{"id":10341,"date":"2019-06-20T20:28:20","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T20:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/?p=10341"},"modified":"2019-06-20T20:32:45","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T20:32:45","slug":"fairies-and-pity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/2019\/06\/fairies-and-pity\/","title":{"rendered":"Fairies and pity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Hey there.<\/strong> Summer is off to a slow start but gloomy June is sliding by. The news of the world is disheartening. Hope you\u2019re finding some solace.<\/p>\n

Not everything you learn on Twitter is bad. For instance I learned that Independent Author Day<\/strong> was May 26 for The Book Fairies USA<\/strong> who distributed free copies of Solace in So Many Words<\/strong> <\/em>in Missoula, Montana and in Glendale, California.<\/p>\n

You say you don\u2019t know about The Book Fairies? The idea of The Book Fairies is simple. There are people who like to read, and to share the books they\u2019ve read. They hide books around the world, every day, for people to find, read, and then leave for the next person. You can learn more about the Book Fairies here<\/a>.\"\"<\/p>\n

In news of my writing, I had a story \u201cNow and at the hour\u201d<\/strong> posted on Amethyst Review<\/strong><\/em>.<\/a> It\u2019s a story I wrote years ago and I am happy that it now has readers. Amethyst Review<\/strong> <\/em>is a new publication for readers and writers who are interested in creative exploration of spirituality and the sacred.<\/p>\n

Some Solace in So Many Words<\/strong> <\/em>contributors have new books. Congrats to T. C. Boyle<\/strong><\/a> whose 17th novel Outside Looking In<\/em><\/strong> came out in April.<\/p>\n

Congrats also to Arthur Powers\u2014he has a new book of poems Sketches\/Rio de Janeiro & Other Poems<\/strong><\/em> by Finishing Line<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I mentioned the news is dismal these days. I thought about a poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti \u201cPity the Nation.\u201d<\/strong> It is not in the public domain so I can\u2019t post it here. But you can read it on the City Light Books site<\/a>. It is written in response to a verse written by Kahil Gibran<\/strong> in 1933 (from The Garden of the Prophet<\/strong><\/em>). It is in the public domain so I print it below.<\/p>\n

I wish you peace, love, and solace<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion.
\nPity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave
\nand eats a bread it does not harvest.<\/p>\n

Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero,
\nand that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.<\/p>\n

Pity a nation that despises a passion in its dream,
\nyet submits in its awakening.<\/p>\n

Pity the nation that raises not its voice
\nsave when it walks in a funeral,
\nboasts not except among its ruins,
\nand will rebel not save when its neck is laid
\nbetween the sword and the block.<\/p>\n

Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox,
\nwhose philosopher is a juggler,
\nand whose art is the art of patching and mimicking<\/p>\n

Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting,
\nand farewells him with hooting,
\nonly to welcome another with trumpeting again.<\/p>\n

Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years
\nand whose strongmen are yet in the cradle.<\/p>\n

Pity the nation divided into fragments,
\neach fragment deeming itself a nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2015 Kahlil Gibran<\/strong>, The Garden of The Prophet<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey there. Summer is off to a slow start but gloomy June is sliding by. The news of the world is disheartening. Hope you\u2019re finding some solace. Not everything you learn on Twitter is bad. For instance I learned that Independent Author Day was May 26 for The Book Fairies USA who distributed free copies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3585,3580,12,3581,3582,3584,39,3583,13,7,16,104,3579,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-10341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"tag-amethyst-review","8":"tag-book-fairies-usa","9":"tag-ellen-wade-beals","10":"tag-kahil-gibran","11":"tag-lawrence-ferlinghetti","12":"tag-now-and-at-the-hour","13":"tag-photography","14":"tag-pity-the-nation","15":"tag-poetry","16":"tag-solace","17":"tag-solace-in-so-many-words","18":"tag-t-c-boyle","19":"tag-the-book-fairies","20":"tag-weighed-words","21":"entry","22":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10341"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10351,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10341\/revisions\/10351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}