Poetry and Pottery (& my Grandma Viv)

A couple weeks ago I stopped at Browser’s Books, a small  over-stocked used bookstore  in Coeur d Alene to   peruse their poetry section. I quickly found the Robert Frost I was looking for, when another book of poems  caught my attention, Mostly California  by Don Blanding.   Copyright 1948, published by Dodd Mead.   Initially , the author wasn’t the reason I picked the book from the shelf, but  California.  I was raised in the golden state, moving there with my family when I was 4 years old,  not moving away  until I was 42.  I enjoy reading about California history, especially southern California   1930’s thru the seventies, and  am old enough to remember the sweet smell of colorful orange groves dotting the land, oil wells pumping  the ground  along Telegraph Road, and freeways not yet crowded with bumper to bumper traffic.

So after reading  the  description  on the inside cover,   “Mostly California is entirely Blanding in its colorful presentation, by drawings and verse, of California,  the Land of Gold; of the Padres and Forty-niners;  of the magic of the mountains and deserts and redwoods; of the fabulous cities and towns and of Hollywood with its glittering stars”, I knew I had to buy it. 

To my great delight I discovered Blanding wasn’t only a poet, but a pottery artist/designer  for Vernon Kilns,  the same  southern California company my maternal grandmother worked for  in the 1940’s and 50’s,   hand—painting their  popular plaid pattern  dinnerware.   

Just as I was familiar with poetry from an early age, I was also familiar with Vernon Kilns , not only because Grandma Vivian was an employee,  but because  their Organdie pattern  was the dishes grandma used to set her table  -  the dishes I would help wash and dry after eating dinner.  The same pattern I have now.

For the past several years I’ve used  that set  at Thanksgiving, and other special occasions.  They always trigger a warm feeling, and bring happy memories of my grandmother and the wonderful meals she prepared , and holidays shared.  And of Scrabble games played , when  she and I would  eat ice cream from  brown and yellow plaid  bowls. Each one  marked on the bottom,  Under glaze Hand Painted ORGANDIE Veronware California U.S.A .

I’m sure I didn't think much about it then,  but today it makes me smile, and proud  to know many of the painted   are from my grandmother’s own hand.

American Authors, The Flag & Freedom

Hooray for the red, white and blue

for the stars n’ stripes that

wave so proudly from

pillar and post, from

 roof top and Cemetery grave,

From city park and baseball

field, and to the

Republic for which it stands;

For the parade of citizens

of every nationality, language

and color of skin

We the people. Not the politician,

pundit, or demagogue.

We the people—our voices heard

Freedom of Speech

Freedom of Religion

Freedom from Want

Freedom from Fear

Democracy.

Orators and statesmen,  proclaim

It loud, proclaim it clear

“One nation under God, indivisible,

With liberty and justice for all”

Our pledge of allegiance  - cherish the

words, hold it dear.

Since Monday is 4th of July, and we observe and celebrate the day with barbecue, picnics, and fireworks; Salute the flag and everything USA, and because WNI is a blog dedicated to writers and writing,  I thought I would mention a few favorite authors whose prose and style are uniquely American.  Whittier, Whitman, Dickinson, Twain, Crane, Sandburg and  Poe;  Robert Frost, and  the poem he wrote for Kennedy’s inauguration :

To break with followers when in the wrong,

A healthy independence of the throng,

A democratic form of right divine

To rule first answerable to high design

And in The Gift Outright ,  Frost prophetically   writes,

To the land vaguely realizing westward,

But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,

Such as she was, such as she would become.

Since the birth of our nation, there have been  many writers we acclaim, and hold in high esteem—Franklin, Jefferson and Paine, who wrote of liberty and lofty goals.  James Fenimore Cooper, Melville and Hawthorne—bringing to life The Last of the Mohicans , a menacing whale, and witch trials. Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Hemingway;  Willa Cather, and Little Women’s , Louisa May  Alcott. 

Each one presents, and helps preserve a slice of Americana through the  stories they write. They tell us about the lay of the land during  certain time and space,  of people and places , prejudice and
 great generosity -  the challenges of life, choosing good over evil. Always, a call to freedom of spirit prevails.


So, this  4th of July, along with cheering  fireworks bursting bright,  I encourage you to read a book by an American author, who also  sheds a light— a light of knowledge and  imagination about our America; Who we were, who we are—  

To all of you, Happy 4th of July ! Let Freedom Ring.

*** NOTE: I originally wrote  this blog for    Writing North Idaho  http://writingnorthidaho.blogspot.com    It was first  posted  July 1, 2011

Chorus of Birds

4:30 a.m.  The window (slightly) open
 lets in cool, fresh air
from the wooded outside
The first light of day begins to filter
through slat shades, taking away the
dark of night from the closed
door bedroom. A loud, and
persistent chirp, chirp, chirp and
rising and falling passage of
cheek-a-dee, cheek-a-dee-dee
awakes me from restful sleep
like an early morning alarm
Soon the tweet, tweet, tweet
and ik- a- eek, ik-a-eek-eek
from other nearby birds
join their voices to the
growing winged chorus,
rousing  me from bed