Loose Leaf Notes

They’re boots
A half-size too big
But they don’t slip off

All-weather and black
I imagine them taking me
to the wild places she loved

Did she wear them in D.C.
when we protested the war
or when she fed feral cats in the rain?

Broken-in but still useful
Dark and official
I never wanted black boots
or to walk so close
to the sharp edge of sun
going down

I walk faster than she does
She frets when I kill ants
that crawl near our plates
while we’re celebrating her birthday

Now I march an uncharted course
like a girl in the drill team
like I can’t be at ease
in this world

She follows the news
but is faint of heart
She finishes her poems
remembering their names
the flowers and lovers
the songbirds and cows

Part II: The Warning

She gives away her belongings
A scene she painted on the coast of Maine
The sea is slapping
against a craggy rock cropping
I imagine her walking
leaving footprints on the shore

________________Colleen Redman / Poets United / Imaginary Garden with Real Toads

_____Wordless Wednesday

1. My writer’s bio on this blog, titled A Likely Story, goes like this:  I was newly retired from providing foster care for an adult with developmental disabilities and was writing mostly political commentaries but was burned out from that kind of writing. Ready to turn over a new leaf, I wanted to have more fun with writing. So, I posted a photo of me in Ireland with a shamrock pinned to my sweater and drew on my Irish heritage to inspire the storyteller in me.

2. “I can use one barrel / or I can use two” / I cocked a loaded shotgun / and aimed  – Read the rest of The Real Me HERE.

3. A distant gunshot means meat in someone’s freezer. The ring of wind chimes guides me to the present moment and, like a buoy, makes me feel like a sailor at sea.  The leaves are all brown now and have floated to the surface. Mostly oak, they look like fallen stars.  – More from this time November 2013

4. My grandsons got a big kick out of THIS video.

5. The photo to the right shows my grandson Liam (8) making a picture for Joe’s mother as a thank-you for a birthday card (with money) that she sent him.  Joe’s mom lives in Bethany Beach and the small yellow spot on Liam’s planet drawing says, “Beach where you live.”

6. Scientists Now Believe That The Universe Itself Is Conscious – A new scientific concept has recently come to light, which scientists are calling “panpsychism.” Panpsychism says that the universe could be capable of consciousness, which could change everything…  According to physicist at New York City College of Technology, Gregory Matloff, in his recently published paper, humans could be like the rest of the universe, in substance and in spirit. Futurism reported that a “proto-consciousness field” could extend throughout all space. Basically, in layman’s terms, the entire cosmos could be self-aware. – More HERE 

7. THIS woman made a dress out of 1,500 Netflix envelopes.

8. Stretched like batik in window pane frames / Long legged images attract my attention / Curved and posed, they’ve dropped their cover  / I study their lines like an artist painting nudes … Photos from Xposed HERE. 

9. Found in a journal from 1994:  I’m the queen of the short poem / A lady in waiting for the moon.

10. It’s a poet’s job to say… the emperor wears no clothes … and …why can’t we let ourselves be so X-posed?

11. Post seen on Facebook – Florida Recount Finally Wraps Up, Al Gore Declared President

12. Funny how the word awful means terrible but is pronounced “awe full,” and being full of awe is to be full of wonder.

13. “A child on a farm sees a plane fly overhead and dreams of a faraway place. A traveler on the plane sees the farmhouse below and dreams of home.”  -Robert Brault

___________Thirteen Thursday

Stretched like batik in window pane frames

Long legged images attract my attention

Curved and posed, they’ve dropped their cover

I study their lines like an artist painting nudes

__________Our World Tuesday

I lost a favorite earring
in last night’s dream
I saw my father old
as he would be now
if he hadn’t died in 2005

I dreamt of a shiny dress
that belonged to my mother
I didn’t want to wear it
but wouldn’t give it away

I bought a house by the ocean
with the help of Dr. Phil
and told my crying grandson
not to hold it in

I dreamt a lion in a tree
that pounced and came towards me
I woke before it had a chance
to attack

My husband dreamt that a bear
kept getting in the house
“We have to shoot it,” I said

“I can use one barrel
or I can use two”
I cocked a loaded shotgun
and aimed

_______Colleen Redman / Poets United / Imaginary Garden with Real Toads

-The following first appeared in The Floyd Press on November 1, 2018

Four years ago, April Kovick and Geoff Marsh met at a Renaissance Festival.  Kovick has worked various jobs at the festivals, including as a craft vendor and a massage therapist.

