Loose Leaf Notes

1. Poetry is like math. You have to add meaning and sound together and make it equal the right answer.

2. I like a lived-in journal where I know my way around. When I open it, it’s like opening a favorite kitchen junk drawer that holds everything I might possibly need. It’s messy but I have a sense of where everything is: Life formulas, quotes, things to do lists, my husband’s pant size, pressed aspen leaves from Colorado, my favorite Richard Brautigan poem, tarot readings, phone numbers, ideas to patent, directions to the nearest hot springs, things I want for Christmas next year, things I did today, and names of books I still haven’t read. – From My Journal, a 2007 post.

3. “No piece of writing is ever finished. When I lie in hospice care, on oxygen, catharized, I will whisper to the nurse: Bring me that the book, the chapter about the luncheonette, I forgot to put in the salt and pepper shakers and the napkins rack.” -Garrison Keillor, from That Time of Year

4. I recently came across a public site on Facebook called “Opetry.” The only explanation given is that it’s “a place to share your opems.

5. My poet friend Mara posted THIS poem, The Problem of Writing Poems in the Shape of Deciduous Trees, on my Facebook page that you have to experience to believe.

6. The author of the above, Brian Bilston, has been called the  ‘Banksy of poetry’ and the poet Laurette of twitter.

7. I came across this poem by Gregory Corso called “How Not to Die” that starts – Around people / if I feel I’m gonna die / I excuse myself / telling them “I gotta go!” / “Go where?” they wanna know / I don’t answer / I just get outa there / away from them / because somehow / they sense something wrong / and never know what to do… More HERE.

8. It reminded me of my poem “How to Die” – Start early / Don’t leave it / to the last minute / Pull up a chair / and watch what happens / Don’t forget to breathe  / before you stop breathing / Don’t leave without saying goodbye.

9. And this is an excerpt from my most recent poem When Google and Doodle Converge: Aka Poet at Work:  I typed a poem’s line / and changed it three times / then printed out a page / to indirect attention / to mix the ink of last and first / to merge synapses of right and left / to draw conclusions / and liberate free verse / back to the drawing board / where poets work.

10. Apparently, Kaycee Musgraves performed naked (in only cowboy boots and a guitar that covered up most) on SNL Saturday night. I watched and didn’t even notice. Watch HERE.

11. Ray Bradbury in Zen in the Art of Writing says he has learned through writing to never doubt his “Ouija subconscious.”

12. “It is a lie to write in such a way as to be rewarded by money in the commercial market. It is a lie to write in such a way as to be rewarded by fame offered you by some snobbish quasi-literary group in the intellectual gazettes. Each of you, curious about creativity, wants to make contact with that thing in yourself that is truly original…” Bradbury

13. “Generally, by the time you are real most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all. Because once you are real you can’t be ugly. Except to people who don’t understand.” -The Velveteen Rabbit

__________Thirteen Thursday