LemuriaBooks

A friend brought me a copy of Growing Up In Mississippi and I have now read all of the selections included in this volume of essays---poignant memories and thoughts written by some of our most beloved and distinguished Mississippians.
Elizabeth ( Libby ) Aydelott was my friend and mentor years ago when I was a Girl Scout leader. So, reading her selection as she recounts her growing-up years in Poplarville was a rare window into her early life.
Reading the poignant selection written by Sid Salter as he spoke of his beloved sister, Sheila, filled me with such sadness at his loss.
There are many other contributers, from statesman to news anchor, novelist, watercolorist---each entry giving us a glimpse into the lives of these extraordinary individuals. A rare gift, indeed.

This is a fascinating book about Isabella de Medici and her life as the daughter of Duke Cosimo, 1 ---one of intellectual and romantic freedom as long as her father was alive. Given in marriage to Paolo Orsini, she completely ignored her husband living apart from him, refusing to leave Florence, and eventually taking a lover.
Cosimo doted on his daughter permitting her opulant, extravagant and permissive life-style. However, upon his death he was succeeded by his dour son, Francesco, who regarded his sister's freedoms as a family disgrace. It was then that Isabella's fortunes changed. Her husband, Paolo, who became increasingly enraged by his wife's behavior, arranged with the help of Francesco to murder her---lots of intrigue and suspense to hold the reader captive!
The backdrop for this story is Renaissance Florence with its balls, salons, parties, and hunts. Murphy draws on a trove of newly discovered and published documents to tell this story of the Medici's and Florence in the sixteenth century---a most enjoyable and satisfying read.

How appropriate that on the first day of Poetry Month Red Bird, Mary Oliver's twelfth book of poetry, arrived at Lemuria. For those of us who love her work, it is another gift from her to us---one she has been giving for over forty years.
There are sixty-one new poems in this collection, the most ever in a single volume of her work, and each one is a gem---a feast for the soul. She speaks, as always, of the natural world and her gratitude for its gifts, helping us to be more aware as we go about our days. She speaks also in poignant ways of those whom she has loved and who have loved her in return. Of course, let's not forget her disobedient dog, Percy, about whom the following is written:


Percy and Books ( Eight)

Percy does not like it when I read a book.
He puts his face over the top of it and moans.
He rolls his eyes, sometimes he moans.
The sun is up, he says, and the wind is down.
The tide is out and the neighbor's dogs are playing.
But Percy, I say. Ideas! The elegance of language!
The insights, the funniness, the beautiful stories
that rise and fall and turn into strength, or courage.

Books? says Percy. I ate one once, and it was enough.
Let's go.

So, on this Poetry Month come by Lemuria and browse our selection---maybe even find a favorite poem this month and keep it in your pocket!

At the age of twenty-four Haruko, a commoner, marries the Crown Prince of Japan, becoming the first non-aristocratic woman to do so. She, an accomplished, well-educated woman, enters a life controlled by the Empress and her minions---one where she no longer has an identity of her own. She suffers a nervous breakdown, but eventually recovers and perseveres. Thirty years later, now Empress herself, she plays a crucial role in persuading another commoner to accept her son's proposal.
Though histories of certain members of the Japanese Imperial family were an inspiration for the story, it is a product of fiction. However, it is a timely and relevant one----a fascinating and enjoyable read.

The cat sat on the mat---probably the first words a beginner reader learns to read. But in this delightful reader by Andy Griffiths it's:
The cat on the mat is flat
"Kersplat"
"Never again did the cat
chase the rat---
the cat
was much too flat
for that"
The book is written in chapters with zany illustrations and truly engaging stories. A guaranteed favorite for any emerging reader.

"Have you ever found a bird's feather? Let's go look for one"------the last lines from Birding For Children by Art Minton, a wonderfully engaging book for young bird watchers. Filled with facts that will delight as well as inform, it is also a virtual feast for the eyes. The paintings by multi-talented Patrick Grogan bring to life common birds seen at our feeders most days. This book will delight both children and adults as it offers an introduction to the natural world found right in our own back yards. Let's go birding!

This book is a collection of poems translated from the Chinese by talented scholars and edited by Red Pine and Mike O'Connor, masters at their craft. Written by Buddhist monks, these spare, elegant poems represent work spanning the 1100 years from the middle T'ang dynasty to the beginning of the twentieth century.
Full of references to nature, sometimes reflecting sadness then fleeting moments of calm pleasure, they are a feast for the mind and soul. Offering at times profound spiritual insights, they call us to moments of quiet reflection---soul searching, so to speak.

This morning
laughing together
just a few such days
in a hundred.

After birds pass
over Sword Gate, it's calm;
invaders from the south
have withdrawn to the Lu River wilds.

We walk on frosted ground
praising chrysanthemums bordering fields
sit on the east edge of the woods,
waiting for the moon to rise.

Not having to be alone
is happiness:
we do not talk
of failure or success.

Natasha Tretheway was recently in Jackson to receive the Governor's Award for literary excellence in the arts. I had the opportunity to hear her read from her Pulitzer Prize winning volume of poetry, Native Guard. She read in her rich, expressive voice the poem which sets the tone for this remarkable volume, written for her mother, in memory.
From, Theories Of Time And Space:

"You can get there from here, though
there's no going home.
Everywhere you go will be somewhere
you've never been, Try this....

Tretheway speaks of her childhood in the Deep South---she, the product of a white father and a black mother
"In 1964 my parents broke two laws of Mississippi
they went to Ohio to marry, returned to Mississippi

She also speaks of the Louisiana Native Guards--a black regiment serving in the Civil War:
" The ghost of history lies down beside me"

The poems are profound and moving--poems to be read more than once, each reading providing new insight and enjoyment.