A day spent in Floyd – the one stoplight rural town I live in – can be as exciting as time spent in any big city, as far as I’m concerned. On Friday I had lunch at Oddfellas Cantina with two amazingly accomplished women, sold 10 books (The Jim and Dan Stories), and got [...]
I was waiting for someone to come along, some young singer 18 to 22 years old, to write these songs and stand up,” Young said. “I waited a long time. Then, I decided that maybe the generation that has to do this is still the ’60s generation. We’re still here.” ~ Neil Young, Los Angles [...]
AKA: What will they think of next? This is the first time I was served tea with a pyramid shaped teabag that could stand on its own and was taller than the cup the tea was in. My husband’s niece and I snapped picture after picture of it while diners turned their heads to watch. [...]
I sit when others are standing…I lay when they sit…I walk when others are running…I stop while they keep going ~ Colleen When you have a health disorder that doesn’t fit into a category of known symptoms, that can’t be detected through an x-ray or blood test, and that has no name, the medical profession [...]
Now about that pesky little thing called an inferiority complex…Who wants the attention…It’s too much pressure…I can’t live up to it…Who the heck do I think I am…? “I wonder if everyone has one,” I asked by friend Mara, “and they’re just covering it up better than we are?” “Either that or they’re arrogant egotists,” [...]
Warning: One house isn’t big enough for 3 collage artists. All forms of record keeping interest me. Since receiving my first “Dear Diary” when I was 10 years old, I’ve gone on to keep photo albums, dream journals, baby books, and scrapbooks. I’ve always enjoyed making collages, but when my Asheville potter son, Josh, began [...]
Like the alchemists of medieval times who sought to turn base metals into silver and gold, potters seek to transform clay into vessels of beauty and function. And they do. They dig raw material out of the ground, mix oxides into glazes, and forge their wares with fire. There’s a fairytale quality to a potter’s [...]
Spring is a fling of short lived blooms, more about romance than marriage. Crocus and daffodils, my first loves of spring, make a strong impression, but soon I’m feeling fickle, waiting for tulips. And no sooner do my eyes adjust to the brilliant gold of forsythia then the dogwoods burst on the scene. The dogwoods [...]
1. I went to my first blog that had blogger ID. I don’t even have caller ID on my phone yet! Of course there is always the chance that “Have a Great Day in Floyd!” is always displayed on their sidebar, but I doubt it. 2. There were also sound effects of water dripping, which [...]
We have never had a presidency in which the single unifying thread that flows through its major decision-making was incompetence – stitched together with hubris and mendacity on a Nixonian scale. ~ Carl Bernstein In a recent Vanity Fair article, Watergate veteran Carl Bernstein called for an investigation into the Bush presidency for what Bernstein [...]
My book, “The Jim and Dan Stories,” started with a poem I wrote about being with my brother Danny in the hospital when he was taken off life supports – like taking Jesus off the cross he was nailed to… He died 3 hours later. After the poem, I wrote a tribute about the deaths [...]
In the beginning I misunderstood… But now I’ve got it, the word is good. ~ The Word by Lennon/McCartney An hour before it was time to head out for Spoken Word Open Mic at the Café Del Sol in downtown Floyd, my husband reminded me that I was supposed to box up 20 of my [...]
Someone sent the scrabble poem I wrote for my poet friend Mara to Sy Safransky, editor of The Sun Magazine. It was Rosemary, a member of the Writers’ Workshop that Mara and I belong to, who told us at the spoken word open mic last night. Rosemary gave the poem to her friend who knows [...]
AKA: Meet Colleen Sherry A new take on magnetic poetry? It’s a list of recent key word searches that brought folks to Loose Leaf: Can I sunbathe in the nude in South Carolina? What leaf is this? My husband is an out of work writer What kind of leaves do snails like? A narrow fellow [...]
April is National Poetry Month. With that in mind, I decided to attempt to answer the following questions posed by Carol at A Revision. 1. Where do your poems start? What causes you to sit down and write a poem? Is it a certain emotion? Poetry is a constant in my life. I seem [...]
1. If I was made of pottery and the sun was my kiln, my glaze would be freckles. 2. Now that I have DSL and my phone line isn’t tied up when I’m on line I’m seeing how many people don’t actually call me. 3. Glancing at a BMG music catalog that had just come [...]
The class of 1998 at Women’s Wellness Week, Indian Valley, Virginia, a woman’s retreat hosted by my friend Ise Williams who has since passed away. Do you recognize me with mud on my face? To view a more recent class picture go here. My son Josh’s class picture is here. Can you find him in [...]
In April when others are doing taxes, I’m counting a different kind of yearly income; the heads of daffodils and the buds of tulips. Blinded by the exploding gold of forsythia against a rich blue sky, I try not to be greedy for purple, and as I watch the return of green, take inventory of [...]
