Smart Talk: PA ranks low in energy efficiency; Poet Melanie Simms
What to look for on Smart Talk Thursday, October 9, 2014:
Pennsylvanians use more energy than most other states. That’s according to a new study by the personal finance social website WalletHub.com.
Research found the state ranks 42nd in the country in vehicle energy efficiency. In other words, Pennsylvanians like to drive their cars — a lot.
The state fares better when it comes to residential energy efficiency — coming in 25th or right in the middle of the pack.
The real question is why does Pennsylvania fall below other states in energy efficiency?
WalletHub.com’s Jill Gonzalez appears on Smart Talk to provide some answers and explain what other states are doing.
Also, we often talk about books on Smart Talk. Most often, the books are about current events, politics, or history – usually non-fiction.
One genre we haven’t touched on is poetry – until Thursday. Melanie Simms is a poet who hails from the Sunbury area and her latest book is called Remember the Sun – Poems of Nature and Inspiration.
Ms. Simms will discuss what inspires her in Central Pennsylvania and she’ll also read a few of her poems.
Two Melanie Simms poems:
SUNBURY
These are the recollections of an old town
Where streets are encumbered with uneven pavements
And small businesses face uncertain economies
Yet it is here, in the midst of faces, hardened by poverty
That the rich tones and memorable notes of Sunbury must be remembered; the
Susquehanna shifting alongside her shore, as lithe boats flit across iridescent waves
And an old grey wall stands sentinel, offering testament to the tales of a great
Flood.
It is here where the moans of the daily trains chug down the old tracks,
And the air, electrified with the past, still echoes the librettos of Lorenzo Da Ponte
This is where you breathe the daily Market Street aroma of the Squeeze In, where
even now one can feast on hotdogs, chips and soda for a beggar’s fee
While enjoying its notoriety for its inclusion in the Guinness Book of World Records
For its smallness.
There are other memories not to be forgotten; a certain Hotel Edison whose
ghosts whisper of a time when Edison arrived, searching for new
Methods of light, and photos, still clinging to the hotel lobby walls
Depicting an image of a little ghost boy, still mesmerizing guests and reminding us
That even in the fires of regret, one can still arise victorious!
————————————————————————–
Ode To A Lover On the Susquehanna
“Ever newer waters flow on those who step into the same waters”
—Heraclitus
Love needs no language,
Not here,
Along the Susquehanna, watching as she twists and bends
Returning to mouths,
Where sunlight and lovers meet.
Not here,
Where the silver maple and black cherry sway patiently,
Amidst the romantic odes of the meadowlark,
Or the ecstasy of the osprey,
As they dive and reemerge,
Fed by the river.
Not here,
Where the haunting tales of lush mountains
record through the ages,
Those first seedlings of love.
Here, along the river, she reveals us to one another,
As we confess our love, baptized between her gentle waves.
How has she found us?
Here along the Susquehanna, reflecting in our gaze,
the memories of our ancient love’s return.
