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By pigwhisperer, November 2, 2009

Today is Finados. It is a day to remember all those who came before us, to light a candle for them, and to commemorate their lives.

Ancestors

by Harvey Ellis

my ancestors surround me
like walls of a canyon
quiet
stone hard
their ideas drift over me
like breezes at sunset

we gather sticks
and make settlements
what we do is only partly
our own
and partly continuation
down through the chromosomes

my son
my baby sleeps behind me
stirring in the night
for the touch
that lets him continue

he is arranging
in his small form the furniture
and windows of his home

it will be a lot like mine
it will be a lot like theirs

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By pigwhisperer, August 13, 2009

We lost a very dear friend today. Fernando Boiadeiro was a rancher and a savvy businessman. Everyday he brought home ice cream to his wife, Tuta. He told long, detailed, sometimes bawdy stories. He gave each of his cows a name. His laugh was a cross between a loud growl and a cough. If he deemed you a friend, he never let you down. In his presence, his friends felt protected. Safe. Loved.

For those of us lucky enough to have been his friends and loved ones, today is a shock. It’s a sad day, and we will miss him.

One Art
by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

–Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

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By pigwhisperer, August 5, 2009

I recently traveled to New York to attend my dear friend’s wedding, take part in the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and to do a little book promotion. The paperback version of The Seamstress is officially in stores!

First, I was a invited to guest blog on the Reading Group Guides blog, which is a great organization of book clubs across the country. Check out my post.

Tomorrow, August 6th, I’ll be interviewed on the Book Club Girl radio show, part of the Authors on Air program. You can tune in through the internet by going to Blog Talk Radio at 2 PM EST tomorrow, and can download the interview at any point after that.

New York City is amazing, and a real change from farm life. It’s nice to spend time in such a fun, lively place. Tonight I had the pleasure of watching my friend Danny’s dance company perform their first series of “In the Studio” performances. Each Wednesday in August, the Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company presents a range of choreography from their acclaimed Encore show, as well as several new dances. Before each dance, Danny and the troupe deconstruct their movements and explain to the audience what goes into the final piece. Tonight, we got to see fast-paced modern dance set to 1930′s swing, Micheal Jackson, and an Argentine ballad, among other pieces. There was also amazing partnering work, where the dancers used gravity and their own weight to create a kind of tug-of-war with their bodies. Afterward, there was a question and answer session. I’m not knowledgeable about dance, so the Q&A really helped me better understand modern dance and all of the hard work that goes into each step.