It's been a rough few weeks at lemming headquarters - nothing to blog about, just one of those times when everything builds up and gets nasty. (Evil student is not going to like their final grade, but I can prove that it's the grade earned.)
Then I learned that a neighbor is the latest victim of foreclosure and has experienced several other personal set-backs that make my life look downright tranquil and calm. Perspective is good. I have much for which to be grateful.
Poetry month got me trying to remember all of the bits of verse which I was either required to memorize or memorized along the way for other reasons. "The world is too much with us, late and soon" was for 12th grade British lit. I've managed to reconstruct it. Now I'm working on a piece by Edna St Vincent Millay which I memorized because I was in a play, one which had nothing to do with poetry. I had to spend 20 minutes on stage, reading a book, while all sorts of other activities happened around me. "All right, let's be practical with this time and learn a poem," thought I and so I did. I think I have about 2/3 of it and more comes back every morning in the shower.
I have a mind which remembers poetry. I have a body that can walk and reach and move. I had a reasonably nutricious dinner. I have a dog who was prepared to defend me from an earthquake. Life could be a whole lot worse.
5 comments:
what was the play?
Amen.
I have always loved your practical streak. Who else would actually learn a poem while reading a book on stage? Few people in the world! I will never forget the time you told me how much you paid for each college class, in the process of explaining why you tried never to miss my class.
"I had to spend 20 minutes on stage, reading a book, while all sorts of other activities happened around me."
My guess is that play is The Diary of Anne Frank. I just did that play last year. As Mr. Dussel, I spent the fist 20 minutes of the play waiting backstage while people did a lot of reading and worring about the Nazi's finding them on stage. And I remember that most women in that play who were not Anne and not part of the scene did a lot of reading, knitting and faux card playing.
"I had to spend 20 minutes on stage, reading a book, while all sorts of other activities happened around me."
Now, that sounds like my kind of part! For me, there's nothing that spoils the fun of being in a play like the sick fear that I'll forget / screw up my lines.
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