Writing about writing

A leaf poem

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:03:15 GMT

In my free time — in between filing stories on the H1N1 virus or the Planning Commission or crowded classrooms — I like to write about things that would never make the front page. A fall leaf, for example. Imagine: “Breaking news: A leaf on a maple tree at the intersection of Helman and North Main streets turned red this morning, as it prepared for its descent off the tree, which is readying for winter.”

So here’s an odd, just-written, somewhat-scrappy poem about that very leaf.

The leaf

held by a stem to a tall tree
turning from green
to a deeper shade
the same
                but not quite
                            the same shade
as the other leaves
like flames
and now the wind
                 or the branch
                             — no: the leaf —
is alive and it
                 falls
                             free
for seconds.

Think of that when someone says
life is short.

I’m confident lots of you can come up with better leaf poems. Send in your verses by posting them in the comments section below or e-mailing them to hguzik@dailytidings.com.

Photo from Ashland Daily Photo blog.

Submitted poems about Ashland in autumn

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:48:30 GMT

Does autumn — the stirring of the leaves, the crisp breeze — inspire Ashland residents to write?

It sure seems that way. Several locals sent in their poems about Ashland in autumn, after reading my last post.

Mike Green, former Web editor for the Daily Tidings and Irene Carver, a local resident, both penned some autumnal verse:

Fall
By Mike Green

A leaf unhooks its grasp high above
Drifting downward on a gentle breeze
Many mimic the act, but it's not winter
It's just a tease

A couple walking by is showered
By a flurry of subtle signs
Winter is coming but not quite yet
Fall isn't finished painting its lines

Change comes to Ashland, new and bright
Colors abound and artists swoon
Tourists leave, OSF closes
Enjoy the fall, winter is here soon

leaves languish
By Irene Carver

leaves languish
        licking memory
trees teeter
        half bare,
let go, let go
        they brood
wind whirls,
        whistling, and wanting,
more from us,
        but what?

Fall is not over yet. Send your poems about Ashland in autumn to hguzik@dailytidings.com or post them below.

Photo by Camra Art

Ashland in autumn

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:14:58 GMT

Suddenly it’s fall — even though it felt darn near like winter earlier this week — and Ashland is changing again.

The tourists are largely gone and the students have returned. The days are shorter and colder. There’s snow dusting the mountains and frost on windshields in the morning. And everywhere the leaves are falling in flurries of orange.

This is a time when the city seems to take a collective breath — when the busy summer is over but the slowness of the winter hasn’t yet set in.

Here are my thoughts on the city and the season:

Ashland in autumn

The leaves litter the streets.
The ashes of the trees,
the orange ashes of the past
seasons in Ashland.
Autumn is a season of change.
Ashland is a city where change
is welcome as long
as you remember the past.
Hold a leaf, keep it
through the winter
as a reminder of fall
and spring and
the link between.

What thoughts do you have on Ashland in autumn? Surely someone can write a better poem than mine. Post yours below or send them to hguzik@dailytidings.com.

Photo by jNY Vie GR

Lessons from the fire

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:07:05 GMT

Covering a fire — especially one that rips through populated areas as fast as the wind — is never easy.

You meet residents who are worried about losing their homes. You meet families who are scrambling to get out of harm’s way. You meet the couple trying to rescue their wheelchair-bound neighbor. You meet the firefighters who are heading into the smoke, toward the flames taunting them on the hills.

And throughout the city — as the smoke darkens the sky — the anxiety grows.

You go back to the office; you write the newspaper stories, the Web updates; but, meanwhile, you wonder how those residents, those families, those firefighters are faring.

Every person in Ashland has their own story about the fire. Some saw the flames erupting on the hillsides or the towers of smoke in the air. Some felt the heat of the fire or splashes from the water-dropping helicopters. Some evacuated, and nearly all know someone who did.

Like the soot-stained ground, the stories about the fire remain. From them, we patch together a narrative about what it means to survive a natural disaster — and where we should go from here. We learn, even if just for a day, that houses, possessions, animals and people can be lost — burned — in an instant. We learn to reprioritize.

What have you learned from the fire?

Leave your comments below or e-mail them to reporter Hannah Guzik at hguzik@dailytidings.com.

Much ado about OSF: More reviews

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:39:03 GMT

Even if people don’t like a play, it seems they like to write about it.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival visitors are still weighing in on the shows — on their blogs.

Here’s a list of the latest reviews:

At Home With Books: “Henry VIII” and “Macbeth”

Chico Enterprise-Record’s The Buzz: “The Servant of Two Masters,” “Paradise Lost” and “All’s Well That Ends Well”

Silicon Valley Mercury News: “Paradise Lost”

Groundhog Day with Celia Fae: Very brief reviews of “Paradise Lost,” “The Music Man,” “All’s Well That Ends Well,” Don Quixote,” “Macbeth” and “Henry VII.”

Fyellin: All of the plays

Fashion Piranha: “Macbeth”

Here’s a sample passage from the Fashion Piranha on the costumes in “Macbeth” (paragraph breaks added):

“Costumes are always the first thing I notice about a play. I guess I just can’t help it; I studied fashion design for two years and my interest in clothes has never lessened. Director Gale Edwards and costume designer Murell Horton made some interesting choices for 2009’s “Macbeth” when they dressed their characters in a hodge-podge of military uniforms.

“At the beginning, Macbeth, Banquo, Duncan and Malcolm are all wearing crisp, fitted Naziesque jackets and pants. The soldiers look sharp and in control, and Duncan looks like a movie-perfect military leader.

“But as the play continues, the military dress shuffles through various eras and ultimately ends up resembling the loose camouflage rags favored by guerrilla warriors.

“The jumbled clothes made it impossible to date the production to a specific time period, and this drove some of the people in my travel group nuts. But to me it made sense.

“I think what the director was trying to do was use the soldiers’ uniforms to reflect the crumbling stability of Scotland. When Duncan ruled, the country was at peace (internally, anyway) and prosperous, and the neat, orderly appearance of the soldiers reflect this. But Macbeth’s seizure of the throne and the subsequent power struggles tear Scotland to bits.

“The deterioration of the country and the monarchy’s control over it is revealed in the soldiers’ clothes.”

To read more reviews, check out the Aug. 25 and 17 Writing about Writing posts.