part of eve's discussion

My Internet-friend, Shari, from Vermont and I like to swap books and tea from time to time. This time, I sent her a variety of tea, Peace Like a River by Leif Enger (of course), and The Good Thief by Marie Howe. Shari loved one of Howe's poems in particular: "Part of Eve's Discussion."

So I reread it again and again and fell in love with it all over again:

Part of Eve's Discussion
by Marie Howe

It was like the moment when a bird decides not to eat from your hand,
and flies, just before it flies, the moment the rivers seem to still
and stop because a storm is coming, but there is no storm, as when
a hundred starlings lift and bank together before they wheel and drop,
very much like the moment, driving on bad ice, when it occurs to you
your car could spin, just before it slowly begins to spin, like
the moment just before you forgot what it was you were about to say,
it was like that, and after that, it was still like that, only
all the time.

I have to be completely honest with you - part of the reason I adore The Good Thief is that beautiful Rothko-cover art. Book covers really do matter. Truly.

Well, I better get to reading. In addition to Fifty Two Fifty Two, our Church is reading the entire Bible in 90 days. I'm on day 3 and it's been lovely but man, what a challenge! It's probably a very sad commentary on where I normally rank the Bible amongst my other beloved books. Hopefully this 90 day challenge will change that. The Bible speaks forth more truth, goodness, beauty, and justice than any other book, that's for sure.

Oh, and what did Shari send me, you ask? A delicious lemon rooibos tea, an amazing assortment of other tea bags, and Driftless by David Rhodes, which I'm thinking will be #3 out of 52.