Loose Leaf Notes

1. “Today I am getting my oil change. I called Jiffy lube to make sure it was open on a Holiday/ President’s Day. The gentleman who answered – said to me, “Yes we are open on all FAKE Holidays!” – my sister Sherry on President’s day in Massachusetts

2. I’ve got a little girl crush on Emma Gonzalez, the Florida school shooting survivor who gave an impassioned speech, calling BS on Congress and Trump for not doing anything about mass shootings but sending thoughts and prayers to victims and for being beholden to the NRA.  HERE. 

3. “Think of me what you will, I got a little space to fill.” – Tom Petty

4. I’ve been looking at poetry submission guidelines and found a few interesting ‘what we are looking for’ descriptions, like this one:  We’ve got our eyes on the horizon. Send us writing that lives just between the land and the sky.

5. And I don’t understand this one: looking for … a surface of worldly exactitude, as well as a depth of semantic ambiguity; and a voice that negotiates with its body of predecessors.

6. What they don’t want:  Work that only scratches the surface; work that uses what I call thematic cliché, that is themes such as relationship angst or the death of a grandmother; work that tells the reader what’s happening rather than showing; anything that has the word Facebook in it.

7. I saw you in a dream / living fine without me / as if your death / was a one-sided loss / as if the small place / where we drifted apart / grew into an unrepairable gulf / And you were with your girlfriends / at the Loring Hall Theater / watching an Elvis Presley movie / while I was in the balcony / watching Jerry Lewis alone / and not laughing – Read the rest of my poem Distance HERE.

8. I’m never sure when someone says a poem I’ve written is “clever” whether it’s a compliment or an insult, whether it means they think it’s a trick or gimmick, cagey or witty, sly or skillful.

9. Free Leonard Peltier and the Japanese Tanka: Don’t squeeze syllables / into lines they’re not made for / Don’t pin a turned phrase under glass / Even a small unpredictable poem / can kick down a locked door / can climb over the top of the page. – poem from 2008

10. The Mystic Witches dance troupe opened the Saturday night event with a Conga Line Dance up-and-down the aisles of Dogtown Roadhouse.  Downstairs in the Winter Sun Building, guests enjoyed a Krewe du Bleu Dinner of the traditional New Orleans fare, prepared by chef Richard Perry. The blackjack table and a decorated photo booth were back.  A lounge stage featured acoustic music and a magic show.  Everything sparkled with lights.    More on The 9th annual Floyd Mardi Gras to benefit Blue Mountain School (BMS) HERE. 

11. Best quote of the week: ‘If The Earth Was Flat, Why Haven’t The Cats Pushed Everything Off By Now?’ – From 25 Most Profound Shower Thoughts HERE.

12. Sometimes the distance is geography.  Sometimes we say the same thing twice. Or we feel unheard for what we chose not to say.

13. Check out my first scratch ticket HERE.

________Thirteen Thursday