Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts

Saturday, April 25, 2020

Happy Birthday, Shakespeare (April 26)

"Oh then I see! Queen Mab hath been with you!"
Mercutio is one of Shakespeare's most fascinating characters. He's often played, mistakenly, I believe, as a wildly undisciplined, boisterous libertine. He's the opposite. Yes, he does love life, but he's not the indulgent Falstaff. In fact, caution is his plea to Romeo. He is neutral, like his relative, the Prince of Verona. He is both on the invitation list for the Capulet dance, and pals with the Montagues. But Romeo is living in a dream world. Mercutio warns him several times of the dangers of walking the streets in a woolly-headed daze. He knows Tybalt and the Capulets are on the prowl.

His Queen Mab speech, sometimes interpreted as the product of a drug trip, is, rather, a demonstration of the danger of daydreaming. He leads both of his friends into a cautionary tale of a mysterious queen of the fairies who drives her carriage over parts of the body as we sleep, stirring dreams of our particular fancy. Romeo finally cuts him off, saying "You're speaking nonsense", which Mercutio immediately seizes. "Yes! Dreams! Nonsense! Get your head out of the clouds!"

His warning goes unheeded. Romeo later steps into the middle of a fight - a rash breach of protocol that causes Mercutio's death. "Why did you come between us!? A plague on both your "houses"!

The feud will continue. Irresponsible, however well-intended, decisions will bring about the tragic end. Or was it fated in the stars, after all?
John Barrymore as Mercutio and Basil Rathbone as Tybalt in "Romeo and Juliet"
Romeo: I dream'd a dream to-night.
Mercutio: And so did I.
Romeo: Well, what was yours?
Mercutio: That dreamers often lie.
Romeo: (Yes) In bed, asleep, while they do dream things true.
Mercutio: O! then I see! Queen Mab hath been with you!
She is the fairies' midwife! And she comes In shape no bigger than an agate-stone (bauble) on the forefinger of an alderman, drawn by a team of little atomies (teenies) athwart men's noses as they lie asleep.
Her wagon-spokes made of long spiders' legs. The (carriage) cover, of the wings of grasshoppers. The (horses') traces of the smallest spider's web, The (horses') collars of the moonshine's watery beams.
Her whip? Of cricket's bone. The lash? Of film.
Her wagoner, a small grey-coated gnat, not so big as a round little worm prick'd from the lazy finger of a maid.
Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut, made by the joiner (carpenter) squirrel or old grub - time out o' mind "the fairies' coachmakers".
And in this state she gallops night by night.
Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love.
O'er courtiers' knees, who dream on curtseys straight.
O'er lawyers' fingers, who straight dream on fees.
O'er ladies ' lips, who straight on kisses dream.
(Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues, because their breaths with sweetmeats (candies) tainted are.
(Now Mercutio really revs up into 'dream world')
Sometime she gallops o'er a courtier's nose
And then dreams he of smelling out a suit!
And sometime comes she with a tithe-pig's tail, tickling a parson's nose as he lies asleep, and then dreams he of another benefice (donation).
Sometime she driveth o'er a soldier's neck, and then dreams he of cutting foreign throats! Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades!
Of "healths" (toasts) five-fathom deep; and then, anon, drums in his ear! at which he starts and wakes and being thus frighted swears a prayer or two and sleeps again.
This is that very Mab who plats the manes of horses in the night, and bakes the elflocks (tangles) in foul, sluttish hairs which, once untangled, much "misfortune!" bodes.
This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs, who presses them and learns (teaches) them first to bear, making them women of "good carriage". This is she...
Romeo: Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace! Thou talk'st of nothing!
Mercutio: True! I talk of dreams! Which are the children of an idle brain, Begot of nothing but vain Fantasy, which is as thin of substance as the air, and more inconstant (fickle) than the wind. Who woos even now the frozen bosom of the North and, being angered, puffs away from thence, turning his face to the dew-dropping South.
"Sometimes she gallops o'er a parson's nose.
And then dreams he of another benefice (donation)!"
( Artwork by George Cruikshank)
And just for the fun of it, imagine Queen Mab racing her team through the night, tagging her subjects with her magic, as you listen to Berlioz's Queen Mab from "Romeo and Juliet."





