Anniversary

Anniversary

you

crossed my mind this morning

the time you grazed my shoulder

in the garden

with your dazzling wings

they shimmered in the sunbeams

yellow & burnt orange framed in

                black

graceful transmitters of messages

                of courage

                of conviction

                of patience

you confided the simplest truths

                the

universe surely is made of music

& that God’s capacity is so much

greater than man’s understanding

these moments

these small ceremonies

granted visions from the beyond

quantify the joys you left behind

& like

the wind in the weeping willows

my heart dangles in the open air

                I remember

our meeting as sweetly as our

                parting

**

A year ago today an extraordinary woman was taken far too soon. I remember her today, with love, sitting next to a sunny open window, the birds chirping and the breeze warm. This poem is my pause, to evoke her, her life, her heart and those she left behind to carry on her memory.

Miss you, Mama June Jackson.

In propinquity,

Nic

Sun Stands Still

Sun Stands Still

when earth is most

inclined to the sun

& it sinks beneath

the brave horizon

on the longest day

of the year

I am a Reveler

in a warm knit-sweater

spread out on a blanket

w/ a thermos of green tea

Buffy Sainte Marie tapes

summer solstice ready

                a strawberry moon

it is worth looking up

it will not appear again

for a good many years

                under amber glow

I am grateful for being

                & pray for time

**

This poem is a little late. I’d have shared it sooner but I was still fussing with it up until a few minutes ago. I was re-organizing a few clunky lines, I finally managed to make them work.

On Monday, we say the full June moon rise on the summer solstice. The Northern hemisphere hasn’t seen once since 1967, the Summer of Love. It was rare and worth observing. I hope you were able to ponder in wonder, even if just for a moment.

And, what’s this I hear about a potential Canada Post strike!? Holy haystacks! How will I card tag with Ru!? Send Alya books!? Postcross!? Amazon!?  Yes, I used Amazon as verb, sue me. This is not happy news to my still achy on occasion ears. Blerg.

One more sleep until Friday. I’m anxious to sleep in. I am tres tired this week.

In propinquity,

Nic

Artistic Snafu

Artistic Snafu 

while you are in the process of

revising your bloated masterpiece

I will ponder your deliberate 

choice to avoid a dramatic ending 

you will resort to arbitrary criticism

of my delicate unabashed poetics

that have been earnestly delegated to 

piece together your splintered patience

I would happily congratulate you

on your rich fictional histories

but it is a commonplace error 

for an admirable reader to prolong

false & undeserving accolades

it is an artistic snafu

what I can accomplish in 4 or 5 sentences

takes you more than 600 long-winded pages

your melodrama is palatable

but my prose is a world of passion

you reveal yourself with great reluctance

it hinders your almost extinct sincerity 

but 

I am a bestseller & open to interpretation

you are a faunt of envy

of this

to others

I say nothing

**

Moral?  Envy, jealousy, boastfulness get you nowhere.  But, confidence, belief and hard work do.  Just my few cents worth.  This applies to any facet of life, art and work.

After finishing 'Hardscrabble' I wasn't sure anything new would materialize in the way of story ideas.  I went a few days resting my noodle, watching TV, reading a little and being otherwise casual.  I was eating dinner at a friend's house, grilled cheese and soup, when an idea formulated.  The working title, which I really like, is 'Large-Hearted'.  I've only written the first paragraph, a small paragraph mind you but it is brewing.  The only way I can really describe it, as of the idea I have now, is that it is a story within a story.  I'll know more when the characters fill me in.  

Nothing else going on in my little world right now.  I started watching S3 'Game of Thrones' last night.  I thought I'd better catch up since everyone has been going postal about the 'Red Wedding' episode.  I haven't read the books so the event won't come as a complete shock to me but I have been avoiding most of the spoilers.  Oy. 

I also watched S1 of 'Smash', the now canceled series from NBC starring Debra Messing about live theatre/Broadway in New York City.  I LOVE this show, a musical, complete with musical numbers and high drama.  S2 comes out on DVD in August.  I can't wait!  I wasn't sure I'd like it but I ended up loving it. Something light-hearted and fun and something to get me over my '30 Rock' hangover.  Excited that 'True Blood' and 'Dexter' are starting this month.  Holy cow, it's JUNE!

Happy hump day, folks.

In propinquity,

Nic