Loose Leaf Notes

1. I’ve gotten to the point where I think believing that psychics are contacting my lost loved ones is like believing that wrinkle creams work.

2. But then there is THIS.

3. My seven-year-old grandson Liam: I know how to spell Oh.  “O.”

4. The Youngbloods was one of the bands that epitomized the ‘60s music experience for me.  I bought their records, and my sister Sherry and I saw them in concert at The Boston Music Hall in the early ‘70s. Joe isn’t as familiar with their music as I am. I told him they were sweet and upbeat, the way the Velvet Underground (another favorite band) was dark and edgy, the way the Beatles were sweet and the Stones were not. – Read more from C’mon People about the Jessie Colin Young concert we recently attended at the Harvester Performance Center HERE. 

5. Everyone knows the Youngblood’s hit ‘C’mon people now, let’s get together, try to love one another right now.’ They didn’t write it but made it a hit, and lots of people covered it.   THIS clip of a young David Crosby’s version is priceless.

6. I almost bought a big brass bed in 1969 when Dylan’s Lay Lady Lay came out.

7. A friend called me on the phone Friday, about an hour before I was due to go to an artist’s reception where I was going to read my poetry. After talking for a few minutes I said to her, “I have to go now. I was in the middle of being nervous and have to get back to that. -Read about it and hear a clip HERE.

8. When I came home after the reading (which went well) I saw that my nine-year-old grandson Bryce, who was visiting and working on comic strips, drew the above. He’s pictured in the lead photo making gold bricks for a puppet show bank prop. He’s so creative!

9. I twiddle my thumbs / Pull petals off daisies / I have nothing to say / I have everything to say / I’m a blind bird / in a silent winter / A realist with no humor / hiding out – More from “When I’m Not  a Poet” HERE.

10. “The day before my sister Kathy died I bought my first lottery ticket in solidarity with her.  Our sister Sherry had started a small ritual of bringing a $10 scratch ticket when she visited her on Wednesdays. It perked Kathy up and was something she could do from her bed.  Sometimes they posted pictures on Facebook of their “casino day.” So, I bought a ticket, took a picture and posted it on her wall, saying, what’s the best thing to scratch this with, Kath? …  After Kathy died and  before we left Virginia, Joe bought me another $10 lottery ticket called “Gold.” At first I thought I would put it with her body, the way people in the past have left riches for the dead to take to the afterlife. But then I thought how frustrated Kathy would be at the thought of unscratched ticket that might have a win on it, so I decided we would take turn scratching it for her.”  – This week was the year anniversary of Kathy’s death and these are excerpts from a piece I wrote titled “Gold.”

11. In this physical world, we have to mine for treasure. Gold and silver and precious gems are not usually found lying around on the surface of the earth. It’s the same with us. We have to excavate our own treasure, down through the door of our childhood, through the pain of what hurts, into the grief of our losses. Life nudges us to go deeper because to live only on the surface is superficial. There’s so much more.  – From The Jim and Dan Stories, a book I wrote after losing two brothers a month apart in 2001.

12. And then there’s the “pot of gold,” which in my world has less to do with being Irish and everything to do with tea. See HERE.

13. OMG the turkeys are coming! See HERE.

________Thirteen Thursday