The evening sun streamed down onto the Hahn Garden at Virginia Tech as seven poets read among the marigolds and mums. The readings were in conjunction with the current outdoor art exhibit “Simply Elemental” and included an interlude of classical guitar, performed by musicians Ebru Bish and Renate Kehlenbeck.
Sharing silence with a heron, gravity, gourds, Indian cooking, the American landscape in the 1800’s and dealing with cancer and loss were just some of the topics poetically shared.
I was very happy that my longtime friend and poet Alywn Moss (pictured in pink) was able to make it. My husband Joe came too!
What better way to deal with the stresses of today’s world events than to sit back and enjoy flowers, poetry and music, our emcee Diane Goff asked before introducing the first poet. The event was free and open to the public with refreshments included.
As one of the seven poets, I read new poems from a working collection titled Objects May Be Closer Than They Appear, which explores conversations with a lost loved one by way of accessing memories, signs and dreams. I can’t make poems happen, like I can’t make dreams happen, but I am open and waiting for both.
I introduced my poem Everything I’ve Learned About Life I Learned from Sewing, by mentioning that my late sister Kathy was a talented seamstress. I was not, but being short and petite, I’ve spent a lot of time altering clothes, taking up pants and skirts, taking in shirts and moving buttons, which has led me to say, “Maybe if I was taller, I would have read more of the classics.”
Poet Mary North read a poem titled Gravity’s Garden ….”we are abandoned here on this Earth / left to fall irreparably in love / with gravity’s garden / trying our lives to persuade a different ending / or some other sense of time / while our souls swagger towards eternity / leaving ghosts or trails of us behind.”
Among the poems that Chelsea Adams shared, there was one about a brain surgery nightmare and one called The Encounter, about meeting and not recognizing yourself on the sidewalk.
Believe it or not, poet Piper Durrell came from the same town in Connecticut that Chelsea did. She read a poem about it.
“Beyond all the little kindnesses, our animal bodies sense the truth …. The doctor, his hand on my wrist like a paw …All those years ago, your hot flame drew me like a moth … Though I singed, I also kindled….” read Diane Goff as dusk descended. The poem, For Richard, was about how her husband fiercely saw her through her ordeal with cancer and chemo.
1. I used to only like to collect perfect shells. Now I like the varied shaped broken ones best.
2. Washed up moon shell / Turn your ear towards its shine / Hear the poetry of galaxies / in its phosphorescence tide
3. Just Breathe: A recent study has shown that deep breathing with longer exhalations are an easy way to hack your vagus nerve, to counteract fight-or-flight. Another study reports that just two minutes of deep breathing with longer exhalation engages the vagus nerve, increases heart rate variability and improves decision-making.
4. When I like the book Joe is reading better than the one I’m reading, it’s like when I like the meal he ordered better than the one I’m eating. He’s a good sport about sharing.
5. We topped off our Atlantic Beach vacation with a visit to “Willie’s Joint” and seeing Willie and the outlaws (Lucas Nelson, Alison Krauss and Bonnie Raitt) playing at the Walnut Creek Music Park in Raleigh. We got busted early on for changing our seats even though we stayed in the same section. At over $100 a seat, I think I should have been able to get a better shot of Bonnie, the main draw for me, but had to settle for taking pictures of the monitor. – Photos and video clips HERE.
6. Taking pictures without owning a back-up camera is like driving a car without a spare in the trunk.
8. THIS is my favorite Bonnie Raitt song to sing in the car while we’re driving.
9. Seen at the beach: Pockteful of Rosie Moon / It comes up pink / rises gold / and sets like the ghost / of a white-haired crone
10. When we got home from the beach on Monday, we discovered a swarm of dragonflies in our yard. I looked it up and found it was reported on the news. It’s rare but not unprecedented. Some dragonflies migrate south but usually travel solo. It’s possible that it could be a result of climate change.
11. Hank Williams was called the Hillbilly Shakespeare and Merle Haggard Poet of the Common Man. Many of the greats of Country Music had African American mentors and were influenced by African American music, blues, jazz, swing hymns and the banjo, which came from Africa. Ken Burns’ documentary (which we’ve been watching and loving) “Country Music” describes Country Music as a lyric-driven art form and the documentary as the exploration of the poetic way the English language is paired with, as songwriter Harlan Howard described country music, “three chords and the truth.”
