Real New Yorkers (9/11/16)
I read a poem a while back that said “real New Yorkers” don’t visit the 9/11 Museum. It’s only for tourists. It made me sad, soul-sad, in a way I can’t even describe. I thought about my own reaction when I visited. It was one of only two times in my life I burst into tears, shocking myself. I didn’t feel it coming, until it was there in all its’ raw power. The emotion that wells up unexpectedly is a part of our human-ness. I’ve thought of that poet’s words often, feeling a little lost for him, for his cynicism. … Continue reading Real New Yorkers (9/11/16)
Wordless Wednesday: Sammy & Rose
He Was So Beautiful
He Was So Beautiful (After Alice Paalen) He was so beautiful every day his smooth brown face his hair cropped close silver and coal stolen from narrowed eyes from looks of scorn amid the cypress he walked next to water the egrets nest hidden secrets are beautiful between four lips three black words on a crumpled white page in a pocket in a drawer so many wings unable to fly Continue reading He Was So Beautiful
Wordless Wednesday: Sculpture
Inspiration Interlude: Louise Beech
“Isn’t all writing life writing? Life made us who we are and so it makes us what we write. We’re influenced (both consciously and subconsciously) by what has happened to us. Every word we put down we expose ourselves in some way. Writing our stories helps us to look at things more clearly. We can make sense of what has happened to us by recording it.” – Louise Beech from her wonderful essay “On Life Writing” in Women Writers, Women’s Books Continue reading Inspiration Interlude: Louise Beech
WordlessWednesday: Storm Clouds
#WITMonth : My Mother is a River
“I’m not graceful, nor light-hearted. I’m tethered to the ground, teeth grinding on the links of my chain. My mother, that’s what I’ve labelled every limit. I have charged her with the imperfection of my flight. She’s been my excuse. She’s the cause, and the reason. My mother is a tree. In her shade I have absolved myself. It’s shrivelling, the shade too shrinks away. Soon I’ll be exposed.” My Mother is a River, by Italian writer Donatella Di Pietrantonio and translated by Franca Scurti Simpson, is the story of a mother and a daughter and the often rocky road of their relationship. But … Continue reading #WITMonth : My Mother is a River
Wordless Wednesday: Little Fat
Morning Meditation: I don’t need a fixer
When election panic starts to prickle my spine, I get the red leash out, smiling at my happy, jumping dog and go for a walk in my quiet, sane neighborhood where no one talks of building walls or bullies people who don’t think like they do but, instead, where people of different races and religions live in harmony and respect each other’s differences. Continue reading Morning Meditation: I don’t need a fixer
