Ghosts of the Tsunami

Death and Life in Japan’s Disaster Zone

Thoughts by Richard Lloyd Parry, 2017, 7 hours 47 min, 295 HC

Narrated by Simon Vance

Challenge: What’s in a Name: Natural Disaster category

Genre/Theme: Nonfiction / Japan Tsunami March 2011

Type/Source: Audiobook / Audible

What It’s About: This story focuses most on a school that suffered higher than typical casualties for a tsunami in Japan. This was no ordinary tsunami, but it is obvious that the school administrators were caught off-guard and were ill-prepared. This is such a sad sad look into how humans grieve, blame, deal with their demons, and move on, if that is accurate. It’s not. The ghosts emerge in the very last section and it is fascinating!

Thoughts: A heartening and disheartening look at a culture, a community, politics – it’s ALL politics!, and connectedness. Of being human against and with the forces of nature. I can’t say it was enjoyable, but I’m glad to have read this.

Rating: Four slices of pie. No pie mentioned, though it is possible that a Japanese style of pastry that might fit my loose definition of “What is Pie?” was mentioned and I’m just ignorant of it.

“An easing of walls

A shuddering of souls

a pebble loosens, falls.

In the room, alone – it has

It begins, and then is gone

ripples outlast stone

Rain, smell, stirs the heart

Nostrils flare, a breath

We wait for something to start.”

-Anthony Thwaite?

Copyright © 2007-2024. Care’s Books and Pie also known as and originally created as Care’s Online Book Club. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Poetry 2023 Edition 1

Poetry Goal 2023:  to read a poem* every day.

So. I haven’t yet given you any posts on the poetry collections that I’ve been enjoying this year.

Moving on…

Can I just get away with posting the above image? My blogging skills are rusty. This list is presented most recent at top.

My favorites happen to both be created by Kansan poets, which I think is really cool. I am sad to say that when I researched Diane Wahto, I discovered she recently passed away. Her legacy reached beyond artistic endeavors – she was a passionate advocate for womens rights and human rights. Jamie Lynn Heller is the other.

I dedicate the following share to Jeanne who recently visited Niagara Falls:

At The Edge

On the observation deck, the Niagara’s roar

drowns out voices, thought, all that is rational.

Fist tight around the rail, you know your position

is precarious, sense the ease of a weightless fall

into that mist. So much depends on an upright

stance—the husband who stands beside you,

children who are waiting at home, a cat

who must be fed every day. No free fall

for those who are tied to the flesh of those

who occupy the house still waiting, the key

still fitting into the lock of the solid front door.

I’m taking a bit of a break from poetry for the remainder of the year and am instead, leaning into essays; particularly and specifically, the work of Ross Gay, himself a noted poet but I am delighting in his Book of Delights. His second book of delights is on my shelf but I think I can plan it that I can start that one on January 1, 2024 when I finish his first. (He has an additional title Inciting Joy, which I also own.)

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I often find that my blogging habit is often on my mind with guilt when I fail to post, so jumping back in, even with something short, can spur me back to a more regular posting. Cheers to you all and may you find pie in your reading, pie as dessert after a fabulous meal, and pie with coffee with a friend or while you are reading some spectacular book. Or poetry collection.

.

Code Pie above is my first attempt to bake with Pie Geometry by @LokoKitchen

*Or more. I’m not tracking, I’m just reading. I’m not limiting this experience to one poem a day – that is only the minimum.

Copyright © 2007-2024. Care’s Books and Pie also known as and originally created as Care’s Online Book Club. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Poetry 2022 Edition 3 (and Last)

Yearly Poetry Goal:  to read a poem* every day.

Collection #5 by Nikki Giovanni, Harper Perennial 2009, 109 pages

A Fish Out of Water

.

.

And now I sit

On the beach

Listening to the waves

Crash over the rocks

.

And wish

I had seen

The end of this story

At the beginning

Instead of

At the end

These poems are playful and have energy, even the less upbeat ones, and the downright somber ones. SO MANY of these poems included food, but I didn’t find a pie mention. Going with a 3 slice review rating.

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Poetry 2022 Edition 2

Poetry Goal 2022:  to read a poem* every day.

Collection #3 by Jacqueline Woodson, Puffin Books 2016, 366 pages

“Nothing in the world is like this-
a bright white page with
pale blue lines. The smell of a newly sharpened pencil
the soft hush of it
moving finally
one day
into letters.”

“I am not gifted. When I read, the words twist
twirl across the page.
When they settle, it is too late.
The class has already moved on.

I want to catch words one day. I want to hold them
then blow gently,
watch them float
right out of my hands.”

“Even the silence
has a story to tell you.
Just listen. Listen.”

This has been the longest collection of poetry I have read yet; spanning March to August. I loved every page, every poem, every thought expressed. Five slice of pie and YES! It had pie. (but the new goodreads layout has hidden my updates so I don’t know the page nor full passage. Also, sad to say, I no longer have the book – did I misplace it? give it to a friend? sell it to the Half Price Books so I can buy more books? I can’t recall.)

