Fall or Fell?

they chatted about
skiing in yellowstone in november.
"it's really hit or miss,"
he said,
"because it all depends on
whether we have fall or fell."

"what do you mean?" she asked
"you know," he said,
"sometimes fall happens
so fast it's really just fell"

and he giggled over
his witticism.

she chuckled, too,
because even though he was
a terrific eye doc
she was convinced he missed his
calling as a wacky meterologist
for the weather channel.

~ from "a book of private conversations," 29 july 2008

Elvis Knows Conversation

"i'm so confused" her friend
confided as they ran.
"he's all talk
but where's the action?"

she hated hearing her friend in pain
but she also knew
humor was there,
just lurking beneath the surface.

so, she directed her friend
to elvis singing
"a little less conversation"
which, she supposed, was something
he knew a thing or two about.

if nothing else,
they could have a good laugh
while puzzling over the
challenging species known
among wildlife biologists as
"the twenty-six year old male."

~ from "a book of private conversations," 27 july 2008

Running With Abandon

"for some reason
this reminds me of you,"
he said.

and as she gazed at the image
on the birthday card,
she couldn't stop giggling.

because, he was right,
this was definitely her
when she was four.

so, with card in hand,
she took herself into the city,
vowing to buy the biggest hat
she could find.

upon finding it
she decided to wear it about town
while she hunted down a cheap taco stand.

she hoped it would have really good salsa.

~ from "a book of private conversations," copyright 25 july 2008

"Well, Strike Me Pink!"

she loved nestling
into the sofa
and watching
old movies from the 30s.

not only was
there something
magical about watching
Fred and Ginger
dance the Continental

but it made her giggle
to see Fred wear a
silk polka dot robe
over his tuxedo trousers,
pausing only to adjust his ascot
before dancing on the table.

plus, she decided that few things were better
than hearing a waiter say,
"whumsical is more whimsical than whamsical"
as he delivers the afternoon tea.

from "a book of private conversations," copyright 27 july 2008.

Explosion of Wishes

running through the field
she was surrounded by dandelions
in bloom.

"oh, they're so pretty," she thought to herself.
and the little gossamer parachutes
heard her as the wind
blew them into flight

circling her,
they made the air thick
with an explosion of wishes
and she was touched
that the universe
would grant her
so many dreams all at once.

from "a book of private conversations," copyright 26 july 2008

Sayonara, Dragons!

"sayonara, dragons" from "a book of private conversations", copyright 25 july 2008.

i used to think
that dragons lived
in my closet.

so, i started singing
'puff the magic dragon'
every night until
they packed up and left.

they didn't like
that song
very much.

***

the picture i drew recently to accompany the poem didn't turn out very well. but, i liked the idea of showing something emerging and then departing. not bad for a two minute doodle, methinks!

Whirling Dervish

under the moon
she danced
in the snow
with her arms raised to the sky.

whirling like a dervish
she cut swaths through the powder,
releasing puffs of exhilarated
exhalations.

crystalline clouds
dusted her feet
as she moved.

she twirled and twirled
and the stars danced with her,
so happy to add to her mirth

and when she collapsed in the snow
in a fit of giggles,
they joined in

and the heavens rang with music.

~ from "a book of private conversations", copyright 22 july 2008.

Creating beauty

water lily, copyright 23 july 2008.

one of my favorite things about working with water colors is that they're so malleable and colorful. the picture doesn't do the original justice, but i was so pleased by the end result that i took the image to the framers and am having it custom framed.

painting, i've decided, makes me very happy. writing, too. oh, and i have so many story ideas clamoring within me for release. as my dear friend marky b reminded me recently, you have to make time to be creative. you have to make a daily/weekly appointment with yourself to find the joy which resides within and yearns for release.

thanks, mb. consider that duly noted!

Wordle!

Thanks to Patia, I'm having some fun with Wordle and making word clouds of my own. Here's the most recent creation reflecting, of course, my current fixation on Carl Jung and Joe Campbell. I have to laugh because the initials J.C. (or vice versa) seem to be important ones these days, which just confirms my hunch that the universe likes to rhyme and has a delicious sense of humor.

Stellar Nurseries

seeking warmth
at the top of a mountain
she listened to an
astronomer describe
how nebulae
give birth to stars.

why! they're stellar nurseries,
she exclaimed excitedly to herself.

and she smiled
to think that up there
in the cosmos
little nurseries held
even littler stars,
that cooed with
promise of
twinkling and shining
one day.

~ from "a book of private conversations", copyright 21 july 2008.

Clark Gable

clark gable is my movie boyfriend, she exclaimed.
he's so dreamy. irresistible. so debonair.
i think it's love, she cooed.

he paused momentarily
and without missing a beat replied,
"frankly, my dear,
i don't give a damn!"

she giggled
and was just about
to let loose a retort
that would've done scarlett proud
when she realized
just how uncomfortable
it is to wear a hoop skirt
during the july heat
of a southern summer.

~ from "a book of private conversations", copyright 20 july 2008.

Letting things unfold

the universe is way cool, she decided.

because even though she was focused elsewhere,
her angel was still busy placing
little messages for her out there
on the periphery.

when she noticed them,
she felt like gretel
and thought it'd be silly
*not* to follow the breadcrumbs.

if nothing else,
at least she was guaranteed
tasty snacks along the way.

~ from "a book of private conversations", copyright 19 july 2008.

New Poem

he told her that
on Easter Island
there were very few female heads.
i wonder why, he asked.

she thought about it
and said that it must be
because the women refused
to share their crunchy peanut butter
and the men
threw them off
the island in protest.

she couldn't see his reaction,
but it amused her to imagine
women and jars of peanut butter
sailing off to papua new guinea
where rumor had it
men there
were more interested in
other types of food.