12. Ken Burns describes the show’s interview with Willie Nelson: When we finally got him, it had to be in his bus with the AC and the engine running — which drives our soundman crazy — at rush hour next to the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C. Even his people were saying, “You know, he’s not gonna talk. He’s gonna be monosyllabic.” I asked first about the early heroes, Ernest Tubb and others, so that he began to relax. We were able to get all three and a half pages of our questions answered and then some. As we left, we were high from the interview and perhaps high from a contact with his choice of smoking material.
13. “When an artist gets it right, it’s right for everybody.” – Marty Stuart
We topped off our Atlantic Beach vacation with a visit to “Willie’s Joint” and seeing Willie and the outlaws (Lucas Nelson, Alison Krauss and Bonnie Raitt) playing at the Walnut Creek Music Park in Raleigh.
We got busted early on for changing our seats even though we stayed in the same section. At over $100 a seat, I think I should have been able to get a better shot of Bonnie, the main draw for me, but had to settle for taking pictures of the monitor. We’re a little spoiled being Floydfest regulars and not used to be so far away from the show.
Don’t come from me and you / It comes from up above / I ain’t no porcupine / Take off your kid gloves
When Bonnie sang my favorite song, Are You Ready for the Thing Called Love, I was too busy dancing to record it but knew I had recorded this (above).
Bonnie was my bucket list performer but Willie and the crew put on great show too. It was good to see such a classic icon.
Speaking of classic.
I particularly loved when he and his son Lucas traded lead guitar solos.
I had my Floydfest cup hanging from my backpack and some Floydfest fan noticed and gave a shout-out. My secret wish is for Lucas (who has played at Floydfest more than once and who I have watched perform up close) to tell his dad how cool Floydfest is and he’ll decide to come along for the ride.
1. I used to say the Trump administration is a house of cards but now I say it’s a house of flaming cards.
2. The words candle and clandestine seem strangely related.
3. We wait for poems that fit like skin / We dream them from a distance / then write them close in / We wear our berets / whether asleep or awake / until our dreams and poems / are inseparable – Read When We Wait More Than We Write, Aka What to Wear to a Dream HERE.
4. One of my poet friends from Poets United commented on the above poem said: I wonder – if one begins to associate a particular hat/cap with writing poetry, would poems flow much more easily? I understand waiting for a poem to fit like skin. Sometimes the wait is a long one.
5. I answered: That’s a great question that I’ve been asking it myself. Could the beret be kind of like a poet’s thinking cap? I have a real purple beret as well as the one I wore in that dream that I could try wearing during the day to see if it could help the writing be at least equal to the waiting to write.
6. Another poet said, “The beret works so beautifully to anchor the ethereal in this tale as we wait for inspiration to fall in our laps,” which makes reference to this line: They never fall or burn in our laps / We have to wait for them / like we wait for the dreams / that know our names…
7. MC Yogi’s Saturday Yoga class, Super Yogi Blast Off, filled the Brahma Nirvana Blissland Tent capacity of 300 and spilled out onto the grass and the shaded grounds along the creek. “Everything is humming and singing. Can you hear it?” he asked the crowd. “We’re going to come together and plug into the grid, which is nature.” He rapped some of his instructions and had the class howling like wolves. “Turn to your neighbor and give them free compliments,” he said at one point during the class. – More from Floyd Yoga Jam 8 Shines On HERE.
8. Remember when we had to raise our hands to speak?
9. “To make a point, whether on a stick, in an essay or discussion is to pare away absolutely everything that is not essential. Do not use the resulting tool as an offensive weapon to jab in people’s eyes or egos. Use it as a maestro conducting ideas, or like a professor at a blackboard pointing out elements of an equation or theory. Use it as planting stick to make a little hole to plant a seed.” – From my Dharmacratic poet friend Will
10. I like to stretch out on a sofa like an empty page waiting for poems.
11. I consider the majority of my poems as body-based poetry because I have to go into myself to find them.
12. I went to an open house at Springhouse Community School’s new location last night. The evening ended with a dance party with Los Marino. Don’t Steal the Land is up below.
13. And here is what happens when I don’t know my camera is running. I call it “Feet.”
-The following first appeared in The Floyd Press on August 29, 2019 with a smaller selection of photos.
“Our goal is to build confidence,” said Kelsey Sapp one the events three judges at the Floyd Livestock & County Fair Pageant, held at Chantilly Farm’s indoor events facility. Sapp, a former Floyd County High School graduate and current Christiansburg kindergarten teacher was the inaugural Miss Floyd County, crowned four years ago.