Hope you enjoyed the Parson's Nose "Noseletter."
PNT is developing new, creative ways to reach out.

Please stay tuned for the launch of
The Parson's Nose Radio Theater of the Air!

"The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame
adapted by Lance Davis
performed by Lance Davis and Mary Chalon
sound by Dave Bennett


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PNT looks forward to being with you again soon.

Call Lance at (626) 403-7667 or
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Stay well!
 

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Tuesday, March 17, 2020

DIY St. Patrick's Day celebration (home edition)

Lance Davis (parsonsose.org) edited by Seven and Pat Mac'


We don't have cowboys but sheepboys (shepherds) are prevalent.
Celebrating St. Paddy's Day at home? Pull up a chair then. Well yes, Parson's Nose Theatre (PNT) had to cancel its annual Irish Celebration spectacular. But it's not the end of the world, is it?

Parson's Nose Theatre has put together a taste of the event for your enjoyment. It's a "do it yourself" program this year. All you have to do it put a pie in the oven. Pour yourself a glass. And take turns reading and singing along. Before you know it, you'll be sitting in Eileen's public house in County Mayo, if only for a little while. With the help of the good lord we'll all be together again soon.

Irish history is the story of a people that refuse to be conquered. The Egyptians and the Romans passed right on by.

When the Romans left Western Europe in the 5th century, they left this part of the world to be divided by the Angles and the Saxons from Germany and the Jutes from Denmark.

The Angles won and imposed their will on their neighbors. They forced the Irish into slavery, a serfdom designed to strip their resources to supply the Motherland. As conquerors do they tried their best to destroy the Irish culture, even forbidding the native Gaelic language.
.
The Irish returned the favor by taking on the oppressor's language and improving it with their own poems and plays and songs. And that’s what we’re here to celebrate today!

Feel free to skip about and choose between songs, jokes, and poetry. Take a moment to enjoy the moment. It's an IRISH SINGALONG because everyone can sing on this special day!

MOLLY MALONE
In Dublin's fair city
where the girls are so pretty
I once met a girl named sweet Molly Malone
and she wheeled her wheel barrow
through the streets broad and narrow
crying cockles and mussels alive alive oh
Alive alive oh
alive alive ohh
Crying cockles and mussels
alive alive ohhh
She was a fish monger
and sure was no wonder
so were her mother and father before
and they wheeled their wheel barrow
through the streets broad and narrow
crying cockles and mussels alive alive oh
She died of a fever
and so one could save her
and that’s how I lost my sweet Molly Malone
But her ghost wheels her barrow
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying cockles and mussels alive alive oh

WHEN IRISH EYES ARE SMILING
When Irish eyes are smiling,
Sure, 'tis like the morn in spring.
In the lilt of Irish laughter
You can hear the angels sing.
When Irish hearts are happy,
All the world seems bright and gay.
And when Irish eyes are smiling,
Sure, they steal your heart away.

HARRIGAN
Who is the man who will spend or will even lend?
Harrigan, That's Me!
Who is your friend when you find that you need a friend?
Harrigan, That's Me!
For I'm just as proud of my name you see,
As an Emperor, Czar or a King, could be.
Who is the man helps a man every time he can?
Harrigan, That's Me!
H - A - double R - I - G - A - N spells Harrigan
Proud of all the Irish blood that's in me;
Divil a man can say a word agin me.
H - A - double R - I - G - A - N, U C,
Is a name that a shame never
has been connected with, Harrigan, That's me!

Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ra
Over in Killarney
Many years ago
My mother sang a song to me
In tones so soft and low
Just a simple, little ditty
In her good old Irish way
And I'd give the world if I could hear
That song of hers today
Too ra loo ra loo ral
Too ra loo ra li
Too ra loo ra loo ral
Hush, now don't you cry
Too ra loo ra loo ral
Too ra loo ra li
Too ra loo ra loo ral
That's an Irish lullaby

MCNAMARA’S BAND
Oh, me name is MacNamara,
I'm the leader of the band
Although we're few in number,
we're the finest in the land
We play at wakes and weddings
and at every fancy ball
And when we play the funerals,
we play the March from Saul
Oh, the drums go bang and the cymbals clang
and the horns they blaze away
McCarthy pumps the old bassoon
while I the pipes do play
And Henessee Tennessee tootles the flute
and the music is something grand
A credit to old Ireland is MacNamara's band
Right now we are rehearsing for a very swell affair
The annual celebration, all the gentry will be there
When General Grant to Ireland came
he took me by the hand
Says he, I never saw the likes of MacNamara's Band
Oh, the drums….

DANNY BOY
Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side.
The summer's gone, and all the roses falling,
It's you, it's you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow,
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow,
It's I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow,
Oh, Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so
But when ye come, and all the flowers are dying,
If I am dead, as dead I well may be,
You'll come and find the place where I am lying,
And kneel and say an Ave there for me.
And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me,
And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be,
For you will bend and tell me that you love me,
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me

HAVE A SIP [OF TEA] AND REPEAT SEVERAL TIMES

IRISH POETRY

(Read aloud with an Irish accent).The great writers of Ireland  are almost too numerous to mention. Joyce, Wilde, Beckett, it goes on and on. But near the top of the list is William Butler Yeats. A scholar, a Senator, playwright, occultist, poet, and founder, with Lady Gregory, of the Abbey Theater in Dublin.

The uninhabited Lake Isle of Innisfree was where Yeats wandered in the summers of his youth. He writes, "I had still the ambition, formed in Sligo in my teens, of living in imitation of Thoreau on Innisfree, the little island in Lough Gill, and when walking through Fleet Street, very homesick, I heard a little tinkle of water and saw a fountain in a shop-window which balanced a little ball upon its jet, and began to remember lake water. From the sudden remembrance came my poem.”

"The Lake Isle of Innisfree"
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

Oscar Wilde's mum
Lady Jane Wilde was a self-educated wife, mother, poet, suffragette, and revolutionary, who wrote under the pseudonym Speranza, which mean "Hope" in Italian. She had three children, one of whom was Oscar Wilde.

The famine that swept Europe in the 1840s was particularly hard felt by the Irish. One of the few crops they were allowed to access – the others being sent to England – was the potato. When it was blighted, so were its dependents. One of its characteristics was that the potato itself looked healthy until it was harvested.

Then the black, empty core became apparent as it crumbled to the touch. Millions of Irish went starving. Men, women and children wailing until their voices grew silent. After roaming the countryside for better conditions, failing bodies were heaped in ditches along roadsides which served as mass graves. England offered no relief for The Irish Problem.

