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Sunday, August 17, 2025

Eat Your Words: A Kansas Poetry Cookbook

A shout out the Kansas Poet Laureate

For this Poetry Cookbook Project





Traci Brimhall is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently Love Prodigal. Her poems have appeared in publications such as The New YorkerThe NationThe New RepublicPoetryThe New York Times Magazine, and Best American Poetry. She’s received fellowships from National Endowment for the Arts, the National Parks Service, the Academy of American Poets, and Purdue Library’s Special Collections to study the lost poem drafts of Amelia Earhart. She’s the current poet laureate for the State of Kansas. Her poem, “Smoke Carries the Wish to the Heavens,” appeared in American Poetry Review.


Eat Your Words: A Kansas Poetry Cookbook


Edited by Traci Brimhall, Poet Laureate of Kansas

20 Chefs, 20 Poets - Recipes & Poems

POETRY / American / General
COOKING / Regional & Ethnic / American / Middle Western States
COOKING / Individual Chefs & Restaurants

ISBN: 978-1-956578-73-7 
Retail: $15.00

Sunday, August 10, 2025

Morning thoughts during Rolling Thunder



                                                                           Photo: M.A.Wells


Rolling thunder this morning is unsettling to our German Shepherd, Silas. He has gotten better about such sounds and fireworks but I guess he will likely always have some issue with it. He is a rescue dog but we have had him for more than 10 years. When we first brought him home he was laden with anxiety for almost everything. He would not walk through a doorway unless led through on  leash. 

When I am working at my desk he, and the little long haired dachshund, Madison, will quietly rest close at hand. Madison's main function in life is to tag along underfoot - especially when I move into the kitchen because he knows it is most likely there, that God will see that manna will fall from heaven. Any eatable that is enroute to the floor he will likely snarf up mid-air before it hits the floor. But he is perfectly fine eating off the floor as well. 

If I am sitting otherwise quietly at my desk but have something I am eating, they are both instantly aware. Madison impatiently working for my attention in hopes I will share. Silas on the other hand lumbers over and stands quietly with this look he knows I cannot resist. It is polite and sincere and of course makes me want to reward him.  If he feels however that Madison is winning in the attention mode, Silas will up the ante by adding a very quiet whimper. His posture otherwise remains polite and he only moves closer if I offer an extended hand with a treat. Madison will of course rip it out of your hand if at all possible.

What is really funny is that if I have popcorn or chex mix, or something else I can offer him while I am eating it -- and of course ancy pants too, once I am finished I have to say "all gone" and show the bowl or my hands like I am a Black Jack dealer. Once that happens he quietly goes back to his spot on the floor.

Dogs are some of my favorite people. 

We have had cats too as well as at the same time. But we have had dogs that were not cat friendly and I can't be certain these two would tolerate a cat, so that is not happening.  I do however miss the cats even as they were trying to walk on my keyboard as I write. But mostly they would get comfortable next to where I was writing. 

I notice it has grown quieter and I think maybe we are done with the thunder for now. All is quiet, and I need to shift to another mode for a different writing project.  

Saturday, August 09, 2025

I Knew to Wait


                                                Photo by Polina Kuzovkova on Unsplash


The softness of the light 

the twisty commingle

of sheet and blanket

left in haste

but for how long?


Too early an hour

for a walk.

A taxi maybe? 

But where? 

Do I wait? 


Ah, the coffee 

it was made 

as if specially for me

I pour a cup and wait.



Saturday, February 15, 2025


Photo by Zhen Yao on Unsplash




Glitter


It looks like change sounds.
Rhinestone trees catching light 
be it sun or moon.

A flash point for the eyes. 
Everything else bows
and takes a place out of focus. 



MichaelAllyn Wells (C) 2025

Saturday, October 19, 2024

I Hear Only Myself Breathing

    Photo by Rosie Sun on Unsplash


Sometimes I feel the darkness touching my sides.  It hugs me, not in
loving way, nothing sensual, not even in a caring sort of way.

It's not a darkness with a mood overhead. It's not a darkness with the
twinkle of stars above. It's not even the darkness with the expectation
of a gradual lightening into a new day.

It is an aloneness that compounds your very existence. It's a kind of
blindness to everything that surrounds you. 

It takes your balance away. It takes away joy. It surrenders you to 
an uncharted surrounding. It's an emptiness that is missing vibrance 
that it has not forgotten.  



#emptiness. #dark.  # alone #missing 

Saturday, September 21, 2024

Thought Scape


                                        Photo by Fons Heijnsbroek, abstract-art on Unsplash


A blended series of interactive thoughts.

Transcribed to ethical proportion.

Taking up space -- but only in a single dimension.

What would it say-

were it able to speak for itself?

Would the response be linear? 

Tangential?

Much adoo about nothing? 




#abstract




Saturday, September 14, 2024

Is The Taylor Swifte Endorsement of Kamala Harris the Cultural Zenath for the 2024 Election?


 


With the 2024 Election Campaign coming at us like an astroid, the endorsement of Kamala Harris for president the night of the Trump - Harris debate has sparked the question of how much impact such an endorsement can have on a national campaign. 

We know per recent polling that the race is very tight.  We know that Swife has a whole army of fans out there. Not all are voting age, but even those who are not, in most cases have parents that have likely shelled out money for Taylor Swift tickets of merchandise and I think even these young swifties can play an influential role getting parents on board. 

Is there another celebrity that could offer as much star power out there?  What would it take for Trump to find a counter to Swift? Does it even make a difference. 

There are plenty of other  cultural influencers out there that have heave lesser fanfair to offer but still bring some unique quark to the campaign.  This election is unlike any I have ever witnessed. 

Recently Liz Cheney and her father the former Vice President, both Republicans icons historically, have announced that for the sake of the country, they will not support the Republican nominee but instead, vote for Kamala Harris. The day I saw this, I though hell had frozen over. Then on Friday, famous conservative columnist, baseball enthusiasts and author George Will did the same.  Again, it was a nod to the importance of saving our democracy from Trump as opposed to any more ideological position on issues.

If this election campaign is unorthodox for any reason, it is because the threat of our democratic republic is in so many people's view trumping other issues. No pun intended. 

How Much Difference If Any Will Taylor Swift Make?

Swift commands a significant following - as of Aug 7, 2024 — Taylor Swift – 550.5 million followers on all her social media platforms. Reuters reports that Taylor Swift's Harris endorsement drew 9 million 'likes.' 

The thing about Swift is she has a very positive image. Further, those that don't care for her are often a result of cultural issues they disagree with her on, and the general feeling she represents an opposition to Trump so they automatically don't care for her. 

The latter fact probably means that she is not going to likely caust Harris votes on these issues because they are already zoned in on those issues and were not going to vote for her anyway.

There is an ongoing number of new 18 year olds every day. This added youth vote offers a whole new pool of voters. They are likely influenced by many things including Taylor Swift. But additionally in the scheme of courtural war issues, they are more likely to lean Harris then Trump.  Harris has been making a plea to young people to register to vote, so that opens  a door to many 18 and older that were not registered. 

We won't likely know till after the election how much Harris may have been helped by this endorsement, and even then, it. will likely be speculative based on the turn out of  young people, even though her fan base is quite expansive in terms of age. I can personally attest to that. 


#culturalwars  #Haeeis. #Trump. #election2024. #TaylorSwift #endorsements