S is for Song, and S is for Spring, and for Ships, and Stories, too

Some songs linger with me for days and weeks, flavoring a period of my life with tone and mood. This spring, a few key songs are weaving in and out of my days, and so I thought I'd share one. It's Fanfarlo's "The Walls Are Coming Down." The lyrics are rather fatalistic, which is as it should be, for I am currently writing a story whose protagonist feels no hope. This song makes me think of him with its mix of lilting beauty and fatalism.

As some of the lyrics go,

For atoms have gone as far as atoms will go
Your books write themselves
They line up in row after row

The walls the walls are coming down
The here and now is coming round
It will some day let you down
The ships the ships are coming in
The great ideas are wearing thin
There is nothing left to do

The great irony for me, of course, is that I cannot share this view as I type away at my own books and poems and stories and essays--and yet, I love this song.

And who is this pessimistic character I mention? He is a seventeen-year-old boy, and I am having an amazing time living a part of each day in his head and his world. I'll admit, though, that sometimes it takes every bit of strength and will I have to do it. Teenage boys, as you probably know, can be high maintenance.

Someday, when I finish writing this damn story (fingers and toes crossed), I'll introduce him to you.

In the meantime, here's Fanfarlo. What songs, I'm wondering, are running through the playlist in your mind this month?

R is for Ranunculus

Easter weekend blooms from my husband.  

The rain has cleared, the sun has returned.

Wishing you joy,

Wishing you peace.

Q

is for Queens and Quests

One of my passions in life is fairy tales.  Give me a story with a queen, a prince, a tower, a quest, a cat in swashbuckler boots, or a cursed frog, and I will lose myself in it.  That's why I am happy to celebrate the birth of one of the great literary fairy tale writers, Hans Christian Andersen, who turns 205 today.  Unlike the Brothers Grimm, who gathered, altered, and published several editions of traditional oral fairy tales, most of Andersen's tales were original works, including The Ugly Duckling, The Little Match Girl, The Red Shoes, The Nightingale, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Little Mermaid (Disney's version is very different from the original, which is absolutely beautiful), Thumbelina, and the tale that many consider to be his masterpiece, The Snow Queen.  The Snow Queen illustration above is from an edition of Andersen's tales published in 1911 with illustrations by one of my favorite fairy tale illustrators, Edmund Dulac.  

If you're reading this post today, April 2, you might want to fly on over to Google to see their tribute to Andersen.  And if you're a fan of fairy tales, too, there's a lovely recent collection of his works edited and annotated by the wonderful Maria Tatar.

 A Margaret Tarrant illustration for The Little Mermaid

In many ways, Andersen's own life was a quest for recognition, which he eventually received, and for love that he never found.  While he wrote memoirs that colored his life as a fairy tale, the truth of his life was far from enchanted.  His tales are achingly beautiful, often satirical (read The Nightingale for a scathing portrait of aristocrats), explorations of love, the quest for spirituality, and the importance of the artist in society.  

A special note of thanks today to all my blogging friends.  Your comments and sense of community inspire me and teach me.  Have a wonderful weekend, and if you celebrate Easter, may it be a blessed and peaceful day of joy.  xo