"The Famine Year (The Stricken Land)"
Weary men, what reap ye? – Golden corn for the stranger.
What sow ye? – human corpses that wait for the avenger.
Fainting forms, hunger–stricken, what see you in the offing?
Stately ships to bear our food away, amid the stranger’s scoffing.
There’s a proud array of soldiers – what do they round your door?
They guard our masters’ granaries from the thin hands of the poor.
Pale mothers, wherefore weeping -would to God that we were dead;
Our children swoon before us, and we cannot give them bread.
Little children, tears are strange upon your infant faces,
God meant you but to smile within your mother’s soft embraces.
Oh! we know not what is smiling, and we know not what is dying;
We’re hungry, very hungry, and we cannot stop our crying.
And some of us grow cold and white – we know not what it means;
But, as they lie beside us, we tremble in our dreams.
There’s a gaunt crowd on the highway – are ye come to pray to man,
With hollow eyes that cannot weep, and for words your faces wan?
No; the blood is dead within our veins – we care not now for life;
Let us die hid in the ditches, far from children and from wife;
We cannot stay and listen to their raving, famished cries –
Bread! Bread! Bread! and none to still their agonies.
We left our infants playing with their dead mother’s hand:
We left our maidens maddened by the fever’s scorching brand:
Better, maiden, thou were strangled in thy own dark–twisted tresses –
Better, infant, thou wert smothered in thy mother’s first caresses.
We are fainting in our misery, but God will hear our groan:
Yet, if fellow – men desert us, will He hearken from His Throne?
Accursed are we in our own land, yet toil we still and toil;
But the stranger reaps our harvest – the alien owns our soil.
O Christ! how have we sinned, that on our native plains
We perish houseless, naked, starved, with branded brow, like Cain’s?
Dying, dying wearily, with a torture sure and slow –
Dying, as a dog would die, by the wayside as we go.
One by one they’re falling round us, their pale faces to the sky;
We’ve no strength left to dig them graves – there let them lie.
The wild bird, if he’s stricken, is mourned by the others,
But we – we die in a Christian land – we die amid our brothers,
In the land which God has given, like a wild beast in his cave,
Without a tear, a prayer, a shroud, a coffin or a grave.
Ha! but think ye the contortions on each livid face ye see,
Will not be read on judgement – day by eyes of Deity?
We are wretches, famished, scorned, human tools to build your pride,
But God will take vengeance for the souls for whom Christ died!
Now is your hour of pleasure – bask ye in the world’s caresses;
But our whitening bones against ye will rise as witnesses,
From the cabins and the ditches, in their charred, uncoffin’d masses,
For the Angel of the Trumpet will know them as he passes.
A ghastly, spectral army, before the great God we’ll stand,
And arraign ye as our murderers, the spoilers of our land!

On Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, hundreds of ordinary Irish men and women, pointed out here by Yeats, led by a military council of seven ordinary men, staged insurrections throughout Ireland in an effort to take advantage of England’s involvement in World War I and to end the centuries of oppressive British rule. The uprising failed after five days. 485 were killed, 1500 placed in prison camps, most of the leaders were shot for treason. But “a terrible beauty was born.” The struggle had begun, and would not end until Ireland was free.

"Easter, 1916" by William Butler Yeats
I have met them at close of day
Coming with vivid faces
From counter or desk among grey
Eighteenth-century houses.
I have passed with a nod of the head
Or polite meaningless words,
Or have lingered awhile and said
Polite meaningless words,
And thought before I had done
Of a mocking tale or a gibe
To please a companion
Around the fire at the club,
Being certain that they and I
But lived where motley is worn:
All changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born!
That woman’s days were spent
In ignorant good-will,
Her nights in argument
Until her voice grew shrill.
What voice more sweet than hers
When, young and beautiful,
She rode to harriers?
This man had kept a school
And rode our wingèd horse;
This other his helper and friend
Was coming into his force;
He might have won fame in the end,
So sensitive his nature seemed,
So daring and sweet his thought.
This other man I had dreamed
A drunken, vainglorious lout.
He had done most bitter wrong
To some who are near my heart,
Yet I number him in the song;
He, too, has resigned his part
In the casual comedy;
He, too, has been changed in his turn,
Transformed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born!
Hearts with one purpose alone
Through summer and winter seem
Enchanted to a stone
To trouble the living stream.
The horse that comes from the road,
The rider, the birds that range
From cloud to tumbling cloud,
Minute by minute they change;
A shadow of cloud on the stream
Changes minute by minute;
A horse-hoof slides on the brim,
And a horse plashes within it;
The long-legged moor-hens dive,
And hens to moor-cocks call;
Minute by minute they live:
The stone’s in the midst of all.
Too long a sacrifice
Can make a stone of the heart.
O when may it suffice?
That is Heaven’s part, our part
To murmur name upon name,
As a mother names her child
When sleep at last has come
On limbs that had run wild.
What is it but nightfall?
No, no, not night but death;
Was it needless death after all?
For England may keep faith
For all that is done and said.
We know their dream; enough
To know they dreamed and are dead;
And what if excess of love
Bewildered them till they died?
I write it out in a verse—
MacDonagh and MacBride
And Connolly and Pearse
Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born!

