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29 Talbot St., Cayuga, ON
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Thursday Afternoon Readings ~  in the bookshop always leave me pondering.  Yesterday, Pauline Johnson was the topic.  Reading the Mohawk princess' poetry and briefly touching on her life, John Passfield left most of us thinking.

In A Book of One's Own People and Their Diaries,   Thomas Mallon explores commonplace books.  Commonplace books are personal journals of one's reading.  Mallon notes that "inside most commonplace books there is a personal diary trying to get out."
Today I am left feeling that the Pauline Johnson story is "trying to get out."  We have not, for whatever reason, even begun to understand her life.  A visit to Chiefswood * is a good start.  A couple books, Pauline, A Biography of Pauline Johnson, by Betty Keller and Flint and Feather, The Life and Times of E. Pauline Johnson, by Charlotte Gray are informative. 


Thank you John and all who participated for your insight.  A thoughtful study of Pauline Johnson's own writings may be the best insight.
http://www.chiefswood.com/

* Chiefswood National Historic Site

Please note:  The Neat Little Bookshop will continue Thursday afternoon readings in the fall.  We look forward to new topics and fascinating personalities.  Have a safe and happy summer.

You Asked ~

Yes, the bookshop is air-conditioned! 

Today:  1:00 p.m. Reading ~ E. Pauline Johnson w/John Passfield

"Sleeps the overhanging willow"

In The Shadows

I am sailing to the leeward,

Where the current runs to seaward soft and slow,

Where the sleeping river grasses

Brush my paddle as it passes

To and fro.

On the shore the heat is shaking
All the golden sands awaking

In the cove;

And the quaint sand-piper, winging
O'er the shallows, ceases singing
When I move.

On the water's idle pillow
Sleeps the overhanging willow,
Green and cool;
Where the rushes lift their burnished
Oval heads from out the tarnished

Emerald pool.

~  ~

My canoe is growing lazy,

In the atmosphere so hazy,

While I dream;

Half in slumber I am guiding,

Eastward indistinctly gliding

Down the stream.

Note:  "In The Shadows" consists of nine verses. 

~ Flint and Feather, The Complete Poems of E. Pauline Johnson, Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd., 1917.

Photos:  lbwalker

Author John Passfield has studied and taught literature, creative writing and drama.  Born in St. Thomas, Ontario, many of his published books are true stories of his hometown.  Always interested in the "development of the novel as an art form," Passfield keeps daily notes during the writing of each of his novels. These studies are subsequently published in a journal to accompany the novel.  For an insight into his "search for the ideal form of a novel" visit http://www.johnpassfield.ca/

Among John Passfield's ten books are Jumbo, P.T. Barnum's Greatest Creation, Pinafore Park: The Swan Boat Incident and Rain of Fire:  The Ordeal of Conductor Sprettigue.

The Neat Little Bookshop is pleased to host an afternoon with the author on Thursday, July 5 at 1:00 p.m.  John is always available to discuss his own work; however, on Thursday, he will read the poetry of Canadian Poetess, Pauline Johnson.  Please join us.  "Coffee and tea pot's always on. . ."  No admission.

Photo:  Wikipedia

"As wampums to the Redman, so to the Poet are his songs; chiselled alike from that which is the purest of his possessions, woven alike with meaning into belt and book, fraught alike with the corresponding message of peace, the breathing of tradition, the value of more than coin, and the seal of fellowship with all men.
So do I offer this belt of verse-wampum to those two who have taught me most of its spirit ~ my Mother, whose encouragement has been my mainstay in its weaving; my Father, whose feet have long since wandered to the Happy Hunting Grounds."
~ E. Pauline Johnson

Reading Pauline Johnson ~ 

THURSDAY, JULY 5, 1:00 at The Neat Little Bookshop.  John Passfield returns, this time with a fascinating presentation on the native-born poet, performer, Pauline Johnson.

Don't miss this one.  Coffee, Tea Pot's Always on. . .  Everyone welcome.


Photo:  lbwalker

E. Pauline Johnson

Having made her debut in Toronto, Ontario, Indian Princess Pauline Johnson was "bewitching audiences with wampum belts, trade brooches, a bear-claw necklace and fiery oratory."  Between October 1892 and May 1892 alone, Pauline gave 125 recitals in 50 different towns and cities in Ontario ~ Paris, Fergus, Berlin, Strathroy, Watford, Renfrew, Smiths Falls, Rockland, Kingston, Lindsay. . .  "The poet sometimes felt that wherever steel rails went, she was bound to follow."

~ Flint & Feather, The Life and Times of E. Pauline Johnson, Tekahionwake, Charlotte Gray, HarperFlamingo Canada, 2002.
Photo:  Wikipedia