Category: Books

Teaser Tuesday: Republic of Pirates

We interrupt Photography 101 to bring you a feature new to Running In My Head:

Teaser Tuesday

What is Teaser Tuesday? I’m glad you asked!

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Should Be Reading A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! All you have to do is grab the book you’re currently reading, open to a random page and share two sentences from that page. But make sure you don’t share any spoilers!*

*I wish I could take credit for this introduction, but I shamelessly stole it from Heather over at bitsnbooks. To help me make amends, you should go check out her blog.

Anyway, of the books I’m currently reading, Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard is closest at hand, so here are two random sentences:

By some accounts, she lost her mind during her 
incarceration, and (with the possible assistance of 
the Devil) escaped to live a hermit's life on the 
stark tablelands above the Atlantic beach. 

There she roamed, scaring children, searching for 
Bellamy, and bringing nasty storms down on
passing mariners, hobbies that earned her the 
epithet Sea Witch of Billingsgate . . .

If you want to know more, follow my Goodreads account and get notified when I give it a rating or review!

Teaser Tuesday

The Word of the Week is . . .

Discovery seems to be the Word of the Week.

First, photoblogger consistentrelent gave RIMH its 1,000th like!

1k Likes

Then I decided to take the plunge and join my first MOOC: Irish Lives in War and Revolution. After listening to NPR review MOOCs and doing a little independent research, I hit upon this course thanks to OpenCulture. Seriously, if you’re not following them on Twitter, you should be. I find something worth reading, saving, and sharing several times a week.

Speaking of Twitter, another good Twitter account is Bibliophilia. I find myself saving their shared images daily. Images like this one:

Muses

Oh, and speaking of images, I’ve been taking WordPress’ Photography 101 course and found it extremely inspirational. I’ve discovered that I can, indeed, take and edit good pictures with my iPhone 4s (I highly recommend the Afterlight app). I’ve also discovered some apps to manually adjust the ISO and shutter speed and some tips on taking iPhone photos with a telescope; given the time change – is that today? It is! – I’m going to attempt some “morning moon” pictures this coming Thursday or Friday. Stay tuned! In the meantime, here’s a gallery to get you caught up:

Day 1: Home
Day 3: Water
Day 4: Bliss

Was I talking about apps earlier? I think I was. Another good app I discovered this week is InstaQuote (thanks, Gus Sanchez!). I had some iTunes money left from Christmas, so I went ahead to bought the full package. The app lets me do things like this:

FM Quote 1
Bonus Points if you know where it comes from 🙂

Look for a weekly feature to being next week highlighting a quote or random text from a book I’m currently reading or a song lyric that’s been stuck in my head. Want to know what I’m reading? Check out the bottom widgets! Want to know what I’m listening to? Sometimes I share it on Twitter!

And then there’s that moment when an author you follow on Twitter retweets you.

Twice!

Amanda Palmer Retweeted Me

With so much going on this week, I’m certain I forgot something.

Look for an update if I remember anything!

End of Season

Day Five: Solitary

A natural introvert, I find solitude both refreshing and inspirational. It’s one of the reasons I come to work early: to enjoy some time in my classroom before my students arrive. I took this photograph when I arrived this morning:

 

Empty Valleyball Court

The cold winds of winter blow across the empty field
  where we once practiced: where we refused to yield
    to oncoming storms, driven inside only when
      the dying light overcame our fortitude. 

The grass has grown longer & the lines worn away;  
  the court now sits empty awaiting the day
    when the sun will shine & the team will return, 
      but for now, the ball sits alone:

                     in solitude.

Photo101

Sonnet to the Future

Nib 1I’ve really enjoyed the last two weeks in Writing 201: Poetry. I learned quite a few new techniques, but above all I gained the confidence to write more poetry. I also learned that I write better when given a topic and some restraints – maybe it’s time to start paying attention to the daily prompts? – and others liked it too; that is, as long as the statistics don’t lie. To those of you who boosted to stats, never fear – I hope to visit your blogs and repay the favor (it just might take me a few days . . . better make that weeks).

