Books tend to outlive us. They also tell our stories in addition to the ones printed on their pages.The Family Book of Verse is a lovely hardbound book from 1961, edited by Lewis Gannett. I had read some of the poems before. But one day, as I flipped through it, looking for a short poem…… Continue reading The Secret Lives of Books
Author: Mariam
Figuring out what to write about
The Bridge
The bridge of your nose is exquisite it’s place on your face deliberate to make us all envious of the sculptural shadows cast on your cheek as the sun falls then rises by your guide eager to please Working through ideas Since my last post I’d been going back and forth on what to write…… Continue reading The Bridge
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
There are some parts of books that always stay with you. I read The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (David Mitchell) probably around ten years ago. I’ve never forgotten the image of the ladybird on the hands. Picking slugs from the cabbages with a pair of chopsticks, Jacob notices a ladybird on his right…… Continue reading The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
The Elements as Prompts Part IV
(Clockwise from top left) Harvesting garlic chive seeds, Burning Bush leaves in fall, a large Oak leaf up close. Fall is not a quiet season. It’s loud. Loud in its appearance, loud in its voice, loud in every way. Twice golden and glowing, the leaves glisten in the rise and fall of the sun. A…… Continue reading The Elements as Prompts Part IV
The Elements as Prompts Part III
I wrote with winter elements as a prompt and then spring. I don’t get why people wait all year for summer, a season that’s inevitably too hot to do anything. Every movement is an effort under the harsh sun, in the hot air. Some weeks back, a heat wave came as it usually does at…… Continue reading The Elements as Prompts Part III
The Elements as Prompts Part II
This piece is part of a series I’m doing on using the elements as writing prompts. I started with snow in winter. Technically, spring is here. Things have started to bloom but it still feels like everything is taking an eternity. I keep checking on the peas, lettuce and radish. They’re definitely taking their own…… Continue reading The Elements as Prompts Part II
The Elements as Prompts Part I
I sat down to do some writing practice. It was the first snow of the season. Paldi walked deliberately in the preformed footsteps in the snow. Whoever had walked here before him was two sizes bigger, making ample room in those hollows. When the clouds parted, the bright sun off the snow made it nearly…… Continue reading The Elements as Prompts Part I
Changes in 2020
One of the phrases I’ve heard people use a lot this year is ‘Everyone’s just over it’. The ‘it’ of course being COVID-19. ‘It threw a wrench in my plans’. And lately, ‘I’m so ready for 2020 to end already’. There seems to be an expectation that chucking out this year’s calender, with its muddled…… Continue reading Changes in 2020
Reading in the time of COVID-19
I don’t usually reread books. But this time, the Ramona Quimby series is the only place where my mind has settled, where I’ve sat long enough to read through to the end of a story. I had read The Magician’s Nephew (C. S. Lewis) and The Happiness Project (Gretchen Rubin). Jurassic Park (Michael Crichton) was…… Continue reading Reading in the time of COVID-19
5 Things to Do When You Study Online
Five strategies to get the most out of your experience when you study online.
Mariam Sultan 