"Death of an Irishwoman" by Michael Hartnett
Ignorant, in the sense
She ate monotonous food
And thought the world was flat,
And pagan, in the sense
She knew the things that moved
All night were neither dogs or cats
But hobgoblin and darkfaced men
She nevertheless had fierce pride.
But sentenced in the end
To eat thin diminishing porridge
In a stone-cold kitchen
She clenched her brittle hands
Around a world
She could not understand.
I loved her from the day she died.
She was a summer dance at the crossroads.
She was a cardgame where a nose was broken.
She was a song that nobody sings.
She was a house ransacked by soldiers.
She was a language seldom spoken.
She was a child’s purse, full of useless things.

Indian Summer by Eileen Carney Hulme
Like a deep blue wave of passion, you shore into the room where I sit waiting quietly, open-booked.
We have moved through days, loss, pain, to hold this moment,
this picture postcard seascape of gentle harboring.
You say ‘I knew you were here. I could smell you’
and effortlessly I sway to seal my fate.
You taste of ocean, avenues of grassy dunes,
like a magician you pluck a tiny pebble from my hair-
Ancient survivor, sun-kissed on this summer afternoon,
unconditionally I step out of my dress
into your dream.

IRISH HUMOR (SOME JOKES)

There's nothing like Irish humor. Humor is the weapon of the oppressed. They say that when the Grand Recession hit in 2007 the Irish, fresh from the great economic boom of the 1990s, smoothly returned to the pubs and the lifestyle of "doing without" they had known well for hundreds of years, to wait it out. We can learn a lot from the Irish. Have a sip after each of the following. It won't make the joke any better but fuel a sense of hope for the next one.

ENGLISH VS. IRISH
One night on a dark Irish country road an Englishman and an Irishman were driving recklessly and collided, demolishing their cars. Amazingly, the two men emerged from the wreck unscathed. Astonished by their luck, both agreed to set aside their dislike of each other.

The Irishman took out a bottle of Jameson’s and handed it to the Englishman, who removed the cap and, hefting the bottle cried, “May the English and the Irish live forever in peace!”

He then takes a hearty swallow, draining half the bottle before offering some to the Irishman.

“Oh, no thanks,” the Irishman declines, “I’ll just wait for the police.”

MAKE A WISH
A married couple in their 60s are visited by a fairy who grants them each a wish. “I want to travel around the world with my darlin' husband,” says the wife. “Then I want to live in a luxurious holiday home in Kerry.” Just then two tickets for a luxury cruise magically appear in her hand, along with a set of new keys. The husband says, “Sorry love, but my wish is to have a wife 30 years younger than me.” The fairy waves her wand and the husband becomes 92.

BABY DADDY
A married couple has their baby delivered at the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin, known all over Europe for its medical advances. Upon their arrival, the doctor says he’s invented a new machine that'll transfer a portion of the mother’s pain to the baby’s father.

He asks if they might be willing to try it out. They're both very much in favor of it. The doctor sets the pain transfer to 10%, explaining that even 10% is probably more pain than the father has ever experienced.

However, as the labor progresses, the husband feels fine and tells the doctor to "go ahead and kick it up a notch.” The doctor adjusts the machine to 20%.

The husband is still feeling fine. They decide to try for 50%. The husband continues to feel well, and since the transfer was obviously helping the wife considerably, the husband encourages the doctor to transfer all the pain to him.

The wife delivers a healthy baby boy. She and her husband are ecstatic. When they get home, the milkman is dead in their driveway.
  VASELINE 
A man doing market research knocks on a door. He's greeted by a young woman with three small children running around at her feet. He says, “I’m doing some research for Vaseline. Have you ever used the product?”

She says, “Yes. My husband and I use it all the time.”

“And if you don’t mind me asking, ma'am, what do you use it for?”

“Oh, we use it for marital relations.” The researcher is taken aback.

“Well now, I do admire your honesty. Usually people lie to me and say that they use it on a bicycle chain, or to help with a gate hinge. But, in fact, we know most do use it for marital relations. Would you mind telling me exactly how?”