She explained that a closed interview that preceded the public event accounts for 50% of a contestant’s scores. “That’s where we really get to know the girls.”
For the three contestants (ages 17 -22) competing for the The Miss Floyd County title, the goal is to choose someone who can best represent Floyd County and the people of Floyd, Sapp said.
The crowned winner receives a $250 scholarship prize and a chance to compete for a $4,000 scholarship in the Miss Virginia Association of Fairs Pageant, held in Hot Springs, Virginia each January.
On stage introductions and interviews at the pageant were conducted by Teresa Sweeney and assisted by 2018 Miss Floyd County JoAnna Faye Wilson.
Pageant contestants spoke about their interests and community service platforms. Some of these included working to promote recycling and working with The Floyd County Humane Society’s Paws for Cause, which is dedicated to the care and responsible treatment of animals.
Sponsors were thanked and events that will be featured at the 4th annual Floyd County Livestock and County Fair were announced (September 14 at Chantilly Farm).
Before the winners were announced, Pageant director Dee Wallace reminded the audience that ever contestant is a winner. The scores were very close, she said. – Colleen Redman
Photos: 1. 2019 Miss Floyd County contestants (left to right): Avalynn Lucas, age 5; Timber Mundy, age 11; Laynie-Jo Leonard, age 10; Hope Gaynor, age 20; Emma Hale, age 17; Taelynn Mundy, age 9; Jaci Thomas, age 18 and Makayla Vest, age 8. Pageant judges: Kelsey Sapp, Joseph Scaffidi and Jessica Butterworth. 2. Pageant judges: Kelsey Sapp, Joseph Scaffidi and Jessica Butterworth. 3. Laynie-Jo Leonard is introduced and interviewed on stage by event emcee Teresa Sweeney. 4. Reigning Miss Floyd County Joanna Faye Wilson played a video in which she reminisced about the past year and thanked her supporters.
5. Emma Hale is awarded a banner for Best Personality. 6. Avalynn Lucas was crowned Fan Favorite and Little Miss Floyd County by 2018 Miss Floyd County JoAnna Faye Wilson. 7. Timber Mundy won the Pre-teen Miss Floyd County category. 8. Taelynn Mundy is crowned Young Miss Floyd County. 9. New reigning Miss Floyd County pauses to pose in her crown. 10. The winners: Avalynn Lucas, Timber Mundy, Taelynn Mundy and Hope Gaynor.
– The following first appeared in The Floyd Press on September 5, 2019 with a slight variation of photos.
After Thursday’s mellow first day of Floyd Yoga Jam, Friday took off with an Opening Ceremony in the form of an Infinity Dance. Infinity was the theme of the 8th annual festival that focuses on community and wellness. About 200 attendees took part, chanting and weaving around a giant double circle representing the shape of the infinity symbol (an 8 on its side).
The ceremony set the stage for creating community, said Life Ceremonies facilitator Katherine Chantal. “It’s a way of bringing people together, centering them to be present to the energy we are creating together.” Assisted by dancer/yoga teacher Leia Jones and machi kultrun drummers, Chantal led attendees in singing an “Infinite Light” chant.
Later that day, several dance parties took place in the grass at the main stage and in the Boogie Down Dance Hall Tent. Attendees swayed or broke a sweat dancing to the tunes of Noah Proudfoot and the Botanicals, Jason Trawick and the Common Good, The Get Right Band and Satsang.
One of the mottos of the festival, coined by Living Light Yoga Studio owner and festival founder Shirley Ann Burgess is: “At Yoga Jam we get you moving, whether it’s with yoga or dance.” By Saturday dance party attendance had doubled.
The weekend scene unfolded with sunshine and starry night skies on the Turman family’s Burnette Farm, nestled among 300 acres. Campers made themselves at home with campsites along Greasy Creek, in a meadow and in the festival parking lot.
After crossing a bridge over the creek at the festival entrance, Bliss Land, where yoga classes, wellness workshops and Kid Village activities take place, is separated by a smaller bridge from Jam Land, home of a beer garden dance hall, a people’s play park, and art village and the main stage. Both areas are peppered with colorful flags and vending booths, selling food and wares.
This year’s bands came from as far away as California and were as local as Floyd (listen to Land of Joy, pictured above HERE). They ranged from rock, hip hop, folk, reggae and Americana to classical and devotional. At night, headliners filled the Boogie Land field with positive inspirational lyrics and melodies.
