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September 7, 2018

Poetry Friday--Movie Recommendation


Last weekend I watched the documentary, RBG, which has just been released on DVD. I LOVED it and recommend it highly. I wish everyone, especially teens, would watch it. It is most of all a love story, and then a story of tenacity and clarity of thought. The way Ruth Bader Ginsburg was able to compartmentalize her life, is nothing short of amazing. [CNN is airing it on September 9, click here.]

Ginsburg was able to have a long and enduring friendship with the late justice Antonin Scalia despite their ideological differences. It is something I find difficult to do myself. If I learned anything from RBG it is that if you can find an interest in common, one that has significance to both parties, than a relationship can be built. Here's a short CBS Evening News piece from 2016:




I want to share a portion of a poem by Paul Zimmer titled, "Dog Music." It might seem a bit strange, but I find it fitting:
Dog Music

Amongst dogs are listeners and singers.
My big dog sang with me so purely,
puckering her ruffled lips into an O,
beginning with small, swallowing sounds
like Coltrane musing, then rising to power
and resonance, gulping air to continue—
her passion and sense of flawless form—
singing not with me, but for the art of dogs.
We joined in many fine songs—"Stardust,"
"Naima," "The Trout," "My Rosary," "Perdido."
She was a great master and died young,
leaving me with unrelieved grief,
her talents known to only a few.

Now I have a small dog who does not sing,
but listens with discernment, requiring
skill and spirit in my falsetto voice.
I sing her name and words of love
andante, con brio, vivace, adagio.
Sometimes she is so moved she turns
to place a paw across her snout,
closes her eyes, sighing like a girl
I held and danced with years ago.

Read the rest here.

Carol will be hosting the Round-Up this week at Beyond Literacy Link. Please stop by!

22 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing about RGB, Diane. i only know a little about her, being Australian, but like you admire people who can see past ideological differences. it;s a challenge.
    And Dog Music! Made me want to sing and rush home to visit my own dog.

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    1. These lines are so poignant: She was a great master and died young,
      leaving me with unrelieved grief

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  2. There are no movie theaters anywhere near where I live these days, Diane, but CNN will broadcast RBG on the 9th., I hear, and I can't wait to see it. RBG is remarkable, I don't "get" the friendship with that rat Scalia, but there you go - remarkable people can rise above differences, and we can learn from their example.

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  3. I do love unlikely friendships and people big enough to see we are NOT our ideologies. We all love hope suffer dream the same... thank you! xo

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  4. I saw it in the theater and was teary-eyed the whole time. Inspiring!

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  5. Loved RBG. What a precise and beautiful speaker she is. So determined and powerful. Followed by singing with a dog, a hilarious segue.

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    1. I'm happy to know she still does planks and other core building exercises. We need her to be around for a long, long time! (But, I wish she did not have the added pressure of our needs and expectations.)

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  6. I will watch RBG on the 9th, have read the bio & loved it. I just got the picture book about Sonia Sotomayor, thought I might read it before watching RBG. The poem shows some conection between disparate characters, perhaps Ginsberg sang while Scalia listened & then they switched?

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    1. Let me know what you think after watching it Linda. The part that stood out for me was the period in her life when she attended law school. The woman was a brick.

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  7. Can't wait to see RBG. Their friendship was indeed inspiring. Thanks for the poem, too. :)

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    1. I'm so happy that I found that poem. It speaks to me in so many ways!

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  8. Diane, thanks for sharing the information about RBG and hopefully, I will get to see the CNN show.

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    1. If you miss it on CNN, your local public library owns a copy! (And there's more than 40 in the Nassau Library System.)

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  9. I totally get why you paired RBG and Scalia with this poem. Totally. Its a brilliant pairing, Diane. I just went and requested RBG from my local library. I'm a ways down on the list, but I'm looking forward to sharing the film with Miranda!

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  10. Michelle wrote almost exactly what I meant to: the way, if we are willing to be open to the underlying emotion, we can converse in powerful ways even across species. Happy September!

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    1. Happy September to you, Heidi, and please keep us informed about your project!

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  11. I haven't seen the RBG documentary yet (even though my mom has been sharing times and stations when it airs). I do want to find time to watch it. And I loved Dog Music. My brother's dogs lie under the piano and listen when he plays. When they hear songs (from radio or tv) that he has practiced, the turn toward the piano and look confused when he's not sitting there.

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    1. Thanks for your anecdote about your brother's dog--we should never shortchange them and their abilities.

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