Marsh, known as Gypsy Geoff, is a professional magician, clown, mime, circus arts instructor and fire manipulator who performs at Renaissance Festivals and has been a big hit at Floydfest for the past couple of years.

Marsh is also a founder of the Dead Man’s Carnival, a nationally renowned vaudeville and circus troupe based primarily in Milwaukee. 

The troupe was in town for the wedding of Kovick and Marsh and performed at a community wedding celebration at Dogtown Thursday night.

The performances encouraged interaction and played to a captivated audience, which included a crowd of children that sat on the floor in front of the stage. People gladly paid a dollar to come onstage and see how a “contortionist” survived a blade box trick, a variation on sawing a woman in half. 

Along with juggling and Marsh’s popular marionette “Bones,” children magically balanced spinning plates and there was an alien abduction of a balloon character. 

Sir Pinkerton and the Magnificent played Ragtime Boogie Woogie, and April’s father, Michael Kovick joined the band with his harmonica for a couple of songs.

Congratulations to April and Geoff!

1. When I feel uninspired and try to write poetry, it’s like going against gravity,

2. Sometimes when I look at the word pottery, I see the word poetry.

3. And every time I type or see the word “look,” I think of Dick and Jane and remember learning to read.

4. My grandson just created a new game call Mooo-nopoly.  You throw the dice to move and get good or bad luck cards for buying farms and then cows.

5. The last time I played Monopoly with my grandson Liam, I chose the dog for my play piece, telling him, “My family nickname was Colly Dog when I was young.”

6. For two years I’ve felt depressed and unsafe, living in this ‘what’s next?” double-speak world where any one of us is more likely to be killed by a far right white nationalist than we are to be killed or raped by an immigrant (according to the Department of Justice).  I feel worn down living under a president who expresses adulation for dictators and identifies as a “nationalist” who not only will not denounce neo-Nazis, but characterizes a parade of white men with torches shouting ‘Jews will not replace us’ as “a side” consisting of “good people…” -Read Blue for Blues, my non-partisan call to voices of reason,  in its entirety HERE.  

7. So I went up the Parkway and took some foliage shots in the thick of fog.  See Here.

8. Glow or glare? When the sun is low it creates a glow, but when it’s high it’s glare.

9. Red roasted day / Breeze spreads like butter/ Chimes celebrate / fall’s feast of color / Steeped in Indian / summer sun / shades of cinnamon / honey and pumpkin… Read the rest of Fall Flavor HERE.

10. Can you teach an old dog new tricks? In my case, when it comes to new takes on Monopoly, yes, but if it’s a video game, no.

11. Mario Segale, the man who inspired the name in “Super Mario Bros died last week. Before the game was named for Mario it was called Jumpman.

12. Miss Piggy or Pigs in a Blanket? See HERE 

13. “I’m afraid that if you look at a thing long enough, it loses all of its meaning.” -Andy Warhol

__________Thirteen Thursday

_______Our World Tuesday / Wordless Wednesday / Some un-fogged fall foliage scenes are HERE. 

I’m suffering from PTSD.  It began with the unlikely election of Trump, which brought about an inability to trust polls and voting machines at risk of being hacked, and has been triggered nearly every day since.  For two years I’ve been unable to appeal to logic in Trump’s supporters. I’ve watched the dismantling of Democratic foundations and relationships with U.S. allies, while enduring conspiracy theories being presented as news and living with Trumpian rhetoric, in which the press is characterized as the “enemy of the state,” Democrats are “evil” and protest is punished.

For two years I’ve felt depressed and unsafe, living in this ‘what’s next?” double-speak world where any one of us is more likely to be killed by a far right white nationalist than we are to be killed or raped by an immigrant (according to the Department of Justice).  I feel worn down living under a president who expresses adulation for dictators and identifies as a “nationalist” who not only will not denounce neo-Nazis, but characterizes a parade of white men with torches shouting ‘Jews will not replace us’ as “a side” consisting of “good people.”  I’ve been shaken to the core by a president who incites violence, threatens religious freedoms and civil rights, is an inarticulate master of propaganda who smears opponents, brags and takes credit where none is due and lies without accountability. Not only has he made 1,318 false or misleading claims, an average of five a day in the first 9 months of his presidency, in the seven weeks leading up the midterm elections, he made 1,419 false or misleading claims — an average of 30 a day. Fact checkers keep track.

