13: Read Between the Lines
1. Duality is a see-saw that frequently hits the ground of reality if you go up too high.
2. I’m a tourist to my own eldering.
3. I always think of my brothers Jim and Dan, who died in 2001, as pioneers of the wild west of death.
4. Some people collect knickknacks. I collect my own one-line quips, moon poems, pictures I’ve taken and thrift shop clothes.
5. I have plenty of time but never enough.
6. The thrift shop is my casino I keep going back to. Sometimes I buy clothes I don’t really need, or ones that end up not working out. But at $3 a pop I can afford the bet, whether I win or lose. The payoff is silk, linen, rayon, cotton, and merino wool in my favorite shades of magenta, rose, honeysuckle gold, indigo, turquoise, and azure. At the thrift shop, I can afford cashmere, to be dramatic and to take fashion risks.
7. My new poems are about waking up to the memories in my body, the parts of my dead loved ones that live in me. They’re about carrying on life through dreams, visiting the psyche, going down and bring up buried treasure.
8. Poems are like dreams. I can’t make them happen. I just have to wait until they come.
9. The commentary I haven’t written to the people who want me to feel better about our country under Trump starts like this: I’m not a damsel in distress, but I am in distress and I think that’s a very appropriate response.
10. I plant the names of blooms / in the hope they grow into poems / that will take care of me / in my old age / that will come back / every year – Read Perennial in its entirety HERE.
11. Musically, the festival hit its peak on Thursday and stayed on top all weekend. Fresh off her Grammy wins, Brandi Carlile gave a rousing and engaging Thursday night performance, shouting out, “I’m coming home to the best vibes in the world!” She introduced her song “The Story” (I Was Made for You), by saying, “This is how I feel about Floyd.” Her fans cheered and sang along with her. It was her fourth time on the mountain. – More from my Floyd Press story, “Music Lovers Voyage Home to Floydfest 2019,” HERE.
12. Rolling Stone magazine covered Floydfest this year with the “10 Best Things” they saw HERE.
13. THIS is a Tiny Dancer and so is THIS.
______________Thirteen Thursday
August 8th, 2019 8:02 am
I keep forwarding photos/stories about Floyd (esp the LitFest & music extravaganzas) to My Beloved Sandra with the tagline “Hint, Hint”.
August 8th, 2019 8:56 am
10 lovely thought
August 8th, 2019 10:57 am
You live such a rich internal life. Which is kind of ironic as it’s mostly externalized in a cultural way – at least here on the blog.
August 9th, 2019 3:58 am
I’m a tourist, too, and I’m having a heck of a great time. Sometimes I think it can’t always be like this. Your talk of fabric and colors have me itching to go to the thrift shops.
August 9th, 2019 10:37 am
Great TT, Colleen. I’m glad you had a blast at FloydFest. I wish I could handle crowds better.