Fire

Further episodes to come.

Many excerpts from other works may be found here: Wyntner Woody, on Audible.com and at www.theateroftheear.com.

 

Tom Jones – Book 5, Chapter 3, by Henry Fielding

Read by Mark Turetsky

Mark  writes…

Book 5 Chapter 3 of Tom Jones.

This is part of an ongoing project in which I will record and post one chapter per week of Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones over the course of four years.

So many twists and turns to this love triangle! Tom has just now remembered that he’s pledged to Molly Seagrim, and she’s carrying his child! Things are looking grim for Sophia and Tom’s relationship!