Cornucopia: Pandemic Moon Beam, double acrostic

Pandemic Moon Beam, Double Acrostic
By Kate Chamberlin
(Male voice / Female voice)

Panic prevails among the people
Pause to ponder amidst the pale moonlight

Angst, anger, and antagonism abound
Arm in arm with hearts held unbound

Numbness, nausea, and no breath niggle nerves
Nearest to my dearest in the silvery mist

Distance destroys dinners, duties, and dances
Dare to love forever in a moon beam

Electronic exchanges for entertainment and edification
Eternally strolling, stealing passionate kisses

Mindfulness and meditation maintain mental health
Mesmerizing clouds scud across the lunar orb

Incrementally inch by inch, the illness ebbs
Ilk of the virus has been vanquished

Covid-19 be gone; be damned.
Covid-19 survivors linger in the aura of the silvery moon beam.

Kate’s 2¢: “The Bright Side of Darkness” by Jo Elizabeth Pinto

“The Bright Side of Darkness” by Jo Elizabeth Pinto
Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as, describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read. I’m just saying…

The Behind Our Eyes writer’s group interviewed Jo Elizabeth Pinto via telephone conference on June 21, 2020. She is a soft spoken mother of a 12-year old daughter and writes in snatches, as she finds time. Her job as a proof reader, precludes her reading and writing a lot of her own pieces.
Her father’s reading to her as a young child was how she got interested in writing and the power of words for a lifetime. Blind parents of sighted children and the issues they face was a large part of the discussion. She shared thoughts about writing and some information about how she accomplishes her work.
She hopes her self-published novel “The Bright Side of Darkness” conveys the message that it is important for adults to mentor young people. Listening is vital.

From the WEB:
J. E. Pinto is a magnet for underdogs! Early in her married life, her home became a hangout for troubled neighborhood kids. This experience lit the flame for her first novel, The Bright Side of Darkness. Pinto’s Spanish-American roots grow deep in the Rocky Mountains, dating back six generations.
She is also the author of “Daddy Won’t Let Mom Drive The Car: True Tales Of Parenting In The Dark”; available through Audible or Amazon.

From BookShare:
The Bright Side Of Darkness, Synopsis
If you’re looking for a well-written story with great, but dysfunctional characters who are struggling through the problems of life together, you’ll love this book! The cast includes several troubled teens, a very cool young blind girl, and adults who for the most part try to do their best to help these kids without much opportunity in life.
Book Details
Book Quality:Excellent
ISBN-13:9781512344943
Publisher:CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Date of Addition:03/26/19
Copyrighted By:J. E. Pinto
Adult content:No
Language:English
Has Image Descriptions:No
Categories:
Literature and Fiction Submitted By:Daproim Africa
Proofread By:Daproim Africa
Usage Restrictions:This is a copyrighted book.

Kate’s 2¢: “The Book of Delights” by Ross Gay

“The Book of Delights” by Ross Gay
Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as, describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read. I’m just saying…

I down-loaded “The Book of Delights” from BookShare. It took some getting used to listening to the synthesized voice read the almost stream of consciousness until I could discern the wit and thoughtfulness of Ross Gay’s vignettes.

From the website:
“Ross Gay’s eye lands upon wonder at every turn, bolstering my belief in the countless small miracles that surround us.” —Tracy K. Smith, Pulitzer Prize winner and U.S. Poet Laureate The winner of the NBCC Award for Poetry offers up a spirited collection of short lyric essays, written daily over a tumultuous year, reminding us of the purpose and pleasure of praising, extolling, and celebrating ordinary wonders. Ross Gay’s The Book of Delights is a genre-defying book of essays—some as short as a paragraph; some as long as five pages—that record the small joys that occurred in one year, from birthday to birthday, and that we often overlook in our busy lives. His is a meditation on delight that takes a clear-eyed view of the complexities, even the terrors, in his life, including living in America as a black man; the ecological and psychic violence of our consumer culture; the loss of those he loves. Among Gay’s funny, poetic, philosophical delights: the way Botan Rice Candy wrappers melt in your mouth, the volunteer crossing guard with a pronounced tremor whom he imagines as a kind of boat-woman escorting pedestrians across the River Styx, a friend’s unabashed use of air quotes, pickup basketball games, the silent nod of acknowledgment between black people. And more than any other subject, Gay celebrates the beauty of the natural world—his garden, the flowers in the sidewalk, the birds, the bees, the mushrooms, the trees. This is not a book of how-to or inspiration, though it could be read that way. Fans of Roxane Gay, Maggie Nelson, and Kiese Laymon will revel in Gay’s voice, and his insights. The Book of Delights is about our connection to the world, to each other, and the rewards that come from a life closely observed. Gay’s pieces serve as a powerful and necessary reminder that we can, and should, stake out a space in our lives for delight.

