Loose Leaf Notes

 1. Nikki Giovanni named her collection of love poems “Bicycles” because “love requires trust and balance.”

2. For me, living on the edge is not buying back-up eggs and trusting that the hens will lay at least four a day and that they’ll be enough for breakfast for Joe and I.

3. I have to remember not to tell Bryce and Liam about the 6 foot black snake that was hiding in the chicken coop and that we had to aggressively remove.  They would probably never go in the coop again, if they knew.

4. Could “surge” be a mutant plural of “urge?”

5. “Poetry is employed by truth. I think our job is to tell the truth as we see it. Don’t you just hate a namby-pamby poem that goes all over the place saying nothing. Poets should be strong in our emotions and our words, that might make us difficult to live with, but I do believe easier to love. Poet is garlic. Not for everyone, but those who take it never get caught by werewolves.”  – Nikki Giovanni.

6. The ice-cream truck came, ringing its bell. I looked over and saw my mom and dad sitting in lawn chairs and eating ice cream. Kids were playing in the field and Oldies music was blaring from the old brick-red fire station where we used to put on our ice skates as kids and sometimes go in to get warm. Pinball games at The Villa, church at St. Mary’s of the Bay, makeshift skateboards down fort hill, hard balls and soft balls that sometimes broke windows, and getting in trouble for getting home after the streetlights went on were all bits of conversations thrown into the mix. –More on the Hull Village Reunion/Book signing for The Jim and Dan Stories on Memorial Day 2004 HERE.

7. Couldn’t Have Said it Better Myself:  The Vietnam and Iraq wars were totally unnecessary conflicts, fought to satisfy political ambitions of politicians, and the desire of the military industrial complex for more business. The war in Afghanistan was mismanaged, partly because of Bush’s decision to shortchange the efforts there as he marched into Iraq chasing a mirage of oil and glory, and partly because of our emphasis on military hardware and destruction rather than social infrastructure and construction. If we want to honor those killed, maimed and psychologically devastated in these conflicts, we should not gloss over these central circumstances with a perfunctory thankfulness for their willingness to serve.  ~ Memorial Day post by my Dharmacratic friend Will on Facebook

8. HERE is the recipe for Liam’s Backyard Soup.

9. At the recent Artemis book launch and poetry reading in Roanoke, Nikki Giovanni read from her latest book Chasing Utopia, named after a funny story about her misunderstood search for the rare Utopia beer, which is made by Sam Adams and cost more than $200 a bottle. We learned that even the CIA couldn’t help her locate the specialty beverage that she wanted to drink in honor of her recently passed mother, sister and aunt.  Utopia beer was the first thing I googled after the reading. We also stopped at Barnes and Noble before we headed up the mountain and bought Nikki’s book of the same name.Read about the Artemis art journal launch in which Nikki was the featured HERE.  

10. How a poem is like cake:   Don’t over-mix / or use stale ingredients / Don’t over-sweeten / or eat too much at one sitting  / A baker and a poet / are both concerned with flavor / It’s all about consistency / and knowing when it’s done

11. It’s odd that instead of working to stop sending people to war, the Pentagon has earmarked millions of dollars for a new program that wants soldiers with psychiatric problems to be given brain implants.   More HERE.

12. “I only believe in horoscopes when they promise something good.”  Patry Francis ~ Facebook friend and author. Read about why Patry calls me “cuz” HERE.

13. Joe gave me the best compliment ever during breakfast Sunday morning.  He looked at me and said, “You’re cute as Bryce (our 6-year old grandson).”

___________Thirteen Thursday