13 Thursday Transformations
1. Last week I wrote, ‘What a life I lead. One day I played Scrabble with a friend, the next I swam at the pool, and the next I got an acupuncture treatment. Even when I go to work, it’s to cover a concert.’
2. But this week my favorite cup broke, the birds stripped our blueberries clean and Justice Kennedy retired from the Supreme Court.
3. “What do you think your neighbor would say if he saw us walking on his driveway collecting rocks with sock puppets on our hands?” – My grandson Bryce
4. “I tell jokes, but I’m not kidding.” – W. Kamau Bell, a socio-political comedian
5. Joe telling a friend the story of how we first met, “She’s not a fan girl,” meaning I’m not an easy sell.
6. I don’t like a lot of poetry, even though I started writing it in my bedroom as a teenager, and even though when I do enjoy it, it can take my breath away. For the most part, poetry has been an acquired taste that I am still acquiring. So much of it, even now, either doesn’t engage me or goes over my head, which is why when I find poetry I like, I am thrilled.
7. Which is why I was happy when I discovered Billy Collins’ poems, which have been described as having wit, whimsy, and charm. But mostly it’s referred to as accessible; a word that Collins takes issue with because it makes him think of ramps for “poetically challenged people.” – More from Poetic Heretic HERE.
8. Punctuated poetry / with arbitrary line breaks / is like prose poured into / a little black dress / Every period that stops / where a line already has / is a button waiting to pop … More of Half Starved Poems HERE.
9. By the end of June the Parkway rhododendrons are weeping petals and roadside lilies are looking sassy. ‘Fireworks For Sale’ signs have become evident and everyone seems to be having a yard sale. – More from Gone to Soon June HERE.
10. Transform: to change, alter, convert, metamorphose, transfigure, transmute, mutate, revolutionize, overhaul, remodel, reshape, redo, reconstruct, rebuild, reorganize, rearrange, rework, renew, revamp, remake, retool.
11. Change armory into harmony / Change artillery into art / War into worship / and nuclear into new clear / Change invasion into vision / Conquer into concur / Change bombs into bonds / Change end into mend.
12. Becky Belcher Osborn was so distressed about young children being separated at the border from their asylum-seeking families that she found herself crying in public. “I saw a picture of a mother nursing her young child and I’m a mother of a nursing child,” said Belcher, who also spoke of the long-term damaging effects of separating babies and young children from their parents. Breaking down in public made Osborn realize that she had to act. After learning that Congressman Morgan Griffith’s staff members would be holding “traveling office hours” at Town of Floyd Office building on Thursday, she decided she would go and say something. – From a story I wrote for the local paper, “Floyd Residents Rally to Keep Families Together” HERE.
13. I really do care. Do u?
________Thirteen Thursday
July 5th, 2018 12:23 am
Billy Collins !! yes
July 5th, 2018 1:12 am
Armory / Harmony. Yes.
July 5th, 2018 11:15 am
As a teen I adored writing poetry but had only glazed eyes for reading it. Now I don’t write much of it, and am much more interested in reading. Is that maturity?
July 5th, 2018 1:21 pm
I liked writing poetry myself when I was younger and found it a great outlet. But I haven’t written in years and probably should try it again if I ever get inspired.
I really like #4 – it makes you think.
# 10 is something else – so many words for pretty much the same thing.
July 6th, 2018 6:25 am
#13 yes, I care. oh, how I care.
#6 just curious – do you like jane kenyon’s poetry?
#5 wish joe would tell the story on a youtube video!
#12 the children, their safety, their broken hearts, their fears, their sense of being abandoned – all of this emotional violence happening in a country I used to think I knew leaves me reeling with my own sense of abandonment. too many of those we elected to represent us ignore the obvious and add more sand to cover their eyes and ears, hoping to save the base for future votes to keep them in office. they must LOVE those perks! I wish I could see the history books 20+ years from now and how they will all be remembered. I wish their families would disown them in public. 🙁 grrrrrrrrrrrrr…
July 6th, 2018 8:38 am
Sky, I just checked out Jane Kenyon and will be looking for more of her poetry. Thanks! Here’s a link to part of Joe’s and my story http://looseleafnotes.com/2017/02/joe-and-colleen-sitting-in-a-tree-k-i-s-s-i-n-g/
July 6th, 2018 10:25 am
Thanks, Colleen. I see I was the first to comment on that post! So does, Joe tell it like you did? 😉
I think you will enjoy Jane. Glad you will check out her work.
July 6th, 2018 11:42 am
That is the short version. He likes to tell the part of where he came over to see the room and there was a pot of lentil soup on the stove and from that he knew he’d be at home.
July 6th, 2018 3:05 pm
I love #11.
July 9th, 2018 7:26 pm
yes and thank you to Becky, to you, and yes to #13… khaki tshirts with the exact words you used have been showing up here in Eugene. My babies are honestly past middle age, but I cry with the news too. your #6 totally surprised me … not #7 because yes.