c A newsletter of nature and the arts. 
The Atlanta Journal Constitution sponsors the Decatur Book Festival, North America’s largest independent book festival, every Labor Day Weekend  Check their web page for festival details and online events.  
https://decaturbookfestival.com/
 
Humanities Tennessee offers The Southern Festival of Books on the second weekend in October every year. It is always a lovely event, and here are a few words from their web site.
The Southern Festival of Books: A Celebration of the Written Word℠ is a free, three-day Festival hosted each October where readers and writers are offered an opportunity to celebrate the joy of reading and lifelong learning https://www.humanitiestennessee.org/programs-grants/core-program-overview/southern-festival-of-books/
 
The Tennessee Aquarium will hold a phased reopening this month. Links for phased reopening and virtual aquarium experience follow
Phased Reopening Plan details: https://youtu.be/g03t0JBPhvs  
North American River Otters: https://youtu.be/vzos0s3FM2I
Penguins: https://youtu.be/Wr2Y2sdLJWk
Secret Reef: https://youtu.be/jidIOGZcDL0
Reelfoot Lake: https://youtu.be/kX8b7_D9Bos
Brook Trout: https://youtu.be/ty-_FOz7lq8
 
Drive in Dances and live music return to Barking Legs Theater with advance ticket sales only. Drive in Dances will take place this Saturday, June 6. Audience members with advance tickets are asked to illuminate the “stage” with headlamps of their automobiles and listen to accompanying music on the car radios broadcast through WUTC radio 88.1.
 
Barking Legs will also offer a garden concert with Nathan Bell on Saturday, June 13. A David Jacobs-Strain streaming concert takes place Friday, June 12 with tickets “at the door.” Full information appears on their web site.  https://barkinglegs.org/
 
Marcus Patrick Ellsworth is offering a virtual The Floor is Yours performance event also part of the Barking Legs Theater programming. https://www.facebook.com/events/211373150299335/
 
Statement from The American Birding Association   regarding the recent incident in Central Park.

“The American Birding Association is saddened by the situation documented by Christian Cooper in the Central Park ramble on May 25, 2020. We believe that all birders should be able to participate in their hobby free of harassment and bigotry, and we acknowledge that this is frequently not the case for birders of color.
We urge all birders to learn from this – to defend fellow birders when they can and to call out bigotry when they see it. Inclusion and equity are core ABA values; fear and intimidation should never be part of birding culture. Access to outdoor spaces without fear must be a right for all who seek to enjoy and protect wild birds.

For another perspective on this topic see J. Drew Lanham’s article in Orion Magazine Dr. Lanham spoke at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga last year. Orion also carried his article on the extinct Carolina Parakeet, a now extinct bird species native to Tennessee.
Biodiversity
 
A Resource on Biodiversity

​The term Biodiversity was perhaps best popularized by author and Harvard professor emeritus Edward O. Wilson with his book The Diversity of Life. He presented the major themes of this concern in a highly readable format. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/503051.The_Diversity_of_Life
 
Scientists have also used the powerful computing tool, Geographic Information Systems, to analyze distribution and diversity data. This article  https://www.pnas.org/content/110/28/E2602 from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science presents a technical view information gleaned through this process.
 
Perhaps of more interest to general readers are the GIS maps which result from the process.  This web page presents maps of the diversity of five major groups of animals in North America and Brazil.  https://biodiversitymapping.org/wordpress/index.php/home/ Visit the site to check out the maps.
 
 

Ray Bassett of Scenic Roots recently interviewed representatives of the Main Street Farmers Market  and Crabtree Farms to learn how they have become innovative to continue doing business during the pandemic. Are farmers taking orders online? You bet. Scenic Roots is a production of WUTC, 88.1 FM.

​It is heartening to see continued innovation from Barking Legs Theater. They recently moved a dance performance outdoors with Drive in Dances. Richard Winham of WUTC 88.1 FM broadcast music for the Drive in Dances program so the audience could listen from their vehicles as their headlights illuminated the performance. He has also been airing recorded presentations of Wednesday Night Jazz.

Also from Barking Legs Theater, Marcus Patrick Ellsworth’s show, The Floor is Yours will resume online presentations Friday, May 22. Wednesday Night Jazz continues with online programming.

Arts and Letters is now accepting entries for their Unclassifiable Contest. This is a chance for authors to submit entries that do not fit the traditional genres of prose and poetry.

