Empires by John Balaban and Creole Son by E. Kay Trimberger: Book Beginnings

It's Friday, time for Book Beginnings! Time to share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are featuring this week. What are you reading? What are you planning to read this weekend? What books are sitting on your desk that you have aspirations to read? Hmmmmm . . . . That hits close to home!

Please share your posts with a link below. Or play along on social media and leave a comment with your opening lines or a way to find you.

If you post or share on social media, please use the #BookBeginnings hashtag so we can enjoy each other's company.

Yes, I have several books stacked on my desk that look great and I'd like to spend some time with them. I hope this weekend will give me a chance. Here are two of them:

MY BOOK BEGINNINGS

After most of the bodies were hauled away
and while the FBI and Fire Department and NYPD
were still haggling about who was in charge, as smoke cleared,
the figures in Tyvek suits came, gloved, gowned, masked,
ghostly figures searching rubble for pieces of people,
bagging, then sending the separate and comingled remains
to the temporary morgue set up on site.

-- from "A Finger," the first poem in  Empires by John Balaban (Copper Canyon Press).

This eighth book of poetry from Balaban looks at key moments in history when culture shifts and imperial eras come to an end. Viking traders, Washington crossing the Delaware, a Romanian Jew waiting for the Nazis, and 9/11, all inspire Balaban's verse.

Mine is not the story of how an adopted son finds his birth parents and turns his life around.

-- Creole Son: An Adoptive Mother Untangles Nature and Nurture by E. Kay Trimberger (LSU Press). In 1981, Kay Trimberger became the single white mother of an adopted biracial son she raised in Berkeley, California. After watching him grow into a troubled youth struggling with addiction, Trimberger helped Marc reconnect with his biological Cajun and Creole biological relatives.

Trimberger's new memoir explores how biological heritage and the environment adopted children are raised in interact to shape adult outcomes. She hopes her book will provide support to all parents with troubled offspring. She also suggests a new model for adoption that creates an extended, integrated family of both biological and adoptive relatives.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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THE FRIDAY 56

Freda's Voice hosts The Friday 56, which is a natural tie in with this event. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

MY FRIDAY 56 TEASERS

FROM "BACK THEN" IN EMPIRES

One evening he spotted a mule dear
ambling up a hillside path
and he followed it to higher ground
as a huge moon rose off the ridge
and he caught the scent of pine needles.
So he kept on until dark, reaching a ledge
overlooking Phantom Lake and the ghost town.

FROM CREOLE SON

Our success at building a community sustained the household during these childless years. Our home hosted political meetings, study groups, consciousness-raising sessions, and book talks on feminist and progressive issues.