My calling birds

I have read that "calling birds" is a corruption of "colly birds", which is another name for blackbirds, a family that includes many of my favorite birds. Or that "calling birds" refers to any songbird, which is what I am. Either way, I have a special affection for this verse. But "calling birds" also means to me, after years of living in the Adirondacks, the birds you listen to for the news of the day. Is there an owl nearby? A cat? Those very vocal blackbirds will let you know.

Now in the city, while I am drinking my morning-strong Yorkshire Gold tea, I read (if you know me, this is no surprise whatsoever). I am reasonably consistent in my morning reading, and it occured to me this morning - how timely! - that I have morning companions who chat with me through various media, "calling birds" showing me what is going on in the world, what it might mean, and who we can be, at both our shocking worst and our shining best.

The first is my prayer book and Bible. The prayer book is falling apart, not so much from use (alas) as from travel, and from being poorly-bound in the first place. And from being stuffed full of dried leaves and found feathers (including peacock down from the Cathedral birds) and little prayer cards. The Bible is a beautiful, leather-bound Oxford's annotated NRSV that I bought for myself a couple of years ago. There are a lot of different translations of scripture lying around this apartment; this is my favorite most of the time. Of course the cover, when the book arrived, was the wrong color. I had ordered classic black, and this one is burgundy red. Befits my past, I guess, but how did the booksellers know? Did they have a little chat with Santa?

Then it's on to the New York Times (Global Edition) which I read online. Often the same things are happening in the news and in the scripture readings. I don't mean events, necessarily, but rather the human response to events.

When I have time, I check out my favorite blogs. My friend Paul Overton's beautiful blog, Every Day is Awesome is one I visit regularly. There is a new post almost every day. That alone is inspiring to me, and what he has to say is honest, thoughtful, and spiced with his wacky humor. I also treasure Léna's Lit.Life and Paula's House of Toast. Both blogs are rich and beautiful.

Finally,  the fourth "calling bird" lately has been William Shakespeare, with whom I am enjoying quite a torrid romance at the moment. Will visits at all hours and gets me drunk on words and passion. What stuns me about his work is the depth to which he explored the human heart, and the sheer extravagance of the talent that allowed him to write of it. There are days, especially now, as I am about to be painting bookshelves, when I think I could get by easily and merrily with no books other than his works, the Bible, and the Book of Common Prayer. No, wait. It would be good to have that great big Oxford English Dictionary, too. And The Wind in the Willows, because I love the chapter where Ratty sees Pan. And Colette's La Lanterne Bleue. And To Say Nothing of the Dog. And, oh dear, there's always an "and"!

What books would you absolutely have to have? And who are your calling birds?

Comments

[Melanie (Bishop) Pickrell]

I would have to have "The Secret Lives of Bees" because of the phrase "the lid is off my jar" inspired me to escape a horrid living situation. "The Posionwood Bible" and "Where the Heart Is" and "The Joy Luck Club" hmmm there is a theme here. Resilent women like you Laurel justlike you.

[Laurel Massé]

Thank you, Melanie. That last sentence is a compliment all the more appreciated because it comes from you. "The Secret Life of Bees" and "The Poisonwood Bible" are on my bookshelf, and I have also read "The Joy Luck Club", but not "Where the Heart Is". I will order that from my library right away.
Blessings-
Laurel

[Sandy]

Shakespeare, of course, if I had to pick just one, but there are many other books I'd really miss. Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin; Emma and Pride and Prejudice by jane Austen; Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne; Full Circle by janet Baker; A Life on the Road by Julian Bream and Tony Palmer; almost anything by P. G. Wodehouse (perfect for gloomy days); Annals of the Former World by John McPhee; The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp; Inner Tennis: Playing the Game byTimothy Gallwey; and so many others. And I would really miss my notebooks, where I've been saving little bits of good stuff from my reading for 25 years or so.

[The Rev. Daniel F. Graves]

What wonderful thoughts. I recently had an aggravating discussion with my brother, who is a senior educator in our province, who thinks that we use too much narrative in our teaching. My God! I thought, is there any other way to communicated except through story?! And story unveils our shared humanity from age to age. This is why I would hate to lose my copies of my Loeb classical library. (Glad to hear that Will is holding you in his intoxicating embrace)
Fr. Dan

[nancy]

Calling birds? Hmmm, the voices of the BBC World service on my NPR station - reminding me of my 26 years over there as well as reminding me that yes, there is a world outside of Boston and the U.S.; the conversations I manage to eavesdrop into between my 11 & 14 year old sons (I learn so much and am often touched as well as moved to hilarity); the wisdom of my father, and his humor!, whom I"m so lucky to still have nearby; and the little cherubs I get to see and work with each week between the ages of 2 weeks and 8 months old, some of whom I've known since they were in utero! The joy and unmitigated connection that springs from their whole-body-smiles when they capture your attention. And the delight they evince with their gurgles/coos/vocalising as they progress through the tunes of speech ultimately to words.

Other calling birds are the comics who make me laugh til I cry - Billy Connolly, Victoria Wood, Bill Cosby among others - no matter how often I hear them.

Books? Cannot do without To Kill A Mockingbird - I never realized til I first read it to William (then aged 9) that much of my sense of morality was based on the mores of that book, a well-thumbed copy of which has kept me company for about 39 years. And Anne Tyler's Accidental Tourist: a line from which many years ago (before I knew it would be so relevant to me) stuck with me: "he viewed their divorce as just another stage in their marriage."

And odd as it may sound, much of Stephen King - not for the fantasy and/or horror, but for his depiction (a) of the need for connection and (b) the extreme effects of connections both being fully realized and thwarted. I put it that many of his stories are really love stories. Especially much of "It".

And Randy Pausch's "The Last Lecture". (...we cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand....)

This may be too long for you to include, but thank you for raising the thoughts and for your inspiration as always!
xx nancy

[Laurel Massé]

Ah yes, Sandy - I have one of those notebooks, too, my Goody Book. Lots of things in there, and also in my journals, that others have so well-written that my eyes have been opened wider.
And Pooh! Who can do without Winnie-ther-Pooh? And of course you know what ther means...
Blessings,
Laurel

[Laurel Massé]

Fr. Dan, I agree. There is something in our wiring, in our neurons, in our very bones, that needs story, and I think this is one of the ways in which we are created in God's image.
Story is the way we remember our past, story is the way we imagine our future, story is the way we communicate with each other. The man who has and tells me a good story is the man I most love... and there's another story growing.
Blessings,
Laurel

[Laurel Massé]

Ah, yes. BBC World Service. How could I have forgotten that?

But see? Your comment was not too long.

Blessings, Laurel