The Sun magazine has opened their archives and full access to the current issue during the pandemic

The Tennessee River Gorge Trust will present a virtual experience of Another Gorgeous Evening, July 13 and 20. In their own words, these two events will feature mixology lessons from our cocktail experts along with a food tutorial and online silent auction. Then, enjoy your cocktail and dinner while listening to live music from Ben Friberg and Dave Schwab. We hope you will join us for a fun evening while also learning more about TRGT’s amazing work in the Tennessee River Gorge!

Laura Marsh will give another online presentation of her Bird Watching from your Couch program through The Chattery on May 23. This time, a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Chattanooga Audubon Society.

Bees on a Bicycle, Chattanooga’s southside gardening center has announced summer hours, 1 - 4 PM Friday
through Sunday. They will also continue to offer online shopping and curbside pickup.  

A spring cleanup of Chickamauga Mound will take place Saturday, May 23 at 8:30 PM. The mound is the last vestige of a large prehistoric site near Amnicola Highway in Chattanooga.  Bring water and come prepared to work.

The Tennessee Aquarium continues to offer virtual experiences of their exhibits.

National Geographic has a virtual tour of the Great Barrier Reef.

There is still time to enter the Chattanooga Audubon Society’s 2020 photography contest. Twelve nature photographs will be featured in a specially produced calendar and the Grand Prize winner receives a cash award.

The spring contest of the Chattanooga Writers’ Guild offers cash prizes in six categories. Early Bird entry fees remain in effect through the end of May.

Winter constellations are leaving the sky as the summer triangle returns. The triangle includes Deneb in Cygnus (The Swan), Altair in Aquila (The Eagle), and Vega in Lyra (The Harp of Orpheus). Get daily updates on the Night Sky from the Earth and Sky newsletter. The StarDate podcast also offers daily astronomy information. If astronomical photographs are more interesting, check out the Astronomy Picture of the Day. Local information is available from the Barnard Astronomical Society.

The Chattanooga Pulse updates their online edition daily, Check back regularly for news, arts, and a calendar of events.
American Diversity Report has released their most recent issue with articles and poetry, including a recent article on prospects for reopening.
For outdoor adventure opportunities, look at Get Out Chattanooga, a magazine from the Chattanooga Times-Free Press and now available as an email newsletter.

Kennedy Creek Resort near Helen, Georgia will offer a writing retreat on June 25-28.
The Chattanooga Public Library offers online programming on their Facebook page.
Shameless Self Promotion

Two of Ray Zimmerman’s works appear in the current issue of Catalpa magazine. One is a poem titled “Driving to New Hope.” The other is a hard to classify piece titled “Late August Collage.”
This edition also includes a feature on Chattanooga artist Jody Harris, interviewed by Cynthia Robinson Young. Many other fine features and poems appear in Catalpa.

Reviews

Bright Wings by Billy Collins (Editor) and David Allen Sibley (Illustrator)
This book could not help but be a lovely addition to my personal library, with editing by a former Poet Laureate of the United States and Illustrations by the author of one of America’s most popular birding guides. Collins has worked hard to popularize poetry, especially during his two-year tenure as Poet Laureate. He is also a birdwatcher, judging from his poem “Osprey” (published elsewhere).

The order of poems and illustrations follows the order in Sibley’s guide, beginning with Common Loon, and ending with three poems about the American Goldfinch. The collection does not include every bird seen in North America, but each illustration has a brief descriptive paragraph by Sibley, as well as one or more poems. The illustrations show primarily male birds in breeding plumage, though the Belted Kingfisher has the bright red belly band of a female bird. Notably, the Belted Kingfisher is one of the few bird species in which the female is more colorful than the male.

I would not attempt to use the book as a field guide, but it is a thoroughly enjoyable read, potentially introducing novices to birds and new readers to poetry.

Each copy of this edition is individually addressed, so rest assured, you have not been added to my mailing list.  Past issues are archived on my web page which also hosts an opportunity to subscribe to future issues, distributed by Mail Chimp and with a safe unsubscribe option. https://rayzimmermanauthor.com

Opportunities and Announcements

Chattanooga’s Barking Legs Theater will offer Drive in Dances May 16, with accompanying music broadcast by Dr. Richard Winham. Tickets for this production are advance sale only. The audience will watch from their cars and tune their radios to WUTC 88.1 FM to hear accompaniment. Wednesday Jazz continues as a weekly online presentation. The Floor is Yours, virtual open mic, will be on hiatus until May 22.