“I don't mind. We put it on the door knob to keep the kids out.”

BAND-AID FOR A BOOBOO
Flaherty staggered home very late after drinking with Finney. He took off his shoes to avoid waking his wife, Kathleen. He tiptoed as quietly as he could toward the stairs, but misjudged the bottom step. He caught himself by grabbing the banister, but landed on his rump and broke a whiskey bottle in each hip pocket. He looked in the hall mirror to see his butt cheeks were cut and bleeding. He managed to find a box of band-aids and began putting a band-aid as best he could on each place he saw blood. Then he stumbled his way to bed. In the morning, he woke up with Kathleen standing over him. “You were drunk again last night weren't you?” “Why would you say such a mean thing?” “Well it could be the open front door. It could be the broken glass at the bottom of the stairs. It could be the drops of blood trailing through the house. But mostly, it's all the band-aids stuck on the hall mirror!”

THE IRISH TEST TAKER
O’Hara had a rare job interview with a major British computer company. When the interview was over, the snarky interviewer says to him all applicants had to complete a test. He takes a piece of paper and draws six vertical lines, in pairs of two and places it in front of O’Hara. “Please show me, if you can, a clever way to make this into nine.” After thinking a bit, O’Hara draws a canopy of leaves on top of the three pairs of lines and hands the paper back. The interviewer looks at the drawing and says, “But that’s not nine.” “Oh ya,” says O’Hara, “Tree plus tree plus tree make nine.” The interviewer hands back the paper. “Hmm. But can you make it 99? O’Hara scribbles up and down the trunks. The interviewer looked at the drawing, “But that’s not ninety-nine.” “Oh ya,” says the Irishman, “Dirty tree plus dirty tree plus dirty tree make 99.” The interviewer was now steamed. He hands the paper back, “But can you make it 100?” O’Hara grabs the pencil and draws a little blop on the bottom right-hand side of each and hands it back, “Dirty tree and a turd, plus dirty tree and turd, plus dirty tree and a turd, make a 100. When do I report, sir?”

MY WIFE IS GOING DEAF
Kevin fears his wife Mary isn’t hearing as well as she used to and might be needing a hearing aid. Not quite sure how to approach her, he calls the family doctor. The doctor tells him, "There’s a simple test you can do at home: Stand 40 feet away and in a normal, conversational tone, see if she hears you. If not, go 30 feet, and then 20 feet, and so on until you get a response.” Later when Kevin gets home from the pub, he sees Mary in the kitchen cooking dinner. He thinks, “I’m about 40 feet away. Let’s see what happens.” In a normal tone he asks, “Mary, my love, what’s for dinner?” No response. He moves closer until he's 30 feet. “Mary. What’s for dinner? I say!” Still no response. He moves closer. "Mary, can ye be tellin’ me what the hell’s for dinner?!” Still nothing. He goes right up to her, “Mary, Mary! Can ya' friggin be telling me what the hell’s for dinner?!" She yells, “For feck’s sakes, Mr. Kevin O'Donahue, and for the fifth time...potatoes!”

MY HUSBAND DIED
A weeping Mrs. Murphy approaches Father O’Grady after mass. He asks, “What’s bothering you, dear woman?” “Oh, Father, I’ve terrible news. My husband passed away last night.” “Oh, Mary, that’s terrible! Did he have a last request?” "He did, Father. He asked, ‘Mary, will you put down that gun?'”

AN IRISH WIFE
The first man marries a woman from Italy. He tells her that she's to do the dishes and clean the house. It takes a couple of days, but on the third day he comes home to a clean house with dishes washed and put away.

The second man marries a woman from Poland. He orders her to do all the cooking, the dishes, and the cleaning. The first day he doesn’t see any result. But the next day he sees it's better. And the third day he finds the house is clean, the dishes are done, and there's a fine dinner on the table.

