When the neat summer heat
Comes broiling down deep
And your trousers are so hot
They’ll stick right to the seat
Come inside to my curtained suite
Fix something cold to drink
Into oblivion we’ll sink
So on the blessed heat
We’ll never have to think.
(—inspired by The Great Gatsby (2010)
I’ve just finished a new faith reflection. Be the first on your block to read it! (Scroll on down the page.)
My friend and fellow blogger, Neely Stansell-Simpson, recently posted an article that deeply resonated with me. As I commented on her post, Neely’s subject is fast becoming the focus of my ministry.
I strongly encourage you to read Neely’s post here.
You can also find Neely’s blog, Glimpsing God, on my blogroll.
I like summer. It makes me happy. It makes me feel alive and optimistic for the future. I don’t get sad in the summer. I don’t get lonely. I am not, usually, depressed by the warm air, the gorgeous breezes, the sun-dappled water, or the grand mountains. Summer here is an amalgam of childhood’s memories and later-life remembrances. I am all at once ten and then thirty-something. My soul lives here; it haunts the side streets and corner benches of small towns along the line. It grows old at the soda fountain. It rests by the stream. I need not grandeur nor renown; I have the summer.
All right, so I finished The Beautiful and Damned last night. Wow, what an ending! If you haven’t read the book, I won’t ruin it for you, but suffice it to say I was stunned. The last two pages sort of redeem the entire book for me (if I had any major complaints to begin with). For the first time in his albeit-short literary career, F. Scott Fitzgerald has managed to pull the rug out from under the reader and take his breath away—a talent he would deftly master in his next book, The Great Gatsby.
Speaking of Gatsby, it is with undeniable pleasure and anticipated delight that I will take to it again next. This will complete my revue of Fitzgerald’s trifecta, and I must admit a certain satisfaction that I have accomplished what I pledged to do some two years ago.
Anyway, more happy reading.
MBH