During his rousing Saturday night performance, hip hopper MC Yogi engaged the crowd, threw T-shirts to them and invited guests on stage (including young Floyd musician Dylan Underwood and juggling clown Gypsy Geoff). With a light show to amaze and a mosh pit for the brave, the show concluded with MC inviting everyone on stage to dance.
New Mexico cellist, vocalist and composer Jami Seiber looped her innovative electric cello music, recited a poem and told stories in between her songs Saturday afternoon.
She spoke of the need to change unsustainable world systems and of the strength of community, a reflection that speaks to a foundational vision of Yoga Jam.
“I’m a firm believer in taking care of ourselves, and I’m hopeful that we can use times like this weekend – getting juiced up with yoga and community – and that we can take it out in the world and create the changes we want,” Seiber said during her main stage performance.
At a giant decorated LOVE sign, five women from Polarity Barn Yoga Studio in Batesville, Virginia posed for a photo together. “We come every year. This is our 8th Yoga Jam,” said Kelli Frayser.
The group represented about 50 Yoga Jam attendees Frayser said, considering they all bring their families. “It’s amazing. We love the space and what’s been created here,” she added, giving kudos to founder/director Burgess.
Festival goers agree that MC Yogi is a rock star, both on stage and as a yoga teacher.
His Saturday afternoon class, Super Yogi Blast Off, filled the Brahma Nirvana Blissland Tent capacity of 300 and spilled out onto the grass and the shaded grounds along the creek.
“Everything is humming and singing. Can you hear it?” he asked the crowd. “We’re going to come together and plug into the grid, which is nature.” He rapped some of his instructions and had the class howling like wolves. “Turn to your neighbor and give them free compliments,” he said at one point during the class.
“I’d say about 500,” Burgess estimated the draw of MC Yogi’s class. This was the first time in the festival’s 8 years that Burgess was freed up enough to take a yoga class.
She attributed that feat to her staff, volunteers and three helpful interns, generously provided by Yogaville, a spiritual teaching community in Buckingham, Virginia.
Floyd County local Tamara Billand (pictured with Gaetam Desombre, one of the many body workers/massage therapists at the festival). said she comes to Yoga Jam for the spirituality of yoga. “I really enjoy the authenticity of and ancient scriptures and teachings of yoga,” she said. Billand focused on two Jiva Mukti yoga teachers, Jules Febre and Ruth Laver-Manenti, whose book she was on her way to purchase at the Merchandise Tent.
Along with Jiva Mutki and other Yoga traditions, the festival offered yoga for kids, Launch Pad Yoga, Glow Stick yoga and even Beatles Yoga.
Returning to Yoga Jam for the second time, the reggae band Mighty Joshua & The Zion 5 closed out the weekend’s music offerings for a final high energy dance party.
“This is what I’m talking about,” lead singer Joshua shouted to the crowd. “One reason we were excited to come back to Floyd; it’s like a family.” He opened his vest and showed off his “Republic of Floyd” starred t-shirt.
A closing ceremony incorporated a bonfire with dancers Katie Wells and Leia Jones, music by Lobo Marino and a poetry performance by Mara Robbins.
The final words of Robbins’ poem, Expiration Date, summed up the reason many come to Yoga Jam. “We have no more time for anything but the way in which we shine.” – Colleen Redman
1. What’s the difference between infinity and eternity?
2. “Spelling.” That’s what the first person I asked that question to at Floyd YogaJam Infinity this weekend answered.
3. Someone else said, “One is always and the other is forever.”
4. It was one dance party after another, starting with Noah Proudfoot and the Botanicals, who when I first saw them in the Yoga Jam program, I thought they were going to lead an herb workshop. – More HERE.
5. At Yoga Jam I met a woman with an oxygen tank who was hula hooping and juggling.
6. MC or emcee? Emcee is just the phonetic spelling of the already shortened MC, which means Master of Ceremonies, sort of like deejay is the phonetic spelling of DJ, which means disc jockey.
7. It’s raining plastic. Not only are trillions of pieces of plastic litter floating through the ocean, killing fish and other animals and people are swallowing an average of 5 grams of plastic every week, about the weight of a credit card, it’s raining plastic, scientists report. – More HERE.
8. The news is a burning building that I crane my neck to see. Every couple of hours I check to see how far it has spread.
9. I need a poem to hold my place in line.
10. A dream I had after last year’s Yoga Jam that I found again by searching the word “balance” on this blog: I was at an impromptu talent show at a festival scene. It was my turn to perform on stage. I had nothing planned to do, so I decided to balance a ball on my head. It was a large red foam rubber ball and I got it balanced so well that I decided to keep it on top of my head. As I went around the rest of the day and my life with the large red ball on my head, some people noticed it and others didn’t.
