Loose Leaf Notes

1. On the way to getting my latest poetry book published with the help of a local publisher, I felt excited and nervous, and then thought, ‘it’s a little like having a baby, but it’s okay because I have a good midwife.’

2. I had the manuscript ready for more than 9 months, 2 years actually.

3. Titled Objects are Closer Than They Appear, the book has just been published and is now ready to share. It could be considered a sequel or a deepening of my 2017 book of poetry Packing a Suitcase for the Afterlife. Available to purchase now on Amazon, it’s a distillation through the rearview mirror of poetic memoir that charts an inner-life adventure and reflects a universality that we all will eventually share. More HERE.

4. Preparing for a spring hike on the Appalachian Trail, Joe let our 13-year-old grandson Bryce try on his filled hiking backpack.  “My book bag weighs more than that,” Bryce said.

5. I came to Floyd looking to learn the skills to live a more self-sufficient life, and I did. We learned from the locals and from each other (trial and error). In some cases the newcomers may have brought back old traditions that weren’t being practiced anymore, as when my friends and I became interested in herbs and started wild-crafting local plants for medicinal remedies. Today, along with the garden, we have chickens and a hand-pump for easy well-water access. My husband keeps the shed filled with firewood and the freezer stocked with venison, which is my idea of being rich. – From Hippies are from California 

6. Bryce also plays the saxophone with his middle school band. Listen HERE. He’s the third saxophonist from the left.

7. Paradox ponder: Why is an empty heart heavy and a full heart light?

8. The new book was accepted for publication by a small regional press a year after submitted it. I learned that by the time the book would be published, it would likely be 2 years total, so I pulled out and a local independent publisher generously agreed to format the book and help me get it printed on demand. Two days after that my poet friend Ron posted this on my timeline.  Thanks R.L.

9. Now I know why my poem Crying During Acupuncture keeps getting blog hits even though I wrote and posted it in 2016. Around that same time, I set up a page on Twitter but never could figure out how to easily use it (although apparently, I have 20 followers and 30 following). There are only three tweets and I had completely forgotten about them. One, dated Feb 2017, says: My Poem “Crying During Acupuncture” and the backstory of recently losing my mother and sister was just published HERE.  So, I guess the hits are coming from Twitter.

10. I also just discovered that my book about my two brothers dying a month apart, The Jim and Dan Stories, which has been out of print for years, is for sale on Amazon, 2 used and one collectors edition that was signed by me.

11. Close your eyes and make a wish.

12. Can’t help but laugh. Did they break THIS on purpose?

13. From Objects Are Closer Than They Appear back cover: Hitting an emotional chord, talking to my late sister in dreams, becoming a tourist to my own aging and inhabiting the inner life where the ground of consciousness isn’t mine alone, these are some of the themes that Objects are Closer Than They Appear explore. Every remnant pulled from memory or a dream resonates with an afterlife, as if it was a visitation from the same place where my dead loved ones are, closer than they seem. Through the landmarks of foundational memories and the transcendent lived-experience of dreams, I am writing the psyche’s story, leaving my poet’s thumbprint, love letters to whom it concerns.

__________Thirteen Thursday