Confession Tuesday: Where Has August Gone Edition

 

Dear Reader / Friend or both...

It's Tuesday night and it has been 28 days, One Truman Gala, On 35th Legislative Dist. Organizational Meeting, One full Democratic Committee Meeting, a 9the Election To The Democratic Committee, several rejection letters, 27 new poem drafts, 3 gas tank fill-ups (I think), and untold days of frustration since my last Confession.

I have gone from sceptical that the Democrats can hold onto the Senate in the fall elections to feeling relatively optimistic that we can gain 2 to 3 seats. I confess this is based on my general assessment of a variety of polls and not just wishful thinking.

I confess that I am at a loss for understanding how impotent the Republican Party has become so quickly in this country. 

I confess that I have fallen off my schedule of working on my poetry manuscript. It is perhaps a combination of coming out of the Primary elections and starting back to school.

I am taking two classes this semester. I confess one is really interesting, the other I could teach. with both hands tied behind my back.

I confess that I have absolutely no idea where August has gone to.

I confess that Madison, my long-haired Dachshund had probably the best day of his life and I missed it. I am told he found a snake in the back yard and it became his favourite toy. Having missed it personally, I feel kind of like being told you weren't home and missed your son or daughter's first steps.

Mood Tonight: a mixture of #sadness, #frustration and #empathy 

Salman Rushdie Attack

 The attack on Salman Rushdie this week is both sad and Ironic. 

Salma Rushdie was in New York to discuss the plight of writers and journalists who face dangerous conditions because of their work.  Before appearance for a lecture where the author was viciously attacked by a man welding a knife, Rushdie had exchanged emails with PEN America concerning the need to provide a safe haven for Ukrainian Writers. 

Confession Tuesday Aug 2 - A Win and an A Edition.

Dear Reader: 

Hurry, come with me to the confessional, let's get this done. 

Reader:  It has been two weeks since my last confession. Today is Missouri's Primary election, and I confess that I feel really weird. I'm running for reelection on the Democratic Committee. This will be my 9th term. It is also. the only time I have run unopposed.  That feels really strange. I am used to campaigning hard each time, so I don't quite know how to deal with this emotionally (insert laugh here).  I'm not complaining of course. I've often wanted to run unopposed, it just feels strange. 

It's hot here today. I mean really hot, but that's not really unusual this time of summer. I have stood at the polls all day long in 101 to 104 degrees temperatures many days. My prayers go out for all those at the polls - voters and volunteers today, but also anyone compromised by heat. The homeless, those without air conditioning and those without fans. I confess that these people are in my thoughts and I pray they have some relief from the dangerous temperatures. 

The school semester is over. I confess that I am pleased to report the one class I took for the summer session I received an A in. That's what I wanted, so I'm elated. For those who were supportive of me going back to school, thank you, thank you. 

The past week I've been up and down emotionally. This has been pretty par for the course lately. There are things that stress me and I try to deal with them as best I can. I confess I'm learning to manage this better, but it continues to be challenging 

Once again I am doing the Grind. A new poem or rewrite each day for a  month.  I've been doing this now for going on 14 months. I recommend this if you need to do lots of new work and want to get lots of writing practice. I confess it has been worth it to me. 

That's it for tonight, I will settle in to watch some election returns and write. 

Until next time,  be safe!  And if you can't write a poem, be a poem. 

 

Confession Tuesday July 19, 2022

Dear Readers: 

It has been six days since my last confession.   Hurry along to the confessional and let's get started. 

Reader-- 

I confess this has been a hard week. It's been a week with a lot of demands and I have tried to remain true to them. From school and school work to writing, to try to help another, but alas I have realized I am not magical or all-powerful. I am human and I have had limited success. Further, I am disappointed in my overall results. This is a self-disappointment, plain and simple. 

Tonight, I listen to the news and am admittedly. angry.  The Secret Service says they deleted text messages on Jan 5 and 6, 2021.  This is only the most significant two days in recent American history.  Plus their story has changed over and over.  All agents working those two days need to sit and testify under oath before the Jan 6 Committee. 

I'm happy to say that it seems my month of Grind poems has been going better this month. I confess it should be automatic by now. 

There are at least one, maybe two poetry books coming out that I must have. They need to be worked into my anaemic budget.

Yes, raising my hand, I confess I am eating Sweet Cherry Peppers....  for dinner?  Maybe. 

Let me leave you with these words by Yeats... "For the saint and the poet alike... make excess even more excessive."

Stay safe, and read daily...

 

Journaling Series #3 "Journal Bits"

 To continue my series on journaling I wanted to give you a bit of a flavor for things a writer might journal about. This of course could be an exhaustive topic, but I am going to provide you with just a small example of what a normal day of journaling might be like.

Of course, if I were working on a special project I might want to focus on that, but this will be an example of just a random day...