It is a pleasure to see the South Cumberland State Park reopening, This park is a gem in our state park system and the Friends of South Cumberland State Park are instrumental in maintaining and promoting this unique natural area. The friends have also created the Mack S, Prichard Legacy Project, conserving a record of Prichard’s lifelong work as a Tennessee conservationist. Those of you who never met Mack missed a fabulous learning opportunity. He passed over a few weeks back.

Rattle Poetry now offers three live streamed programs. Rattlecast is part interview and part reading with a prompt based open mic, offered Tuesdays at 9 PM ET. Rattle also offers a virtual open mic broadcast, “Poets Respond Live,” Sundays at 12:00 pm.  Their Critique of the Week series allows participants to give online critiques of submitted work, Fridays at 5 PM. See past episodes of these events on Rattle’s YouTube channel.

Crabtree Farms continues to promote locally grown produce from their own property and from other area farms. Their educational programs and events are on hiatus, but they are expected to reopen soon. Check their website for information about produce purchases at the farm

The Chattanooga Pulse publishes their online edition each Wednesday. The arts section for this week features Marcus Patrick Ellsworth, empresario of The Floor is Yours. With skilled interviewer Jenn Webster, he discusses the transition from live to virtual performance during the isolation of Covid-19. The online presentations have included links to “virtual tip jars,” for artists dependent on performance revenue to generate some income

A Tampa newspaper asked citizens to respond to the pandemic with Haiku. Check upcoming issues for published responses.

The Sequatchie Valley Institute and Liquidambar Art Gallery remain closed for the time being, Over the years, they have offered demonstrations of innovative construction and food production. Check their web for an announcement of reopening later this year.

Pink Noise, a poetic podcast, includes work by Tennessee poet Kelly Hanwright, reading from her upcoming book, The Locust Years. Tune in for poetry and life from numerous authors.

Sustainable energy and building practices remain at the heart of the mission of the Chattanooga organization Greenspaces. Visit their web site for full information about events and ongoing programs.

Get a weekly set of writing prompts from our Nashville friends, The Porch Writers Collective. They also offer on-line workshops this year. Future offerings will likely return to in person meetings. 

“Healing the earth, one yard at a time” remains the mission of The Wild Ones with their focus on native plants. Their certification program includes both breadth and depth knowledge on the topics of native plants, invasive plants, and landscaping in harmony with nature.

Support for local artists during the pandemic was forthcoming from Arts Build (formerly Allied Arts). Their assistance helped to sustain 88 authors during the pandemic. Their mission to provide arts leadership for Chattanooga and arts instruction in the schools continues. Soundcorps, an affiliated organization, has links to
services and emergency resources for musicians during Covid -19

Tennessee River Rescue continues to coordinate a volunteer effort to get trash off the banks and out of the river. On the first Saturday of each October, hundreds of volunteers remove thousands of pounds of trash that would otherwise become hazards not only to wildlife, but also to recreational water users and to navigation. Consider volunteering this year.

The Chattanooga Writers Guild offers their Spring Writing Contest with cash awards and publication in their anthology. In addition to the traditional categories of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, they have added three categories for writing specifically about Chattanooga this year.

The Chattanooga Audubon Society has announced their 2020 Photo Contest. The submission fee is $10, and photographers may include up to 3 photographs per submission. The is no limit to the number of submissions and individual may make, but the fee is $10 per submission. Photos must be taken within 40 miles of Maclellan Island, a CAS property.

The Chattery offers practical workshops for people with a wide range of interest. Recent topics have ranged from “Bird Watching from your Couch” to “Building a Road Map to your Dream Home.” Currently limited to online workshops, they plan a return to workshops conducted in person at their facility.

Shameless Self Promotion

The Chattanooga Pulse recently published Ray’s article, “From Page to Screen, Casper Cox Searches for Hidden Rivers.”

Ray Zimmerman’s lyric essay, “Late August Collage,” and a poem, “Driving to New Hope,” will appear in the upcoming edition of Catalpa, a magazine of Southern perspective. The new edition is anticipated within three weeks. There will also be a limited print edition.

