Declaration

 Who cares really what you think about babies, whether you find them a blessing, a bore, a bramble, a key, a window, a door, a wormhole, a wonder, a Whac-a-Mole, a babble, a blather, adorbs or a bad idea...

-Ross Gay "Babies Again (Seriously)"

As part of my journaling practice, I've been reading a selection from Ross Gay's The Book of (More) Delights. I read the essayette (as he calls them) and then I make note of what literary techniques he is using to creatively get his point across. I then use his theme as a prompt for myself, or a try to imitate something I think he is doing that is fun, unique, a challenge, or just plain good writing. The alternate is to use my dissection to write my own poem, which is what I did today.

In today's essay (the opening graces the top of this blog), he does this listing thing twice, where he goes a little off the rails with it. But it is what makes his description of an encounter with a baby being carried on a mother's hip so enchanting. I was coming to the conclusion that I could not do what he does because I don't have his voice.

Then I stopped and thought...well, that is just a ridiculous idea. 

What would I tell my students? Try it. So I did:

I came to the realization
that no matter

how much I study and

analyze the essays

of Ross Gay

I will never be able

to do what he does 

without sounding stupid.

It's because of his voice.

And since I have made this

declaration

in my voice

I will add

that whether you find my

poems delightful, dippy, dopey,

drippy, repetitive, reachable,

rusty, ridiculous, or just fine,

thank you --

     they are mine -- seriously!

"Sloughness"

As you take in the environment, think about the sloughness.

-Dr. Bill Hammond-

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of spending time at a Nature Journaling Workshop at Six Mile Cypress Slough. The workshop leader was Dr. Bill Hammond, a legendary figure in Southwest Florida, as he is one of the people who spearheaded and fought for saving the slough decades ago. He has left an incredible legacy, and he has stories to tell!

During my B.A. program at Florida Gulf Coast University, I took a class with Dr. Hammond called Issues in Ecology and Environment (Fall 2002). I learned quite a lot in his class, which wasn't strictly academic by any means. We had to keep a nature journal and that is where we took notes, observed nature, and brainstormed for assignments. When I knew I needed a journal for this workshop, I pulled out the one from his class and had a wonderful time reading through how that semester went, what my reactions were, and how I gained so much knowledge about what mistakes were made in the Florida environment, and the safeguards that are supposed to prevent the issues that inevitably show up.

Saturday was about getting out to the slough and taking it in, what Dr. Hammond called the "sloughness." He asked us to see if we could define just what that invented word means, and after doing some sketches and mind-mapping (we were required to use both sides of our brain), I wrote an acrostic style poem on "sloughness."

Spending treasured time with Dr. Hammond

Saturday morning by Gator Lake

Light bright, breeze slight

Opening to nature with purpose

Untold stories all around me.

Giving myself a new direction

Has taken me by surprise.

Now...now is all there is.

Experience the freedom this brings.

Sloughness is everywhere in the flow,

Structure, and everything in between.

Blue Marble

 Inspired by David Kirby’s poem “It Just Keeps Getting Better.”

I am grateful for the sun lighting up my living space and the

new lamp for my bedroom I'm going to set up today. I'm 

grateful I know how to stretch and listen to my body. I'm grateful

for incredible musicals, especially for my favorite, Jesus Christ

Superstar. I'm grateful I can cry. I'm grateful I'm a reader and a

writer and a photographer. I used to think I missed my calling, but

I'm grateful for the life I've had, especially with Jim. I'm grateful

for my home and that I can afford it and Jim made sure it was

paid off.  I am grateful I know how to listen and make good 

decisions. I'm grateful for my church community and grief groups, 

and the friends I’ve made.  I'm grateful for all my family and friends, 

going back to the earliest days. I'm grateful for my neighbor Kara.

 Being with her is a joy. I'm grateful for the many historians and writers 

and thinkers and political analyzers who help us understand the bigger 

picture and maybe, just maybe, give us hope. I'm grateful for NASA and 

Artemis II who have sent a photo of earth from space we can

contemplate and breathe with, reminding us this

blue marble is where we are supposed to learn to love one another.

I'm grateful I know that.

P.S. I challenge all of you to write your own I'm grateful piece. Feel free to send it to me.

Itching: Micro Fiction

In January, my friend Kelley and I stopped to get Chinese food to take back to my house to eat. I found someone's grocery list lying on the ground. I remembered one year at Sanibel Island Writers Conference learning about a website that published people's actual grocery lists as fodder for stories. This is why I picked up the list. It took a while to figure out what the story could be, and I've worked on it for a week. It helped me recall how much I love writing fiction. 

 

 Itching

She had decided to improve her health. Enough of the fast food and convenience items she has been depending on. Stop being lazy, Sara, she told herself. You aren’t getting any  younger. Full-on veganism was the plan. Anything else would be halfway.

She was committed. While making her list, she decided she’d take her doctor’s advice and give up caffeine. She added decaf coffee.Yes! One trip to the grocery store she could start down an entirely new path to health and wellness. She was itching to get started. No time like the present!

