Dear reader,
I bite into a peach I have cut into slices. Four quarters & four more quarters from that. I bite into a peach & its juice runs down my wrist as I read the line:
I can’t manage to explain how the joy of waking up gradually clouds over as the day wanes till I’m reduced to melancholy & to curling myself up into an unsociable ball…
I hold the peach in my hand as this line lands on the very chord of what I have been trying to put my finger on for the past few weeks.
Colette has a way of doing this.
Of an articulation that absolutely resounds in me.
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Summer is undeniably the hardest time of the year for me, every year. I know this reveals to you certain parts of me: my constitution, my preferences, my vulnerabilities.
But truly, each morning, even in summer, I wake up with such delight for the little ritual that sets the table of my day: cleaning my mouth, letting the earl grey steep while I go to sit out in the meadow with three drops of my sulphur essence in a glass of water, taking a teaspoon of my tonic when I come in, before lighting incense on the altar before sitting with my earl grey sweetened with honey before my teal colored journal & my inky black pen.
And then something happens.
The joy wears thin & is replaced by this listless malaise, & the only cure for late afternoon is a book. Or a nap! Preferably, both.
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A Lithuanian book about a girl or a ghost & her apartment that can only be entered into by ladder.
Four poems about time & longing; which is to say a life of desire; which is to say living.
In the 1920’s a young man anonymously publishes a book: an erotic autobiographia of his lovers, who are also men, alongside beautiful line-drawings of men with cigarettes, of men on beds, of men half-dressed & leaning on a balcony.
And Colette. She is almost always to be found with me.
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And you, what are you reading these days? These dog days, that just seem to go on & on forever…
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Since I have been writing about reading, I might as well tell you that the latest Rhythm/Devotion interview is here. This month, we are joined by the generous, sweet, & gallant Emma Ledgerwood.
Emma & I met when we both lived in Savannah, under all the Spanish moss & the humidity which is a spell that far down in the southeast. Emma, how did we meet exactly, where were we? All I can remember is that I loved you from the start. All I can remember is that we took long walks & tried to start a band together & ate popsicles at your kitchen table & also at mine in the heat of the Lowcountry that didn’t cool down even in the dark.
Emma is one of the kindest people I have ever met in my entire life. She has a generosity of spirit & creativity that is hard to come by. She is a true blue, walking the walk & talking the talk: an inspiration in her integrity & in the work she does. Oh, did I mention that she recently helped me revamp my website? Forever grateful for her designer’s eye. So, it is my great joy to introduce you to her, in her own words. Here is one of my favorite moments from the interview:
I think structure is just those little things that help you stay standing on the hardest days. Truly like a brace on the back…. Ritual and routine keep me grounded on days that are impossible to plan. I always wake up with enough time to sit on my neighbor's porch and just look out and chat about nothing. Even a small thing like that keeps me locked in to myself.
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When you have a little bit of time of your own, sit on your porch or at your kitchen table & read the rest of Emma’s interview by following this link or clicking on the photo of her below:
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At 5.04pm each evening, my little Sony Dream Machine radio turns itself on to the local classical station. (I somehow managed to put the radio on a timer & am too pleased with my accidental results to change this).
The Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G, BWV 1048 composed by J. S. Bach just finished playing & it is time for me to get up & stretch & sit outside in the late sun.
Until next missive, may you find a good book to read when the day slumps & may you take your time & may you bite into a peach or another fruit with a stone in its center.
Yours,
Chanelle
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