Reviews

Family Stories Elegantly Told

In her recent chap book, Migration, Poet Cynthia Robinson Young presents eight generations of family in this elegant collection. She begins the story with Egururu, born of parents brought from Africa on a slave ship by a merchant she calls Charon, giving him the Greek name of the boatman who ferried the dead to Hades, land of an ancient god who shared its name. Egururu kept her name secretly but was known as Charity to the master and slave traders.


From that beginning, the poet memorializes a lineage of ancestors through years of slavery, emancipation, Jim Crowe laws and flight to northern cities. I almost said survived those years, but some of those ancestor’s lives were cut short by mobs. The poet herself is proof that her family survived.

The stories continue, though story seems a poor word for these heroic verses. The poet speaks of her parents and the death of her father. She tells us of her resolve to keep their stories alive. We witness a visit by her deceased mother who speaks in conversation:
Why did you come back?
“To tell you not to worry.”
Why did you come back?
“Because I didn’t want to leave.”
Like the poet’s mother, the reader lucky enough to have a copy of these verses will want to return to this slim volume again and again.
 
Fiery Gizzard, Voices from the Wilderness by Mary Patten Priestly
 
This unique book blends history and natural history to tell the story of the Fiery Gizzard, now a part of South Cumberland State Park. The Author edits The Plant Press, newsletter of the Sewanee Herbarium, so the emphasis on native plants and botanical rarities is not surprising.
She also reveals the geologic history of “the Giz” and speaks somewhat of the fauna, but her real story is one of people.
 
From Bartrum and other early explorers, to modern day naturalists, artists, and citizens, Priestly explains why these people found the Fiery Gizzard an important place, and sought to live nearby and, eventually, to preserve it as a park for future generations.

This short book is an easy read but fascinating for anyone interested in conservation or the outdoors.
 

Announcements

The Chattanooga Audubon Society continues to offer their nature photography contest. Details on how to submit work appear on their website. Entry fee is $10 for three digital photos. Twelve winning photos will appear on their calendar

The Chattanooga Writer’s Guild continues to offer their Spring Contest for area writers. Contestants may contribute in six categories, three of which are specific to Chattanooga. Look to their web site for guidelines, deadlines, and prize information. contest.html

Barking Legs Theatre continues to offer online versions of the Wednesday Jazz Online program and The Floor is Yours each Friday. Poets, Musicians, Dancers, and Performance Artists are encouraged to submit videos of their work, with virtual tip jar information for inclusion in The Floor is Yours. Past performances are available on their Facebook Page.

The Chattanooga Pulse continues to publish their online edition, released each Wednesday. Check out the Local News page.

The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology offers online bird identification classes through their Bird Academy. Courses range from beginning to advanced.  They also have several live Bird Cams for a virtual look at the world of birds.

Winning Writers has announced the North Street Book Prize, for recently self-published books. First place prizes in several categories are $1,000 each. They will also award one Grand Prize of $5,000. 
Boulevard, a literary magazine has released a podcast with excerpts of their spring issue. The print edition includes winning poems and essays from their recent contests. Details on submitting work for review and on rate of pay are available.

Send information on your events to Ray Zimmerman. Ray also edits the Chattanooga Chat, a newsletter that is “for the birds.”

Review
The art of Haiku by Stephen Addiss

If you enjoy short poems or delightful visual art, this book is for you. It was my first introduction to haiga, visual art specifically created to accompany haiku.
 
Addiss illustrates his work liberally with exemplary poems and samples of visual works created to accompany them, stressing the point that they were created to be enjoyed together.
 
He traces the history of short form poetry in Japanese society, beginning with Tanka, a five-line form poem popular early in the previous millennium and continued into the present day. He contrasts it with the Chinese style poetry which was popular in the imperial court.
 
He follows this with biographies of the three acknowledged masters of Haiku and Haibun: Basho (17th century), Buson (18h century) and Issa (19th century). The chapters on these three include illustrations of their artwork, as do the sections on Zen poets and early 20th century haiku poets.
 
He ends the work at World War II, stating that Haiku has since become a world-wide phenomenon, and a description of it in recent years would fill another book. I found it a delightful read but would like to see some contemporary examples of haiga.
 
A Poem
The Paragon Press originally published this poem in their online journal Anapest.
A Chattanooga Lookout
Ray Zimmerman
 
The Lookouts got their first shot at fame,
A New York Yankees Exhibition game.
 
