After the Muffin

TODAY’S BIG NEWS ... for me, at least: I received an e-mail this week asking permission to reprint one of my poems ... “After the Muffin” ... in 1,000 copies of a concert program which will be handed out at performances of the professional vocal ensemble, Chicago a cappella, in October of this year. 


Whoopee! I said yes, of course. Who am I to stand in the way of getting more mileage out of one of my little poems? In this case it’s one which has been set to music and performed before (details, if you’re interested, are in ‘TODAY’S POEM,’ below).


There remained one other little detail. The person making the contact also wanted to know if I require any payment for letting them do this. 


Well! I promptly replied that, yes, my usual fee would apply ... and that runs to SIX FIGURES ... all of them ZEROES, of course! 


-S&G-


BOOK NOOK - Word from LOREE, Kansas, is that she’s not getting much reading done these days ... but she has a perfect excuse (even Professor Squigglee is nodding agreement at this) ... Loree says, “The outdoors keeps calling to me.” Ah, but come winter, she plans to give those audio books (sometimes called “talking books”) a real workout.


Meanwhile, I’m still trying to remember to find a few minutes now and then to spend with Memory Fitness Over 40, by Robin West, Ph.D. And now two other books have joined that one: Slipping Out of Bloom, a delightful, moving collection of poems by Julie L. Moore (Phyllis and I had the pleasure of hearing her give a reading recently), and heredities, a rather complicated collection by J. Michael Martinez.


-S&G-


HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED how often it rains when you have something special on the agenda? Plan a picnic, for example, or Grandma often commented on how often it always seemed to rain after she’d just hung a washing out to dry. 


Well, LOREE says, “I can personally verify that if it only rains ONE day out of any given week, it will be on Thursday, the day I go to get my hair done! Reckon I should change days?”


Oh, I dunno ... let’s just be thankful you don’t get it done every day. What a deluge that would be!


-S&G-




TODAY’S POEM: "After the Muffin" is a love poem ... that's right, love poem ... which was included in O Taste and See: Food Poems, an anthology co-edited by David Lee Garrison and Terry Hermsen and published by Bottom Dog Press ... and the book was a sellout ... all 5,000 copies! 


"After the Muffin" was also discovered by Paul Carey, composer, who is also music director for Vox Caelestis Women's Chorus, a 16-voice professional women's chorus based in Chicago's western suburbs. 


He liked "After the Muffin" and set it to music, along with several other food-related poems.


For a sampling of their work:


http://www.paulcarey.net/




"After the Muffin" made an appearance in three performances of "The Musical Food Groups" by Chicago a cappella, a vocal ensemble of nine voices, "dedicated to performing innovative concert programs at the highest possible musical standards."


I've heard a recording of their presentation of "After the Muffin," thanks to Matt Greenberg, executive director, who also sings bass with the group ... and it is a superb piece of work ... their rendition of my poem, that is. 


For a sample of Chicago a cappella:


http://www.chicagoacappella.org/




Meanwhile, the poem:


AFTER THE MUFFIN


You've something on
your lip, you say,
your finger, gentle
as a kiss, floating
to show me where.


Blueberry! For
we have just shared
a warm muffin
by candlelight.


And now, all these
hours later, I still
feel that touch
like a kiss, still
hear you saying:
You've something
on your lip.


(Published in O Taste and See: Food Poems, Bottom Dog Press, 2003)


-S&G-


COMMENT? Feel free ... below, if you like. 


Or if you prefer e-mail, that's fine, too ... especially for more detailed observations, to


 rbrimm@peoplepc.com


... and it helps if you put "Squiggles" or "S&G" ... something like that ... in the subject line (just remember, no religion or politics ... please!)


-S&G-


If you’d like to see what’s up with my other, DAILY blog (no, this is not my “Home Page”),  here’s a link to it:


http://rbrimm.blogspot.com/


Thanks for paying a visit.




-S&G-


UNTIL NEXT TIME ... take care ... see ya!


-S&G-


©  2010