Photo contest entry - Writers' Group

The website for Halcyon magazine is gonna publish some autumn photos.

Here's what I submitted.

My autumn window sill. Too bad you can't see the ropes of honeysuckle popping out of a beer bottle.

Black-eyed Susans shining in the autumn light.

The Buddha on the front lawn festooned with autumn finery - pine cones from Scott's yard, autumn leaves from my yard.

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Donna wrote an inspirational poem about swimming.... the strength it gives her... stroke after stroke

Martha in her Grandma T-shirt. When she substitute-teaches at Upper Moreland H S where her granddaughter Brianna is in the 10th grade, people start calling her Grandma.

Oh, I forgot to tell our Writers that last nite was Movie Night at New Directions. We watched the documenty BULLY.  I voted for something else but lost. I knew what it would be about.

The horrors were endless. As were the lies and denials that bullying takes place at various schools. Made by Lee Hirsch in 2011, read about it here.



Martha's poem was The First Day of School. She'd been called in as a sub for the special-ed kids.

She composed it on lined notebook paper during downtime at the school. She said her yellow notebook was too big and people wondered what she was writing. So she bought a smaller, more innocuous one, reminiscent of Linda Barrett's omnipresent notebooks.

 

GEESER'S DAY OUT was another terrific poem by Marf, about how she and David spend their spare time. He delivers car parts to farflung places and discovers amazing things, like a milk and egg farm.

Then he brings his blushing bride to experience these hidden lil-known places.

Judy Judy Judy, who has a degree in library science, read us a Letter she got published in a school library journal.

BRING BACK Jiminy Cricket... in hat and tails. He's a man of conscience and integrity.

Quiz? What movie did he first appear in?



Judy also presented a clever lil vignette called LIVING ALONE.

She doesn't like living alone, whereas I love it! Maybe that's b/c I feel connected to the outdoors, as I sit on my red couch, fan cooling me, door open to the sounds and sights of the night, and am in my own world.

Thanks, Rem, for taking my picture. Before the group, I submitted The Dog of Diabetes to Hektoen, having read it over the phone to Judy. Also submitted Alberta and The Pen somewhere, can't remember where, after getting the release from Martha.

Wanted to start a new short story before the meeting. I'd grabbed the biz card from

to remind me to write a story about the owner, a man named John. But not in my story, which beginneth: Where should I go? I felt like a hunted rabbit. What I did wasn't all that terrible but it was clear I needed to start all over again.

If you, Dear Reader, think I have any idea what he did, you are dead wrong. This is one of those stories you drag out of yourself, like putting a string on your wisdom tooth and pulling!

 As you can see, I went "low" again. While I was force-feeding myself with hummus, yogurt, pretzels and waiting for my sugar to increase, I put on Tavis and watched Peter Bogdanovich.

You can't tell from this photo, but the man is only 76 but looks 106. He was wearing what looked to be orthopedic elevator shoes, perfect for one of the 'screwball comedies' he loves. His latest, I'm sorry to say, got bad reviews.

But YOU should make up your own mind. Watch the trailer on the Internet and then decide.

Rem brought in a poem called SIRENS. He likes the way the English write, so it's done in stanzas of three lines.

It takes place on New Year's Day, 1981, at the seashore, when the poet was "high" and heard the most beautiful singing - like the Sirens of Odysseus.

These sirens were none other than the Supremes, who sang Up the Ladder to the Roof. 

Here's one comment from YouTube

It grinds my gears when people keep comparing 'Ross' to these ladies, Diana Ross had no soul, no movement and not a particularly good voice and if she hadn't have been Gordy's 'sex toy' she wouldn't even have made The Supremes.... Jean Terrell, Cindy Birdsong and Mary Wilson = Supreme!

Mary Wilson, the poet noted, is the lead singer, the siren.

Rem has to get used to living alone since his wife, his soulmate, died in February. She had a heart attack at only 54.

He was a postmaster and she came for stamps. They gave each other the stamp of approval and they were together for 16 years.

Read her remarkable bio on the Wetzel and Son funeral home website.

She was a force to be reckoned with.... a former Cheerleader with the Eagles.... a model....a flutist who received a scholarship.... and a woman with schizophrenia.

Tonight Rem is at a concert at the Camden Waterfront.

What a show he's seeing!

  The Doobie Brothers

and




Who shall I listen to first?

The Joker .... the pompitous of love.