It’s taken a toll.  And now we have the chance to move the checks-and-balance needle by voting Democrat tomorrow.  This is not a partisan appeal but a call to voices of reason. Please vote.

__________Our World Tuesday

Red roasted day
Breeze spreads like butter
Chimes celebrate
fall’s feast of color

Steeped in Indian
summer sun
shades of cinnamon
honey and pumpkin

Cardamom, cloves
nutmeg and ginger
turn up the flavor
of fall’s spicy simmer

__________Colleen Redman / Poets United / Imaginary Garden with Real Toads

-The majority of the following photos first appeared in The Floyd Press on November 1, 2018

The scene at The Pine Tavern’s Annual Halloween Masquerade Ball was festive and included live music from The Kind, dancing and a costume contest.  First and second places winners took home cash prizes ($100 and $50) and several others received gift certificates.

Some local faces, like these two, with Christy Pugh as Grease’s Sandy, were unrecognizable.

When asked if she was Miss Piggy, this attendee answered, “Pigs in a Blanket.”

Pat Sharkey (center) made an impression with her Peace Police costume.

Even The Kind band members wore costumes.

This couple’s costumes worked best when they stood together.

This attendee’s creative moon face painting stood out in the crowd.

Becky the witch and a “Pebbles and Bam Bam” couple wait to hear the judges decisions.

Costume contest winners lined-up in front of the stage to see who would win first and second place.

Stan Davis, co-owner of Eats Natural Foods in Blacksburg, won first place for his glowing costume. He said he was inspired when a customer spoke of aliens reading our minds to create a mind-protection inspector gadget costume.

Check out first place winner Stan and second place winner Tom Petty at about 1 minute into the above video.

1. One of the most interesting costumes I came across at the annual Halloween Masquerade Ball at the Pine Tavern  was a woman with progressive activist stickers and buttons on her clothes. She had a blue glove, which she put on and then waved to me.

2. Is the blue wave the wave of the future?

3. After I heard about the mass shooting in the synagogue, I started humming ‘What the World Needs Now is Love Sweet Love.’  I hummed it for about half an hour before I realized what I was spontaneously humming.

4. “I suppose it is ironic that in this country we can offer nothing beyond hopes and prayers to those who were already praying in the first place.” – Dahlia Lithwick, Slate

5. I had a few-days-old tab up on my computer, titled ‘back issues,’ which made me wonder why I was searching for back issues, since I don’t have a bad back, so I clicked on and discovered it was for ordering back issues of the Floyd County Moonshine local literary journal!

6. I have a poem and several colored photos, including the front cover, in this season’s issue of Floyd County Moonshine.

7. The Nine Lives of Halloween: a woman in a magic act sawed with blades, a haunted house, a Tom Petty tribute band where I yelled out Free Fallin’ instead of Free Bird and then put on my ears and went on the prowl to a Masquerade party.  See HERE.

8. It’s like falling asleep on the subway and missing my stop / Like the first day of kindergarten and my mother drives me to school / but forgets to tell me she’s going to leave me there / and leaves without saying goodbye / It’s the first day of kindergarten and everyone but me / knows how to write their name / I’m scared that Mr. McGregor is going to catch Peter Rabbit / and I don’t know how to be quiet at rest time … Read the rest of What it Feels Like Not to be Writing HERE.

9. Trump is like a bragging TV wrestler and the people that go to his rallies are like booing and cheering fake wrestling fans.  But the rest of us are the ones taking the hit, and that good-guy vs bad-guy simplistic mob mentality has gotten to the point of concussions and deadly blows.

10.  The Red Sox Runs in Our Family HERE and HERE.

11. Eerie ‘singing’ sounds heard coming from the Antarctic ice shelf – Scientists have heard strange “singing” noises coming out of the ice shelf. The low-frequency noises – which sound a little like moaning when sped up – could help researchers track the ice shelves as they collapse. The singing tones come out of the surface of the massive Ross Ice Shelf when the winds blowing across the snow dunes cause it to vibrate. That means they produce the “tones” almost constantly… More HERE.

12. “We better stop, children. What’s that sound? Everybody look what’s going down… “Buffalo Springfield

13. Wait for the scream HERE.

_______Thirteen Thursday

________Our World Tuesday / Wordless Wednesday 

Thursday I went to a Dead Man’s Carnival wedding party at Dogtown Roadhouse where one of the performers did a new take on sawing a girl in half by putting blades in a box she was in (more to come).

