How To Be a Poet
by Wendell Berry

Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon
affection, reading, knowledge,
skill—more of each
than you have—inspiration,
work, growing older, patience,
for patience joins time
to eternity. Any readers
who like your poems,
doubt their judgment.

Breathe with unconditional breath
the unconditioned air.
Shun electric wire.
Communicate slowly. Live
a three-dimensioned life;
stay away from screens.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.

Accept what comes from silence.
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come
out of the silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.
 

Autumn Heritage
Moon so bright;
It's your night.
Autumn's here,
Have great cheer.
Night come on bold
Fear not the cold.
Moon cake in hand,
How can I stand?
White gaze lingers;
I stretch out fingers.
Chinese eyes
Watch and sigh.
Years on years
Those old seers,
Poem-punch drunk;
Our history shrunk
Into a moment
Away from torment
Onto a scroll, cry
Of lonely beauty tried,
Tested. Star-lovers
Cross again, covered
by clouds tonight.
Still shines so bright.
Luna, Selene,
You are all things
Woman and life
Goddess and strife
Tales upon tales:
Your faces so pale.
Moon gazing tonight,
Darkness take fright.
Even cloud cover near
Illuminates fear
O rabbit, O man,
How lonely you land
On dusty magic
Life so fantastic.
O luminous eye
Way up in the sky.
We salute you this day
For guiding our way.
And the stories all told
Will gently unfold.

The above movie would be my new love, my heart's duet (I've seen Enchanted one too many times) and the next movie I will buy, however many months that will take. 

I can't put down here everything I loved about it; there's too much. However, I will say: Go.See.It.

We watched Miss Potter (I thought immediately 'Harry Potter?' when I glanced at the title) and I loved it. Great story, great acting, great touches, very sweet and tender. 

I'm slowly becoming convinced that only the English countryside will do for my home after my few years of gallivanting about are done. I want to live there, write there, and possibly raise my hypothetical children there.

And possibly meet a nice man... just kidding.

But the place is so beautiful, the homes so inviting... I'm sure these emotions will be coming out in my writing soon. I have so many chapters waiting to be posted, if I could just get my computer to work and convince my editing side to work at it. 

When You Taught Me How to Dance is a gem from the movie. Way to go Katie M, on putting words to the emotions I feel when I'm dancing.

Just finished reading The King of Attolia ~ unfortunately, I did not read The Thief or The Queen of Attolia first, though having met both characters, I want (need) to go back and read the others to get a better look into their heads. I first put this book on my must-read list because it was recommended as one of the few married romances out there, and I fully agree with the idea that married romance can be just as spectacular as love-leading-to-marriage. (In this case, I would say it exceeds even other favorites of mine.)

However, what several of my favorite authors have pointed out is that the best romances, the ones we return to and the ones that stay with us, are those that come alongside the adventure, and are not the adventure itself. I nodded sagely the first time I read this opinion, and I still nod, but with distinct awe, for those authors who can pull such stories off. 

For example, though Georgette Heyer is seen as the mother of Regency romance novels, very often there is little actual romance in her books. It took me longer than it should have to realize this. There are mysteries and mistakes and folly, usually tied up in brilliant plots that have the hero and heroine separated, misunderstanding or hating each other for a good portion of the book. And yet it's no surprise when those same characters find their moment at the very last page, and really, that's all we need to be satisfied. 

The same can be said of nearly every fairy tale I own, which is why I own them, though as I said, it's taken me years to realize this is why.

Anyways, what started me down this path was actually Jane Austen, and my continued thoughts about how conversation is what really moves a relationship (romantic or not) along. Regency Buck, one of Heyer's masterpieces, contains so many lines that kept tickling at my brain that I had to conclude that despite the very different characters and very different plot, Heyer definitely meant it as an accolade to Austen. Though I can't pinpoint every line she echoed, it was enough to make me pause and consider which book it must have been taken from. Pride and Prejudice figured firmly in many of the character's fights, insults and retorts the likes of which Darcy would have flinched from. Judith, however, is rich where Elizabeth is poor, and the couple has a very different kind of restraint to hold them back from a lover's relationship.

I'll end my thoughts on this here, and give you the other books I have consumed in the last day; each was a pearl that I dug through both lists and a tiny library for.

Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt (this woman has talent)
The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf by Gerald Morris (I plan on reading all of his Arthurian tales)
Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer
Regency Buck by Heyer
The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
The Chronicles of Chrestomanci by Dianne Wynn Jones (a little strange if you're not used to her)