They signed Jackie Mitchell, a publicity stunt,
but she pitched like a pro, not some sorry runt.
 
The starter gave up a hit and a double.
They sent Jackie in to heal this trouble.
 
She struck out Babe Ruth, third up to bat.
She stuck out Lou Gehrig, imagine that.
 
Lazzeri she walked, put a third man on base.
The manager pulled her just to save face.
 
The commissioner said that she had to go.
Should women play baseball? He just said no.
 
But Jackie achieved House of David fame.
That barnstorming team won many a game.
 
The men all wore beards and long hair to boot.
She donned a fake beard, thought it was a hoot.
 
She wasn’t afraid of a publicity stunt,
but she pitched like a pro, not some sorry runt.
 

Announcements

The Chattanooga Writers’ Guild is pleased to announce their spring writing competition with six categories.
​http://www.chattanoogawritersguild.org/2020-spring-contest.html

The Universe in Verse is a fabulous show every year. This year it was online only, with no lie audience. Here is a link to a past year’s show, with poets celebrating science and scientists.  
https://www.brainpickings.org/the-universe-in-verse/

Christian Collier Chattanooga’s best known poet will offer online classes through Rise Chattanooga https://www.facebook.com/RISECHA.org/

The deadline for general submissions to Boulevard magazine is this Friday. Their poetry contest closes on June 1. https://boulevardmagazine.org/guidelines

There are only a few days to enter the Short Fiction contest from Craft https://www.craftliterary.com/short-fiction-prize/

The Chattery offers several fee-based online classes from cake decorating to financing a new home,  https://www.facebook.com/thechattery/

The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology offers web-based bird identification software. Identify neighborhood birds with five easy questions. Visit this link for a free copy of Merlin bird: ID
https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/

iNaturalist is another excellent web-based software popular with those who love wildflowers. Take a photo and the software offers a few possible matches.  https://www.inaturalist.org/

This week’s online edition of the Chattanooga Pulse is now available: http://www.chattanoogapulse.com/

Podcasts

Get a daily dose of a podcast that is “for the birds. https://www.birdnote.org/get-podcast-rss

StarDate from the McDonald observatory: https://blubrry.com/stardate/

The Slowdown - a poem read aloud each day by Poet Laureate Tracy Smith
https://www.slowdownshow.org/

Response to Joy Harjo’s poem “Perhaps the World Ends Here”
 She speaks of a kitchen table. I wonder, how many of us have sat at such a table where babyies teethed and wars began and ended? I think of communal meals when company came together, and we pulled on each of the round wooden table. It expanded and we put a center board in to accommodate the extra guests. She tells us that children became men and women at such tables. We learned secrets as everyone ate well. Did we live as well as we ate? Reading this poem, I see how she became Poet Laureate of the United States.

Volume 1, Number 1 was first published as a document distributed via email and then as a Note on my Facebook page. It never got to my blog, so today I am reprinting it here. Scroll down for Volume 1 Numbers 2-34 first published here and later shared by Messenger and on my Facebook Page.

Staying Positive in the Face of Pandemic Panic
Ar home like many of you. I fill my time with reading and writing and trying to avoid Pandemic Panic. Welcome to Ray’s reviews, Volume 1, Issue 1. In this first issue, I feature a book review, announcements of creative opportunities, and one of my photographs.

Facing the twin threats of isolation and fear of contagion, I have focused on my creative activities. I also check on friends through phone calls and messaging. As useful as social media may be, it is more persona than personality. Projects like this also relieve the frustration of filing my taxes, filling out online forms for unemployment, and online job searches, whatever that may mean in the new reality of covid-19.

Announcements and Reviews
Jody Harris presented some of his visual and performance art in a new video titled Zora and Me, Directed by Brian Auten. He included several images of the Keeody Gallery. See this striking work at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD6_SrRp9ts

The Chattanooga Writers Guild has gone virtual. Here it is in their own words: Our monthly program for April - National Poetry Month - will feature an interview with John C. Mannone titled, Poetry – A Conversation. John is former president of CWG, a highly published poet, and editor of multiple publications. Please watch this interview streamed at the Facebook group of the Chattanooga Writers' Guild on Tuesday April 14 at 7pm https://www.facebook.com/events/1617892761701289/

