ELEVEN EVENTS: December 11, Portsmouth: Participants of the premiere meeting of the Seacoast Association of Light Verse Enthusiasts are encouraged to bring their own work to share. From 2 to 5 p.m., in the Levenson Room, Portsmouth Public Library (603-427-1540; www.cityofportsmouth.com/library). BIRTHDAYS: December 11th Dr. William Cullen, professor of medicine, 1712, http://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/~alanc/dept/cullen.htm Max von Schenkendorf, 1783 -  German poet http://shop.cosis.net/bookstore/book/2752974/0/COST/BOK/EN9781148093819/Heinrich__E__GER_MAX_VON_SCHENKENDORF.html?PHPSESSID=b923627b0b6d46f0173a1baf302f89aa Subramanya Bharathy, Indian poet (1882 - 1921) http://www.sangam.org/2008/01/Bharathiar.php?uid=2727 Nils J E Ferlin, 1898 -  Swedish poet (Barfotabarn) http://www.muurgedichten.nl/ferlin.html Birago Diop 1906-89 Senegalese poet and story-teller,  http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/bdiop.htm Ronald McKie, Australian author (1909 - 1991) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0571732/ http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books&field-author=Ronald%20McKie Vincent Henry Kemp, 1911 -  poet http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-harry-kemp-1445370.html Mama Thornton 1926. African-American blues singer, songwriter, drummer and harmonica player. http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/big-mama-thornton-american-rhythm-and-blues-singer-and-songwriter http://www.williemaerockcamp.org/about.html http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fthpg http://www.justsomelyrics.com/1756992/Big-Mama-Thornton-Ball-N'-Chain-Lyrics Maurice Leblanc 1864-1941 French author and journalist   http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/leblanc.htm Alfred de Musset (1810 – 05/02/1857)   Parisian writer   http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/demusset.htm http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1643 Kemal Bey (1840) Turkish poet and author http://www.cypnet.co.uk/ncyprus/city/famagusta/nkemal.htm Ellen Key  (1849 – 04/25/1926)   Swedish writer http://www.gutenberg.org/files/34267/34267-h/34267-h.htm Naguib Mahfouz (1911- 08/30/2006)   Egyptian novelist, playwright, and short-story writer 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1988/mahfouz-bio.html Carlo Ponti, 1913 -  Milan Italy, married to Sophia Loren/director (2 Women) http://www.nndb.com/people/238/000025163/ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) Russian author & historian, Nobel Prize for Literature 1970.   http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1970/solzhenitsyn-autobio.html Grace Paley (1922 – 08/22/2007)  US writer http://www.salon.com/11/departments/litchat1.html http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/grace-paley                                        Here       Here I am in the garden laughing an old woman with heavy breasts and a nicely mapped face how did this happen well that's who I wanted to be at last a woman in the old style sitting stout thighs apart under a big skirt grandchild sliding on off my lap a pleasant summer perspiration that's my old man across the yard he's talking to the meter reader he's telling him the world's sad story how electricity is oil or uranium and so forth I tell my grandson run over to your grandpa ask him to sit beside me for a minute I am suddenly exhausted by my desire to kiss his sweet explaining lips.     http://www.poemhunter.com/grace-paley/poems/ Jerome Rothenberg (1931) NYC-born poet and translator http://poemsandpoetics.blogspot.com/ Jim [John} Harrison (1937),us  poet and novelist http://jimharrison.com/theauthor/ Thomas McGuane, 1939 - US, writer (Colf Feet, Tom Horn, Missouri Breaks) http://tommcguane.com/       http://www.iblist.com/author7177.htm Susan Seidelman, 1952 - director (Desperately Seeking Susan) http://www.nndb.com/people/730/000174208/ Lani Brockman, 1956 -  playwright http://www.studio-east.org/Brockman.html   PASSED   Sir Roger l'Estrauge, translator of classic authors, 1704 http://www.historybuff.com/library/refestrange.html Colley Cibber  (11/06/1671 –1757)   English actor, playwright http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/cibber001.html