The Burning House: A Photo Experiment

What would you take with you if the house was on fire? I asked that question in one memorable Poetry Wednesday post, The valley is on fire.

Find out about Foster Huntington's book and related website, The Burning House, and how he found that answer among friends and strangers alike.

Have you written your poem on the subject? Taken a photo? Made decisions?

The Buzz is Never Too Small

The valley is on fire

Years ago, I watched news coverage of a California wildfire on television and asked myself, "What would I take with me in a fire?" Of course, I had to up the ante, so I tossed in a little more tension. This was the resulting poem. 

It's actually an amazing mental exercise: if all of your peeps and pets were safe, what belongings would you take with you? Set your own boundaries (car or carry, etc.) and answer the question yourself. Maybe the answer is your next poem.


The valley is on fire

and it comes as no surprise

to me.  I grew fond of the dense

grainy sunset, and the ashes

on the porch were a welcome

sight.  They helped me think.

But my eyelid still twitches

when I get the empty boxes from the trunk

of my Chevy, and when the cat scratches

her litter I freeze, sure

it is your tires crunching up the gravel

driveway.  I’m not a coward, but I know

my strengths.  You are not among

them.  So I pack first the things

for which I would burn — Mother’s

jewelry, the cat’s medicine, my

notebooks.

The wind picks up.  Now I smell

the fur of those to small to outrun

the quick snapping flames.

I lift the drawers

from the dresser, turning them

upside down and giving them a shake

or two — not because they

need it, but because I need

the finality of a shake.  You have

taught me well. 

And when the litterbox

is stacked on the Samsonite in the back seat

and my galoshes are wedged next

to the spare tire and my ten favorite

books are tucked in with the linen

and Nana’s typewriter presses against

the picnic basket below the cat and carrier

up front next to me, I’ll start

out of the valley, before the fire reaches

what was always your home anyway.

- by Chris Fow Cohen

© Chris Fow Cohen. All rights reserved.

Summer Reading Program: Down to the Wire!

Is your summer reading program completed, now that school is in full swing and you are back to the grind, the sand swept out of the car and the cardigan is gently hung in the closet? Or are you a "late" reader, with summer reading extending until the lunar end of the season: the autumnal equinox?

Either way, I hope your summer reading was successful and fun.

I am among the latter — as are all those who joined Chris' Summer Reading Challenge. Summer lingers for a while after Labor Day, even though the days are drawing to a close earlier with every passing sunset. The nights are cooler, but the sun remains strong — and reading, any kind of reading, remains a joy. Summer continues through September 22 this year, so those who are up for the challenge have a little longer to consume their summer reading list.

Those who joined Chris' Summer Reading Challenge have until another 11 days to finish their summer reading. Please send me your completed reading list (title and author of books) consumed between June 13 and September 22. Also, please let me know how you plan to donate time or funds to your local library or literacy program.  Karen and Stacy have kept me abreast of their reading, which has been exciting, and Karen and I will discuss The Great Stink this week. (I'll post a review soon, but I have one word for you: wow!)

If you're the reader with the heftiest consumed list, you will receive the book of your choice. (If you don't remember this part of the deal, catch up on it here.)

Okay, get back to your books, and we'll chat again soon. Happy reading!

Creativity: Do You Dare?

The Poetry of ... Einstein?

Einstein was a genius, so of course he wrote poetry. (Duh!) Thanks to Stephanie Smith and Susan Entner from the City of Lake Forest, California, for sharing this gem.

Imagination

Imagination is everything.
It is the preview of life's coming attractions.
(I am enough of an artist
to draw freely upon my imagination.)
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Information is not knowledge
and yet knowledge is still limited,
for knowledge of what is
does not open the door directly to what should be.
Yes, logic may get you from A to B,
but Imagination will take you everywhere.
Imagination encircles the world.
Imagination is everything.

by Albert Einstein

The Benefits of Labor Day, With Robert Frost and Abigail Adams

Think about all the benefits the workforce has been given, and today thank those who came before you who made sure you got them.

We call them "work benefits," but they're really life benefits.

Good fences make good neighbors, indeed. These benefits are fences that keep employers from taking what isn't theirs: your life. They were hard won, and they are hard kept. Workers need to protect them, even now, preferably as a group, with the power and protections such a group conveys.

The interests of employers is different than the interests of workers. Abigail Adams' words ring true even today: all men would be tyrants if they could. Always tend your fences: not against someone, but for yourself.