~ from "a book of private conversations", copyright 16 july 2008.

From "A Book Of Private Conversations"

"Giant" ~ copyright 2008.

During the course of 2001, I started to write little quirky poems. Often, they were inspired by a conversation I was having with another or that I somehow overhead. Over the years, these poems kept arriving, and I kept jotting them down...sometimes feeling inspired to draw an image to accompany them and sometimes allowing the words to speak for themselves.

I wrote "Giant" because I used to have an imaginary friend, "Peter" when I was three and lived in Pittsburgh. My parents tell me I said this about him: "Peter is as tall as the sky with blue hair and blue eyes and he lives in a hole in my room."

We used to sit at my little play table and I'd serve him tea in little brown plastic mugs.

Never once do I remember him complaining about his living space.

Woman emerges from ink...

More on the woman I'm drawing...inspired by a painting I saw on Ireland's West Coast, 2006.

She's emerging. I can see this image so clearly in my mind and I am anxious to bring her to life. Perhaps my excitement is such because I feel that I, too, am emerging. As I integrate my many parts into one whole, I find that I see more clearly and have the urge to sit, be still and create from the space within.

It's so thrilling.

"Do the Tao Now"

My study of the Tao Te Ching continues. I already had Lao Tzu's teachings before me, but I also went out and picked up Wayne Dyer's meditational study on the Tao Te Ching. Yesterday's study centered on Verse 12 and its take on choices. You'll find the verse in its entirety below.

Colors can make us blind!
Music can make us deaf!
Flavors can destroy our taste!
Racing can drive us mad
And its reward obstruct our peace!

Thus, the wise
Fill the inner gut
Rather than the eyes,
Always sacrificing the superficial
For the essential.

***

I love the wisdom of this verse because it reminds me to move from the "outside" to the "inside"...from all that is "without" to all that is "within". What is within is real, what is without is illusory and mere constructs of my mind, my ego. I think that's what Lao Tzu is saying here. When we live externally, we miss so much that is going on within and it is within that the blessings find us.

One terrific way to jump into this internal space is through meditation, of course, but perhaps even more fun is by DREAMING!!! I'm having so much fun asking questions and watching the answers unfold in my dreams...meeting people both familiar and strange...traveling. 'Tis so much fun! Give it a whirl and see how you feel!!!

Patmos

An image of the Horse Head Nebulae Region by Bobby Middleton

Patmos
~ Mark Jarman

On a clear day you can see dark matter --
And still not know what you are looking at.
Or turn and see the simple heavens shatter
And make themselves into an alphabet
Of riddles wrapped inside mysteries
Inside enigmas, coming from deep space.
What do you do when everything's a sign
And the goatskin of the universe uncaps
And pours its missing mass out like a wine?
I saw the script that glares inside rubbed eyes.
I felt the infrastructure of the face
That will endure through empires collapse.
I was astonished, I could hardly speak,
And wrote it all down afterwards, in Greek.

Looking out into sea and fire

Looking out onto sea and fire, 6 July 2008.

Woke up this morning feeling inspired to try to bring this image to life. I first tried it on regular watercolor paper but the paper felt ungiving and rigid.

So, I tried different writing paper and stayed with the watercolors to produce the above study. It's just a hasty mock-up of a future idea.

Looking at it now, i think chalk is the way to go because it is malleable and offers more freedom. This leaves me with the next step -- buying large canvas and chalk!!! I'm thinking about making this BIG and incorporating silver pen into the spaces to delineate the colors. Gives the image some fault lines, and I like the idea of having moon color run through her.

Intersections

Intersections and Islands, 4 July 2008.

Inspired by artwork in the home of Ken and Christine Lindsay

We each have infinite possibilities for our life! Isn't that so incredible once you begin to think about it? Every moment, every breath is FRESH...NEW...NOW. For example, if we don't like where we're going in life, all we have to do is stop, breathe and change our thoughts. 'Tis as simple as that.

And, when we allow ourselves to move past attachment and blindness, the most amazing things begin to happen -- we begin to see opportunities and people previously unseen in our fields of vision.

Lately, I've been struck at how serendipitously these unexpected interactions can intersect our lives, reminding us that we're not mere islands in life but actually faceted parts of an integrated whole. This reminder can happen in an instant and often when we least expect it.

Perhaps this is the true meaning of "sychronicity," a concept with which I am more than fascinated? My new literary boyfriend, Carl Jung, offers the following:

"Synchronicity is no more baffling or mysterious than the discontinuities of physics. It is only the ingrained belief in the sovereign power of causality that creates intellectual difficulties and makes it appear unthinkable that causeless events exist or could ever occur" (p. 102, Synchronicity).

As "boyfriend" would suggest -- we limit ourselves by thinking. It is only when we spend time "be-ing" that we are able to see what was hidden and hear what was whispered.

Only then do our worlds crack open, enabling us to see the ease of life and the naught of struggle.

Creative Every Day!!!

Intuitive doodle #1, July 1 2008.

My dream life has been so rich lately that it's beginning to spill over into my physical world. I feel wildly creative these days and feel intuitively that a new idea is about to break forth -- perhaps a new book? While the gestation continues, I find myself doodling at random times throughout the day. Here are the first to appear. I'm not sure what they mean, but I know that with a little time, they'll reveal themselves to me.

Intuitive doodle #2, July 1, 2008.

Along these lines, one of my dreams led me to the artwork of Leah Piken Kolidas. Chats followed and I'm happy to report that I've joined her Creative Every Day challenge for the rest of 2008!!! The point, as Leah says, is to try to do something creative every day, even if it's just doodling. I'm *so* excited to see what will present itself!

I'll update my blog with new artwork and other creative outbursts as they come to me, so STAY TUNED!!!!