Camp Letter #11
My correspondence with my granddaughter in sleep-away camp
I wrote letters every day while my granddaughter was in sleep-away camp for the first time when she was eight years old. I was reading the wonderful book This Is A Poem That Heals Fish by poet Jean-Pierre Siméon (full details in the Table of Contents).
Here’s Letter #11
After getting an answer from Old Mahmoud, Arthur is now worried about Leon’s heartbeat. Leon, in case you forgot, is Arthur’s fish.
Will Arthur’s canary Aristophanes hear a poem that flies into his heart? I hear this one by Wallace Stevens: “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.”
Here’s a whimsical (rare) reading with sketches:
What poem flies into your heart? Tell us!
Note: My granddaughter calls me Savta; thus the “Love, Savta” at the close.
Table of Contents for Letters To My Granddaughter Next: Letter #12 with watercolor
Love,
These two paintings are my favourites so far Mary, I love how you have painted Arthurs quizzical expressions and 'Thirteen ways of looking at a Blackbird' beautiful, each and every verse bt especially verse VIII -
"I know noble accents
And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
But I know, too,
That the blackbird is involved
In what I know."
Thank you for guiding me to such loveliness xx
You know what I love the most about these letters Mary? It's so beautiful to witness all the love you pour into these letters to your granddaughter, and then the creative turn "Meanwhile..." into a story and poetry inspiration. You are the ideal safta! I know I said this before, but I would have loved to have a safta like you.