Turning Calendar PagesIf you’ve missed my previous poems, I encourage you to go back and read them – some are better than others (obviously) but I’ve gotten such positive feedback that I’m sure you’ll find something to tickle your fancy.

At this point all I’m doing is attempting to delay the inevitable: the final post of my first poetry class.

So, here you go:


         Sonnet to the Future

The future stretches out before us like 
the open road or wide, rolling sea – 
beckoning with siren’s call to come
and hazard all in one great game of chance. 
It rolls over us, breaking the dike
we have built to hold it back. L’esprit
de l’escalier is not for us, succumbing
not to sticks or stones or lances.

We beat on as boats against the current
born back ceaselessly into the past*
and forced to confront our innermost fears. 
Things that were and things that were not
challenge our resolve in standing fast.  
Here’s to the future: the future is here.

* In case you didn’t know, this is nearly the final line from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gastby (I changed a word or two). Arguably one of the greatest lines in one of the greatest works in American literature, it also happens to be one of my favorite quotes from literature.

Doubt: A Found Poem

I created this using a handy magnetic word generator, picking out striking words in the “poetry” category, and then arranging them into a poem.

Look for a book spine poem coming soon(ish)!

Doubt

Found Poetry 2

An Ode to Drawers

Frans_Francken_(II),_Kunst-_und_Raritätenkammer_(1636)I can’t be the only one who has trouble getting into drawers.

No, not those drawers; get your mind out of the gutter!

I mean the junk drawers, the catch-all drawers, the drawers that are oh-so-handy for storing the miscellany and bric-a-brac that accumulates on our desks and nightstands and coffee tables.

Eventually these drawers have more in common with a goblin hoard than anything else and are almost impossible to open without violence or high-energy explosives. Perhaps both.

This is their story:

                 An Ode to Drawers
                        or
              The Cabinet of Curiosity
They say that in days long gone by
  kings bent on increasing their wealth and fame
    would collect wonders of both land and sea
      in rooms designed to awe the viewer’s eye - 
        to never again see the world the same: 
          the Cabinet of Curiosity. 

These were the magical places - 
  a microcosmic theat’r of the world,
    the original memory palace
      in which to worship the world’s Three Graces. 
It was in this landscape the mind unfurled
  and dared to scale the heights of Daedalus.

These cabinets live on today,
  found in the homes of all those who cannot
    bear to part with one single, solit’ry
      thing. 
They are attuned to life’s great ballet,
  thus will not bear a thing to be forgot - 
    exalting both unique and ordinary.

Declare, O Drawer, the wonders 
  you contain and the detritus of life - 
    the forgotten bits and misplaced baubles – 
Proclaim, O Drawer, the mysteries and plunders
  pigeonholed inside. 
With valiant strife
  I pry at you; your case strains and wobbles.

Finally gaining entry to the hold
  of life’s forgotten treasures, I find there
    long-lost remnants of a life lived fully. 
While ‘tis a shame I find no hoarded gold, 
  I find loose change, pencils and pens to spare, 
    old batteries and papers stacked unruly, 

Old Christmas cards and past-due bills, 
  strange locks and keys that do not fit each other, 
    notebooks and fliers and take-out menus, 
      postcards and letters – e’en one from Brazil – 
        family photos sent by my brother; 
This drawer has no bottom, it always continues.

And though I might try to clean it
  someday, I know it is useless to try. 
No matter how much is removed from the
  drawer - no matter how hard I commit
    to decluttering life -  I’ll be that guy
      who saves everything, even debris.

I’ll be the first to admit that it gets hokey and off-rhythm, but don’t our drawers do the same? See what I did there? I’d claim it was intentional, but it wasn’t. And you know what? I don’t care. I had fun writing this piece; I hope you had as much fun reading it.

Blogging U Poetry

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