13: Zoom In
1. George Santos is the Anna Sorokin of politics.
2. I just did my first online Zoom poetry reading with a group of dVerse poets from around the world. It was a good experience and the host was wonderful, but it was a little like contra dancing as opposed to free style dance. I love to dance on my own, and I like contra dancing too, but it can be a little too intensely social for me.
3. Posted on Facebook the day David Crosby died: I’m glad you didn’t cut your hair.
4. Then I went about singing it all day
5. The Poetry Bank Account: I gave it all away / spent it all in one place / Now I’m doubting / my literary ability / and checking the sofas / for loose change
6. I have an imaginary sister blog called “loose change” as opposed to “loose leaf notes.”
7. Zoom Meetings remind me of Hollywood squares meets the Brady Bunch.
8. “When in doubt, zoom out. Ignore the cult of doom and gloom and embrace the cause of zoom and boom. We will laugh at the stupidity of evil and hate, and summon the brilliance of praise and create. Life is crazily in love with us-wildly and innocently in love with us. The universe always gives us exactly what we need, exactly when we need it.” – Rob Brezsny
9. Astrologer/musician Rob Brezsny uses first-person narrative in his horoscope columns, as well as a more literary approach than conventional horoscopes use. He conceives of astrology not as a science but as “a poetic language of the soul”, comparing it to “a Neruda poem, Kandinsky paintings or a Nick Cave song.” The Utne Reader described the column as “a blend of spontaneous poetry, feisty politics, and fanciful put-on.” Brezsny is quoted as saying “I’m on a mission to save people from the genocide of the imagination,” and told the NYT that his “secret agenda” is “to be a poet who gets paid for writing poetry.” “I predict the present. I don’t believe in predicting the future,” he said.
10. She liked tunnels but not bridges / rooms rather than open floor plans / documentaries more than biopics / and gingerbread more than brownies… From Self Portrait in Eulogy
11. My Death Class Poetry Reading with my fellow poet friend Katherine is in the news HERE.
12. Next Stop on the Soulful Aging Tour: Reveries of the Mind: We might forget a name but remember what is beautiful. We might revere a memory or re-name cognitive decline as “transcendence.” Taking our leave takes time… More HERE.
13. “Our fear of death is like our fear that summer will be short, but when we have had our swing of pleasure, our fill of fruit, and our swelter of heat, we say we have had our day.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
____________Thirteen Thursday
January 26th, 2023 11:05 am
I read your thoughts each day, just finished your new book. I should stop each day and say how much it means to me. I’ve withdrawn, not on purpose, but being in a new place, visiting too many doctors, I’ve stopped communicating very much at all. But your book meant so much to me childhood to older years and those things we love and keep with us , plus those we work out, maybe. Keep writing I love to read each word.
January 26th, 2023 12:02 pm
Thank you, dear friend and fellow poet. Your words mean a lot to me. I think of you often and with fondness.
January 27th, 2023 11:52 pm
I feel the same way about Zoom meetings as #7..
And you doubting your literary ability?? Loved the loose change poem…
January 28th, 2023 12:06 am
After a poem, I tend to think I can never write another one, since I don’t really know where they come from or how to start one out of nothing, but I’ve been saying that for decades now and still write.