Silver Quilled!

First, I must thank The Walking Woman, my favourite Canadian flâneuse, who blogs about her walks through Toronto, and who has helped me to get to know the city a bit better. She also Silver Quilled me.  Thank you, Walking Woman!

These are the Rules:

Paste the Silver Quill Blogger Award logo at the top of the post. [I just google imaged it, so I dunno if I’ve got the right one]

Thank the person who gave me the award. [thank you again, WW!]

Answer 7 set-piece questions [I have failed on this part]

Offer the award to 5 or more fellow bloggers [I shorted this one a bit]

The Questions

1. Do you prefer rhyming or non-rhyming poetry?

I love poetry.  I read lots that doesn’t rhyme.  Rhymes, however, are what stick in my head and what travel with me. I mean, I’ll never forget S.T. Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan,” but Les Murray’s “The Sleepout” (which I love) only stay in my head in chunks and fragments.  Rhyming poetry takes up more of my life, so I suppose that means I prefer it.

2. What is your favourite Shakespeare play?

Lear.  Hands down.  This was the one easy question.

3. Who is your favourite author?

My literary heroine is absolutely George Eliot.  However, I love both Kazuo Ishiguro and Haruki Murakami equally, so they’re tied for second.  And there’s Eric Hobsbawm and Pierre Nora and Jane Jacobs and… and… and…

4. Name 3 people you greatly admire

George Eliot.  Because she was brave AND fiercely moral AND rebellious AND intelligent in a time that made those qualities difficult for a woman.

My Parents.

I’m going to follow on Walking Woman’s list and say June Callwood.  As I get to know Toronto, I think more about her and about the kind of effect she had on the city, and on Canadian culture.

5. What is your favourite album ever?

Only… one? I can’t fathom it!

I realized as I thought about this question that I don’t much listen to albums anymore. I tend more toward playlists.  However, these four have been with me for a long time, and have stood up to many many many re-listens at many different ages:

Raindogs by Tom Waits

I See A Darkness by Bonnie “Prince” Billy

The Velvet Underground & Nico by The Velvet Underground

Let Love In by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

6. Which primary colour do you most dislike?

Is this a thing?  Do people have primary colours they dislike? The only colour I can think of disliking is that shade of pinky-beige that so often covered the walls of elementary school bathrooms when I was a kid.  So depressing.  So institutional.

7. Name a song or poem that makes you feel emotional

I am unaccountably emotional over the “Canadian Boat-Song,” which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but does confirm that the Highland Clearances are Very Sad Indeed.

I also get weepy listening to Rosanne Cash’s “500 Miles.”

8. My Nominations for Silver Quill Blogger awards

This was hard, and I’ve kept it short, as this blog is still in its infancy, and I’m still figuring out the whole community. I’ve decided to nominate three bloggers whose posts I enjoy and whose answers I would like to read:

The Métis Raconteur

out on the big limb

prairie girl wonders