Writers Corner for July 22, 2011

Here's another weekly shot of verse and prose from The Press Writers Corner.

Send us your poems, your stories and essays. We'll publish them here.

I AM (IN A NUTSHELL)

I am not simplistic,

I am not complex

I am never last,

I am forever next.

I am young,

I am unsure.

I am just filthy,

I am angelical and pure.

I am gifted with words

and humor.

I am unwelcome,

troublesome; spacy, too

virtually lunar.

Up, up and beyond the skies

I am incredibly wise. Humble, yet,

I am full of lies:

I love, I hate,

I am caught in the trap,

I set out fresh bait,

I am guilty,

I am critical,

I am figurative,

I am literal;

literally, I am

a bewildered human with

another sketchy plan.

Which reminds me,

I am slammed, and please trust,

that I shall not linger casually,

I shall not sit about and fuss

with a twice festered regret.

I am tireless

I am entirely spent.

- Shawna Anderson, Coeur d'Alene

•••

THE PINE

The ancient pine tree shivered in the wind and snow

His whole body swayed sometimes out of control

His limbs ached from the icy buildup of ice and cold

He had lost a few limbs in the course of the summer

The tearing away from his body had been a bad tremor

But the summer smoke had filled the pine with terror

The winter storm felt somehow different in his roots

This summer he had not sent off any new shoots

He ached more with the cold and winter deep in his roots

The wind seemed to make him bow closer to the ground

His limbs made a terrifying loud rumbling cracking sound

Suddenly his whole body was rushing nonstop to the ground

The ancient pine looked around surrounded by frozen terror

This was not right; his roots were stuck up in the wintery air

He felt his pitch draining though his broken body in terror

One hundred years lay on the ground in broken disarray

As the pine felt his life blood and broken wood slipping away

The winter snow and ice covered the pine in his icy grave

- Patricia M. Williams, Pinehurst

•••

100 BOOKS IN 365 DAYS

A year ago I was thinking about how many books I read in any given year.

"I bet I average about a hundred books a year," I said to myself.

After some soft calculations, I realized I average 70 or so. "Easy to challenge myself to read 100 books," I thought without studied insight.

My efforts got off to a great start. I began with Rutherford's "New York," an 800+ page, history-by-the-pound, Micheneresque novel of New York City. My kind of book: historical fiction, long, well written and educationally enlightening. It took until book 11 to dawn on me that at my current rate, I would never complete my goal. The book selections became shorter in length and remained true to my preferred genres of historical fiction and mysteries.

The exercise brought to focus what I was reading and what I should be reading. Wasn't this the time to broaden my reading habits and peruse other genres? Not a good idea. I kept track of the number of books I started but did not finish, 29 in all. It was like the cannibal adding slaughtered cow to the human boiling in his kettle. In doing so, it spoiled the enjoyment of the meal.

It was around book 25 that I stopped to analyze the entire challenge. Did I think I could do it? (Yes.) Did I realize at what pace I needed to read to reach one hundred? (2-3 books per week) Was this realistic? (Maybe.) Would it be worth it? (Probably.) How would this project impact my life and my husband? (Unknown.) Did I have other goals like reading all of one author's works (no) and should the list include books on subjects like garden plants and things to do in Christchurch, New Zealand? (Yes.)

Between April 21, 2010 to last April 21, I read 104 books, 29,366 pages, listened to two audio books and listened to 25 hours of CDs of a course on opera. I started another 29 books but did not finish reading them for various reasons. I was accused of working "too much overtime at the library" when a lady in the grocery store commented that she saw me "in there all the time carrying a big stack of books that I must be shelving." I don't work at the library.

My husband saw me much less often. The house was quieter but not as clean as it is

normally. I resented people who interfered with my reading time. Meals became less sophisticated or absent. I did not do much writing. The number of colas and snacks I consumed increased.

Of the 104 books completed, I circled 53 as recommendable to others.

I liked or tolerated the remaining 51 books enough to finish them but not enough to recommend them. It was a good topic of conversation. People looked at me with awe or bewilderment. A few said they had read 100 books in 12 months. The project was different and more difficult than I imagined at the outset. Many people ask for my book list. I wonder why. My reading tastes are mine, not theirs. If someone wants books recommendations, tell me what genre is preferred and I may have some of the circled 53 titles to recommend. Better sources of recommendations are Amazon.com reviews, the New York Times book reviews and top ten books of the week lists.

To put things in perspective, according to USA Today, and various other polling agencies, statistics show that 53 percent of Americans do not read one book in a year. Of those who do read, the number of books read per year is four or nine depending upon the poll. More women read than men, more readers are college graduates and over the age of 50. The most popular genres are mystery and suspense.

I will continue to read voraciously. I like to be transported to other countries, other times, and exposed to other views of the world and others' talents for writing. Reading 100 books in 12 months? Been there, done that, waiting for the T-shirt.

- Jennifer Rova, Hayden Lake

•••

Send your Writers Corner submissions to Maureen Dolan, [email protected].

We prefer e-mail submissions, and we ask that you limit the length of your stories and poems. Please include your hometown with your submission.

You can send hard-copies by mail to Maureen Dolan at The Press, 201 Second St., Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, 83814.