The Symphonic Boom

I flash interviewed Lucy Bledsoe, author of The Big Bang Symphony: a novel of Antarctica.

AW: Why Antarctica, as the setting for your novel?

LB: Antarctica is such an intense place. It changes everyone who goes there. So I wanted to tell a story about that wild emotional squeeze. AND, I wanted to write about the ordinary people who go work there – not the usual Antarctic story about explorers and heroics. So that’s what I’ve done, written about the men and women who take jobs on the Ice, fall in love there, grieve there, work there.

AW: Any hints about the transcendental aspect of the plot development?

LB: Some people get crushed by the intensity I mentioned above. For others, the extreme beauty, the raw connection to their own biology – and to the animals in Antarctica that have never learned to fear humans, and the closeness with other people that environment nurtures, brings out the very best, helps them evolve toward the people they want to be.

AW: What advice would you give to young writers?

LB: Argh. It’s so hard because I want to say the usual stuff and wish I could say it in a more effective way. But I want to say: believe in your voice and your stories. And don’t worry TOO much about all the rules. I like what I once heard Ernest Gaines say: There are 6 steps to becoming a good writer – read, read, read, write, write, write.

 

Well, it works, the Earth

Yesterday was the vernal equinox–perfect for calibrating your sun dials, harmonizing your body with itself, or balancing an egg on its end.

 

Farm Reading

Please pre-order a copy of Farm before March 21. If you do, I will write you a personalized power spell described below.

 

Farm Special Offer

If you pre-order a copy of my chapbook Farm before March 21,  I will coin you a personalized theme poem/powerspell/joy mantra using the letters of your name, and therefore pretty much guaranteed by the masters and mastresses of the universe to make your wishes come true.

 

Farm!

“Farm is a verb,” my forthcoming chapbook begins, “This is some instruction.”

To read the instruction, pre-order your copy from Finishing Line Press (scroll to the bottom of the page.)

Of it, Cole Swensen says: “A patient precision rules this intricate consideration, making something ostensibly simple into a complex network of impulses and responsibilities. Wright echoes this in form as well, rhyming unlike things­—honey/repeatedly; assumptions/relations—­tracing the secret connections that together map out the ways that people come to belong ­to—land, to language, and to each other. A marvelous series that matches a strong ear with a strong mind.”

And, the question that, with much curiosity, anticipates your answer is–What do you think?

 

Around the house there is this ocean -Charles Olson

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds…” Yogi Patanjali says.

“I’m going to Graceland, Graceland, Memphis Tennessee,”  Paul Simon says.
And I am going to meet Ana Brett! Radiant yogini extraordinaire.

For evidence of the benefits of yoga, I submit the following proof–a picture of me before and after a kundalini yoga kriya. Need I say more?  If you’re not doing yoga yet, you will.

 

Doe & Gator

Hello, bloggers. I hope you all are enjoying your holidays. Happenings in our little Virginia town are 1) the deer are hungry. This young doe slept in my parents’ yard, having found my mother’s  rhodendendrum makes good pre-thaw snacking. And, 2) Gator Taylor shot up our post office.

Both the hostages and the deer are safe, though the hostages do now get to go inside. I asked mom if we could bring this little one in, but no dice.

Any action in your holidays yet?

 

Tis the season to get good

…French music. Now taking recommendations. In exchange, I will send you the etymology of your name.

Mine is from the the Old French name Amée meaning “beloved,” a vernacular form of the Latin Amata. It was a rarity in the Middle Ages, and was revived in the 19th century, becoming so common by the 21st, I had something to disprove.

 

White Girl Hillbilly Pollyanna Rap

If only, Mr. Brown, it was as rhythmically compelling to “say it loud.”

 

Single Best Show

Last night I saw Leonard Cohen in Nashville. You know how sometimes you experience something so great that even at the time you know it is going to stand as one of your apogees? That it cannot be topped by anything because you didn’t even know it could get that good? That was hearing Famous Blue Raincoat live, Suzanne, Take This Waltz…. Here is a clip that captures some of the tremendous energy of the performance.

I expected it to be great, but I was overwhelmed by its sublimity. Stunned. Tell me about some time that has happened to you….