Today Grace Paley passed away. And today my dearest friend’s first full-length collection of poetry went on sale. One leaving and one arriving. The yin and yang of two creative selves. The coincidence is heavy with meaning and portends, I think, of something remarkable underway.
In an iChat exchange, Sage said she felt better after she blogged about Grace; like she paid her respects. I responded that I planned to talk about Grace as way of introducing her book. We surmised that there are women blogging about dear Grace all over the world.
I share with Sage a favorite Grace Paley quote. There was an interview in which Grace Paley was asked, “You’re a mother, a wife, a writer, a teacher, an activist. How do you have time to do it all?” To which Grace responded, “Well, I have all day.”
That line fundamentally changed the way I approach life. Just as surely as Sage’s book of poems change, nourish and inspire me. “Like the Heart, the World” accompanies the reader through the blighted streets of New York losses, the oceanic melancholies of San Francisco and Portland’s orchestral embrace of the ripening, welcomed self.
I will long cherish my autographed copy. You can get one too right here. You’ll cherish it too.
August 23, 2007 at 9:04 pm |
Pamela, Darling! Oh, what an honor it is to be cherished by you! So little of what I’ve accomplished in life would have been possible without your wind beneath my wings! How’s that for some cheesy, unoriginal love poetry!? Thanks so much for sharing in the celebration of poetry and wisdom and LIFE!
October 5, 2007 at 11:39 am |
[...] One might wonder how I get anything else done when I have so much blog visiting to do. Luckily, I have all day. [...]