Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Dancing on the Steps of Coffman....

All Night They Are Dancing

[In prowling around for photos on a collection of jump drives, I found some old poems I wrote back when I lived in Minneapolis.  I'll start with this one.  I was in my Native American poetry phase, and I loved their cadence.]

All night they are dancing on the steps of Coffman
All night the nations are dancing on the steps of Coffman

Homely boy is dancing
Filled with grace,
Wheeling like a gull behind a tractor.

Old Asian man is dancing
Filled with light
Light his steps and light
The space between
His elbows and knees,
Pumping up and down
Like puppet limbs.

Old Asian man is dancing
With old Caucasian woman.
She wears a red raincoat. 
She wears a plaid hat.
She is lovely, old Caucasian woman.
Her oxfords carry her ancient feet like chariots.

Beautiful people are dancing
On the steps of Coffman
Adorned in costly shirts and cutoffs
On the steps of Coffman.

Their hair is richly plaited
Their hair is dyed bright red and black and yellow.

The married couples are dancing.
In ecstasy they are dancing, making one
Out of self they are dancing.
Out of breath they are dancing.
They pinch each other’s behinds as they pass.

Like a wind that winds among the cottonwoods
The people are dancing.
Like leaves of the cottonwood they bow to each other
Like leaves of the sacred tree they make
Holy space between them.

Gentle are the faces they show to one another.
Kindly and fine are the patterns they make.

In dignity and beauty they are dancing
In joy and enthusiasm the people are dancing.

Music sounds from the steps of Coffman
An old dog wears a red bandanna.

The people are awaiting heaven—
The people are creating heaven.

Verbum Sap 3

My friend Mary Lou gave me this motto that she got from the Self-Esteem group at St. Vincent's:
"I correctly take myself into consideration first in all matters."

I asked her what her take was on panhandlers, as I wrestle with this all the time.....She does not fork
over her money.  She said "We are very different in this, Mary Ellen.  I have savings and take care of
myself first."  ok ok.  I get it.  It's hard for me to pass beggars on the street, and there are MANY here in DC.  Mary Lou lives in Soho, NYC, and as you might imagine, there are ample opportunities in that area for her to give away her funds to needy people, also.  But she does not.  And I honor her attitude.  $aving$.  Mary Lou does not have a toilet in her apartment--it's down the hall, and the bathtub is in the kitchen--but she has savings!! and volunteers her time in many ways--something I haven't done in years.  Learning something new and valuable every single day, here.  My dear therapist Jackie used to say "we have to get you over your vow of poverty."  ha.  Yas'm.

 

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Painting....

tried oil pastels for a change....this is a copy of a picture, "Burano Houses" by Margaret Evans in her book Pastels, first published in 2008 by Collins, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers. www.collins.co.uk.  

I love working with pastels, even though I don't know anything about it.  Need to get some good fixative to keep the pastels on the canvas board.  I've done two coats of what the Blick guy recommended, but I want something stronger.

And so it goes.  I'm trying to do some clouds, but not getting very far.  There are all kinds of clouds, though...cirrus, stratus, cumulus and infinite combinations thereof.  Hmmm...

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Verabum sap 2

One of my former bosses used to say "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there,"  Yes!  One of my horoscopes this morning talks about knowing what I want being the first step
toward getting it.  Kinda the same, huh?  It also suggests finding a small dream/desire/longing and identifying that, then doing something to get it.  OK...Israeli/Turkish coffee?  Don't think they sell this ready-to-brew hereabouts....

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Paragraphs I love...

Sarah Schulman's Girls, Visions and Everything  has loads of fabulous paragraphs.  Here's one of my favorites:

"Where's Kwame?"
"Arthur took him to the movies.  Every month or so Arthur decides that he wants his son to have exposure to some average American culture so he'll know what people are talking about if he ever crosses Fourteenth Street.  That's the theory anyway.  So he takes him off to the movies.  Halfway through, of course,  all the sexism and racism and gratuitous violence get to be too much.  Arthur gets disgusted and they have to walk out.  Poor Kwame's almost six and he doesn't know movies are ever over.  He thinks they're like the sky, cinematically endless."


Saturday, August 6, 2016

When Vacation Is Only 3 Days....

...in a lovely environment.  Nothing like a skyful of
clouds, birdsong, glorious green trees in the mountains.  Bonus:  saw my first Monarch butterfly in years.  Love how they fly.  Tiger Swallowtail, too!!  No bears or deer, though they have been seen there.