The next night I was back for a Tom Petty tribute band.  I felt it was my duty since I’m such a big fan and I never saw him in person. Of course, I yelled out “Free Falling” instead of “Free Bird” and sang along as I danced.

I also braved the June Bug Center’s Haunted House. It was a scream!

Saturday night I was on the prowl at the annual Halloween Costume Ball with The Kind at the Pine Tavern.

Tom Petty won second place in the costume contest!  You can see him at about a minute into the above video, in which The Kind does Janis.

I also went to the Farmer’s Market Saturday because I heard there was a pumpkin carving contest, but there were no pumpkins when I got there.  I was told that the farm that was going to donate the pumpkins had a freeze and their pumpkins turned to mush. I did get to see a couple of good pumpkin carvings, one at Dogtown Roadhouse and the other at the Pine Tavern.

When my grandsons came over, I put on a skeleton mask and was able to scare Liam. I didn’t feel sorry for him because he almost always sneaks up on me and scares me first.

I’m going to keep wearing my black cat wrist band from the Kind party, at least until Halloween, as the nine lives of Halloween continues.  More pics are coming in an upcoming Floyd Press.  Meanwhile, you can play the video above and wait for the scream!

____________Our World Tuesday

It’s like falling asleep on the subway and missing my stop
Like the first day of kindergarten and my mother drives me to school
but forgets to tell me she’s going to leave me there
and leaves without saying goodbye

It’s the first day of kindergarten and everyone but me
knows how to write their name
I’m scared that Mr. McGregor is going to catch Peter Rabbit
and I don’t know how to be quiet at rest time

It’s like I don’t want to finish the memoir I’m reading
because I think the author is going to die
and it’s not like when someone dies in a book of fiction
you cry but you know it’s not real

The first time I watched someone die in a movie
after I was with my brother Danny when he died
I sobbed like it was real and was someone I knew
Russell Crowe as the Gladiator

It’s like being in Europe with the wrong kind of money
My plugs don’t fit into outlets
I have a car but the keys are locked in it
I don’t speak the language
and my cell phone won’t work

It’s like French class in elementary school
and there is no French translation for my name
So my teacher uses my middle name
I’m embarrassed to be called Ann

I’m embarrassed by my ugly red shoes
I scruff them up in the playground at recess
hoping they’ll get old fast
and my mother will buy me a new pair

It’s like nighttime and I’m home alone
I hear a mouse but don’t know where it is
I put out poison that kills the mouse
but it leaves a bad smell when it dies

I hope it’s a mouse
and not something bigger
It’s the first day of kindergarten
and I learn to write my name
because somebody shows me how
She dies in the end as we all do
I cry for her children

___________Colleen Redman / Poets United /Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads

_________Shadow Shot Sunday

-The following first appeared in The Floyd Press newspaper on October 25, 2018.

World renowned fiddle maker Arthur Conner was a special guest on Sunday as part of the Floyd County Historical Society’s “Things Made of Wood” exhibit at the Floyd Museum.

The 95-year-old Copper Hill native and his wife Ilene were greeted by a steady stream of family, friends and fans. Following the reception, Conner talked about his fiddle making methods, told stories and answered questions.

Conner, one of the most sought after fiddle makers in the country said he made his first fiddle around 1945.  A brother-in-law expressed doubt that Conner could make a fiddle, which gave him the impetus to succeed.  “I learned by doing. I’ve got fiddles all over the world,” Conner said.

Ricky Skaggs and Gene Elders, the fiddle player for George Strait and Lyle Lovett, were some of the musicians with Conner fiddles that Conner’s daughter Katherine was able to recall, but there are more.

Conner figures he’s made over 100 fiddles, a couple of upright base fiddles and four cellos. He’s been known to give a few away and shared stories of a fiddle and a cello that ended up in the Netherlands and Russia after he gifted the musicians who couldn’t afford to buy  them.

Mike Mitchell, a musician, recording artist and owner/ instructor of the Floyd Music School, who played on a Conner violin during the event, said Conner represents “a serious piece of Folk Art history.”

Mitchell has learned how to make fiddles from Conner using Conner’s signature methods, techniques that are the same as they were 100 years ago.  “Arthur came from a generation of people who made their own stuff,” ordering blueprints and tools from Sears Catalog, Mitchell said. “Now we have to go to special schools to learn.”