Sara made her list on an odd-shaped piece of recycled cardboard, and attached a coupon for Gold Bond Lotion she had cut out of the back of People magazine. Her skin has been getting dry and itchy now that she has entered her fifties. It was time to start taking care of her skin as well. 

She was going to be a whole new person.

Excited about her plan, she headed off to the local Publix, convinced their vegetables would be superior, although she couldn’t recall the last time she had purchased a vegetable from Publix or any other store. Yes, it has been a while. This is why the plan was so vitally needed. A whole new life awaits.

After parking, Sara looked at herself in the rear view mirror. She saw a woman with an aging, sallow face. All this changes today, she told herself. Just do it!

The store was fairly crowded, but she made her way through the produce section, picking up the items on her list: pears, bananas, cherries, squash, walnuts. She found a bag of already prepped slaw and picked up the ingredients in the condiments aisle for a mayonnaise free dressing: apple cider vinegar, honey, and stone ground mustard. With each item placed carefully into the cart, her enthusiasm for this project grew. 

After grabbing the Grevalia decaf in the coffee aisle, Sara headed to the cashiers. Yikes. Only two opened, and each with long lines of customers with loaded carts. She realized a trip to the bathroom was in order, so she slid her cart out of the way in the wine section, and headed to the restroom. While washing her hands she looked in the mirror again and thought, hmmm, I’m looking better already! My skin looks fresh. Amazing what a new attitude can do!

She left the ladies room and found herself walking out the electric door. In a short distance she was pulling open the door to #1 Wok Chinese food. Without another thought of her vegan commitment, she got her usual: boneless spare ribs appetizer, three shrimp egg rolls, and an order of General Tso’s Chicken. Carrying her parcel to her car, she didn’t give a thought to the cart she left behind. Her grocery list, loose in her pocket, dropped out onto the pavement. She didn’t notice a thing. All she could think of was the hot food waiting to be eaten, and she rushed home. She poured herself a hefty glass of wine, dished out her food until the plate was overflowing with meat-heavy items, and feasted while watching the new season of Virgin River on Netflix. She fell asleep in front of the television.

Around 11:00 p.m., Sara woke. Her arms and legs and belly were itchy. She was still tipsy from the wine. It was then she remembered she had not picked up the Gold Bond Lotion. I’ll have to find that coupon, she thought, as she flipped over to go back to sleep. 

#

You

 Are you gently sleeping

Here inside my dream?

And isn't faith believing

All power can't be seen

From song "To Where You Are"

On Saturday morning I started thinking again about trying to get together a new writing circle, and I began brainstorming how I would approach it. I pulled a book off my shelf that I actually didn't know I still had. I had purged a lot of books a couple of years ago, and since I hadn't ever really used the book, I figured it was gone. But there it was.

Upon opening it I found something I didn't even remember existed:

I didn't realize that Jim had given me this book. I felt it was a sweet message of his belief in me and the journey I continue here on earth.

Today I began to look into a slightly different approach and found a book that was published on October 7, 2025 -- a year to the day he passed away.

For a long while, I have been open to messages wherever they come from, and I cannot help but feel he is gently leading me in my way. Others would say "just coincidence." Sure. A coincidence that informs me on ways to go. I believe synchronicity is a power in the universe that helps us follow the path that will serve us best.

With that in mind, I wrote this poem:

I find you, Jim,

as I muse on

things I want to

pursue.

Your name in a book, 

handwritten by you.

A publication date

of significance to me.

All happenstance

mind you,

not planned

or searched for.

Some would say

synchronicity.

I feel a kinship

to you on the other

side of the great divide.

Something slightly

different than here

on the earthly plane.

You show up

in mystical ways

like you know what

I am thinking

before I do.

More Than This?

Today I'm inspired by a David Kirby poem "More Than This."  I highly suggest you read the poem here. While you're at it, read Kirby's notes on how he write his poems.

One of the things about David Kirby's poems is what is referred to as the 'boffo ending." I first heard this when I was a member of Toastmasters, and have heard it used a few times since. It is the determination to end whatever your performance or written art with a bang.

I used the final words of "More Than This" to begin the poem I am sharing here.

The world is so beautiful it

will give you no peace.

Often there is a 

 feeling of wanting more

or wanting something to be

different --but what?

And then realizing you have

every single thing in

front of you and inside you

that you will ever need.

Your wanting is the 

motivation to keep 

consistently looking

at that which

brings peace.

So, take heart.

There is no final answer.

Instead

repeatedly embrace

the beauty and knowledge

which is 

within.

You already know the way.

Starting My Day 2.24.26

This is how I started my day after I read the selection from Centering Prayer by Peter Trabon Haas

I didn't want to forget to write a poem, so I grabbed a line from a reading and this is what I wrote:

Though I lack wings to fly

I can walk through

this world with grace

and in peace.

Though I cannot swim deep

in the ocean,

I can bring a calm presence

to those around me.

Sometimes all it takes is

a smile.

Though it is unlikely I will

climb to the top of a mountain,

I can reach the peaks of

friendship, love, and

community

by reaching out

by being present

by including everyone.

 I drank my coffee and journaled, and then I found some happy sushi to color.

Happy Tuesday, all.