Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Confession Tuesday - Love & Kindness Edition
Please follow me to the confessional....
Dear Reader,
Where do you start when you don't know what to say? What do you say when basically anything said is not adequate? It's especially hard to think about yourself at a time like this. To think about what your last two weeks have been like. What has gone wrong or what has gone right.
I didn't personally know any who died in the Orlando shooting. At lease I don't believe I did. But everyone whose life was snuffed out, every person who was wounded by bullets, and everyone across this country whose heart was wounded by loss from the mass shooting has no doubt been profoundly impacted by the events. Indeed this nation grieves. We grieve once again for the senseless loss of lives by weapons that have no place in a civil society aside from the military.
The one thing I try to think about as I reflect upon the past two weeks is love. Who have I shown love to? What stranger have I smiled at? What doors have I held open? Who have I gone out of my way to help?
I also feel compelled to think about the exact opposite of love... hate. Have I really truly hated anyone? Sadly, the answer to this is honestly yes. I don't want to hate someone. I can rationalize perhaps why they may be unworthy of love. But hate, hate is a powerful poison. The funny thing (which is not really funny at all) is that most people that I hate are so remote that they don't really know who I am, much less that I actually hate them. And clearly one in particular, really exhibits by action a good deal of hate by their own right.
I suppose it is easy to rationalize that because one person does hateful things that it is justifiable to hate them back. It is truly easy to see that hate begets hate.
As much as I have decided I need to work on saying things that exemplify hate (and I have been guilty of this) I have also thought that for those out there that fall into that void somewhere between the two extremes, I need to be more open to just being a person who can share a smile, extend a greeting. Look for loving acts of kindness without regard for who these people are.
Life is short. We don't generally know expiration date. Our examples of kindness may be the last thing someone recalls.
I confess that there are things we as citizens can do about the issues of gun violence. And these are things that we should do.This is a fight we all need to wage for the sake of our future, our children and grandchildren. I have done some of these things in the past and I will continue.
I confess that I see that we all need more kindness. Everywhere! Kindness at home, at school, at work, on the street corner, while driving, I confess that I have a role to play in introducing more kindness to others.
I confess that these past two weeks I've had some positive things happen. There is the Paul Simon Concert at Starlight, and the Poem of mine appearing in The Best of Boston Literary Magazine, but it's just hard to focus on anything else.
Peace, Love, and Kindness
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Honored to Have A poem in The Best of Boston Literary Magazine - Vol 1
Boston Literary Magazine is just released Vol 1 of their Best Of Boston Literary Magazine for over the last decade. BLM has published several of my poems over the years and I am excited that this Best Of Collection contains one of my previously published works, a poem titled Toy Soldiers..
There are some really cool work in this book. Great Job by Robin Stratton
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Confession Tuesday - Neon Lights Edition
It's been one Democratic Congressional District Presidential Caucus, one poetry reading at the Neon Gallery, one finished diary and another one started, a double platelet & red cell donation, and several full skies of rain falling in our part of the world since my last confession 6 weeks ago.
To the confessional....
Dear Reader:
The rain has stopped. Our lawn has been mowed. I can hear the grass growing again already.
I confess six weeks is a long time between confessions. I guess that makes me a fallen-away blogger returning to the fold or something like that. I could say I will try to do better, bet we all know better. The fact is that I tend to be more selective about saying something in my blog than in the early days. Maybe I'm getting wiser and figure no one really cares, but who knows.
On Friday, May 29th I had a reading at the Neon Gallery that was sponsored by the Writers Place. The Neon event is a quarterly music, poetry and art event at a downtown Kansas City location. I've attended many of these, but I confess this was the first one in which I was on the program. The Neon reading was really good. Those that missed it, well, they missed some good music, some really cool art, and well the readings were great. I confess I'd even rate my own as pretty damn good and I tend to be my harshest critic. The poet Pat Daneman (who I had never heard before) was magnificent. Sara Nicole Glass AKA Miss Conception both sang and shared poetry. While I've heard her before, she has a couple of pieces that really resonated with me. I confess that each time I hear the River Cow Orchestra I think I enjoy them more. Bob Savino was quite animated, but then when isn't he. The evening was closed out with music by Rick Malsick. This event is sponsored by the Writers Place and I was honored to read with the other talented artists.
I've said it before and it's worth repeating. As someone who journals on a regular basis I always love the feeling when I complete one journal and replace the leather binder with a fresh new one. I confess that I am not sure, but I belief it must be the starting over with clean pages that gets my emotions flowing.
When donating platelets at the Community Blood Center recently I was asked to do a double platelet and red cell donation. I've done double platelets before - my count is always high and they love to be able to double down. I've never done red cell at the same time. I confess that I spent that whole day really drained. I'm usually a wee bit sluggish after the platelets but this was way worse. I confess I may not feel I can do that much again. Probably just the platelets and maybe back off the red cells. It's really a beneficial thing to do and I would always encourage those who can, donate blood and or platelets whenever possible.
I did a lot of writing this past weekend and it's tugging at my heartstrings again tonight, so I'm off to see what I can put together.
Until next time, be yourself. No one does it better than you!
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Confession Tuesday - why am I doing this edition?
Dear Reader,
It's been one new poetry book, and a week since my last confession.
I confess that I am tired tonight and I'd rather not be confessing. Mostly because it's late and I'm tired.
I've been glued for the most part to the primary election returns from five states. DEL, CONN, RI, MD, and PENN. I was hopeful that Hillary would sweep all five but figured we had four in the bag. RI was up in the air and in the end it was the only one of the five that Hillary lost. Not a bad night at all, and it really makes the math for Bernie Sanders really insurmountable.
I was excited to get a new poetry book in the mail this week. "A Brief History of Time" by Shaindel Beers. Getting poetry in the mail is such a rush. I confess that it never grows old.
We have a storm going on presently. The dogs are unnerved by it, especially Soles. In some ways we are really making progress with him, but I confess I wish I felt he was less impacted by anxiety.
That's all for this week. May the muse be with you.
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Confession Tuesday - A Time Out Tonight
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Confession Tuesday - Sharks are People Too - Edition
It's been two readings since my last confession. First I drove to Lawrence, Kansas to hear Ada Limon, Adam Clay, and Michael Robins read on the KU campus. I admit It would have been simpler if they had been in Kansas City, but sometimes you just have to go where good poetry is.
I mostly went to hear Ada. I first became aware of here sometime back from a podcast done on NPR and I hear her poem Sharks are in the River. More recently Ada published her book Bright Dead Things. The title pulled me into it like a magnet and I got a signed copy from her before it was shortlisted for a National Book Award for Poetry. I am not surprised that it received such acclaim as it is very deserving.
I must confess that the reading had the bonus of introducing me to two other very outstanding poets. Both Adam Clay and Michael Robins resonated well with me.
The three poets took turns reading a poem each and usually selected something to read riffing of the poet before. I didn't think I would like this method at first but it added an interesting dimension as each looked for a poem in response to the one read before.
I was indeed fortunate to attend this reading and the drive was well worth it. In addition, I picked up a copy of Ada's earlier book, Sharks are in the River.
Sunday afternoon, I attended a reading of some of the poets with work in the 10th Anniversary issue of Kansas City Metro Verse's anthology. The even was very nicely put together and everyone seemed to enjoy the event.
Until next time, the Muse be with you!