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Dear march come in

by Emily Dickinson

Dear March, come in! How glad I am! I looked for you before. Put down your hat – You must have walked – How out of breath you are! Dear March, how are you? and the rest? Did you leave Nature well？ Oh, March, come right upstairs with me. I have so much to tell!

I got your letter, and the bird's; The Maples never knew that you were coming, – I declare, – how red their faces grew! But, March, forgive me – And all those hills you left for me to hue; There was no purple suitable, You took it all with you.

Who knocks? That April! Lock the Door! I will not be pursued! He stayed away a year, to call When I am occupied. But trifles look so trivial As soon as you have come,

That blame is just as dear as praise And praise as mere as blame.

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This poem is so vivid and passionate. Love it!

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A light exists in spring

by Emily Dickinson

A light exists in spring Not present on the year At any other period. When March is scarcely here A color stands abroad On solitary hills That science cannot overtake, But human nature feels. It waits upon the lawn, It shows the furthest tree Upon the furthest slope we know; It almost speaks to me. Then, as horizons step, Or noons report away, Without the formula of sound, It passes, and we stay: A quality of loss Affecting our content, As trade had suddenly encroached Upon a sacrament.

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These are the days when birds come back

by Emily Dickinson

These are the days when birds come back, A very few, a bird or two, To take a backward look.

These are the days when skies put on The old, old sophistries of June,-- A blue and gold mistake.

Oh, fraud that cannot cheat the bee, Almost thy plausibility Induces my belief,

Till ranks of seeds their witness bear, And softly through the altered air Hurries a timid leaf!

Oh, sacrament of summer days, Oh, last communion in the haze, Permit a child to join,

Thy sacred emblems to partake, Thy consecrated bread to break, Taste thine immortal wine!

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A Chapter A Day-7 Days Reading Challenge

Started: 22-8-16

Ended: 22-8-22

Day 1 ch. 12 from The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells

Day 2 ch. 13-14 from The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells

Day 3 ch. 15-end from The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells

Day 4 ch. 1 from The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells

Day 5 ch. 2 from The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells

Day 6 ch. 3-6 from The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells

Day 7 ch.7-9 from The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells

Reflection

For me, this challenge is much easier than the last one, a story a day: seven days reading challenge. Perhaps because the last challenge helped me build up the reading habit and now I just need to keep it. I read when I waited for something or someone. I read after my workday load. I read before sleep. This feels good. Or maybe the key is to find the writers/books I enjoy reading. Recently, I started a genre study on science fiction and I like H. G. Wells.

Also, I think short stories tend to be harder than longer ones to read. That might add more effort to accomplish the story challenge rather than the chapter challenge. I guess I should try the story challenge another time in the future.

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There is a flower that bees prefer

by Emily Dickinson

There is a flower that bees prefer, And butterflies desire; To gain the purple democrat The humming-birds aspire.

And whatsoever insect pass, A honey bear away Proportioned to his several dearth And her capacity.

Her face be rounder than the moon, And ruddier than the gown Or orchis in the pasture, Or rhododendron worn.

She doth not wait for June; Before the world is green Her sturdy little countenance Against the wind is seen.

Contending with the grass, Near kinsman to herself, For privilege of sod and sun, Sweet litigants for life.

And when the hills are full, And newer fashions blow, Doth not retract a single spice For pang of jealousy.

Her public is the noon, Her providence the sun, Her progress by the bee proclaimed In sovereign, swerveless tune.

The bravest of the host, Surrendering the last, Nor even of defeat aware What cancelled by the frost.

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A Story A Day - 7 Days Reading Challenge

Take 7

Started: 2022-8-9

Ended: 2022-8-15

DAY 1 “Baker’s Helper” by Cynthia Anderson from Flash Fiction Forward ★★★★★

DAY 2 “Rumors of Myself” by Steve Almond from Flash Fiction Forward ★★☆☆☆

DAY 3 “Mandela Was Late” by Peter Mehlman from Flash Fiction Forward ★★☆☆☆

DAY 4 “Sleeping” by Katharine Weber from Flash Fiction Forward ★★★★★

DAY 5 “How to Set a House on Fire” by Stace Budzko from Flash Fiction Forward ★★★★☆

DAY 6 “Adam, One Afternoon” by Italo Calvino from Last Comes the Raven: And Other Stories ★★★★☆

DAY 7 “A Ship Loaded with Crabs” by Italo Calvino from Last Comes the Raven: And Other Stories ★★★★☆

Take 6

Started: 2022-6-27

Ended: 2022-6-28

DAY 1 “The Building Site” by Marguerite Duras from Whole Days in the Trees ★★★★☆

Take 5

Started: 2022-5-31

Ended: 2022-6-2

DAY 1 “Whole Days in the Trees” by Marguerite Duras from Whole Days in the Trees ★★☆☆☆