Cornucopia: My Mon, The Artist

My Mon, The Artist
One in a series of vignettes about my mom
By Kate Chamberlin

My Mom, Grace Ritch Deyo was the first born child of Grace Udell Ritch and Elting Forsyth Deyo on November 13, 1917.
In high school Mom went steady with a handsome, blonde boy named Foster Whitworth and was voted most popular girl in her class. Apparently, one of her high school art assignments was to draw a self-portrait. The 18”x30” rendering in colored chalk showed her with a slender face, dark brown curly hair, bright dark eyes and extra rosy cheeks. Mom had many spider veins on each cheek, which she highlighted in her self-portrait. Perhaps, as a teenager, her rosy cheeks were embarrassing.
After she was graduated from high school, she enrolled in secretarial school. She stayed for six months and left to accept a secretarial position for DuPont, where her father was employed. While she was in the secretarial pool, she met a handsome young salesman named Paul Hugo Holmberg, and married him on January 13, 1940.
Early in 1967, they moved to Grand Avenue, Balmville, Newburgh, NY when Dupont sold the Newburgh plant to Stauffer Chemical Company. Dad was part of the Management Package that had to move over to the new company. While Dad spent long days at work, my brother was a sales representative for Remington Arms living in C T, and I was teaching Third Grade at Gidney Avenue Memorial School, my at-home Mom, a feisty, fun-loving woman with dark naturally curly hair, filled her days with friends, Gardening, garden Clubs, St. Luke’s Hospital Auxiliary, and painting in oils.
Our family room of the Balmville home became Mom’s art studio. The big and tall, adjustable wooden easel came from her aunt, Laura Ritch Rouelle, whose paintings are in the Metropolitan Museum. Apparently, the items are somewhere in the bowels of the museum’s storage vault. Mom took painting lessons from John Fleming Gould (b.1906 – d.1996) in his Bethlehem Art Studio for several years, discretely signing her pieces with a lower case ‘grh’ in the bottom right-hand corner. She was always surprised at how well her paintings turned out and delighted in each one. She never had the heart to sell any of her paintings, but she would give them to friends. When my husband and I added a “West Wing” to our Walworth NY home, the long hallway became our gallery. We installed fish-eye ceiling lighting, so we could properly display Mom’s paintings.
The stress of Dad’s work situation and commuting to NYC took its toll on him physically and emotionally. He died during his third heart attack on March 1, 1974. Mom continued to paint until her battle with cancer began in the Fall of 1975. She died peacefully in her Balmville home on May 6, 1976 at the age of 59.
On June 13 2009 my husband, our grandsons Tyler and John, and I drove over the Beacon-Newburgh Bridge to Neil Caplan’s art gallery to donate three of Mom’s oil paintings to the Bannerman Castle Trust Fund. www.BannermanCaastleTrust.org.
The paintings depict scenes of the Hudson River from various Newburgh vantage points. Proceeds from the sale of these paintings will go toward the NY Matching Grant to stabilize, renovate, and reconstruct the unique Bannerman Castle and grounds on the historic, 6.5-acre Pollepel Island, located in the middle of the Hudson River , Mid-Hudson River Valley.
The donated paintings were:
(1) Newburgh’s brick Tenement houses with Bannerman’s Island, 1971. Canvas: 23” tall x 31” wide; framed: 29” tall x 37” wide. Est: $750/Paul Gould.
(2) loosestrife, Bannerman’s Island, Storm King Highway, 1968. canvas: 18” tall x 24” wide; framed: 22” tall x 28” wide. Est: $500/Paul Gould.
(3) Storm King Highway with fall colors, 1968. Canvas: 18” tall x 24” wide; framed: 24” tall x 29” wide. Est: $500/Paul Gould.
During a recent spring cleaning spree, I found a cardboard tube. I thought it was empty, but, when I swirled my finger around the inside, I found the self-portrait Mom had drawn so many years ago. I often wonder if she realized what a rich, wonderful heritage she created for me as she went about doing what she loved to do.

