Loose Leaf Notes

1. Summer is in full swing. You can tell because there’s usually a wet rinsed bathing suit hanging off the back of a chair on our porch.

2. I’m easily distracted by bluebirds but took time out for strawberry shortcake at Outer Space.

3. Playing Scrabble with friends outside at Outer Space is another sure sign of summer. Every picture we took was photo bombed by our friendly neighbors.

4. “Be not comforted nor concerned by my silence. I am gathering kindling.” -Unknown

5. It was a small but attentive audience for the 3rd in our Soulful Aging Poetry Reading Tour. Seated on the deck of the Soup Shop with just-brewed lattes from Chantal Coffee, Katherine and I delved into the topic, the developmental stage of aging, the passage that we often resist embracing or even talking about. Here we were, two old friends that intersected first in the late ’70s as writers in the pages of Mothering Magazine before we knew of each other, sharing our honest poetic offerings of depth psychology meets memoir in back-and-forth conversation… More from The Travelogue of Aging HERE

6. The word “conversation” gives me the idea that language should be poetic, considering the word verse in the word.

9. “The view is better from a greater age. Suddenly, you see the entire line–where things were, where things are going, where they veered out of control. The long view. I think that life was meant to be big. I think that people were meant to be big. I don’t mean through gesture or demands: I mean big of heart and impact. We are here for a very short run of the timeline, and if a mark isn’t made, if people aren’t helped or moved by what we’ve done, then we haven’t mattered. Show up to matter, not to be liked. Show up to be big. Investigate your heart and the hearts of others to find out what the big thing needed at that time might be.” –Marlon Brando/Interview with James Grissom/1990/

7. A well described object is like a road sign for someone navigating a poem.

8. Silver spoon or greasy spoon?

9. When No One Cries Wolf: The wolf doesn’t need sheep’s clothing / if the door is left open / if the bad apples are poison / and the fences are broken / if the good people are sleeping / and the rest are herded / the pack is emboldened / and the vulnerable forsaken / Cry wolf every time / Don’t follow the dishonorable / Don’t fall from grace / or fall prey to lies / Don’t pull the wool / over your own eyes

10. “I woke up this morning and my good woman wasn’t gone, she was asleep beside me, I didn’t feel an aching in my head, no blues around my bed. I made coffee, it tasted fine, not like turpentine. I could put gin in the coffee and make it taste like turpentine but why would I? And that’s how I feel about the Six Supremes who’re trying to take us back to the 19th century. No need to grieve over it, November is coming, and the simple solution is to throw the bums out. Elect a Congress with a two-thirds majority in favor of enlarging the Court to fifteen, which will reverse the reversals. Ninety million eligible voters sat out the 2016 election and that’s how we wound up where we are with this ambitious minority in power.” Garrison Keillor

11. “When the Roe decision was issued in January of 1973, the Court rendered abortion a ‘privacy right’ and a ‘liberty claim’ protected by the 14th and 9th Amendments and informed by a handful of other amendments. The implications of the SCOTUS ruling could be destabilizing, both politically and socially; a loss of the right to decisional privacy and the protections ensured under the 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause could jeopardize Americans’ right to raise their children as they please, marry whom they wish and have consensual intimate relationships without government interference…” More HERE. 

12. Don’t be disheartened. Deal with the problem. If you’re troubled by inflation, cut back on expenses. Don’t buy sparkling water. Fill up the glass with tap water and if you want bubbles, stick a straw in the water and blow. If you’re depressed by the state of things, skip the news and take a walk beside a large body of water and look at the stars and the moon. The newscaster will say, “Good evening” and then give you fifty-seven reasons why it’s not. Meanwhile, remind yourself that other people have thrived under wretched governors so don’t be discouraged. The Duke of Saxe-Weimar threw Bach in jail for daring to think he had individual rights… While cruelty is in power, do what Mozart did. Exercise your gifts. Create beautiful things. Wolfgang stayed clear of emperors and did his work and he lives on today and the emperors are just moldy names on marble slabs covered with pigeon droppings. If you can’t write The Marriage of Figaro, write your own marriage and make it a work of art…” Garrison Keillor

13. “In 1789, the Second Amendment was written. In 1847, the bullet was invented. Thus, the Second Amendment only applies to muskets.” Andrea Junker

___________Thirteen Thursday / Utensil art found at The Harvest Moon Food Store