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Poetry Friday,
This new book is wonder-smitten, a term I'm borrowing from poet-author-anthologist Maria Popova. I highly recommend requesting your local public library purchase a copy so that you and your community can check it out.
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| Storey Publishing. October 2024 |
After listening to an interview of Maria Popova on NPR (I believe it was with Krista Tippet on, On Being, but I cannot find what I heard as I write this post), I asked my local library to purchase this book and checked yes to the question: Would you like to be the first to check it out?
As I perused the poems and pages I kept an eye out for my 2024 OLW. I found WORLD in lots of paragraphs and lines. I found WORLD in, The Octopus and the Unknown, by Maria Popova who is the brain child and anthologist of Universe in Verse.
Popova begins her piece, "To live wonder-smitten." I found striking lines all through her prose and poem. These words from, Impossible Blue, (64) grew into this golden shovel in my journal:
Impossible/this blue world
Maria Popova
Acorns tell us this;
Sky is its bluest blue above trees giving up ghosts of this world.
Linda Mitchell 11/22/24
Thanks for the book recommendation, Linda, and your lovely golden shovel. "wonder-smitten" is a fabulous word.
ReplyDeleteI loved this book! And it's unexpected tiny size. :)
ReplyDeleteLinda, ""To live wonder-smitten," is a beautiful thought that takes me back to my days as a Wonderopolis Ambassador. I always encouraged students to be wonder-filled but wonder-smitten says so much more in its thought. I definitely will ask our librarian to purchase this book. Thanks for the recommendation and your Golden Shovel.
ReplyDeleteIt's in the PWPLS system now so you can borrow it from there :) I just returned it so you may have to request it at your closest branch.
DeleteOh, didn't know about this book -- must definitely check it out. Love your golden shovel and the term "wonder-smitten."
ReplyDeleteI am smitten by the phrase, "To live wonder-smitten." :) Thanks for sharing this, Linda! Love your golden shovel too.
ReplyDeleteWonder smitten sounds like a glorious state of being. Linda. I shall seek out this book Thank you for your important efforts in uncovering this treasure. Enjoyed your delightful poem squeezed in at the end.
ReplyDeleteI've seen bits of this book in Maria Popova's weekly posts. It looks lovely. I can imagine that many a golden shovel can emerge from her words. I don't know if my library is as generous as yours, but I should check because there are too many books I want to read.
ReplyDeleteThis book looks fabulous and your golden shovel is a beautiful response. That final line is so provocative and powerful!
ReplyDeleteThis book will be top of my wishlist for the holidays, and thank you for bringing us such a delicious taste of it. I'm smitten by how you drew an acorn out of blue!
ReplyDeleteYes, such a beautiful book! I've listened to some of the poetry from it. I actually had tickets in Austin for the gathering from which it was created (the day before last April's eclipse). But we ended up staying in Dallas for the eclipse, so I could only listen to the livestream. -- And now I'm delighting in a tiny acorn telling us secrets of trees and sky!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a book I'd really enjoy, Linda. Thank you for sharing it with us. I consider myself a woman of science and feel that it is extremely important that we connect to the natural world as well as wonder about it. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. ~ Carol ~ from The Apples in My Orchard
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