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About Me!
Interests:
Artsy Fartsy Junk: Writing, Poetry, Painting, Jewelry smithing/enameling; Anything creative.
Mother Nature: Camping, Fishing, Shrimping, Boating, Hiking, Star-gazing, Cloud-watching, Thunderstorms, Enjoying the tippy-top mountains and the sandy shore...
Antiques: Hunting for them, Refinishing them, Giving them a loving home.
Travel, Movies, Music, Theater, Books...
Hanging out with family and friends.
Artists I love:
Visual Medium: Édouard Manet, August Macke, Aristeo Aemeliano, Egon Schiele (odd fellow, ) Nadir Afonso, Alberto Giacometti, Gustave Moreau, Yaacov Agam, George Segal, José Bernal, Paul Cézanne, Henry Moore, Vincent van Gogh (early years, ) Henri Matisse, Auguste Rodin, Chaim Soutine, Maurice de Vlaminck (obvious Matisse influence, ) Claud Monet, Paul Gauguin, and so many more...
The Written Word: Gibran, Shakepeare, Whittman, Twain, Wilde, Thoreau, Aristotle, Pirsig, Follet, Folsam, Cussler, King, Gerritson, Woods, Grisham, and so many many more...
Audio Stimulation: Aqualung, Audioslave, Bell X1, Blue October, Butthole Surfers, Cold Play, Cold War Kids, Collective Soul, Crossfade, The Cure, Damien Rice, Evanescence, Feeder, Fiona Apple, Frenzy, Frou Frou, Garbage, Guster, K's Choice, The Killers, Live, Liz Phair, Marcy Playground, Muse, Natalie Imbruglia, N.E.R.D., Nine Inch Nails, Oasis, Orson, The Pixies, Placebo, Poe, Portis Head, The Raconteurs, Radiohead, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Sia, The Smiths, Snow Patrol, Sound Garden, Stereophonics, The Strokes, Tegan & Sara, Tricky, Vast, Velvet Revolver, The Vines, Weezer, The White Stripes, Wilco, and of course Classic Rock...and on and on...
Above all: Learning something new everyday, Stimulating conversations, Witty minds, Artistic souls and leaving a positive piece of me behind in my wake.
What it means to be a writer:
It isn't a choice really. You simply have to take pen to paper or bust. All those random thoughts colliding with one another would drive you to the edge if not released. Opinions, thoughts, observations...the stuff of life, the world, the journey...You're constantly turning it over in your mind, swirling it around, drinking it in then laying out your take on it all. It's a rhythm that moves your everyday much the way a song might move someone's hips, only this song never stops.
The Feel of Words
An invitation, gather 'round.
Welcome here where tales abound
Of maidens fair and gentlemen,
A journey wandered now and then.
A primrose path, a thorny deed.
Romance or a murderous seed.
Light and fresh or deep and dark.
A fevered pace, a dreamer's spark.
Take a ride on silken threads,
As many colored layers are shed.
Phrase by phrase as strokes of brush,
A painted story, full and lush.
A revelation, a silly bit.
Parts of wholes as pieces fit.
Weaving here and bobbing there.
Holding thoughts as if to care.
A poet's mission must be short.
In brevity we must report.
The going ons and coming ins
Must all be held in lines so thin.
The craft of pen so careful laid
As to draw one's mind astray...
From air of breath to wings of word.
Tell a 'feel' that must be heard.
PAYA©
A while back, a member of a writing network I belong to posted this piece that kind of struck a not so positive chord in me. He is an excellent writer in many ways, but I think he rather enjoys pushing buttons. He has since left us and I can only hope that he's found what he was/is looking for.
So, I am giving credit where credit is due and sharing his poem and my response.
*WARNING* The language is quite blunt and crass at times.
A MAN IS A DOG by Ultra Low Frequency
IF A MAN IS A DOG
WHY DOES HE NEED A COW?
