fun instruments (?)

[fflo]

This morning as I walked up to the office, glimpses of ribbons of sound caught my attention. After a moment I figured out they were coming from the freaky house across the way that's surely a thorn in the side of its neighbor, the Support The President house. It was somebody fiddling around with an accordion.

Accordions are happy instruments.


Money was so low when I last paid my bills that, when I happened to be in a bookstore buying a One Fish Two Fish as a gift, I went and bought the Elizabeth Bishop book I have qualms about. She didn't aim to publish its contents. But she's dead. And we want to know more about her, or to know her more, every bit as much as we want to see more of her work, right?

I couldn't help myself. I picked it up just to look & knew that I wanted to spend more time with it. There aren't many books I acquire & aim to have in the house any more, but. It's a mainstream sort of book of poetry, as poetry for sale goes these days, but. I'm not sure I like voting with my dollars for this resurrection and the project's/editor's way of possessing her, but.

But I'll probably post a snippet or two here, from some of what kept me from putting the book back, in the end. Though I do wonder whether money having been so low wasn't the biggest reason I walked off with the volume.


I wonder if money will be so low next month that I'll end up with a new tea kettle.

I've kept myself from buying a tea kettle (to replace the sad-shape thrifted Revereware one I've had for years) cuz I love tea kettles so much. If I let myself get started, see, I might look up and find I have 8 tea kettles, each lovely in its own way.

But lately I feel a desire to abandon this fear of abandon. It's a miserly strategy, after all, when it comes right down to it. Miserly with one's self. So what if I were to look up and have 12 lovely tea kettles, and some amount of additional debt? I've got debt from quite a lot that's given me less pleasure than they surely would be providing, were I going nuts for them that way---and we'll all be dead soon enough anyway. Besides, it doesn't necessarily follow that surrendering to such a desire leads to excess, wantonness, dangerous profligate slippery slopes.

What I've got in mind for the off-the-cliff, w-t-f first: a two-tone harmonica whistler, alerting me pleasantly that the water molecules are really movin' now.

Comments

That Book is Worth It

[schroederjt.livejournal.com]

I overcame my sticker shock and bought that book a few months ago. (Don't you feel like you should get a few dollars off if you can show the bookstore that you previously owned a copy of the Now-Not-So-Complete Poems, purchased in good faith?) But for me, Edgar Allan Poe & The Juke Box was worth it, overall. I liked the title poem quite a lot, and convinced myself that any 'new' Elizabeth Bishop poems would probably render the the price tag less painful. There are a few previously unreleased gems in there.

Mostly, though, I was struck with the inclusion of those nineteen drafts of "One Art." There is something to be said, obviously, for seeing the angel in the marble, and carving until you set it free. But if you had written that first draft, would you have kept carving? And if she hadn't, if she would have just given up or felt like, "this just is not coming out the way I want it to," and moved on to something else, the world would have lost something so terrific. It says a lot to me about poetry, not just as art, but as work. And then there's the draft where she's playing with the line breaks and ending words - as if trying to make it into a sestina. It makes her so much more human. I'm excited to hear about which snippets were the poetic equivalent of the two-tone harmonica whistler.

Your qualms on Bishop's behalf are understandable, but I'm glad these poems didn't die with her. Have you read "Open Me Carefully?" Talk about qualms.

Re: That Book is Worth It

[fflo.livejournal.com]

I still owe you a response to Fun Home --- and now I also have talking to you of this EB stuff to look forward to. I guess the "watch her work" aspect is a big part of what we like about looking at her life, as represented in this stuff. Book's at home, now, though, and I'm taking my time with it. So, a little savoring down the road, I'll comment further.

Feels good to know you caved & bought it, too.

Re: That Book is Worth It

[vjsmom.livejournal.com]

I think I may have to get it myself, after reading schroedrjt's comments.