Loose Leaf Notes

1. mummy or mommy?

2. They work like dogs for dogs – A thought after meeting local Humane Society volunteers while attending a fundraiser for a Floyd Press news story.

3. Stumbling blocks or stepping stones? – A thought after talking with a member of one of Bob Childress’s stone churches for an upcoming story.

4. Best poet’s bio seen this week that I wish I had written: (Name here) is on the pavement thinking about the government.

5. Best line seen a poem: I write you stones / you send boulders – by Margo Dills

6. Saving THIS link for my grandsons.

7. I had completely forgotten that THIS 2017 poem of mine was published in WINEDRUNK SIDEWALK: SHIPWRECKED IN TRUMPLAND until I stumbled upon it.  I was happy to see that the editor is still at it, a poem a day, and think I will submit again and read there more often.

8. Danny was buried on top of our brother Jim / as if he was going to sleep on a school night / after washing dishes in the Old Mill Grille / He slept on the top bunk / in the room he shared with Jim / and couldn’t wake up in the morning / when our mother called his name – You can read this poem – The Same but Different – in its entirety HERE.

9. Following the posting of THIS poem about my sister’s death in 2015, I received a few comments on this blog and on Facebook asking about my brother Jim and Dan’s back to back deaths, which happened in 2001. I actually wrote a book about it that was used for years as part of a Radford University curriculum in a grief and loss class for counseling students, but the book has largely been out of print for nearly a decade now. I only have about six copies left of the nearly 1,000 that were printed. There is lots of writing on this blog about losing Jim and Dan and others in my family, which can be found on the Losing a Loved One side bar category, but, after thinking about it, I decided to post the first chapter (and maybe more) of the book, which began as a tribute for our local Museletter and was published in my hometown newspaper. But first the book introduction HERE.

10. While others are watching cat videos, I’m watching THIS. 

11. A Radford woman whose last name is Cutting was just found guilty of stabbing her roommate to death.

12. Object Lessons is an essay and book series about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Check it out HERE.

13. Unravel tangled threads / and clip loose ends / Don’t cut corners / Repair what matters / Don’t hold up hems / with safety pins – Read this poem in its entirety HERE.

_________Thirteen Thursday