Y’all know how Auntie Lenora hates numbers. If you didn’t know that before, you do now. I do not enjoy math, and I detest algebra. To me, the wonton mixing of numbers and letters is an abomination. Kinda like a tossed salad mixed with worms.
And then along comes AI thinking it’s an author, writing stories worthy of narration and publication. “It was Wednesday, and Nathan came. We spent three days — On Thursday he went back…” Even I, Numbers Phobe Extraordinaire, knows that’s wrong. Sigh.
My secret sin, I listen to way too many of these, I never comment, I do not wish to encourage more than I do by clicking on them, but I find them laugh out loud funny! The words are mispronounced, the abbreviations written are said incorrectly, and the stories are, well, think romance novels of the ‘70s and ‘80s. The SciFi ones are fairly well done, and fun, but again, very formulaic. The ones that come out of other countries are not always translated, often there are sentences and paragraphs in Asian languages, and I think I’ve caught Russian in a couple. But they are great escape from the Un-named Person (UP) the news generated by same.
The Red Hijab by Bonnie Bolling
I honestly don’t remember who recommended this book, but I wish I did so I could thank them. It’s about 70 pages of some wonderful poetry. As H. L. Hix says in the Forward, Bonnie Bolling “…lives a part of each year in Diraz, a village in Bahrain [and] is in position to offer, and does offer in The Red Hijab, an alternative to [news dispatches.” I would like to know why she lives there part time every year, because I’m curious.
I found the poems engaging and telling of a life more as it’s lived than reported on the news. Yes, there are the sounds of shootings while a chicken cooks in someone’s kitchen. There is rain and a soaked housemaid passing wearing her red hijab.
Bolling takes us on a tour of day-to-day-living in a culture very unlike ours, and while I don’t think I would want to live in that culture long-term, I found it beautiful in its honesty, and of course, had I been born into it, it would be all I would know.
From the first and title poem, “The Red Hijab” which begins: “A hard rain falling on the corrugated roof / of the abandoned double-wide / across the steaming street,” to the last poem of the book, “On a Balcony with the Lunch Poems” which ends, “always the going, / always the returning, / the four of them wearing / Superman underwear.” (she returns to California and her sons) we are treated with the beauty of words, and a country I’ve never known and would like to meet.
The book is divided into three parts, introduced by quotes by people as varied as Adonis, Virginia Woolf, Job, and Rumi. The word Azan appears many times, and when I looked it up, thinking it was a synonym for muezzin I learned something, which makes the book even more worthwhile. The muezzin is the man who calls/sings the azan, the call to prayer, from the minaret. There are several of the calls or summons to prayer on line, here is one classified as the “Most Beautiful Azan Ever Heard.” I cannot attest to that, because it’s the only one I’ve ever heard, but it is beautiful.
The Red Hijab by Bonnie Bolling
ISBN: 978-1-943491-06-3
BkMkPress, 2016
available from Amazon
I looked at abebooks.com and it cost twice as much plus an outrageous s/h fee. I could not find it on Bookshop.org. Amazon has new ones for $12.74
5 stars
First Goslings!
Our first goslings of the season were brought over to the small pond next to my office on Thursday. There were four of them. Parents very watchful and protective. A lot of folks don’t like Canada Geese, but they are family oriented. As more goslings come along, the families frequently band together, herding all the youngsters into a mass bundle of cuteness, and walk surrounding them, or swim surrounding them, to keep them all safe. Ducks don’t seem to be that caring. The drakes ignore the hens while they nest, so they must leave the eggs unattended while they eat, and when the babies come, the hens are protective of theirs, but aren’t smart enough to see banding together with other duck hens and young would add more protection. They will attack any duckling that wanders into their group or territory, as the usurper will steal the food of their babies. I don’t want to politicize our geese or ducks but they do rather remind me of our two major political parties. /meow/
I believe the gander is on the left, and the dame on the right. The four yellow spots are the goslings.
“The holiest place on earth
is where your greatest
enemy stands.” –unknown
Blatant Self-Promotion:
I’m sorry, but every so often I really need to self-promote
Saying Goodbye to Thomas.
If you would like to asigned copy, contact me.
The cost is $23.00 including shipping and handling,
otherwise, please check your local indie bookstore, Bookshop.org or the other place.
If you buy from me, I will donate the ENTIRE amount, split evenly, to
ALS Association and Death With Dignity.
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is also divided equally.
I make NO money from this book.