Monday, 19 December 2022

Winter Solstice 2022

 Winter Solstice - - - appropriated by Christians,

cashed-in by Hallmark, 

now wholly owned by Amazon





Untitled Mixed Media on Paper
6” x 4” Ruth Ann Howden


Reflection distorts -

The story I tell may or 

may not, still be true



My poems are just lines on paper that spill out like water from a jug, watering young shoots that grow roots to secure the fragile space I occupy. Like Guan Yin at frail edge of lake or river or ocean, contemplating the moon reflecting in water. She risks being present, being focused, being witness.


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“ The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment and not the other way around.” 

Gaylord Nelson 


For those of us who were in the streets in the 60s and 70s there is now an online group - the Third Act, Seniors working together on climate action. Here is a link to a four minute PBS NewsHour piece on the Third Act: PBS News link to 3rd Act

And check out their website: www.thirdact.org. They are making plans for a day of action on 32123


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This is my question, and yes, I’d like an answer:

All federal contractors are required to provide paid sick time for their employees, but the railroad companies are exempt. Why is that? 


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Because I believe there is magic in all books, even the most scientific / dry texts; the magic is in readers making connections to ideas, sparks of imagination, the sharing of  hope that if these words are put out into the world somehow it makes a difference for the better. The following is a list of some of the books I’ve read in 2022, because they somehow changed my life or just because  


But first, here is a list of online newsletters that have inspired me and often lead me to the 

books I’ve read:


The Marginalian   Marginalian

Hyperallergic           —  Hyperallergic

Zocalo Square            Zocalo Square

The Drift             — The Drift

Dame                       —   Dame



Book Lists


Fiction:


The Return of Faraz Ali by Amina Ahmad

2022,


All Our Missing Hearts

2022


Neruda on the Park by Cleyvis Natera

2022


After Lives by Abdulrazak Gurnah

2022


The Immortal King Rao by Vauhini Vara

2022


The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford

2022


Horse by Gwendolyn Brooks

2020


Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig

2015


The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

2021


The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

2021


Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday

2018


The map of the salt and stars by Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar

2018


The Pages by Hugo Hamilton

2022


The Corpse Flower by Anne Mette Hancock

2021


The Ministry of the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

2020


Recitatif by Toni Morrison 

2022 — reissued with introduction by Zadie Smith


The Sentence by Louise Erdrich 

2021


Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

2021


A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles

2016


Sula by Toni Morrison

1973


Hell of A Book by Jason Mott

2021


Bullet Train by Kotaro Isaka

2010/2021 translation


The Blessing Way by Tony Hillerman 

1970


City of Thieves by David Benioff

2008



Non Fiction


The Monk and the Philosopher by Jean François Revel and Matthieu Ricard

1998


Shelf life by Nadia Wassef 

2022


Catching the Light by Joy Harjo

2022


The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee

2021


How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

2019


In My Mother’s House by Kim Chernin

1983


Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

2013


These Precious Days by Anne Patchett

2021


Call Them by Their True Names by Rebecca Solnit

2018


The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow new history of humanity

2020


James Baldwin Nothing Personal, foreword by Imani Perry, afterword by Eddie S. Glaube Jr.

2021 — “Talking to Americans is usually extremely uphill work. We are afraid to reveal ourselves 

because we trust ourselves so little.”


Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit

2005


Don’t Forget Us Here by Mansoor Adafi

2021



Other Reads:


The Moon In the Water by Kathy J. Phillips

2008 — inspiration for my haiku and thoughts on my poetry at the beginning of this blog post


Book of Questions by Pablo Neruda

2022, 3 — new translation by Sara Lisa Paulson, illustrated by Paloma Valdivia


The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury, illustrated by Joseph Mugnaini

1972


The Van Gogh Cafe by Cynthia Rylant

1995


Motionless Journey by Matthieu Ricard

2007


Chlorine Sky by Mahogany L. Brown

2021


Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit

2021 “The imagination, like certain wild animals, will not breed in captivity.”


You can’t keep a good woman down by Alice Walker

1971,— first in a short story collection: fantasy of reparation, what Elvis owes for 

appropriating black culture. It’s funny and sad. I read it three times in a row, favorite 

sentence: ‘ you need an honest audience‘


Da Small Pitot Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry

Translated from French to Hawai’i pidgin by Keao NeSmith

2018


Holding Space by Aminata Cairo, PHD

2021


The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

2006


Water by the Spoonful, a Pulitzer Prize winning play by Quiana Alegría Hudes

2012


Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad — graphic interpretation by Peter Kuper 

2020, — captured the story using Conrad’s words, but mainly through illustration / layout. 

This would be excellent textbook for a class in graphic-novel writing.



                  My wish for you in the coming year:


Roam wide in your library. Spend time with poetry. Discover graphic novels, 

don’t skip over books marked as young adult, nor miss the children’s 

section with its abundant, fanciful illustrations, and wisdom in a few words . . .



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A gift she gave us

after so many hellos

chance to say goodbye


In memory of

Mary Grace Kekalia

January 7, 1941 — September 19, 2022


And also to honor one of my heroes - artist and underground cartoonist:

Aline Kominsky-Crumb — 1948-2022



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