Loose Leaf Notes

1. “The deepest thing I know is that I am living and dying at once, and my conviction is to report that dialogue.” — Stanley Kunitz

2. I think of Taylor Swift as the Joni Mitchell of her time, influenced by the musical trends of today but with the same baring of the soul and the same masterful lyric writing.

3. V has always been my favorite letter because it vibrantly vibrates with vitality, but it’s not my favorite Scrabble letter.

4. Our version of Wall Street.

5. I went looking for my poetic voice in my childhood home / and found it in the floral wallpaper of my bedroom / I found it on the stairs to the second floor / where I had a past life memory of living in a castle – Read Ghost Poem in its entirety HERE.

6. Years ago, in my early ‘20s, I wore jeans (called dungarees then) and a jean jacket almost all the time. I wore only purple for a while. I never had a little black dress but I have lots of black capri pants that, because I am short, fit me like full length pants.

7. Today’s view

8. I looked for my voice in the back of my sister’s closet / and found it among the dresses I wished were mine / among the mismatched winter mittens in the downstairs closet / and on every knick-knack I had to dust for my mother

9. Popular Mechanic’s Headline: A Scientist Has Confirmed That Humans Have No Free Will -Which means you have no choice but to read this. A Scientist Has Confirmed That Humans Have No Free Will. Read HERE.

10. “The clash between science and religion has not shown that religion is false and science is true. It has shown that all systems of definition are relative to various purposes, and that none of them actually “grasp” reality.” Alan Watts

11. You add your own words / to the sum of parts / Distinct as fingerprints / A poet’s north star / You write it down / and read it out loud / Your thoughts are the medium / and voice is your art / More HERE. 

12. “Each time I’ve been able to turn my own pain into art, the pain within me becomes a portal to possibility. Each time my art makes someone else’s day better, my day is better.” Andrea Gibson, poet

13. “And so I enter into evidence / My tarnished coat of arms / My muses, acquired like bruises / My talismans and charms / The tick, tick, tick of love bombs / My veins of pitch black ink / All’s fair in love and poetry -Sincerely, The Chairman of The Tortured Poets Department”   -Taylor Swift

__________Thirteen Thursday