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Collection #4 by Grace Paley, Farrar,Straus and Giroux 2008, 83 pages

On OCCASION

I forget the names of my friends

and the names of the flowers in

my garden . . . my friends remind me

Grace . . . it’s us . . . the flowers just

stand there stunned by the sun

I very much enjoyed this collection. She’s smart and sharp, even as she describes blanks in her mind and her memory. It’s about living, living through what you have to but not necessarily being happy about it. Rather, determined.

*Or more. I’m not tracking, I’m just reading. I’m not limiting this experience to one poem a day – that is only the minimum.

Poetry 2022 Edition 1

Poetry Goal 2022:  to read a poem* every day.

Collection #1 by Elisabeth Barrett Browning, Bard Books Avon Hearst ~1950, 96 pages

XX

Beloved, my Beloved, when I think
That thou wast in the world a year ago,
What time I sate alone here in the snow
And saw no footprint, heard the silence sink
No moment at thy voice, . . but, link by link,
Went counting all my chains, as if that so
They never could fall off at any blow
Struck by thy possible hand . . . why, thus I drink
Of life’s great cup of wonder! Wonderful,
Never to feel thee thrill the day or night
With personal act or speech,—nor ever cull
Some prescience of thee with the blossoms white
Thou sawest growing! Atheists are as dull,
Who cannot guess God’s presence out of sight.

(Annoyed and afraid. Afraid to utilize my Goodreads Librarian status to update this edition and I’m not sure why… I probably should. Please feel free to shoot me a vote of confidence to update the publisher/date/add illustrator/estimate of date published blahblahblah…)

Anyway, I didn’t find many of these sonnets romantic. Mostly confusing or boring. I just don’t have an appreciation for this “story”. What I really want to know is what exactly did EBB suffer from and what exactly did she and her love enjoy once they escaped Papa’s overbearing captivity! Did she thrive in Italy? I am missing some key details and am probably just nosy for juicy gossip. Oooops.

I enjoyed the first few lines of her most famous one, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways” but mostly these bits were obscure and non-impressive. Sorry not sorry. Probably makes me a heathen or something.

Still. I’m glad to have read these. No pie, three stars.

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Collection #2 by Rachel Long, Tin House 2021, 79 pages

Black Princess! Black Princess!

…
We’re keen to avoid any awkward questions,
should they arise, about how a yogi single mother
could afford to send her daughter to a good school.
But, all verified, she’s through!
Now, we must comb through your hair.
Just joking! We’ve attended training on that issue.

.
.
.

I found many of these poems confounding? if that isn’t too strong a word. But I appreciate the sense that she really owns these poems. I sense a delight, no hesitancy, some attitude and spark.

.

*Or more. I’m not tracking, I’m just reading. I’m not limiting this experience to one poem a day – that is only the minimum.

Poetry 2021 Edition 4

Poetry Goal 2021:  to read a poem* every day.

Collection #6 by Maggie Smith, Tupelo Press 2017, 100 pages

From the blurb at goodreads.com: Poems written out of the experience of motherhood, inspired by the poet watching her own children trying to read the world like a book they’ve just opened, knowing nothing of the characters or plot.

 Past

 What is the past?

We need a word for everything before,

See how my saying this is already there, and there

for good ̶ no fishing it out of that deep water,

the deepest there is. The past is a tide that drags out

but won’t return to shore: even your question has been

carried off. Look, you can see it floating.

(only the first half of the poem, get the book to read the rest.)

Four slices of pie.

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Collection #7 by Rita Dove, WW Norton 1999, 96 pages

from the poem on page 76

“The situation is intolerable”

Hush, now. Assay

the terrain: all around us dark

and the perimeter in flames,

but the stars—

tiny, missionary stars—

on high, serene, studding

the inky brow of heaven.

. . .

Our situation is intolerable, but what’s worse

is to sit here and do nothing.

O yes. O mercy on our souls.

I found these poems accessible and confident, powerful. Five slices of pie.

*Or more. I’m not tracking, I’m just reading. I’m not limiting this experience to one poem a day – that is only the minimum.

Copyright © 2007-2022. Care’s Books and Pie also known as and originally created as Care’s Online Book Club. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

 

Poetry 2021 Edition 3

Poetry Goal 2021:  to read a poem* every day.

Collection #5 by Veronica Golos, Story Line Press 2003, 75 pages

From the blurb at goodreads.com: These mystical lyrics retell the biblical story of Ha’gar.

 

(no sample…)

 

So, sadly, I had a review typed and ready and the WordPress Block Scheme ate it. I couldn’t find it, so I am assuming that is what happened.

I gave this collection 3 stars at first and I don’t recall how I came to that rating; I can assume that my appreciation was from a distance, that I didn’t quite connect though I do think I can admire the passion and raw emotion – THAT is what I recall. I also think it had more than just the Old Testament references but parallel’s a Civil War era story.

I gave the book away thinking I had saved a snippet already. So I leave it blank here.