Barking Legs has Gone Virtual with streaming presentations. Marcus Patrick Ellsworth is streaming his show, The Floor is Yours, every Friday via the show’s Facebook page. Marcus also presented opportunities for viewers to contribute to some of the performers who rely on performance generated revenue for at least a portion of their income. Look for information on future performances here https://www.facebook.com/TFIYBLT/

Barking Legs Theater is also streaming their Wednesday night Jazz program. https://barkinglegs.org/wednesday-jazz-online/
Shelter in Poems - The Academy of American Poets responded to the current health crises by offering readers an opportunity to be heard on how they find solace in poetry. To participate, visit their web site, read one of the poems there, and send them a one paragraph response. For more information, visit https://poets.org/

The Time is Now - Poets and Writers magazine offers weekly writing prompts for fiction, poetry and nonfiction via email. Read the prompts and start writing https://www.pw.org/writing-prompts-exercises
Here are two poetry programs, each delivering a poem a day:
Alfred A. Knopf http://knopfnopfdoubleday.com/knopfpoetry-signup/
Academy of American Poets https://poets.org/poem-a-day

Listening Woman: a book review.
I thought the western as a fiction genre was dead. Then I discovered the writings of Tony Hillerman. He turned the western on its head by evicting the cowboys and focusing on contemporary Indians. Listening Woman is only one of his novels featuring the legendary lieutenant Joe Leaphorn of the Navajo Tribal Police. In Listening Woman, Leaphorn copes with bumbling federal agents as he encounters paramilitary villains and tribal history. He finally unravels a grisly mystery.
 

Announcements
Billy Collins recently gave a reading at the Nashville Public Library. Access the program, with several of his popular poems, here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq9Az9AUNXo

Barking Legs Theater has moved their regular shows online, including “Wednesday Jazz Online,” and “The Floor is Yours,” a virtual open mic. Access the programs here:
https://barkinglegs.org/events/

The Tivoli Theater is now presenting a virtual cinema. Information on available films here:
https://www.tivolichattanooga.com/events/bobby-stone-film-series/virtual-cinema

I have been taking a class for birdwatchers from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Courses range from beginning to advanced. If a whole class seems like a big commitment, just check out their live Bird Cams
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/

The Chattery offers online workshops, including Birdwatching from your couch porch with Laura Marsh. 
https://www.facebook.com/events/244625910247551/

The Chattanooga Zoo offers some online programs via their Facebook page.

The Chattanooga Public Library is offering programs through their YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8wQB1amgvxPX5JWJtywRQg and on their
Facebook page.

The Tennessee Aquarium has numerous programs online, including three webcams where you can watch the animals, Penguins, and Otters and Sharks, Oh my! The Tennessee Aquarium at Home page also includes educational videos, a link to view IMAX films, and, my favorite, Mr. Bills Blog.
https://www.tnaqua.org/aquarium-at-home/

Send your announcements to znaturalist (at) gmail.com
​
Reviews
“Ozymandias” A poem for all seasons
Politicians on both sides seem to be more interested in empire building than in serving the electorate. This was also true in the days when Percy Bysshe Shelly wrote the poem Ozymandius. He posits a traveler who discovered an ancient statue, gone but for the stumps of legs and the pedestal. Nearby, the head lay on the sand. The inscription was still legible. Here are the last five lines of the poem.

My name is Ozymandius, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye mighty and Despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
From Ozymandius – Percy Bysshe Shelly

Pandemic Panic

Poet Paul Richmond teamed up with some musicians to create a statement about the current situation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKrE-hs39YY&feature=

Fred Johnston presented the “Poem of the Day” in the Irish publication RTE
https://www.rte.ie/culture/2020/0407/1129114-poem-of-the-day-1941-by-fred-johnston/

I originally encountered these works on the Facebook page of the Ashville Poetry Review.

Response to “The Revenant” by Billy Collins

I found this poem serious and amusing in the way it presents the Human/Dog relationship from the dog’s perspective. It became one of my favorites on my first reading. Though Collins presents the dog’s opinion as not caring for humans at all, I have known dogs who gave demonstrative love to many humans, including me.

In these days of Pandemic Panic, with its accompanying isolation and fear of contagion, I wish I had a dog. On walks through my neighborhood, I sometimes see my neighbor’s dog, an animal which has come under my care when the neighbor went out of town. He seems to remember this, and when I visit, he comes to me, sits beside me, and leans against my shin.

