I don’t know how I happened upon this poem by Esther Mathews.
It first appeared in Poetry Magazine, in November of 1938. Somewhere, a long time ago (Not that long ago. Please.), I wrote down the words, and I often think of these words on Valentine’s Day.
I do so love a good poem. And I hope you have a lovely Valentine’s Day, however it’s expressed.
Many of you know that I live in the Atlanta area, and right now, it’s raining/sleeting/snowing here. According to the weather guys, the ice that is coming will be “catastrophic.”
When Southerners hear “catastrophic,” they haul butt to the grocery store (though to be honest, we’ll clear out a store if we hear “possibility of snow flurries”) and then hunker down with enough food to feed half the state. I think it may have something to do with vestiges of Sherman’s March…
Anyway, I’m not exactly your typical Southerner. As long as I have peanut butter and bread, I’m good. But I am your typical writer. So I will haul butt to my library to make sure I have plenty of books.
You don’t need power to read, my friends. (Or write, now that I think about it.) But I realize that not everyone is under a “catastrophic” winter storm warning, so I wanted to pass along an excellent opportunity for the general reading public.
The Getty Museum has a new Virtual Library. That’s over 250 publications about art that are available for download–and free. And though I’m not an expert on great art by any means, I do appreciate a fine painting. I like photographs, too, especially those exhibits that give us a piercing glimpse into life from another period.
It’s inspiring stuff, art. And it’s not just the Getty that offers their library online. The Metropolitan has a virtual library, and the Guggenheim, too. So even us folks way down South can get a little artsy inspiration and education.
(Well, that’s assuming we have power.)
Cathy C. Hall Writes 