When novelist Sarah Smith said in her email that her house was a "VULGAR YELLOW," I didn't know what to think. Now, after spending a delightful weekend with her family (Mariah, R2 and Gabriel Nobrega, and of course their dog Lady Jane), I know what she meant. Her home is unmistakable.
I was in the Boston area for eNarrative 6, held at Eastgate Systems. During the weekend, we spent two thoroughly-fun days discussing nonfiction and electronic media. One spinoff of the weekend was my discussion with Clare. More posts will follow, now that I have finally posted photos from the weekend.
Mark Bernstein connected me with Sarah Smith, true to his principles of "Writing the Living Web." This is the article which set me on the path to blogging (and largely influenced my academic/life MO). It was so much fun to spend a weekend with a group of people for whom creativity, imagination, and wordsmithing is intertwingled with life.
After a weekend with the Smiths, I could hardly call their home vulgar. So I wrote a poem:
sticks from some primeval world
with dandelion soup residue
dripping, stewing, poured.
I can call these things Vulgar Yellow.
But hardly that enlightened house.
Golden? Sunny? Bold-chanced days
dim, fancy's whims unfold, set loose
contented sighs, and dance bouquets.