http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/modeng/modengC.browse.html Max von Schenkendorf, German poet, 1817 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RheinanlagenKo-Max_von_Schenkendorf.png http://www.usmbooks.com/nurnberg_photos.html Alma Schindler Mahler Kokoschka Gropius Werfel  (08/31/1879 –1964)  Austrian writer http://www.curryguide.com/topic/106/Alma-Schindler-Mahler Moritz Grave von Strachwitz, German poet, 1847 http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/?id=19&autor=Strachwitz,%20%20Moritz%20Graf&autor_vorname=%20Moritz%20Graf&autor_nachname=Strachwitz Johan C J van Schagen, Dutch poet/writer (Narrenwijsheid), 1891 http://www.turingfoundation.nl/kunst07_uk.html#oorschot09 Innokenty Annensky, Russian poet 1855-1909 http://www.friends-partners.org/friends/culture/literature/20century/annensky.html(opt,mozilla,unix,english,,new) http://www.jstor.org/pss/40245919 Thomas Ball, US sculptor/painter/singer, 1911 http://www.flogris.org/learning/insitu/html/south/ball.php John Gillespie Magee Jr.(1941) http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poet/409.html http://www.macla.co.uk/scopwick/magee.php Johan C Altorf, sculptor (October 3 Monument), 1955 http://www.artunlimited.com/catalog/catalogItem.do?cataloglist=true &artnr=A7032&pager.offset=0&title=Johann%20Coenraad%20Altorf%20J.C.Altorf/Zittend%20Aapje%20%20/CMU%20Postcards%20A7032 Semjon I Kirsanov, Ukrainian poet (Zolushka), 1972 http://www.sovlit.com/bios/kirsanov.html George Waggner, director/writer, 1984 http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0905729/ Oskar Seidlin, German-born American scholar 1911-1984 http://www.questia.com/read/197147?title=Essays%20in%20German%20and%20Comparative%20Literature G. A. Kulkarni, Indian (Marathi) writer 1923- 1987   Stranger, think long before you enter, For these corridors amuse not passing travellers. But if you enter, keep your voice to yourself. Nor should you tinkle and toll your tongue. These columns rose not, for the such as you. But for those urgent pilgrim feet that wander On lonely ways, seeking the roots of rootless trees.   The earth has many flowery roads; choose one That pleases your whim, and gods be with you. But now leave! - leave me to my dark green solitude Which like the deep dream world of the sea Has its moving shapes; corals; ancient coins; Carved urns and ruins of ancient ships and gods; And mermaids, with flowing golden hair That charm a patch of silent darkness Into singing sunlight.                                                                                                           Inscription on an ancient temple   http://www.gakulkarni.info/ Louise Dahl-Wolfe, American photographer 1895- 1989 http://www.mocp.org/collections/permanent/dahlwolfe_louise.php Artur Lundkvist, Swedish writer/Prof (Swedish Academy), 1991 http://www.jstor.org/pss/40130436 Robert Shelton (Shapiro), journalist, 1995 http://www.bobdylanroots.com/shelton.html SITES:   http://blogs.reuters.com/fullfocus/2010/12/09/editors-choice/#a=1 http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Wildlife_Journal/WJ_mag.htm http://homepages.tig.com.au/~dispater/handgonnes.htm http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=1945753 http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/20/pg20.html http://poems.com/poem.php?date=14945 http://www.360cities.net/london-photo-en.html http://www.kazanjian.net/   HISTORY:   1932 - SF's coldest day (27°F) - it snows http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=San+Fransisco http://www.climatestations.com/san-francisco/ 1975 - 1st class postage rises from 10 cents to 13 cents http://www.akdart.com/postrate.html       BONUS POEM: Grey Hairs    These are ashes of treasures: Of hurt and loss. These are ashes in face of which Granite is dross. Dove, naked and brilliant, It has no mate. Solomon's ashes Over vanity that's great. Time's menacing chalkmark, Not to be overthrown. Means God knocks at the door -- Once the house has burned down! Not choked yet by refuse, Days' and dreams' conqueror. Like a thunderbolt -- Spirit Of early grey hair. It's not you who've betrayed me On the home front, years. This grey is the triumph Of immortal powers.                       by Marina Tsvetaeva http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/marina_tsvetaeva/poems