The third man marries a woman from Ireland. He demands she keep the house clean, wash the dishes, do the laundry, mow the lawn, and cook three hot meals a day. The first day he doesn’t see anything. The second day he doesn’t see anything. But by the third day some of the swelling has gone down, and he can see a little out of his left eye. And his arm is healed enough that he can make himself a sandwich and load the dishwasher. He still has difficulty when he pees.

The Parting Glass
Of all the money that e'er I spent
I spent it in good company
And all the harm that e'er I've done
Alas, it was to none but me
And all good I've done, for want of wit
To memory now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all
And all the comrades that e'er I had
They’re sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e'er I had
They’d wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls, unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not
I'll gently rise and I'll softly call
Good night and joy be with you all.

AN IRISH BLESSING
There is a God! Church patsy trial delayed.
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
The rains fall soft upon the fields,
And until we meet again,
May God hold you
In the hollow of his hand.
Stay well. Wash your hands. If you’d like to make a donation to the PNT cause we wouldn’t say no. parsonsnose.org/donate

Cymbeline ("Imogen")
A comic adaptation of Shakespeare's Cymbeline by Lance Davis runs from May 9 to 31, 2020. Preview show: May 8 (pay what you will). This comic fairy tale is for adults. Rustic, medieval England. A stubborn king, a wicked queen, and her brutish son. Brave and lovely Imogen, disguised as a boy, sets out into the Welsh wilderness to meet her banished lover. An often overlooked classic brought into PNT’s comic spotlight.

TICKETS: To order by phone, call (626) 403-7667. If there's no answer, please leave a message with your phone number to get a call back!

Saturday, February 1, 2020

Askew Reading Series feat. Bill Ratner, Briana Munoz, Feb. 8, 7:00 PM



Bill Ratner is a 9-time winner of The Moth Story Slams. His spoken-word performances are featured on National Public Radio’s Good Food, The Businesses, and KCRW’s Strangers. His poems, essays, and stories are published in The Chiron Review, The Baltimore Review, Rattle Magazine’s Rattlecast, Pleiades, KYSO Flash, South Florida Poetry Journal, The Missouri Review Audio Contest, Spectrum, and so on. Bill is also the voice of “Flint” in the TV cartoon G.I. Joe and “Donnell Udina” in Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3 (billratner.com).


Briana Muñoz is the author of the poetry collection Loose Lips (Prickly Pear Publishing). Her work has been published in Bravura Literary Journal, Oakland Arts Review, St. Sucia zine, and online at LA BLOGA (labloga.blogspot.com).

When she isn't typing away, she enjoys travel, live music, cats, and thrift stores. (Instagram : @awomanofwords)

Former LA Poet Laureate Luis J. Rodriguez (Vroman's, Feb. 7)

EVENTS.....BOOKS.....KIDS.....GIFTS.....STATIONERY
Author Events
REV. JESUS GARCIA
PRESENTS AND SIGNS
Still grieving after the physical loss of his beloved spiritual Master, Dr. John-Roger, the author finds renewed purpose connecting with fellow disciples in Satsang around the world. This sequel to Garcia’s best-selling The Love of a Master merges the genres of memoir, travel journal, and practical spirituality how-to guide.
RENEE MORGAN-HAMPTON
PRESENTS AND SIGNS
Another team up with Harianne DeCanter, & Detectives Tracey Sanders & Zack Grimes (from the novel, Misrepresented). Detectives Sanders & Grimes investigate the murder of a boy at a boarding school construction site. Criminal Defense lawyer Harianne is hired to represent the wealthy Defendant accused of the boy's murder. As they try to find the killer, Harianne, Sanders & Grimes are tested psychologically in this modern day thriller.
TATIANA HUGHES
(ON BEHALF OF
TATYANA N. MICKUSHINA)
PRESENTS AND SIGNS
This is the 1st book in a 5 volume series that contains Messages given by the Ascended Masters through their Messenger Tatyana N. Mickushina from 2005 through 2016. This also contains Teachings about the distinction between Good & Evil, the Path of Initiation, the change of consciousness, Love, Karma, Freedom, happiness, nonviolence, the Community, & many others.
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 4, 5:30PM
PRESENTED BY CLARISSA
CASTILLO-RAMSEY, PSYD
$55.00/person (plus tax)
(please register by 2/2/20)