11. I find it amusing that focus rhymes with pocus and pocus makes no sense unless it’s coupled with hocus.
12. I just started wondering about the difference between symmetry and balance. I looked it up and found this: Symmetry is an easy way to achieve balance. Elements and compositions that are the same on both sides almost always look balanced. … This is essentially wrong as balance is the principle and symmetry is one way of achieving it. Balance without symmetry is known as asymmetrical balance.
13. I made this video in Paris last year. It’s call “More Door” and I love it!
It was one dance party after another, starting with (for me) Noah Proudfoot and the Botanicals, who when I first saw them in the Yoga Jam program, I thought they were going to lead an herb workshop. I took my shoes off to dance and they got down and dirty.
This is where I said to Joe, “If this is bluegrass, I like bluegrass now,” but now that I hear it and others back, I’m thinking more Lumineers/Old Crow Americana. Justin Trawick is a very entertaining and funny dude who knows how to get the crowd going.
Yoga Jam was getting it right with The Get Right Band from Asheville. What a light show! I loved this new wave cover, done in a completely unique way, but the band also does originals.
I gave the closing headliner, Satsang, a new music genre description: sweet rock/hip hop, emphasis on the word sweet. Think rock delivered with melody rap that flows sweet like honey.
-More to come, and look for a spread in this week’s Floyd Press. Read my Floyd Press pre-festival story Yoga Jam Readies for Year 8 HERE.
The following first appeared in The Floyd Press on August 22, 2019.
Long before Kyle Buckland knew what the term “Plein Air” meant (French for “in the open air”), he only painted outside. Inspired by the impressionist landscape painters he saw in art books, when he was 15 he made a deal with his parents. He didn’t have to do his homework until after the sun went down, so he could paint outdoors. “I grew up painting these mountains,” said the artist from Abington. It was his second time attending the Floyd Plein Air Biennial Festival (August 12 – 17). He and his wife, also a painter, camped at Chantilly Farm during the festival week.
Jennifer Young chose a field of wildflowers and a barn as the subject of one of her paintings on the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway. Young, who lives in Ashland, studied painting at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, and later studied landscape painting with various teachers. She attended the first Floyd Plein Air Festival and has come back every year since then.
Kim Hall of Richmond put some finishing strokes on her canvas before a shower on Wednesday. “I might have to jump in my car,” she said, adding that she likes storms because “they make interesting skies.” She had gone to Mabry Mill to paint but didn’t stay, reporting that they are working on the mill.
Along with the Blue Ridge Parkway outing, the 31 Plein Air artists visited and painted at Apple Ridge Farm, in the vineyards of Chateau Morrisette, at the Floyd EcoVillage, in downtown Floyd and more. They enjoyed wine tasting, a farm-to-table-dinner prepared by Chef Robert Obst and a Gala Reception at The Floyd Center for the Arts (FCA), which the event is a fundraiser for.
FCA Board member and event organizer, Martha Sullivan reported that that the Gala Reception was well attended and that artists sold over $20,000 of fresh Floyd inspired art. “It was a packed house when juror and exhibit curator, Brett LaGue, announced the major winners of the 2019 Biennial,” Sullivan said.
The winners were as follows: Gold prize ($1,000) winner: Debra Howard for “The Tree Farm.” Silver prize ($500): Thomas Bradshaw for “Days Remembered,” Bronze prize ($250): Russell Jewell for “Silver Bullet,” and Quick paint competition winner: Rebecca King Hawkinson. The Plein Air Biennial exhibit will remain in the Hayloft Gallery until October 5.
“The whole week was spectacular! I was humbled to see such creative work made by this group talented artists,” stated Sullivan. She added that planning for the 2021 Floyd Plein Air will begin soon. – Colleen Redman
1. It all goes downhill after I have to put on socks.
2. You know how they say ‘good eye’ in baseball? I say it to photographers.
3. Lying on a rock with my camera in hand and on my lap after hiking to the Cascades waterfall, I said to my sister Sherry, “This is how you should bury me.”
4. I was thinking about how we buried my dad with his remote-control clicker in hand, but my sister told me it was actually scratch tickets.
5. This weekend, I covered the Miss Floyd County pageant, saw the Floyd Community Theatre’s female version of The Odd Couple and went to two birthday parties. The first one was created as a diversion to the second after I inadvertently jeopardized the surprise when I asked friends ‘what is this Mama C’s surprise birthday party invite I saw on Facebook?’