 

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Collection #6 by Jeanne Griggs, Broadstone Books 2021, 56 pages

Note on a postcard of the Santa Monica Pier

We emerge blinking, holding our coats,

into the warmth and exhaust of the

LA freeway, cars queued up to the horizon,

everyone waiting a turn, anxious

for the sight of oranges ripening,

sun setting on the sea, colors we could

only imagine in gray Ohio February.

…

From the postcard Jeanne sent me promoting her collection (I was totally thrilled to receive! and ordered the book straight away!!)

Link is here to addendum page of what was inspired LOL

*Or more. I’m not tracking, I’m just reading. I’m not limiting this experience to one poem a day – that is only the minimum.

Copyright © 2007-2022. Care’s Books and Pie also known as and originally created as Care’s Online Book Club. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

 

Poetry 2021 Edition 2

Poetry Goal 2021:  to read a poem* every day.

Collection #3 by Kathleen Sheeder Bonanno, Alice James Books 2009, 61 pages

from William

…

And when you 

open the storm door

to let him in,

he will step onto the mat,

and bow his head a little,

and cry like a man.

 p.36

This collection was a gut punch. She wrote this as a tribute and honor of her daughter, a way to deal with her grief when her daughter was murdered by her boyfriend. Devastating.

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Collection #4 ♦ by Lia Purpura, Penguin Poets 2015, 86 pages

It Shouldn’t Have Been Beautiful

Chosen

It could’ve been

an everyday

brown-and-cream

sparrow, or grackle

with oily rainbow wings

but so near my eye,

its robe, its sash,

its fire, flare, gash —

it’s visiting me.

Hard to think

otherwise.

P.77

I really enjoyed this collection. It was postcard-worthy! short and poignant. Gave me new lens to view and think about things.

Copyright © 2007-2022. Care’s Books and Pie also known as and originally created as Care’s Online Book Club. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Swann

Thoughts by Carol Shields, Open Road Media 2013 (orig 1987), 386 pages

Challenge: Readalong with Laila

Genre/Theme: Literary Mystery

Type/Source: eBook / Kindle purchase

What It’s About: Mary Swann was a poor woman who wrote poems in a small town in Ontario Canada. When a literature professor finds an old copy of Swann’s poetry collection, she brings laudatory attention to the work. In her investigation of who this woman could be so that she can shine academic light on its brilliance, she finds out that the poet was violently murdered by her husband on the very day she got the publishing deal.

The academic world sensationalizes and salivates over anything they can find on how Swann could have come into her genius. Items begin to disappear: the only known photograph of the poet goes missing, luggage is lost, the poet’s diary is misplaced. Is something sinister happening?

Thoughts: The reader knows but the characters do not figure out that someone has been pilfering items until near the end of the book when there is an academic symposium and all can compare notes. It’s not like me to figure out the whodunnit but it was pretty obvious. I can’t say I ma happy with the ending but I enjoyed my time with the unraveling and the characters who all loved Mary in their own way. My favorite was the publisher, an editor in his 80s who wrote fun letters.

With it being written in the mid-80s, I was loving the references to politics and cultural touchpoints. And it had pie!

“It isn’t important.” “Everything’s important.” “I can’t remember what I was going to say.” She looked down at her rhubarb pie and pledged herself not to jeopardize what was left of the evening.

Rating: 4 slices of pie.

Readers might be willing to tolerate the new typeface imposed on them, and no one seemed to miss the old “Pie of the Week” feature when it disappeared from the Women’s page, but…

 

 

Copyright © 2007-2022. Care’s Books and Pie also known as and originally created as Care’s Online Book Club. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Poetry 2020 Edition 7

Poetry Goal 2020:  to read a poem* every day.

Collection # 13 Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals by Patricia Lockwood, Penguin Books 2014, 66 pages

List of Cross-Dressing Soldiers

. . .

Someone thought long and hard how to best

make my brother blend into the sand. He came

back and he was heaped up himself like a dune,

he was twice the size of me, his sight glittered

deeper in the family head he hid among himself,

and slid, and stormed, and looked the same

as the next one, and was hot and gold and some-

where else.

+ .  .  .

Five slices of pie

Collection # 14 The Trouble with Poetry  by Billy Collins, Random House Trade Paperback Edition 2007 (orig 2005), 91 pages

The Trouble with Poetry
.
.
.

Poetry fills me with joy
and I rise lide a feather in the wind.

Poetry fills me with sorrow
and I sink like a chain flung from a bridge.

But mostly poetry fills me
with the urge to write poetry.

I wasn’t as fond of this collection like the first one I experienced but that’s OK.

*Or more. I’m not tracking, I’m just reading. I’m not limiting this experience to one poem a day – that is only the minimum.

PI MENTIONED!  “Later, genius became someone who could take a sliver of chalk and square pi a hundred places out beyond the decimal point.”

*Or more. I’m not tracking, I’m just reading. I’m not limiting this experience to one poem a day – that is only the minimum.

Copyright © 2007-2020. Care’s Books and Pie aka Care’s Online Book Club. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care from Care’s Online Book Club.  It should not be reproduced without express written permission.