Loose Leaf Notes

1. “We’re not here to do the big things. We’re here to do what we can.” – Nikki Giovanni, speaking at the 2017 Artemis literary journal launch.

2. Nikki and I have a few things in common, such as: We both love Bonnie Raitt. We both have had a seizure. We are not that friendly but like people, and we both write unpunctuated poetry.

3. My six-year-old grandson Liam: Nana, you ask a lot more questions than Hopa does.   Me: That’s because I’m curious.  Liam: Like me?  Me: Yes, so if you describe me you can say I’m a little curious.  Liam: You’re a lot curious.

4. It’s in the Bag: This year my son Josh, a 16  Hands member, hosted guest artist Joey Sheehan, who has done the show with Josh more than any other guest artist, but not quite as many times as Alex Baldwin  has hosted Saturday Night Live. More HERE .

5. Poet David Whyte refers to the stage of life I’ve documented in Packing a Suitcase for the Afterlife as ‘apprenticing ourselves to our own disappearance.’  Psychologist and motivational speaker Wayne Dyer once said, ‘I’m 71.  I’m cramming for the final exam.’  And I’m writing poetry that lets the psyche guide the itinerary because “the days are small / packed tightly together / Not much room / for last minute changes.” – More HERE.

6. I like people; I just don’t have to see them all the time. -Neil Young

7. This (right) is how we love The Kind, and how we power nap as a family after dancing a non-stop hour to their songs.

8. And THIS is my friend Deb’s arm. I only have freckles.

9. I heard David Whyte speak and read poetry in 2014 at an event titled “What is Your Beautiful Question?” This is an excerpt from I  blog post I wrote about it: My own beautiful question is elusive.  I seem to answer my question before I can ask it and the answer I usually get is similar to Whyte’s response to a woman in the audience who was dealing with acute grief.  “There is no need to know the meaning. Let yourself be fully disorientated. Face the depth of grief.  We’re trying to choose one or the other rather than let things mature.”   He spoke about the “ancient human intuition” that our loved ones are still here as a witness to our lives.  And, although to know where they are is beyond our knowing, the conversation with them does reestablish itself and sometimes matures. – More HERE.

10. Mara shares a birthday with Pete Seeger, which made celebrating her birthday with poets and folk singers at Lucie Monroe’s Open Mic a good alignment. My birthday is in May too and coming up soon. I share mine with the Ayatollah Khomeini and Enya. – More HERE.

11. “My boss is my muse.  If I had an idea for a song, I’d get up right now and go.” – Neil Young

12.  A poem unwritten is like a dream forgotten that disturbs you throughout the day, like sugar in a package that’s opened but not used. It sticks to the paper and won’t pour.

13. Best End Zone Victory Dances HERE. 

_______Thirteen Thursday