6. I was nudged, quickly recognized what I had done and tried to lessen the impact by saying, ‘oh, you mean that Mama Cass party?’
7. I called my Facebook album of pictures from the fake party and the real party “From the Diversion Dinner Party to the Full Blown Confetti Thrown Fiesta.”
8. I blame Leonard Cohen for my thrift shop addiction. It sounded so good to me when he sang “Suzanne takes your hand … And she leads you to the river … She’s wearing rags and feathers … From Salvation Army counters … And the sun pours down like honey … On our lady of the harbour … And she shows you where to look … Among the garbage and the flowers.”
9. Back then I had a sign in the bathroom window of the apartment I shared with my sister that said “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window.”
10. I’m getting the age that after I say something, I feel the need to ask ‘did you get that reference?’
11. Last night I re-read a comment from 2005 / You were cancer-free when you said / “I always wish I knew you were depressed” / It was on a blog post titled / I Almost Went to Woodstock / back when blogs were like living rooms / that we wandered in and out of / talking to each other … Read These Are the Conversations We Have Now in its entirety HERE.
12. “Poetry is my cheap means of transportation. By the end of the poem the reader should be in a different place from where he started. I would like him to be slightly disoriented at the end, like I drove him outside of town at night and dropped him off in a cornfield.” – Billy Collins
There were some good jokes and deliveries, some good physical comedy and good New Yowk accents at the final June Bug performance of the Floyd Community Theatre Guild’s production of Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple.
It was the female version. I think the girls here are turning their noses up at some questionable sandwiches found in Madison’s broken fridge. It’s Trivial Pursuit, not Poker, in this Odd Couple world.
I wish I could remember what they were doing here. I think they were trying to stop Unger from killing herself.
These are my favorite shots, so here’s another one. I like how the Flash Dance outfit shows that the play is set in the ’80s.
Date night. The language barrier between the New Yorkers and the Spanish speaking Costezula brothers was funny in a “who’s on first?” sort of way.
I really thought this plate of linguine was going to end up in Madison’s face like a pie, but that’s not what happened (spoiler alert).
I must have a bit of Florence Unger (played by Cindy Tueller) in me because I had a hard time looking at the mess that Olive Madison (played by Makala Vest Witten) made in her apartment, but I also got as irritated as Madison at Unger’s obsessive cleaning compulsions and was relieved as the next person when she moved out and in with the Costezula brothers (spoiler alert).
The cast – Makala Vest Witten as Olive Madison, Cindy Tueller as Florence Unger, Valerie Moran as Sylvie, Emily Gruver as Mickey, Ellie Wilder as Vera, Resa Mattson as Renee, Cameron Woodruff as Jesus Costezula and Nishant Grover as Manolo Costezula – gave director Tonya Hall flowers at the end of the performance.
Thanks to the FCTG for the laughs great local entertainment! I hear The Wizard of Oz is coming in October.
Last night I re-read a comment from 2005
You were cancer-free when you said
“I always wish I knew you were depressed”
It was on a blog post titled
I Almost Went to Woodstock
back when blogs were like living rooms
that we wandered in and out of
talking to each other
You almost went to Woodstock too
but didn’t because you were a new mother
“I don’t even remember you when I was depressed”
I answered “You didn’t live at home then”
Our older brother Jimmy went
I remember him complaining about the mud
We couldn’t remember if he saw Janis Joplin
or was too far from the stage
I had friends that begged me to go
I imagined them pulling up at the house
and beeping the horn for me to come out
No one knew about depression back then
We called it “having a nervous breakdown”
“We were each deep into our own realities”
you said, “I’m glad we keep better tabs now”
The phone rang and no one left a message
I imagined you calling from the afterlife
From the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia I write to synthesize what I'm learning at the time, whether it be poetry, a political commentary, or a letter to my family in Hull, Massachusetts, where I'm originally from. Whenever I don't know exactly what it is I'm doing and it borders on wasting my time, I call it research. 'Dear Abby, How can I get rid of freckles?' was my first published piece at the age of 11.
Before the winners were announced, Pageant director Dee Wallace reminded the audience that ever contestant is a winner. The scores were very close, she said. – Colleen Redman
It was the female version. I think the girls here are turning their noses up at some questionable sandwiches found in Madison’s broken fridge. It’s Trivial Pursuit, not Poker, in this Odd Couple world.
