Friday Odds and Ends including reflections on Harry Potter, a poem by James Wright and a silly meme

Come on guys, Christmas is less than six months away.


I'm less than 100 pages from the end of Harry P. I love books that inspire binge reading (and socks), Iris Murdoch has done that to me a couple of times. Do you have any favorite binge reads? Books you couldn't help bringing to the table, reading while walking down the street, or that kept you home from work until they were done? Anyway, HP is a fun adventure and Rowling draws a portrait of how a society becomes bigoted out of greed and fear, which I've thought is pretty good. It seems to me as though some of the books is tailored for the movie, which is a little annoying but mostly I'm enjoying it very much and I should be finished today, which is good since I promised the ragazzo he could have it on the weekend AND if I don't study more for the GRE soon I'm going to regret it.


Get ready for the posting of the poems of the Summer Poetry Challenge next week!! I'm looking forward to what our readers have chosen (see side bar for details).


Here's a poem not entered in the challenge by a poet I just love, Jame Wright:


A Note Left in Jimmy's Leonard's Shack
Near the dry river's water-mark we found
Your brother Minnegan,
Flopped like a fish against the muddy ground.
Beany, the kid whose yellow hair turns green,
Told me to find you, even in the rain,
And tell you he was drowned.

I hid behind the chassis on the bank
The wreck of someone's Ford:
I was afraid to come and wake you drunk:
You told me once the waking up was hard,
The daylight beating at you like a board.
Blood in my stomach sank.

Beside, you told him never to go out
Along the river-side
Drinking and singing, clattering about.
You might have thrown a rock at me and cried
I was to blame, I let him fall in the road
And pitch down on his side.

Well, I'll get hell enough when I get home
For coming up this far,
Leaving the notes, and running as I came.
I'll go and tell my father where you are.
You'd better go find Minnegan before
Policemen hear and come.

Beany went home, and I got sick and ran,
You old son of a bitch.
You better hurry down to Minnegan;
He's drunk or dying now, I don't know which,
Rolled in the roots and garbage like a fish,
The poor old man.


And finally, Eva over at her comfy A Striped Armchair tagged me for this meme which is probably more of interest to bloggers than it is to other readers, but here it is:

It’s very simple. When this is passed on to you, copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside those that you like. (Check out especially the * starred ones.)

Add the next number (1. 2. 3. 4. 5., etc.) and write your own blogging tip for other bloggers. Try to make your tip general.

After that, tag 10 other people. Link love some friends!


1. Look, read, and learn. **-http://www.neonscent.com/

2. Be, EXCELLENT to each other. **-http://www.bushmackel.com/

3. Don’t let money change ya! *-http://www.therandomforest.info/

4. Always reply to your comments. ******-http://chattiekat.com/

5. Link liberally — it keeps you and your friends afloat in the Sea of Technorati. ***-http://chipsquips.com/

6. Don’t give up - persistence is fertile. *-http://www.velcro-city.co.uk/

7. Give link credit where credit is due. ****-http://www.sfsignal.com/

8. Pictures say a thousand words and can usually add to any post.**-http://scifichick.com/

9. Visit all the bloggers that leave comments for you - it's nice to know who is reading! ***-http://stephaniesbooks.blogspot.com/

10. When commenting on others’ blogs, a few kind words go a long way. – ** http://shelflifeblog.blogspot.com/

11. When you're starting out, comment on all the blogs you like to read; that way the bloggers will know that you exist! ;)* http://astripedarmchair.blogspot.com

12. Vary your brew once in a while in form or content - if you're serious post a cartoon, if you do movie commentary give me a recipe, if you do books write on your foreign travels, if you're terse be excessive - it's fun for readers and you'll stretch yourself.
http://bookeywookey.blogspot.com/


And now I'm supposed to tag 10 people. Sorry if someone else already got to you and I didn't remember (blame Harry) and these are soft tags (no pressure if you'd rather not):
The Sheila Variations
Bookgirl's Nightstand
The Hidden Side of a Leaf
Pages Turned
The Frontal Cortex
A Work in Progress
Maitresse
The Mumpsimus
Dovegreyreader Scribbles
Writings Within the Margin


Good weekend.