I DON'T WANT A COW
I WANT A BITCH
A GIRL WHO'S NOT AFRAID
OF FUCKING IN A DRAINAGE DITCH
A WOMAN THAT'S INTO
DOING CRIME
PREFERABLY A WOMAN
WHO'S DONE FEDERAL TIME
I DON'T NEED A GIRL
WHO'S SOFT AND SWEET
SHE ONLY KNOCKS BOOTS
ON SILKEN BED SHEETS
I NEED A BITCH
WHO KNOWS HOW TO FUCK AND FIGHT
CAUSE WE MIGHT DO BOTH
IN THE COURSE OF A NIGHT
A WOMAN WHO KNOWS
HOW TO GET PAID
AND IF YOU FUCK WITH HER
YOU MIGHT GET SPRAYED
NOT WITH MACE
THAT WEAK SHIT IS OUT
A BITCH WILL STICK
HER GATT IN YOUR FUCKING MOUTH
ONCE AGAIN
I'LL ASK YOU NOW
IF A MAN IS A DOG
WHY DOES HE NEED A COW
©
My response:
Greener Pastures
Why would a "cow" need a man?
Who grabs at tit with callous hand,
Gives no thought to purpose lent
The milk of life he coldly spent.
She needs a man who sees her grace
Not boldly shared with every face.
The side she hides from prying view
'Til it's just between the two.
Not a cow...and not a bitch.
Not a cunt and not a witch.
A melody of a thousand songs,
The rain for whom the dry earth longs.
She's not defined by his intent.
She's not the one whose line is bent.
A strength with tenderness, as such,
To love his weaknesses as much.
A lady when the moment calls.
A vixen when the curtain draws.
His partner through the thick and thin.
Judge-less as he'd lose or win.
His voice when justice fails his drive.
His equal as his efforts strive.
Welcome reprieve from life's trials.
Never wavering all the while.
She fights with zealous when need be.
Quiets tempests that siege decrees.
A stone of power in weakness' stead.
The petal of a rose in bed.
A bitch? Perhaps when he need hear
A lesson shouted on deaf ear.
Intolerable of disrespect,
She will not live inside neglect.
She'll be all his kindness asks.
She'll supplement all that he lacks.
In return he should willing give
The things she craves to help her live.
Why would a "cow" need a man?
She'll graze forever without his land.
Without the half that fills her whole,
She needs no "man" to feed her soul.
PAYA©
I have known geniuses who never walked the hallowed halls of higher education and complete idiots with Masters Degrees. I have known those with physical beauty unparalleled who are monsters inside and homely backward beings whose inner light is so beautiful that if it had a physical equal would blind us.
Wisdom...It can't be found solely between the pages of a book. It can't be measured by any test dreamt up by the mind of man. Those who hunger for knowledge, eager to glean all from life that is possible, find lessons in every moment of every day...They are the geniuses that make this adventure worth living. They don't stand in the company of those less experienced, less schooled, less successful, and think themselves above the moment. They realize that in any given exchange there are a myriad of things to learn. It may be a single thought that gives them a new perspective, an understanding they didn't have before, or perhaps an opportunity to share a bit of wit that will give that light to someone else. They don't hide away from the world in some shell of a life that includes the "worthy ones." Those minds will never know...wisdom.
When you stand at the tippy top of a mountain and the view leaves you so breathless that a tear wells in your eyes...When you stand at the very edge of where the earth joins the sea and feel dizzied by the beauty...YOU are the ones that know what it means to "live."
When the tender look on a parent's face as they watch their child play moves you...When you sit in the company of an elder, finding grace in the lines of a face that has seen almost an entire lifespan and find joy in the tales they spin for you...YOU are the legacy we were all meant to be.
When you have reached the point in life where your choices are not made with callous ease...When your first thought is that this choice will not come at another's expense...YOU are what humanity should strive to be.
When the word "love" means that the person to whom you speak it deserves only the best of you...When you stand in front of a mirror and see the very same person everyone else sees and can peacefully smile...YOU have become the person you were born to be.
