De Amerikaanse schrijfster en scenariste Maria Keogh Semple werd geboren op 21 mei 1964 in Santa Monica, Californië. Zie ook alle tags voor Maria Semple op dit blog.
Uit: Where’d You Go, Bernadette
“That night at dinner, I sat through Mom and Dad’s “We’re-so proud-of-you’s and “She’s-a-smart-one’s until there was a lull.
“You know what it means,” I said. “The big thing it means.”
Mom and Dad frowned question marks at each other.
“You don’t remember?” I said. “You told me when I started Galer Street that if I got perfect grades the whole way through, I could have anything I wanted for a graduation present.”
“I do remember,” Mom said. “It was to ward off further talk of a pony.”
“That’s what I wanted when I was little,” I said. “But now I want something different. Aren’t you curious what it is?”
“I’m not sure,” Dad said. “Are we?”
“A family trip to Antarctica!”
I pulled out the brochure I’d been sitting on. It was from an adventure travel company that does cruises to exotic places. I opened it to the Antarctica page and passed it across the table.
“If we go, it has to be over Christmas.”
“This Christmas?” Mom said. “Like in a month?” She got up and started stuffing empty take-out containers into the bags they’d been delivered in.
Dad was already deep into the brochure. “It’s their summer,” he said. “It’s the only time you can go.”
“Because ponies are cute.” Mom tied the handles in a knot.
“What do you say?” Dad looked up at Mom.
“Isn’t this a bad time for you because of work?” she asked him.
“We’re studying Antarctica,” I said. “I’ve read all the explorers’ journals, and I’m doing my presentation on Shackleton.” I started wiggling in my chair. “I can’t believe it. Neither of you are saying no.”
“I was waiting for you,” Dad said to Mom. “You hate to travel.”
“I was waiting for you,” Mom said back. “You have to work.”
“Oh my God. That’s a yes!” I jumped out of my chair. “That’s a yes!” My joy was so infectious that Ice Cream woke up and started barking and doing victory laps around the kitchen table.
“Is that a yes?” Dad asked Mom over the crackling of plastic takeout containers being crammed into the trash.
“That’s a yes,” she said.”
De Amerikaanse dichter Robert Creeley werd geboren op 21 mei 1926 in Arlington, Massachusetts. Zie ook alle tags voor Robert Creeley op dit blog.
De regen
De hele nacht was het geluid
teruggekomen,
en weer valt
deze stille, aanhoudende regen.
Wat ben ik voor mezelf
dat moet worden onthouden,
waarop zo vaak
moet worden aangedrongen? Is het
dat nooit de behaaglijkheid,
zelfs de hardheid,
van vallende regen
voor mij iets anders
zal hebben dan dit,
iets dat niet zo indringend is-
ik moet opgesloten worden in deze
laatste onbehaaglijkheid.
Lief, als je van me houdt,
Kom naast me liggen.
Wees voor mij, zoals regen,
de ontsnapping
aan de vermoeidheid, de dwaasheid, de semi-
lust van opzettelijke onverschilligheid.
Wees nat
met een gepast geluk.
Vertaald door Frans Roumen
Zie voor nog meer schrijvers van de 21e mei ook mijn blog van 21 mei 2020 en eveneens mijn blog van 21 mei 2019 en ook mijn blog van 21 mei 2018.