Loose Leaf Notes

1. “To be human is to become visible while carrying what is hidden as a gift to others.” David Whyte

2. Our collective knees are bruised / from the wear of prayer and protest / Sometimes we are called to stand / to shake off the onslaught
of insult to injury / Sometimes we are called / to put down the unbearable / to carry an innocent / and claim their right / to breathe. Read “Right” in its entirety HERE.

3. We are surrounded by woods on three sides and the cicadas sound like a constant ambulance siren, or like I left the faucet running.

4. But it really sounds like a Star Trek Hand Phaser. Listen HERE.

5. “What if you were out with your dog an’ it run off with no, “May I go?”, an’ when you find the varmit, it’s sittin’ in a tent on a farm, Little River runnin’ by, and the dadgum dog is just layin’ there, listenin’ to some man or woman spoutin’ poetry? What?  I mean, what should you do?  Get rid of the dawg before it spoils the others?  Keep it tied up?  Or give it to your daughter who’ll put bows on it?  The dog could be ruined. Maybe you’ll stop pokin’ your head in down at the store.  You begin to imagine the talk behind the silence.  “His dawg went where?”  “Naw!” They may not know what people were talkin’ about in that tent – they may not know some of them were writin’ and readin’ about livin’ on these mountain lands, raisin’ families, an’ ideas that might of come to ’em in church – mostly just what it’s like to be human.  Some folks just wanta’ talk out loud about it…  Read Dog Gone in its entirety, which appeared in The Floyd Press and was written by the Little River Poetry Festival co-founder Jack Callan HERE. The festival is happening this weekend. Details HERE.

6. Joe said my tombstone should read “It was all about the photo-op.”

7. I’m pretty sure if I had my car parked in the yard, Mrs. Robin would try be a hood ornament. She poses all over the yard as if she was auditioning for the job… Read more about The Yardbirds HERE. 

8. If you search the word “cicada” on this blog, this comes up: “The word ‘cicada,’ for example, stops me in my tracks. Sorry, I simply cannot continue.” ~ Billy Collins on choosing poems for a poetry anthology

9. Poetically, I don’t like the word bucolic, the way Billy Collins doesn’t like “cicada.” I think it’s a self-conscious word that sounds like an illness, even though it means an idyllic country setting.

10. Topsy or Tipsy? I don’t think topsy is a word without turvy and turvy is definitely not a word, but tipsy is.

11. Our pool is open (with some COVID19 adaptions) and swimming is my mental and physical therapy, so it can’t be all that bad.

12. “You don’t need to think of yourself as bad in order to become better.” -Unknown

13. The grass may be greener on the others side but it still needs to be mowed.

____________Thirteen Thursday