I have been told that he seems to think he is my dog, recognizing the sound of my car and running to the door to watch it pass. Lately, when I take walks down the street, my neighbor mysteriously knows, and leaves the dog out on his lead. He comes to its full length, just short of the road, and we visit for a while before I proceed with bird watching or photographing roadside flowers.

I have come to a new appreciation of Collins, an esteemed Poet Laureate, and his appreciation of dogs. He has written several poems about them. Hear Collins read this poem and another, “A Dog on his Master.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOvbl3ZPPV4
​

 
Announcements
 
The Chattanooga Audubon Society is offering a photography contest. Find full information here:
https://www.chattanoogaaudubon.org/contest.html
 
Christian Collier has released the third episode in his docuseries, The Plug Poetry Project. The third episode of The Plug Poetry Project includes readings and discussion by the poet known as Moll King, and by me, Ray Zimmerman. Here are links to the three episodes released thus far:
 
Episode 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYTVbKrxv-o
Episode 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixfSMBMB-Wg
Episode 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32hfN7o4zBE&t=130s
 
The Chattanooga Writers Guild has announced their 2020 Annual Spring Writing Contest
Information is available on their web page. http://www.chattanoogawritersguild.org/2019-spring-writing-contest.html
 
They live streamed their April meeting, a conversation about poetry with John Mannone. The video is still available on their Facebook page.
 
The Porch Writer’s Collective up in Nashville presents a weekly set of writing prompts via email. They are also offering several online workshops this spring. To sign up for the free writing prompts or learn more about the fee based workshops, visit http://www.porchtn.org
 
 Pandemic Panic
 
Not happy to be merely living in a Pandemic Panic, I have begun reading about them. I completed The Andromeda Strain, a well-researched science fiction suspense book with a surprise twist at the end.
 
I simultaneously read The Hot Zone (Preston). which is classed as a nonfiction novel. The author based his writing on interviews with several researchers, so the events are factual, but the book is written in the style of a novel. The surprise ending to part three caused me to lose interest in finishing the book.
 
I then picked up David Quammen’s nonfiction book Spillover which includes true stories of the people in the fight against infections diseases. Somehow knowing the science of what is going on is comforting to me.
 
Meanwhile, I am still working on this blog, so send me your announcements.
 
Reviews
 
The Spring of my Life
Kobayashi Issa
Translation by Sam Hamill
Reviewed by Ray Zimmerman
 
The poet Issa is beloved throughout his homeland and Japanese schoolchildren commit his poignant nature poems to memory. Adults appreciate his humor, and scholars decry the self-pity which shows through his work.
 
The winter fly
I caught and finally freed
The cat quickly ate
 
For this reviewer, the poetry of Issa represents a triumph of the human spirit. The events of his life transcend sadness to reach the heights of pathos and tragedy. His mother died when he was but two years old, and his grandmother took over the responsibility of child rearing. She sent him to study poetry with a local scholar at an early age. When he reached age eight; his grandmother died, and his father remarried. His stepmother abused him.
 
Mother I weep
For you as I watch the sea
Each time I watch the sea
 
He left home for Edo (now Tokyo) at age twelve to study poetry and Zen. He became a homeless scholar on the streets. After many years as an itinerant poet, he returned home to nurse his dying father. In his fifties he married a much younger woman, but all their children died at an early age. The final child died due to care by an incompetent nurse, shortly after the death of the mother. He married again in his sixties, but he and his pregnant wife moved into a shed after their house burned. He died there, and shortly after his death the wife gave birth to a daughter who lived to continue his line.
 
The Spring of My Life is haiban, a book of narrative prose with haiku, in the same tradition as Narrow Road to the Interior (Basho). The following passage from chapter fourteen illustrates this point. “Visiting my daughter’s grave on July 25th, one month after her death”
 
The red flower
You always wanted to pick --
Now this autumn wind”
 
The death was due to smallpox, and it is noteworthy that the number fourteen holds a place in Japanese culture much like the number thirteen in our own culture. The placement of this story in chapter fourteen is no accident.
 
Among the sad verses are many hopeful ones, beautiful, like the following:
 
The distant mountains
Are reflected in the eye
Of the dragonfly
 
Issa is rated among the three great masters of haiku, along with Basho and Buson. The book, The Spring of my Life is a classic. Translator Sam Hamill included not only the full text the book, but also 250 haiku selected from the many thousands attributed to Issa. It is well worth the read.