13: Put Up Your Plates of Meat
1. Do words have a collective noun – like a flock of birds or a school or whales? If not, I’d like to propose “a conjur of words.”
2. Best line seen on Facebook this week after a Floyd friend posted that he thought something got stolen from his unlocked car: Remember when we had to lock up so people wouldn’t leave zucchini for us?
3. I’ve never been comfortable with extravagant or abstract wealth. Since I was young girl, I’ve had awareness that land, water, and food are what define whether one is rich or poor. More on “Why Floyd?” HERE.
4. “Growing your own food is like printing your own money.” ~ Ron Finley, a TED talker and guerrilla gardener in South Central LA.
5. My current philosophy on entertainment is a lot like how I feel about food. Provide it yourself or get it local whenever possible.
6. “Plates of meat” is cockney rhyming slang for “feet.” The rhyming slang originated in the East End of London and developed as a way of obscuring the meaning of sentences to those who did not understand the slang. Some of the slang phrases, like plates of meat and rosie (Rosie Lee) for tea, have made their way into common language.
7. Growing up in a working class family, the literature available to me was How Now Brown Cow and the stories of Hans Christian Anderson. All summer long I tested the meter of language with jump rope and bouncing ball songs. My mostly Irish father spouted nursery rhymes and songs, both traditional and made up. Ours was an oral tradition of reading, reciting, and singing out loud.
8. When I was about the same age as my five-year-old grandson Bryce, someone asked what I had for supper and I answered “fat,” thinking it was a meat. To this day, I still like meat fat.
9. According to THIS latest sex research, wearing high heels can negatively affect a woman’s orgasm.
10. Speaking of shoes and sex, THIS may well be my most published poem. It was published in WeMoon and since then has turned up in various places, the latest being HERE.
11. The word “sex” is in the first line, which reminds me: Years ago the Appalachian Woman’s Caravan came through Floyd and hosted women’s poetry readings at a local restaurant. It was my turn to read, the room was noisy and not many were paying attention. I spoke into the mic and said, “Now I’m going to talk about SEX,” Everyone dropped their forks and closed their mouths and I began reading to an attentive house.
12. Stephen Colbert’s take on the Republican strategy on the government shut down: “The rules are I go first, and I refuse to take my turn. And you can’t take yours until I’m done. I know you’re upset, but we’re both at fault here, so let’s negotiate. I agree to take my turn if you agree that I win.”
13. I hate when that happens: You pick up a piece of lint from the floor and it starts to moving.
__________Thirteen Thursday
October 9th, 2013 11:50 pm
Ack! Number thirteen just happened to me last week. Picked up what I thought was a darn ash leaf tracked in and left on the kitchen floor . . . only to discover it was a small spider. I promise it was a quick death (hey, invade my kitchen and you’re toast!). Like the Colbert quote! My T13
October 10th, 2013 2:55 am
LOL on your sex poem. I also laughed about the moving lint. I haven’t come across this yet, but with the puppy running in and out, I live in fear.
October 10th, 2013 4:49 am
Another great T13 with all sorts of interesting info—This MASTERS OF SEX show—-OY! I’ll keep watching to see if it actually goes anywhere, but so far it just seems rather salacious—Actually, most HBO and SHOWTIME Shows, in my humble opinion, are like watching porno films these days, with a lot of violence thrown in, too….(I know, not exactly what your T13 is about, but…..)
I like your Poem, a lot!!! And who knew about Women and High Heels? I know I Never liked them….lol!
October 10th, 2013 5:29 am
Your best one yet!! Want to live in the world of number 2 once again.
October 10th, 2013 9:00 am
Hey, great picture on your computer scene.
Excellent quote: “Growing your own food is like printing your own money.”
Excellent number 7 too. Speaking of cows; don’t forget, “I never saw a purple cow, I hope to never see one but I can tell you here and now, I’d rather see, than be one.”
October 10th, 2013 9:01 am
Make that screen on the comment above.
Repeating: Hey, great picture on your computer screen.
October 10th, 2013 9:11 am
I hoped you’d recognize it! I was at Alexis and Dylan’s house babysitting and browsing Facebook at the time.
October 10th, 2013 9:12 am
The last time my lint moved, it turned out to be a little frog. I loved #11.
October 10th, 2013 9:24 am
#13 hilarious oh I love seeing those little guys
October 10th, 2013 9:52 am
Number twelve is one of the things convincing me that Stephen Colbert is an evil genius.
Number eleven shows you know how to command attention, no doubt about it. LOL!
October 10th, 2013 10:33 am
I like “a conjur of words.” Much better than “dictionary.” 😉
October 10th, 2013 1:14 pm
4. gives a whole new weight to having a poor crop.
8. I remember the fat as the best part. pork rinds with the thickest fat under the crackling hairy skin. probably couldn’t stomach it now tho.
13 yep.
October 10th, 2013 7:45 pm
I forgot how great that poem is/was!! You really should get another book printed up with your poems…..they are spectacular!!
October 10th, 2013 8:16 pm
“Remember when we had to lock up so people wouldn’t leave zucchini for us?” – Okay … um, what?? LOL! Oh and I LOVE that poem you wrote. I’m a huge poetry lover and yours is awesome. Well done!