June 2007 - What are you reading?

Garden guides, garden guides, garden guides.....

Okay, so maybe I'm starting to do a little summer reading, too, when I'm not obsessing over the state of my backyard. A recent road trip from Arizona to Minnesota inspired me to pick up Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon... of course, I took the major routes, not the back roads, so I'm going to have to go back and take another road trip and do it right.

Going through my mom's bookcases I came across Alan Watts The Book - I've heard much about it, but never taken the plunge. Anybody read it? If so, thoughts? It's quite the egotistical title, I have to say.

Speaking of titles, here's one of my favorites:

"What Narcissism Means to Me" by Tony Hoagland. It's a book of poetry. Here's the title poem:

****** 

WHAT NARCISSISM MEANS TO ME

There’s Socialism and Communism and Capitalism,
said Neal,
and there’s Feminism and Hedonism,
            and there’s Catholicism and Bipedalism and Consumerism,

but I think Narcissism is the system
that means the most to me;

and Sylvia said that in Neal’s case
narcissism represented a heroic achievement in positive thinking.

And Ann,
who calls everybody Sweetie pie
           whether she cares for them or not,

Ann lit a cigarette and said, Only miserable people will tell you
           that love has to be deserved,

and when I heard that, a distant chime went off for me,

remembering a time when I believed
                    that I could simply live without it.

Neal had grilled the corn and sliced the onions
                      into thick white disks,
                      and piled the wet green pickles
                                            up in stacks like coins
           and his chef’s cap was leaning sideways like a mushroom cloud.

Then Ethan said that in his opinion,
if you’re going to mess around with self-love
              you shouldn’t just rush into a relationship,

and Sylvia was weeping softly now, looking down
           into her wine cooler and potato chips,

and then the hamburgers were done, just as
the sunset in the background started
                      cutting through the charcoal clouds

exposing their insides – black,
streaked dark red,
                      like a slab of scorched, rare steak,

delicious but unhealthy,
or, depending on your perspective,
                                            unhealthy but delicious,

-- the way that, deep inside the misery
           of daily life,
                      love lies bleeding.

******

 Happy Grilling! And do let me know what you're reading these days...