It's Thursday...

...so it's time for me to call your attention to the latest offerings at Chapter 16.

Go here for Clay Risen's piece on novelist Richard Bausch, recipient of the 2009 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for his book (no kidding) Peace.

Lyda Phillips recalls her unlikely encounter with civil rights legend Stokely Carmichael here.

Paul McCoy has a Q&A here with Johnny Cash's biographer, Michael Streissguth, about Always Been There: Rosanne Cash, The List, and the Spirit of Southern Music.

And, in a Confederate double-header, you can go here for Lacey Galbraith's review of Robert Hicks' A Separate Country, while I've got a review of Madison Smartt Bell's novel Devil's Dream here.

Happy reading.


Girl Reading, Franz Eybl, 1850

"So sad the field, so waste the ground"

Briar and fennel and chincapin,
And rue and ragweed everywhere;
The field seemed sick as a soul with sin,
Or dead of an old despair,
Born of an ancient care.

The cricket's cry and the locust's whirr,
And the note of a bird's distress,
With the rasping sound of the grasshopper,
Clung to the loneliness
Like burrs to a trailing dress.

So sad the field, so waste the ground,
So curst with an old despair,
A woodchuck's burrow, a blind mole's mound,
And a chipmunk's stony lair,
Seemed more than it could bear.

From "Waste Land" by Madison Cawein, 1913. The complete poem is here.

T. S Eliot may have borrowed elements of this poem for "The Waste Land." You'll find discussion and links on the matter at Cawein's Wikipedia page.


Drawing by Caspar David Friedrich, c. 1806

StarFlower, Anya's Garden

Creamy melted chocolate, grainy marzipan, a fleshy petal flecked with dew--those are just a few of the images that come to mind when sniffing StarFlower. You’ll notice all of them are rich with texture, as well as taste and smell. There’s a wonderful tangible quality to StarFlower that sets it apart from the typical sticky-sweet gourmand. Don’t get me wrong—it is sweet, and as luscious as the chocolate cherry cordials I used to gorge on when I was a child, but there’s a roughness present in the scent. Every whiff of StarFlower tickles the back of my throat with the irresistibly abrasive softness of crushed velvet.

The notes on Anya’s site tell the straight story: bitter almond, cherry, lemon, tuberose, chocolate, vanilla, and "animalic playfulness." What you read is what you get. (That final element is a cuddly critter, entirely skank-free.) On my skin, at least, StarFlower harbors no surprises. The almond at the top is gloriously potent, but the slow-arriving tuberose is quite tame. The chocolate note is actually present from the opening, but it gradually ascends to dominance as the flowers fade away. Happily, it lingers for hours without ever becoming stale. The thing I dislike about many gourmands is that the candy-coated base notes eventually begin to remind me of the smell that rises off the floor of a movie theater. No sign of that with StarFlower, which retains its freshness, probably thanks to the ghost of the tuberose.

In case it's not obvious, I am generally not the most ardent fan of sweetie-pie perfumes. Sharp green chypres and aldehydic florals are more my speed. My favorite scents from Anya's Garden are Fairchild and Pan, and their status is never going to be threatened by anything that reminds me of marzipan. But StarFlower is certainly one of the most interesting and beautiful olfactory confections I've ever encountered. Gourmand lovers should definitely check it out. I'm going to keep my sample handy, just for an occasional hit of its sweet charm.

Kinder beim Kirschenessen, Franz von Defregger, 1869

Finally...

...there's a new post at Turn Outward. It may make you sleepy. If you're willing to risk that, go here.

The shadows lengthen so fast...

My mother called this afternoon to tell me that her younger brother Hal has died. He had a massive heart attack and was gone before they could get him to a hospital. Hal was a bright spirit, always ready to laugh, and he loved to play practical jokes on my mom. They were very close all their lives, and it's so sad to know that she's lost him.

Hal, my mother, and their eldest brother Jimmy performed as a gospel trio when they were young, and they would usually sing whenever the family got together. I can't say I always enjoyed those impromptu performances, especially when I was a teenager, but the sound of their voices is a wonderful memory for me now. One song I remember them doing is "Suppertime," a country gospel standard. Its religious bathos made me cringe back in the day, and I guess it still does a little, but I understand the sentiment a lot better now than I did then.

This is a clip of Johnny Cash delivering the song about as well as anyone possibly could. I think Hal would enjoy it.




"Suppertime" was penned by Jimmie Davis, an interesting character you can read about here.

"Weep you lovers..."

Weep you lovers, since Love is also weeping,
and hear the reason that makes him full of tears.
Amor feels ladies calling on Pity,
revealing a bitter sorrow in their eyes,
because the villain Death in gentle heart
has set his cruel machinations,
destroying what the world has given praise to
in gentle lady, all except honour.
Hear how Amor has honoured her,
who in his true form I saw lamenting
bending above the lifeless image:
and often gazing upwards to the heavens,
where the gentle soul had already fled,
that was a lady of such joyful semblance.

From Dante's La Vita Nuova (The New Life), 1295. Translated by A.S. Kline.

Beatrice, Odilon Redon, 1885. Image from WebMuseum.

"The Promise of Living"

Aaron Copland was born on November 14, 1900. In recognition of the day, here's a wonderful montage of old film clips set to "The Promise of Living" from The Tender Land. If it doesn't make you misty with happiness, check yourself for a pulse.

Note to dog lovers: Watch all the way to the end.

Buddies

Young Lovers (China, Qing Dynasty, 18th-19th century)

Image from World History of Male Love.

New at Chapter 16

If you're feeling bookish, there are some nice offerings at C16 this week. Michael Ray Taylor has a fun Q & A with Roy Blount, Jr., which you can check out here Paul McCoy talks with Barry Mazor about Meeting Jimmie Rodgers here. (Mazor's book, by the way, is excellent.) I've got a couple of new things up, too: A short Q & A with poet Natasha Trethewey here, and a review of a memoir by civil rights activist D'Army Bailey here. There's plenty more--go surf the site.

I've been obliged to neglect the blog a bit lately, but I'll be back soon with an update on the Little Dude and a review of Anya's StarFlower. Enjoy the weekend.

Real World Perfume: Home at Twilight

Hot Yerba Mate, a licorice candle, red ginger incense, chili powder, and a dog warming himself by the heater.


Pug Dog in an Armchair, Alfred Dedreux, 1857.