I Will Call This Journal Bits

• Random words coming to my mind today in no order of importance... colonial, fixture, orgasm, penance, toxicology, embrace, melon, placard, and widget.  (I have no idea what these say about me, perhaps you can tell me)  Note: any or all could appear in my writing over the next few days.
• My day has been busy with school work and I am proud to say that I have stayed on schedule.
• Random Thoughts - Sylvia Plath has as many issues with her mother, as she did with her father.  💥  When I think of T.S. Eliot, I automatically think of him as old before I even think of how extraordinary he was as a poet. 💥  I think of the dash "-" each time I think of Emily Dickinson. 
• There are things that could happen to make this day better. I'm just saying.
• Is there an Acceptance Letter around the corner? Yes? No? Maybe so? 
• Quote from a book... "I am a natural, free-ranging milk-fed girl.   SO wholesome." Arielle Greenberg, I Live In The Country & other dirty poems. Four Way Books. 2020
• Donald Hall, journaling...  "Reading Ruth Stone's poems, wonderful with that ending zag which is unpredictable, exact, repeated, yet it never becomes mannered."
• From the Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath:  "Everything is the same but different." Paradox again. Two mutually exclusive and contradictory adjectives are applied to the same universe. And this phrase is again a unique insight into the repetitious and varied universe man has woken up in and begun to work transforming into something he can call his own. We are all men but as different as we are similar - as opposite as we are alike.
• AND This: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman STILL  has blood on his hands.  Sandis have a horrendous record on human rights. Especially for Women. 

Confession Tuesday on Wednesday

Dear Reader:

I confess that I am late. This would not be the first time you have heard this from me and I'm sure it won't be the last.  Last night when I arrived home from class, I had to finish my Grind poem and a couple other essential obligations and the clock just would not let me do this, so here I am tonight.

I confess I will lead off with good news tonight.  Ada Limón was named our new Poet Laureate of the United States.  A very deserving choice. I had the occasion the meet Ada once at a reading in Lawrence, Kansas. One of my favorite poems of her's at the time was Sharks in the River.  Not one of her best pieces but a fun one never less.   Her 2015 book Bright Dead Things seemed to be a turning point in her work and I knew that there would be bright days ahead for her and her poetry.

Ada deserves this, but what's more, America will be enriched by a greater awareness of her poetry. 

Today was a rough day at the office and I admit I am tired. But here I am confessing to you that life after work goes on. 

I am also happy to report that I am feeling happier than not about school. It is a big change to my evenings, but I feel so far that I've been doing what I need to and that is a good feeling.

I confess I am ready any day now for an acceptance letter or two or three. Come on, I'm overdue. 

I am a little disappointed in my Giants. They have gone through a rough patch. Mid-season and they need to turn themselves around. 

My Essay on Plato is due in two weeks. It's coming along. I may take a break from it tonight. 

I confess I believe in miracles. 

My overall mood today is best described as tired and reserved.  Not a bad mood but could improve. I'm not complaining, just hoping for some good news.

Until next time, stay safe, and may happiness find you. 

Confession Tuesday 7-05-22

Dear Reader:

It has been 13 days since my last confession. I have a lot to make up for, so follow me to the Confessional, please. 

If it's Tuesday it should be class night. Instead of class, I had a conference with my professor. Not a conference like I did something bad, but I'm sure somewhere along the line I have, but a conference to go over my big project of the semester. My last essay. 

I arrived slightly early as I confess I was nervous and sort of felt lost. Not. in the building pictured above right, there is not that much to get lost in there. No, I was lost in what I was doing there.  Yes, I had a vague idea. I was supposed to go over where I was at on the project. He asked me to refresh his mind on what I was doing in general terms. 

Plato - in his view can one be happy in life without eros?  In general, Plato seems to rank beauty and love very high in his order of life. I'm certain that Plato would not like one to speak in general terms, nor does he like sensibility. The ladder seems to defy making any sense. 

I won't write the essay here, I hope to only do it once, but my professor was almost giddy over the things I brought up, both in observations of Plato and Socrates and some of the questions I will raise concerning the application of Plato's theories in today's world.

I walked out of the classroom feeling. happy that I was apparently on the right track. 

So, the building above is the Liberal Arts building on the Longview Campus. I confess that my mind got the best of me and was thinking if I were going to Liberty University back in Virginia, would my class be in the Conservative Arts building instead.  The University was I believe founded by the late Jerry Falwell, which should tell you a lot about it.  (insert laugh here)

I confess today was a bag of mixed goods. There were some good things about my day and some things that were just so-so. A little in the feeling down mode, but overall, it was a decent day I guess. 

I confess I am extremely tired of shootings. More people are growing angry at the gun violence in this nation. They are not shy above their anger either. The problem is accelerating. More guns in the community are not the answer. It's like throwing gas on a fire. 

I confess that I have been trying to practice calm more often. I'm getting better at it, not perfect but with some prompting, I have made headway. 

I confess that I am so happy for Silas that he got his cone off this weekend.  Poor baby is recovering from a torn ACL. 

Still cranking out poetry submissions. Still waiting for some journals I really want in. I confess is have a list of them I keep in my head. 

That's it for today's confession  - Until next time - be safe and enjoy life.