Happy Holidays 2009

First published December 2009

Now that Christmas Rappings has closed, the holidays approach with increasing speed. PM and the gang are working hard, and while there probably won't be a Saga this year (it is awfully late to start writing one),   they are definitely a part of this year's Christmas activities.

The hovel has been taken over by an 8-foot tree, which fills out most of the living room. It is a joy to look at and the Douglas fir is fragrant beyond description.

The Chronicler will be baking more pecan snowball cookies, plus some more oatmeal and cranberry cookies, all in an effort to produce more ho-ho-hoing than harrumph-harrumph-harrumphing. 

Christmas Rappings at the Judson Church, 2009

First Published December 16, 2009

In December, 2009, I was privileged to be a part of Christmas Rappings at Judson Memorial Church, a wonderful production directed by Russell Treyz, with musical direction by Brent Frederick. It was a wonderful experience. This is what I posted on pmsaga.com while we were in performances.

CHRISTMAS RAPPINGS at the JUDSON CHURCH

Yes, Virginia, there is an alternative to Handel's Messiah. And it's Christmas Rappings, a wonderful theater piece by Al Carmines originally done in 1969. Hey, I am not knocking the Messiah, but does it have belly dancers, or a tango? This staged oratorio does, and it has the added attraction of having your Chronicler as a cast member! The music and soloists are fantastic (no, PM will not be appearing — she's still in rehearsal for the Night Before the Night Before Christmas Concert, as per usual — but the soloists in this show send glorious notes to the church rafters, and who knows, Purple Monster might indeed BOING!!! in to see her Chronicler in the chorus). 

You can read what Fox News had to say about our show at this link. Only four more performances, as of Dec. 16. 

The Judson Memorial Church in the Village is worth visiting in its own right. The stained glass windows are lovely.

We opened Dec. 4 and are doing 12 performances, ending Dec. 19. This link leads you to a PDF version of our flier. There are only 99 seats for each performance, and even though all of them are "reserved," there have been empty seats each night. I suggest getting to the theater a half hour before performance and I bet you'll get in. It's worth it!

I've Taken to Reading the Writer's Almanac

First published September 2011

I've taken to reading The Writer's Almanac
in the morning
before I get up.
It arrives around 2 a.m. into my gmail basket
And joins around 200 I've saved
hoping to read later
but put off so long
that I deleted a hundred a few weeks ago
totally unopened.
It starts with a poem
and that often gets me thinking,
and sometimes thoughts that
shouldn't start a day or even end one
(must I think of Mom and Dad
before I've brushed my teeth?).
Then the birthdays of writers
or actors
or things,
like the Metropolitan Opera House,
or geniuses like Tchaikovsky or Sibelius or Schubert,
although the Composers Datebook,
which joins the Almanac at about the same early hour each day,
has more of those
and sometimes I confuse the two.
But there's the short biography
or biographies
of writers who actually write
or have written
and were read and had thoughts
that I sometimes shared
or more often wondered at
but never wrote down myself.
Should I start the day
thinking like that
or take that dream, that nightmare, that obsession that robbed my sleep,
and chew on it instead
with my oatmeal (instant, not steel cut, no patience)
before turning on the TV
and the computer
and driving all thoughts
of any pedigree
out of my head
for the rest of the day?
Before I get out of bed, I've taken to
fumbling for the android
behind my head
to read the day's arrival
and then delete it.
Next, back to September
to catch up on those
late summer thoughts
and birthdays now long past
and send those to Trash
with the other thoughts
and poems that demand more contemplation
than I can give
while starting the day.
But I must catch up
and clear the Inbox, and
I've decided at least one old Almanac each day,
rewinding through hot and wet August and sticky July,
until the past is erased and I'm back to the daily Almanac
I've taken to opening
first thing in the morning
to nibble on other people's thoughts
to start the day.
Why not?
Perhaps I need find no words of my own at all today.
Rehearsal will have other people's words to learn,
and singing other people's poems to others' musical fancies
to the heart's delight.

Copyright © 2011 by Susan Kirby