Literature is one of my joys, and I am particularly drawn to poetry, reading at least a few lines each day if possible. A well-wrought poem is always a pleasure; for the proficient, adept poet, I have unabashed admiration and respect.

Wallace Stevens is one my favorite poets ...

Xan.
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The House Was Quiet And The World Was Calm
- Wallace Stevens

The house was quiet and the world was calm.
The reader became the book; and summer night

Was like the conscious being of the book.
The house was quiet and the world was calm.

The words were spoken as if there was no book,
Except that the reader leaned above the page,

Wanted to lean, wanted much to be
The scholar to whom his book is true, to whom

The summer night is like a perfection of thought.
The house was quiet because it had to be.

The quiet was part of the meaning, part of the mind:
The access of perfection to the page.

And the world was calm. The truth in a calm world,
In which there is no other meaning, itself

Is calm, itself is summer and night, itself
Is the reader leaning late and reading there.

thanks Xanthippe! Very soothing and well-written selection.

Xan, W Stevens' poem describes perfectly well how it is when I read Dickens and Dylan Thomas, two of so many I admire.

Xan, thank you for the poem.

I'm a poem nut too. Have you read Mountain Ashe's poems? They are quite beautiful.

Hello and what a powful name Xanithippe

I like soothing poems and agree with Lola Dylan Thomas (such rythmn)
I will save Sunday evening as a bookmark..I feel then is a quiet time and special for us here.
Thank you.
Mountain ash

MA, we attended a reading of Dylan Thomas in Laurghne year before last. To hear "Under Milk Wood" read by a Welshman was most captivating.

Yes, "soothing" is indeed an apt descriptor of this poem, meredithbead. I have unbridled admiration for the way you poets use such memorable language to evoke mood, sensation, an experience long past.

Gosh, my daughter's family shares a Christmas ritual with you and your family, Xan! How fab is that? They live in Wales as my SIL is a steadfast Welshman and CCW is read to my grandchildren from English to Welsh. We have a small collection of DT's prose and poems on CDs. The Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea sells them and some works also get read at the Eistedfodd. Have you read his Collected Letters?

I read Dickens a lot when I was in school but appreciate him much, much more now that I live in the UK. I am going through most of his books all over again. Simply amazing to recognise nooks and crannies. To a certain degree, societal attitudes which were prevalent in his days are also still present.

Lola and others
just heard on the radio there is a film relased today about Dylan Thomas.His loves and life.
Meet you at Leicester Square Lola (I wish)
Mountain ash

Yep, MA. They had it on BBC yesterday and mentioned that it was written by Keira Knightley's mother. I wish someone had done a film about DT when Richard Burton was alive. They were very close friends and Burton knew Thomas' angst and had an insight into DT's character which I suppose came from a shared Welsh background. Did you know that Burton was buried with one of DT's books? So they say. I await release of the film on DVD. It's the only way I get to see films nowadays. You should also get your poems published, MA. Have you thought to read them at the Edinburgh festival's poets corner?

Lola
I have been working on a YEAR.About each month with a slant..
That will be 12..with others about each season.
The Book Festival..I am an attender.Indeed ticket arrived today.


I have more than one for April..yet to decide.I see the months as people..depending on what the weather is doing.
Here's one that is already aired.

April ©

Fife, Scotland
2006

The lamb walks gently towards April
Our reward for enduring earlier blizzards
Gently closing March’s gate
Spring showers bringing greeness

Buds unfurling like babies hands
Unblemished and perfect
A cradle for blossom
Cream pink and bridal white

Before the grass grows too long
Just for a day or two
The garden is like a postcard
Or the scenery in a musical show

Grasp this day hold the dear memory
For it's scenes like this that endure
When winter chills the heart
And the land seems to lie sleeping

For you Lola

Mountain Ash, I would love a book of your poems...what a cherished book that would be. Am I to understand that you're putting one together?

Yes I have the task of choosing Eagle All are written.Then last night I had a thought and I started another slant..
The journey is what its about.
Mountain ash

Thank you ever so much for the poem, MA. Tickets to the Book Festival!!! Lucky you.

There is a Book festival programe.Superb place to take children.There is a tent..then within other tents.Book shops with comfy sofas and coffee shops.
Writers workshops.all in Charlotte Square just off George Street.
There is a chance to meet the authors..Tony Benn is returning..as his his daughter .Each does a reading.Garrison Keillor Ian Rankine.. (local lad )Then a sihning. My sweetheart Jackie Kay who I have such regard for is a frequent reader. She is worth a mention.Wendy Cope..Both these woemn also give workshops to the O.U. Lola so I am familar with meeting them.
I can travel from the nearby station to Edinburgh for 50p and just to mingle and see some authors is an injection of energy for me.
I catch favourite poets there and at Aberdeen where there is a smaller similar festival in May.
So who knows what I shall hear and experience. Also the fun of the street musicians from the Festival ..
Mountain ash

Oh that sounds just like my kind of day! Just beautiful. Hope you get a chance to share your own poems Mountain Ash. They deserve recognition.

MA, I'm another fan and look forward to purchasing your book one day! Have fun poking around at the festival.

Tony Benn, as in the former Viscount? Gosh! I can only swoon.

Lola, wow, I am grooving on the idea of the shared Christmas ritual between your daughter's family and mine! Aren't moments of such synchronicity in life amazing??!? And to hear DT read in Welsh must be music indeed! His Collected Letters, yes, I read them years (and years) ago; I'm inspired now to pick them up again.

I believe Dickens is required reading for most school students, many of whom are hard pressed to appreciate him. I certainly preferred other authors in those days, but one's tastes change, and I really ought to give him another chance. You've led by example.

Before I polish off the last piece of pissaladiere (a take-home from today's potluck luncheon with the LLG), I must take a moment and thank you all for this talk of poetry, literature, shared ritual and the marvelous Edinburgh Festival. Mountain Ash, I feel privileged to have read the vivid beauty of "April," and I, too, will watch for your book.

Lola
Tony Benn
The best PM Britain never had.
Met him several times....shaken his hand (firm handshake) listend to every word..saved the memory share it now.
My daughter bought him a huge bunch of red roses..gave him them when we all met..he then handed them to the lovely young interperator for the deaf..an Aha moment.
My late Father in law..was a politican of note..same mould..
alas the mould seem to be broken now.
Mountain ash