Christie and Rosemerry Nordic skiing on Lizard Head Pass still laughing about Rosemerry’s gaffe on this week’s episode—listen in and laugh along.
Preview: Episode 29 with Danusha Laméris
Last summer was the first time I’d heard poet Danusha Laméris use the term understory. As she explains, “To me it means the hope that is growing beneath the surface. Under the news. Under the terror. What are the small stories that mean as much—and even more—than the headlines?” In this week’s episode of Emerging Form, we talk about the role of the writer and how creative process can be driven by “the small stuff.” And in the bonus episode, Laméris talks about commitment, changing artforms, and her nocturnal writing life.
Danusha Laméris’ first book, The Moons of August (Autumn House, 2014), was chosen by Naomi Shihab Nye as the winner of the Autumn House Press poetry prize. Some of her poems have been published in The Best American Poetry,The New York Times,TheAmerican Poetry Review,The GettysburgReview, Ploughshares, and Tin House. She’s the author of Bonfire Opera, (University of Pittsburgh Press, Pitt Poetry Series, 2020), and the recipient of the 2020 Lucille Clifton Legacy Award. Danusha teaches poetry independently, and was the 2018-2020 Poet Laureate of Santa Cruz County, California.
Things We’re Reading:
Rosemerry:
Want to change your life for real? Wake Up Grateful: The Transformative Practice of Taking Nothing for Granted came out this week and I love it. Written by Kristi Nelson, executive director for A Network for Grateful Living, this is a guidebook, a resource, a roadmap. I’ve been picking it up and opening to any page and finding valuable quotes, stories, poems, questions and meditations. It’s a book that’s written to meet moments—I can’t recommend it highly enough.
If you know a teacher who would like help with writing prompts—or if you would like writing prompts—check out Prompts for Young Writers which just came out from Colorado Authors League. It’s organized by grade—from 1st grade through high school. Lots of writing tips, too.
Years ago, my dear friend Danny Rosen, owner of Lithic Bookstore, gave me a small compendium of collective nouns for birds. A Conspiracy of Ravens is the kind of book I pick up all the time just for joy—to see the words “a pitying of turtledoves” or “a confusion of warblers.” Something about this book just thrills me. Very basic. Very entertaining.
Christie:
A couple of my favorite writers have new substack newsletters. Annalee Newitz’s is called The Hypothesis and they describe it as “a mix of science news and rampant speculation. Or maybe thought experiments informed by history.“ Check it out here.
Emily Willingham’s new substack is called Divergent, and she writes it “at the busy intersection of science and society, where one should always look both ways before crossing.” I especially recommend her recent post on why demand for prenatal autism testing is so high. After you read that, read Sarah Zhang’s thought-provoking piece, “The Last Children of Down Syndrome” about how genetic screening is altering who gets born.
In “How an intimate burial can make death human-sized,” Olivia Durif begins with, “The only person I’ve ever buried was a stranger.” Her essay, which appears in High Country News, explores natural burials and the intimacy and humanness of death rituals.
Inviting Obama for Dinner
I no longer remember much of etiquette
from reading White Gloves and Party Manners,
so when Obama doesn’t come to our house
for Thanksgiving dinner, I needn’t worry
that I’ve forgotten how to address a former president
in an informal setting. I do, however, remind my kids
that if Obama were sitting with us,
they would want to remember to put their napkins
in their laps. They do.
And you probably don’t want to lick the serving spoon,
I add, as it goes from the cranberry sauce
into an eager mouth. And we don’t talk about farting.
The whole time Obama isn’t eating mashed potatoes with us,
we wonder what he is eating with his family
and what they are talking about,
and if he might not just accept an invitation
to our home for dinner. If he did,
we agree we would refrain from using the knife
with the butter dish to butter our own bread.
And, uncertain how to address him,
we’d just ask him personally how he’d like be called.
I’d like to believe that Obama might actually show up.
He’d knock at the door in his elegant and humble way,
no fanfare, holding a side dish of roasted Brussels sprouts,
and we’d listen as he told us what he’s up to these days.
As it is, it’s kinda fun when he doesn’t show up
and we act like ourselves. I eat my green beans
with my fingers—they taste better that way.
My daughter plays with the candle wax.
Sometimes, I lick my plate.
—Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Two Questions:
(share your answers with us here on Substack or in our FB group)
Do you have any kind of personal anthology? How do you curate it?
If you could put a phrase on a creative “altar,” what would it be?