Loose Leaf Notes

1. I recently experienced a hot button issue. After reading outside in the sun, in shorts and a bathing suit top, I got up and the metal button on my shorts nearly burned me.

2. There once was a paisley-shaped scar / under the left side of my rib-cage / I imagined it as a hot splash / that my mother missed  / when the dishtowel slipped / and the pot of boiling water crashed / When she covered me with butter / to treat 3rd degree burns / but forgot to take off  / my shoes and socks… More from Not a Birthmark HERE.

3. World’s first poetry pharmacy plans to grant artistic prescriptions in England. The unique venue is the brainchild of Deborah Alma, also known as the ‘Emergency Poet’. For a number of years, she’s brought an old ambulance to festivals, schools and events around the country in what she calls a “poetic first aid service”, handpicking beautiful poems to help her ‘patients’.  The next step is a permanent poetry pharmacy. It will be laid out like a traditional pharmacy, with a section for each ‘emotional ailment’ or you can book a private consultation for a more personalized prescription. – More HERE.

4. Blockbuster or lackluster?

5. Today I wrote a poem that had the word jalopy in it.

6. Are you Aiming for me? HERE.

7. Over the years, I’ve covered everything from a WWE wrestling match fundraiser and Tractor Fun Run to a Climate Action Eco-Fair, John Meyer and Dave Matthews concert at Virginia Tech and a cowgirl caravan. I’ve covered parades, graduations, 4th of July fireworks,  memorial tributes, music events and artist’s profiles.  Some of my regular beats have been covering local theater events, the annual Blue Mountain School Mardi Gras, Floydfest and Floyd Yoga Jam…  Read more from The Beat Goes On about the retirement of our local  newspaper editor HERE. 

8. Today’s poetry was paper trash / Unrequited loves that broke my heart / Teased out lines written in circles? Big ideas that fell flat … More from I Quit Poetry HERE.

9. Talk is cheap, but poetry earns its keep.

10. Take two poems / and a trip to the ocean / call me in the morning / Plenty of fluids / and funny business / 3 hail mary’s  / and a hug – From a poem called Remedy that I wrote in the late ‘70s.

11. Making 13 Thursday is like making yogurt.  I hold back a few starter lines to get the next one started.

12. While other people are watching cat videos, I’m watching THIS .

13. A Penny for Your Thoughts HERE.

__________Thirteen Thursday