Pea S. Lewis?

I'm presently tackling my first book of poetry. Now, I have always admired poetry - in the same way that I admired wine until I really gave it a shot. In other words I didn't admire poetry at all. I thought it pretentious and inaccessible. Maybe because I was too lazy to think or to look up obscure references to Greek gods. Maybe that makes me normal - I don't know.

Either way, I stumbled upon a collection of C.S. Lewis' poetry during a recent jaunt to Half Price Books - and it is slowly, methodically tearing down my presuppositions about poetry with astonishing passages like this from the poem entitled "On Being Human":

They see the Form of Air; but mortals breathing it
Drink the whole summer down to the breast.
The lavish pinks, the field new-mown, the ravishing
Sea-smells, the wood-fire smoke that whispers Rest.
The tremor on the rippled pool of memory
That from each smell in widening circles goes,
The pleasure and the pang - can angels measure it?
An angel has no nose.

Not sure just how air-tight the theology is here, but I do know those words resonate with my soul in a deep place. And I think that's what poetry is supposed to do. So, I am giving poetry a chance, just like my Mom told me to do with peas (typically those episodes ended in nausea while stealthily shoveling peas to the floor - so it's not quite a perfect metaphor).

And one music recommendation:
"Eve, the Apple of my Eye," by Bell X1.

Enjoy, lovers.

Ever Afters and Toy Poodles or: Why Weddings are Badass

Hello, humans.

Sitting here at a Starbucks in heart of Dallas after witnessing the matrimony of a couple dazzling individuals. I am a huge fan of weddings for several reasons, which you will [might] now read about:

a) Weddings force you to contemplate weightier things - things like ever-afters, devotion, faith, true love, sincerity, trust. These things are important because they act as just that - weights that tether us to the ground. Without them we'd just kind of float away into the great blue unknown. They make things worthwhile. They're hard. And worthwhile = hard. Not necessarily in Webster's Thesaurus, but in Miller's, the lesser known younger cousin of D-Web (as those of us in the industry call him).

b) You will, without a doubt, run into someone you weren't expecting to see. And it will be refreshing because you haven't seen or even thought of this person in a year - and you will remember why you love this person. And then you won't see them for another year - at the next wedding of another friend. Sometimes weddings, I'm beginning to believe, are the only thing keeping this country together. Obama needs to change his campaign slogan from HOPE to WEDDINGS. It will confuse at first, but then one by one, everyone will understand and nod knowingly.
...and that paragraph went places I hoped I'd never go.

c) There are a lot of stunning females. Creepy, Steve.

d) You get to spend a few hours at some really nice places - like church sanctuaries and clubhouses and (if the stars align) you receive free college drinks by the handful. And then you end up talking with Friend X's mom for 45 minutes about how much you both enjoy toy poodles, and she repeats the same phrase ("Wasn't it just a beautiful ceremony?") no less than six times. This is typically a sign that it's time to leave this nice place.

Music time!
Greg Laswell, Three Flights from Alto Nido
Electric President, Self-Titled
Wild Sweet Orange, We Have Cause to be Uneasy
Joshua James, The Sun is Always Brighter
The War on Drugs, Wagonwheel Blues

xoxo.