Saturday, February 27, 2016

Why I was late to our Writers' Group - My new true story "Tucker and The Holocaust Survivor" - Poem: Zucchini

Well, first of all, I'm always late. Turns out, tho, they hadn't started.

Took my year-old purple camera to Authorized Camera Shop this morning. For some reason, it stopped uploading photos, so you won't see any new ones.

Matt, owner of the camera shop, did not know how to fix it. Don't worry, said Scott. He'll come over tomro and fix it.

Matt told me some amazing stories about people stealing from his house. He and Robert live on a huge property that looks like a park, so people pull in and park their cars.

A cop pulled in, took a nap in his car, and then left.

His stepson had a bike stolen from the back of his truck.

After that, Matt and Robert installed a surveillance camera and an electric gate.

Well worth it, he said. Now they catch robbers on their street.

Last night I attended the program at the Willow Grove Bible Church, 7 minutes away from home. David Wisnia, a 90-yo Holocaust Survivor was onstage singing - he was a cantor at a synagogue near his home in Levittown, PA.

Here's a story about him in the Jan 20 2015 Inquirer.

That great music I'm listening to on WXPN is the Blues Show. "Who's that riding? John the Revelator" by Blind Willie Johnson. Johnny Meister said that gravelly-voiced Tom Waits just made a recording of it.

Image result for beatriz moisset   Fetched Beatriz's photo off the Internet.

She had nice strong coffee for us, as she was feeling good.

She surprised us with a piece that was not about pollinators.


Image result for beatriz moisset

PROOFREADING was about proofing galleys for her doctor father. He was lucky enuf to have nine children and of course wanted to put out a perfect product.

Well, her Proofreading story was indeed perfect.

She also wrote

DANGER IN THE SKY

In the seventies I lived in Maine for three years. Once, I was returning from a trip to Texas by plane with a stop in Boston. Half way to Boston we were hit by a vicious storm. The “fasten seat belts” came up and it was to stay on for the rest of the trip. The plane shook and bucked like a wild horse.....

Why? It was hit by lightning and one of the engines died. The pilot's voice was shaking as they landed and he told the story.

Am trying to write this blog w/o using my notes.

Donna Krause presented - notes! where are you? - DANGER IN THE SKY. Yes, indeed, we did feel endangered when she read her story about our latest wind storm. She thought the house was hit by lightning and that was the end of her.

And wondered if this is what Death felt like.

The next poem was MARCH WINDS, using Personification. Rem said that one poet used the term Pathetic Fallacy insteada the term personification. He does have a masters in English.

Donna's poem had lotsa great lines including Visible Darkness.

John Milton used the line Darkness Visible. Read about it on this fascinating website from the UK that takes a while to upload.

Wm Styron also wrote "Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness."

It's about his suicidal depression, saved when he checked into a psych hospital.

Image result for william styron books


Readers, can you handle reading this w/o photos?

Or are you like a school kid?

Image result for trixie belden  Trixie Belden is a series of mysteries like Nancy Drew.

Allan Heller is thinking of getting a cat and naming her Trixie.

In his novel-in-progress he had to kill off Kargon.  Fortunately the survivors figured out how to bury him up there in the forest w/o attracting too much attention from enemies.

They built a funeral pyre with a special formula they had.

Image result for brunhilda legend   No no don't Brunhilda. Too late. She immolated herself with her beloved Siegfried.

Allan, thanks for reminding me in your below comment that you brought your friend Fernando, who I had the pleasure of sitting next to on the couch.

He and Beatriz were both speaking Spanish, as they're both from The Argentine, where Fernando was a chef.

Hmmm. How can we get him to cook a great meal for us?

Martha Hunter read another chapter from her book. It flowed beautifully and we wanted to read more. I asked how she thinks up great phrases like 'fat as a beefsteak' and she said she reads so many romance novels it just popped into her mind.

Jaz, the main character, is a journalist who's gonna have an affair with Mace!

Marf also wrote a terrific poem called Thrift Adventures. The things she finds at Impact Thrift! 

Am talking now to my poet friend Carolyn, who writes our magnificent Pursue the Wonderful column for the Compass.

A retired teacher-naturalist at Peace Valley Nature Center, she helped out today in their Maple Sugar Day.

They had over 500 people! Tough to park. Ran out of parking, maple syrup, waffles and ice cream.



Image result for sap running in maple trees

Image result for waffles and maple syrup   It takes 40 gallons of sap to boil down into 1 gallon of maple syrup.  It takes 18-24 hours to evaporate the sap.

The kids loved it!

I emailed her and many others my new true story called TUCKER AND THE HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR.

I got important helpful feedback from today's Writers Group.

Bob wrote a nice vivid essay called A Snapshot of My Life. Ever heard the Beatles' lyric She came in through the bathroom window by Lennon-McCartney? It's from Abbey Road.

That's where Bob looks out of his window onto the world.

He wrote about what it's like not having a car, something we rarely think about.

Just hung up with Carolyn or CC as I call her. We were discussing all the poets from our Lambertville NJ Group who have moved away or died.

Judith Lawrence, who's on FB, moved to Daytona Beach.


  Rem Murphy read a couple more chapters from his  book. Each chapter heading is from a song. Parts of it were about sexual arousal which I thought were great. And appearing naked in front of Richard Nixon.

So imaginative! He told us Nixon bombed the hell out of Vietnam, killing 3 million Vietnamese - men women and children - committing, in fact, genocide.

The war was almost averted in 1919. Read about it here.

This morning I chopped up a fresh zucchini to add to my omelet.

Image result for zucchiniIt was SO BEAUTIFUL I wanted to write a poem about it but did not have time.

Will I?

Not now. Gotta pay a visit to Scott. Dyou think he's asleep already? Remember, he works the night shift at SEPTA but has the weekend to catch up on his sleep and his cooking.

He made honey mustard salmon from Uncle Bernie's Kitchen, appearing in The Compass.

Sent it over to Rene and Boggs Printing in Hatboro, PA.

ZUCCHINI

How best shall I serve thee?
I like the way you handle
my green outer
cloak, gently, with
respect

You make me feel good,
wanted. You, among women,
do not turn me into a
bread, but prefer me

crisp, sauteed in fine
golden oil with my friends,
the mushroom and the onion
such a sizzle we make
joyfully dancing
in the frying pan
food for the gods!

then to be embraced and
smothered by two utterly
voluptuous eggs

this morning in the
chilly breeze you
brought the completed
browned pancake with
its overcoat of spinach

outside. You sat on
the stoop, digging in,
and watched the sun
rising over Charlie's
house wishing he
were still among
the living.


1 comment:

  1. Uncle Berie's Kitchen? I had an Uncle Bernie, although he wasn't inclined toward culinary pursuits! By the way, you neglected to mention my friend, Fernando, who was a professional chef and owned a restaurant.

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