DAY 2 “Late” by Judith Pond from Typishily ★★☆☆☆

DAY 3 “The Boa” by Marguerite Duras from Whole Days in the Trees ★★★☆☆

Take 4

Started: 2022-5-21

Ended: 2022-5-25

DAY 1 “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson ★★★☆☆

DAY 2 “Mute” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★★★★

DAY 3 “Ayana” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★☆☆☆☆

DAY 4 “A very tight place” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★☆☆☆

DAY 5 “Man with the Missing Mouth” by Meiko Ko published on Anmly ★★☆☆☆

Take 3

Started: 2022-5-11

Ended: 2022-5-15

DAY 1 “The Conquest of Gola” by Leslie F. Stone from The Big Book of Science Fiction ★★★☆☆

DAY 2 “N” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★★★☆

DAY 3 “The Oblong Box” by Edgar Allan Poe ★★☆☆☆

DAY 4 “New york times at special bargain rates” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★☆☆☆

DAY 5 “The cat from hell“ by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★☆☆☆

Take 2

Started: 2022-4-29

Ended: 2022-5-2

DAY 1 “Gingerbread girl” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★☆☆☆

DAY 2 “Rest stop” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★★★☆

DAY 3 “Stationary bike” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★★★★

DAY 4 “The things they left behind” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★☆☆☆

Take 1

Started: 2022-4-19

Ended: 2022-4-21

DAY 1 “The Wedding Present” by Neil Gaiman from Smoke and Mirrors “An Intro” ★★★☆☆

DAY 2 “Willa” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★★☆☆

DAY 3 “Harvey’s dream” by Stephen King from Just After Sunset ★★★★☆

Reflection on the Challenge

Sometimes life gets harder. Something pops up and I can’t maintain my routine even though I was so close to my goal. That’s fine. Keep trying. That happens to everyone.

Be loyal to myself is important to this challenge. I can skip a day or two and read three stories on the third day, but that just takes away the charm of this challenge to help building up a daily reading habit. I think to build a habit is more important than how much I actually read because there are 7 or 8 pages in one story and sometimes up to 60 or 70 pages in another one (for example, “Whole Days in the Trees” by Marguerite Duras is 70 pages on my e-reader). To allow myself to set up a mount of time to read daily is something I should practice here.

Since the stories have different length, I started to pick shorter stories in the second take. That’s not good, but I think it’s acceptable if that’s the way to help me to build up the habit. And I ended up forgetting to do it not because I failed so many times, but because I really enjoyed reading some of the longer stories. “Stationary bike” by Stephen King on the second take is the story which stopped me to pick the shorter ones to read.

Returning from LV, I realized that I got COVID. I stopped doing everything and rested for two weeks. I was very tired and couldn’t focus very much. I gave myself enough time to be myself again. That’s when I tried the last time and accomplished the challenge. It was effortless and joyful.

[relaxedbunny]

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A narrow fellow in the grass

by Emily Dickinson

A narrow fellow in the grass Occasionally rides; You may have met him,– did you not? His notice sudden is.

The grass divides as with a comb, A spotted shaft is seen; And then it closes at your feet And opens further on.

He likes a boggy acre,   A floor too cool for corn. But when a child, and barefoot, I more than once, at morn,

Have passed, I thought, a whip-lash Unbraiding in the sun,– When, stooping to secure it, It wrinkled, and was gone.

Several of nature’s people I know, and they know me; I feel for them a transport Of cordiality;

But never met this fellow, Attended or alone, Without a tighter breathing, And zero at the bone.

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A bird came down the walk

by Emily Dickinson

A bird came down the walk: He did not know I saw; He bit an angle-worm in halves And ate the fellow, raw.

And then he drank a dew From a convenient grass, And then hopped sidewise to the wall To let a beetle pass.

He glanced with rapid eyes That hurried all abroad,— They looked like frightened beads, I thought He stirred his velvet head

Like one in danger; cautious, I offered him a crumb, And he unrolled his feathers And rowed him softer home

Than oars divide the ocean, Too silver for a seam, Or butterflies, off banks of noon, Leap, plashless, as they swim.

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I started early took my dog

by Emily Dickinson

I started early, took my dog, And visited the sea; The mermaids in the basement Came out to look at me,

And frigates in the upper floor Extended hempen hands, Presuming me to be a mouse Aground, upon the sands.

But no man moved me till the tide Went past my simple shoe, And past my apron and my belt, And past my bodice too,

And made as he would eat me up As wholly as a dew Upon a dandelion’s sleeve – And then I started too.

And He – he followed close behind; I felt his silver heel Upon my ankle, – then my shoes Would overflow with pearl.

Until we met the solid town, No one he seemed to know; And bowing with a mighty look At me, the sea withdrew.