Loose Leaf Notes

-The following 2017 review was done by excerpting the first line or few in one post from each month last year. You can click on the name of the month for a full accounting.

January – This morning the moon glowed like a spotlight in a theater of sky. It appeared like a trick that was pulled from a hat after being magically sawed in half.

February – The only thing in our private mineral pool at Berkeley Springs Resort this weekend was an orchid and a pitcher of drinking water. Later, we ate oysters, sang Octopus’s garden at a club full of couches and took a soak in a Roman Bath.

March – I asked her if I had to wear cowboy boots when I heard it was a barn wedding. She said I could if I wanted to but I might be the only one.

April – I rubberneck old churches and barns. The more peeled the paint, the better. It’s like being drawn to old musty diaries with stories to tell and learn from. I’m fascinated by keyholes and doorknobs like I want to unlock the meaning of dreams.

May – When the golden rule cashes in /  love doesn’t turn the other cheek / It hangs its head in shame / Turns over in its grave / And no one rests in peace / waiting for the meek / And no one will be saved / when national pride / and the almighty dollar / are valued above / ‘love thy neighbor’

June – There’s a lot of traveling in Packing a Suitcase for the Afterlife, my poetry collection published by Finishing Line Press, whether it’s a back-and-forth between the past and the present, between growing up on the coast of Massachusetts and writing poetry in my kitchen in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, or between the rich insights of dreams and the wakeful living of everyday life.

July – Butterflies and boys (sons and grandsons) made my heart flutter at Floydfest on Saturday. We lounged on a giant rubber duckie after watching a juggler swallow fire and balance a chair on his head. Josh and Emily wore flowers in their hair from their flower farm in Marshall, NC. They’re getting married September.

August – There were lobster rolls and jetty strolls. There were lifeguard stands and castles in the sand. There were pedicures and meeting great nephews and wicked tall glasses of beer.

September – My bed is the hearth of my home where teacups gather like neighbors and scribbled notes are brushed aside to make room for friends who come to call, for foot rubs that follow the news.

October –  At the mobile Brick Factory, visitors stamp their words and stories on bricks, created from clay dug from a farmer’s field and homemade on site.  The bricks will be fired in my son Josh’s kilns and used as public art, a community monument, a historic record, walls and walkways at the old Marshall jail,being renovated by Josh and his partners.

November – A table setting fit for a queen. Let the Thanksgiving feasting begin. We thanked the farmers and cooks and cleaned our plates like good pilgrims. We usually play Taboo after dinner, but this time we had a dance party. We earned our pie.

December –A sleigh of moon / filling with light / delivering stars / all in one night.

_____________The 2016 Review is HERE.  / Our World Tuesday