Kate’s 2¢: “Murder, D. C. by Neely Tucker

“Murder, D. C. by Neely Tucker
Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as, describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read. I’m just saying…

Frenchmen’s Bend, a spit of land poking into the river, had been notorious for 150 years, since the days of slavery. Now, it had become the drug capital of the deadliest Capital.
I suspect that only in fiction, can one battered man be so beaten up and still come back to fight again. I know how sore my body is after only weeding the garden. I can imagine how one would feel after a thorough drubbing.

Neely-website
Neely Tucker is a novelist, journalist and author based in Washington, D.C.
A seventh-generation Mississippian, he was born in Holmes County, then the poorest county in the poorest state in America. His newspaper work includes stops at the Miami Herald, the Detroit Free Press and seventeen years at The Washington Post. As a foreign correspondent, he was based in Poland and Zimbabwe, working in more than sixty countries or territories, covering civil wars or violent uprisings in Europe, the Mid-East and Africa. Elmore Leonard, a longtime friend, used him as the basis and namesake for a character in “Cuba Libre.”
His memoir, Love in the Driest Season, was named one of the best 25 Books of 2004 by Publisher’s Weekly, the American Bookseller’s Association, the New York City Library and won numerous other awards. “Life After Death,” a story about his wife’s seven-year odyssey to help convict her daughter’s killer, was nominated by the Post for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize.
“The Ways of the Dead,” “Murder, D.C.,” and “Only the Hunted Run,” the first novels in the Sully Carter series, have earned glowing praise, with Kirkus saying that “There’s no more satisfying sight than a writer who knows exactly what he’s doing — and only gets better at what he does.”
He lives with his wife, three children and one Rottweiler.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:
Murder, D.C. DB98505
Tucker, Neely. Reading time: 11 hours, 3 minutes.
Read by Scott Sowers.

Suspense Fiction
Mystery and Detective Stories

When the son of Washington, D. C.’s most influential African-American family is found dead in the Potomac near a violent drug haven, veteran metro reporter Sully Carter’s investigation must strike a dangerous balance between D. C.’s two extremes–the city’s desperate back streets and its highest corridors of power. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2015.
Downloaded: May 16, 2020

Kate’s 2¢: “Tyll” by Daniel Kehlmann; Ross M. Benjamin

“Tyll” by Daniel Kehlmann; Ross M. Benjamin
Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as, describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read. I’m just saying…

My first thought was that this story is quite phantasmagoric. (Phantasmagoria (noun) is a sequence of real or imaginary images like those seen in a dream.) That might also be a good definition of what a Psychological Fiction is all about.
Firdous Bamji did a great job of reading the story.

From Wikipedia:
Kehlmann was born in Munich, the son of the television director Michael Kehlmann and the actress Dagmar Mettler.[9] His family moved to his father’s hometown Vienna at the age of six. Kehlmann is partially of Jewish ancestry[10] and currently lives in New York City and Berlin.[11]
Since 2015, Kehlmann has successively held the Eberhard Berent Chair at New York University. He is a member of the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung.
2016-2017 he was a fellow at the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Writers and Scholars.[12]
www.kehlmann.com is in German.
Ross M. Benjamin is a New York based writer and translator of German literature and a writer living in Nyack, New York.

From NLS/BARDD/LOC
Tyll DB98897
Kehlmann, Daniel; Benjamin, Ross. Reading time: 11 hours, 59 minutes.
Read by Firdous Bamji.

Psychological Fiction

After having to flee his small village when his father’s alchemical experiments are discovered by the church, Tyll and baker’s daughter Nele find safety with a traveling performer. Tyll learns the man’s trade–and deeper secrets. Translated from the original 2017 German edition. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.
Downloaded: June 10, 2020