Visualization is a powerful exercise for the mind. As we think & create an image in our minds, we emit it's frequency into the universe, which then magnetizes our vision to reality. This is the law of attraction. Vision boards force you to examine your desires & focus on what truly matters to you. The visual aspect of a vision board really drives home your desires & sends a very loud, clear message to the universe that you know exactly what you want and are ready to receive it. Get your dreams into focus in our Vision Board Workshop & manifest the life you desire. This class will provide all required supplies to create an exceptional board. Feel free to bring clippings of your own, too. Attendees will receive a gift and take-home packet! Space is limited. 

Workshop presented by Clarissa Castillo-Ramsey
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TUESDAY FEBRUARY 11, 5:30PM
PRESENTED BY CRAFT
SIERRA MADRE
$70.00/person (plus tax)
(please register by 2/9/20)

Color grows all around us, sometimes in spectacular blooms, and sometimes in the humble common plants we overlook or take for granted. It lays hidden in the bark or heartwood of some trees, or hides in your kitchen cabinet of spices and herbs. Join me and learn about color growing all around you, and take part in one of the oldest human traditions by painting and stamping natural dye pigments onto fabrics. Students will get to experiment with several natural dye pigments and different fabrics. Please bring an apron with you to protect your clothing. We will provide everything else! No experience necessary.

Workshop presented by CRAFT SIERRA MADRE.

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 18, 5:30PM
PRESENTED BY CRAFT SIERRA MADRE
$90.00/person (plus tax)
(please register by 2/16/20)

In this workshop our instructor will focus on the basics of pointed pen calligraphy. She will introduce you to the tools of the trade, the foundational strokes of this art, and the construction of shapes into the alphabet. Join us as she breaks down the art of calligraphy into an easy to learn and enjoyable practice. 

(All supplies provided)

Workshop presented by Jody Che from MBOJ STUDIO.


TUESDAY FEBRUARY 25, 5:30PM
PRESENTED BY CRAFT SIERRA MADRE
$55.00/person (plus tax)
(please register by 2/23/20)

Learn how to create your own modern stamps & use them to print on a variety of surfaces. Bold shapes can be carved into rubber, inked, & stamped onto everything from wrapping paper to tea towels to totes. Carving your own stamps is on trend today as a modern method of creating hand printed designs. In this class, you’ll learn the methods of rubber block carving and printing. We’ll carve a design & use it to print on a market tote bag for our final project. You will gain a basic knowledge of tools, inks, process, and helpful techniques. 

(All supplies provided)

Workshop presented by CRAFT SIERRA MADRE.
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For more information about our craft workshops, visit www.vromansbookstore.com.
To register, please call Vroman’s Customer Service at (626)449-5320. 
Amnesty International Reading Group

The Amnesty International Reading Group will read The Home that was Our Country by Alia Malek this month.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16TH, 6:30 PM
Fiction Reading Group

The Fiction Reading Group will read Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala this month.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26TH, 7:00 PM
Literature Reading Group

The Literature Reading Group will read Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood this month.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28TH, 7:00 PM
Mischief Managers Reading Group

The Mischief Managers Reading Group will read Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen this month.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9TH, 4:00 PM
Mystery Reading Group

The Mystery Reading Group will read Mystery Potpourri this month, meaning that members can choose any mystery book to read!

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19TH, 7:30 PM
Shakespeare Reading Group

The Shakespeare Reading Group will read Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare this month.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14TH, 7:00 PM
Tribe of Endless Reading Group

The Tribe of Endless Reading Group is undergoing a makeover and will not be meeting in February.

FIRST MEETING OF THE YEAR TBD
PASADENA
695 E. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91101
(626) 449-5320
HASTINGS RANCH
3729 Foothill Blvd.
Pasadena,CA 91107
(626) 351-0828