Loose Leaf Notes

1. The finches flocked / woodpeckers knocked / robins hopped / and the cardinals showed off.

2. Joe was away leading a retreat Easter weekend and so I spent Easter Sunday on my own, celebrating the return of spring by watching congregations of birds, planting potatoes and cold weather greens, enjoying the tulips and what was left of the daffodils. Then I had to go to town to meet with our accountant to sign our tax return papers.

3. That reminded me of this poem, written in the late ‘90s:  In April I calculate poetry / the way others do their taxes / as though the world was overdue /for a good accounting / Bursting to put into words / what the birds already know / with each emerging daffodil / I mark spring’s growing windfall / Its affluent bloom / and excess of green / are annual assets / we all get to claim.

4. Or as Bob Dylan says, “When you’re lost in the rain in Juarez / When it’s Easter time too / And your gravity fails / And negativity don’t pull you through / Don’t put on any airs / When you’re down on Rue Morgue Avenue / They got some hungry women there / And they really make a mess outta you.“

5. Being on the computer is like doodling to me. It helps me to think as my mouse hand circles round and clicks from one point of interest to the next.

6. And sometimes I feel like Captain Kirk at the Star trek bridge.

7. The moon strikes a pose for a poem / shines like a model from different angles / from portrait to profile / the moon swaggers by / across a runway of sky.

8. Swagger or saunter? Stroll or strut? Stride or slink? Sashay or shimmy?

9. The largest space telescope in history is about to blow our minds – With the new Webb Space Telescope, astronomers will be able to see so far back that they’ll potentially spot the very first stars and galaxies. Hubble has seen light dating to about 400 million years after the Big Bang, which took about 13.3 billion years to reach us. Webb has the capability to take us to 250 million years after the Big Bang,” explains an astronomer who has been approved to work with the Webb Space Telescope.

10. I imagine my mother’s kitchen / still existing somewhere in time / after the big bang / and near a bright galaxy / that a giant telescope can see.

11. My kitchens are blue / like the delft blue platter / that my grandmother carried / from Ireland to America / when she was 13 years old and alone

12. I found our grandmother’s platter online. Turns out that it’s a scene from Syria, was made in Scotland and is worth $288. Scroll down to see HERE. 

13. The daffodils wilted / tulips tilted / redbuds blossomed and dogwoods looked awesome.

_________Thirteen Thursday