Day 69

Daily Assignment Chart for Week of 5/18

Linden trees

"...one ought every day at least to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words." -Goethe

A poem for Alexander Pope's birthday: 

Epigram Engraved on the Collar of a Dog Which I Gave to His Royal Highness

‘His Highness’ was Frederick, Prince of Wales.

I AM his Highness’ dog at Kew; Pray tell me, Sir, whose dog are you?

 A song for Alexander Pope's birthday: "Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread)" by Etta James (Though there are so many great versions!). The title lifts a line from Pope's "An Essay on Criticism."

Works Cited

James, Etta (1938-2012). "Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread)." Etta James Sings for Lovers, Argo, 1962.

Pope, Alexander (1688-1744). "Epigram Engraved on the Collar of a Dog Which I Gave to His Royal Highness." Bartleby.com. https://www.bartleby.com/203/110.html. Accessed 21 May 2020.

Day 68

Daily Assignment Chart for Week of 5/18

"...one ought every day at least to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words." -Goethe

A poem for today: James Tate's "A New Lifestyle"

A New Lifestyle

People in this town drink too much
coffee. They're jumpy all the time. You
see them drinking out of their big plastic
mugs while they're driving. They cut in
front of you, they steal your parking places.
Teenagers in the cemeteries knocking over
tombstones are slurping café au lait.
Recycling men hanging onto their trucks are
sipping espresso. Dogcatchers running down
the street with their nets are savoring
their cups of mocha java. The holdup man
entering a convenience store first pours
himself a nice warm cup of coffee. Down
the funeral parlor driveway a boy on a
skateboard is spilling his. They're so
serious about their coffee, it's all they
can think about, nothing else matters.
Everyone's wide awake but looks incredibly
tired.

A song for today: "Coffee and TV" by Blur

Works Cited

Blur. "Coffee and TV." 13, Parlophone, 1999.

Tate, James (1943-2015). "A New Lifestyle." Writersalmanac.org. https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate=2007%252F03%252F01.html. Accessed 20 May 2020.

Day 67

Daily Assignment Chart for Week of 5/18

"...one ought every day at least to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words." -Goethe

A song for Lorraine Hansberry's birthday: Nina Simone's "To Be Young, Gifted and Black": 

a dedication to Nina Simone's friend, the playwright Lorraine Hansberry, who wrote A Raisin in the Sun. Hansberry was the first black woman to have a play performed on Broadway; she and Simone bonded over civil rights and radical politics.

And then, in January 1965, Hansberry died of cancer at the age of 34. A few months before, she had told a group of student essay winners, "I wanted to be able to come here and speak with you on this occasion because you are young, gifted and black." ("Nina Simone's 'Lovely, Precious Dream' For Black Children")

A poem for Lorraine Hansberry's birthday: Langston Hughes's "Harlem" serves as an inspiration for the title of Hansberry's best-known play A Raisin in the Sun.

Harlem

BY LANGSTON HUGHES

What happens to a dream deferred?

      Does it dry up

      like a raisin in the sun?

      Or fester like a sore—

      And then run?

      Does it stink like rotten meat?

      Or crust and sugar over—

      like a syrupy sweet?

      Maybe it just sags

      like a heavy load.

      Or does it explode?

Works Cited

Hughes, Langston (1902-1967). "Harlem." Poetryfoundation.org. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46548/harlem. Accessed 19 May 2020.

Simone, Nina (1933-2003). "To Be Young, Gifted and Black." Black Gold, RCA, 1970.

Day 66

Daily Assignment Chart for Week of 5/18

The leaves on the honey locust are coming out.

"...one ought every day at least to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words." -Goethe

A poem for today: Mary Oliver "When I Am Among the Trees"

WHEN I AM AMONG THE TREES
by Mary Oliver

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”

A song for today: "Willow" by Joan Armatrading from the solid, soulful Show Some Emotion album.

Works Cited

Armatrading, Joan. "Willow." Show Some Emotion. A&M, 1977.

Oliver, Mary (1935-2019). "When I Am Among the Trees." Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver. Penguin Press, 2017.

Day 65

Daily Assignment Chart for Week of 5/18

A poem for today: "To a Wood Thrush" by William Carlos Williams

To a Wood Thrush

Singing across the orchard
before night, answered
from the depths
of the wood inversely
and in a lower key—

First I tried to write
conventionally praising you
but found it no more
than my own thoughts
that I was giving. No.

What can I say?
                         Vistas
of delight waking suddenly
before a cheated world.
A song for today: "Bird Song" by the Grateful Dead

Works Cited

Grateful Dead. "Bird Song." Sunshine Daydream [Veneta, OR 8/27/72], Rhino Records, 2013.

Williams, William Carlos (1883-1963). "To a Wood Thrush." The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams. New Directions, 1995.