rt Sarah Breese
“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
– F. Scott Fitzgerald
Poetry: Plantains
Very excited to say that my poem “Plantains” was picked up for Blue Fifth Review’s December Poetry Special.
Peeling plantains,
I sway in the kitchen while the orchid you gave
eases toward the lamplight.
I am waiting for your staccato on the door.
Green spikes my fingertips, and I roll bites
in sugar my tongue rejects.
Read more at Blue Fifth Review
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Caffeinated Links
- C. Booth is one of my favorite skincare lines. I’ve been using their tea tree oil toner on my face every day for the past week and a half and it has cleared up my skin straightaway. (Not that while I like C. Booth, I don’t think this effect is specific to just their product; rather it’s sold me on tea tree oil in general)
- TIME talked to the man who revised U.S. dietary guideline for 5 tips on eating healthy
- Writers, when you get discouraged, never forget that the The New York Times said of Steinbeck during his lifetime: “limited talent is, in his best books, watered down by tenth-rate philosophizing.” Steinbeck never published another work of fiction and died 6 years later
- These Korean Engrish signs are gold, particularly “If you want to ride again, pleas reenter after existing”
And finally, Natalie Tran of Lonely Planet went to the world’s smallest country..Monaco
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Wish I Had a River
I miss you the way I miss mooring docks and bright blue boats
and the fine frizzled fray of a slip knot; or a wooden bowl
worn smooth by the daily spoon and cloth,
all the ways we did and didn’t cotton.
It’s on the frozen Thames I sometimes dream you,
skating your way around apple carts, hand-presses,
coal-heaped sleds. Once I saw your beautiful bald head
as you handed your cap to an old woman, limping, fast, after her dog.
That day we flew over the Potomac, you said, here,
take this; and it wasn’t a matter of life or death
but the clamor of their conversation as I pulled
back or pushed forward on the yoke
like the honeysuckle branch you brought close to our faces
that night we climbed two fences to be alone. You said, here,
smell this; and when you let go,
I heard the sound loss makes—the way a thing going away slices
the air. Maybe it wasn’t a dog the old woman was chasing
but a fissure edged with ice;
and though she spent her whole life not knowing you,
she made, within her bony fist, your woolen cap her last soft thing.
-Annette Oxindine, Waccamaw
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The Atlantic on Cowboy Bebop
Alex Suskind brilliantly profiles Cowboy Bebop at The Atlantic.
“On paper, Cowboy Bebop, the legendary cult anime series from Shinichirō Watanabe, reads like something John Wayne, Elmore Leonard, and Philip K. Dick came up with during a wild, all-night whiskey bender. (As Wayne famously said, “Talk low, talk slow, and … I’m not drunk you’re drunk Elmore why’s the room spinning?”)
Set in 2071, Bebop imagines a dystopian future where earth has been irrevocably damaged due to the creation of a “stargate,” forcing humans to evacuate the planet and create colonies across the solar system. The result is a galaxy of lawlessness, where crime lords rule and cops pay bounty hunters (often referred to as cowboys) to handle some of the grunt work. People drink in dive bars. Income inequality is terrible. Everyone speaks like they’re background extras in Chinatown. The show ultimately features so many cross-ranging influences and nods to other famous works it’s almost impossible to keep track. It’s Sergio Leone in a spacesuit. It’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with automatic weapons.”
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Park Shin Hye and Lee Jong Suk
Because I’m obsessed with Pinocchio, one of the more gorgeous, light, addicting romances I’ve come across in recent years, have some insanely pretty pics of the leads, most from a campaign for casual clothing line Jambangee.
The two won the Best Couple Award at the 2014 SBS Drama Awards and have been nicknamed the “Darling Couple” for their chemistry. At the awards show, the MC asked Lee Jong Suk, “I heard that you and Park Shin Hye share skinship even when the camera isn’t rolling. Is this true?” Lee Jong Suk answered immediately, “Yes.” See also the Pienocchio tumblr for an adorable GIFset of Lee Jong Suk rambling about how lovable and pretty Park Shin Hye is.
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Vote for the Next Poet Laureate of the Upper Peninsula
You can vote now for the next Poet Laureate of the Upper Peninsula! Nominees were publicly chosen and are being publicly voted for on the Great Lakes of Commonwealth Letters website.
Nominees are (sample poems linked): Marty Achatz, Elinor Benedict, Eric Gadzinski, Kathleen Heideman, Jonathon Johnson, Beverly Matherne, Janeen Rastall, Ron Riekki, Jillena Rose, Andrea Scarpino, and my talented friend Saara Myrene Raapana.
You can vote for anyone, but for the record, you should vote for Saara.
Coffee and Irony 