“Music is from the good Lord,” Conner said at the close of the two-hour open house.  “I tell everybody it’s a salve for the soul … I’ve enjoyed what I’ve done and I’m so thankful,” he added.

Photo captions:  1. Ellie Rowe (left) asked Conner to sign her copy of, Keepers of the Tradition, by Leslie Roberts Gregg and Michael Abraham, which features Conner in one of the book’s Appalachian portraits.  Conner also signed Jayn Avery’s Portrait of Floyd, a Floyd Center for the Arts exhibit catalog in which a photograph of Arthur Conner, taken by Glen McClure, graces the cover. Avery is pictured speaking with Arthur Conner’s wife, Ilene Conner. 2. Fred Quesenberry was among the stream of visitors who warmly greeted Conner during the meet-and-greet reception.  3. The Floyd Music School’s Mike Mitchell played some tunes as visitors mingled. Mitchell was trained in violin/fiddle making by Conner. 4. Gerald Via introduced Conner and Mitchell as Citizen’s Community Show’s Fox Slife focused video recording equipment. Slife said portions of the event will be aired on Citizens TV Channel 20 and on youtube. 5. Along with sharing the ins-and-out of hand-making fiddles, Conner shared stories of his WWII service, driving a truck up the Himalayas with 18 drums of gas. Conner took questions and Mike Mitchell played tunes on his violin, made by Conner. Also pictured in Conner’s wife Ilene.  

6. Young musician Cheyenne Grantham (9) performed several tunes with Mitchell, her Floyd Music School instructor.  Grantham was 8 when she won 3^rd place in the 2018 the Galax Youth Fiddle Convention competition.  7. Mike Mitchell explained the difference between a fiddle and a violin, saying that because Conner has always used a classic cut on his bridge “his fiddles have always been just as good a violin as a fiddle.”  8. Conner showed two of his finely crafted personal fiddles that were on display, explaining what wood he used (some from the back of his house) and how they were made. One of those fiddles featured Conner’s carving talent with a decorative animal head on the scroll.

1. Over the weekend, I had to phone in my poem to my husband who was driving to New York to lead a retreat.

2. I dreamt I was eating from a traditional Greek buffet. I woke up with reflux.

3. It’s late October, so I drove up to the Blue Ridge Parkway looking for fall colors. The trees haven’t turned here much, but I did find a sundog rainbow in the sky.

4. I put off reading to the end of The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying because I was thinking that the author was going to die. The problem with reading memoirs is that when someone dies, they really die.  It’s not like when someone dies in a movie or a novel, you might cry, but you know it’s not real.

5. I braced myself and read the ending in the sunshine. It was one of the best books I’ve ever read.

6. Books are like clothes. I’m very particular about both and no one has much of chance of picking out the right ones that I’m going to like.  I just have to do it myself.

7. When Joe and I were recently at the new pub in town, I joked that drinking beer at the pub was going to be my new “practice…” I love good craft beer, even though I usually can only handle a half pint.  The whole pub lifestyle brings out the Irish (the best) in me, so much so that my new ambition is to become a pub regular.  Scrabble anyone?  – More from While Others are Taking Yoga Classes I’m Drinking Beer at the Pub HERE.

8. After I posted the above on Facebook people started sending me pictures of their drinking “practice.”

9. While digging potatoes with my hands, I tore one side of my thumb nail too low. Now it looks like a crooked haircut with the dark roots of soil showing.

10. Reaching down deep / into the musty dark soil / mounded up like swollen bellies / I feel around for the curve/ / of their bodies / wiggle them loose like teeth / Born into my hand / without the sharp edge of a shovel / more than twins / more than quintuplets … More from A Sweet Labor HERE. 

11 Whenever someone links to me by name on Facebook, I feel like I’m being called into the principal’s office.

12. Adapted by Vera Morris from Rudyard Kipling’s stories, the story of a boy raised by wolves came to life on the June Bug stage with drama, memorable song and dance performances, and a bit of monkey frivolity. The twenty-three young actors, directed by Emily Gruver, played their characters with personality, sass and star quality.  The audience responded in a roar of applause when the man-eating tiger Shere Khan, played by Lenora Williams, made a dramatic entrance to the Rocky theme song, Eye of the Tiger… More from Jungle Book Sells Out Opening Night HERE.

13. “I am too young to be this old.”  – Steven Tyler

__________Thirteen Thursday