Poem: Bathroom Sink - Reading in Bed with my Clothes On

Look, my windowsill is all lit up by my camera's flash.

Possibly I've been chosen to be the next Bernadette of Lourdes.

Doubtful, I have an enormous ego.

Actually, that don't matter to God. He'll take anyone.

After I eat breakfast and listen to my new audio book by Derek Miller, I'll write a poem on here.

Wrote this yesterday

IS IT POSSIBLE TO THINK ABOUT NOTHING
WHILE CLEANING THE BATHROOM SINK

I sprinkle on the cleanser first
for a good soak

For extra scrubbing power I put on
Etudes by Philip Glass, which
sails as smoothly as a kayak
down mirror-lake Galena

How will I donate to the flood
victims, thinks I, when the
Red Cross failed in Haiti

Scott's friend's cancer spread
and after one day in hospice
he was dead. A SEPTA mechanic
like Scott, he will study
the world no more.

I open up my front door
and there on the stoop
in the pot of Judy Diaz
the sunflower takes a bow.

My calendar for today is clear
Time to read The Holocaust
by Andrew Rees and wear my
black and white striped shirt
I bought pre-owned somewhere.

Finding this shirt was like
unearthing an old love letter
Yes! I shall hop in my car
and resurrect our old romance.

What? Dead you say?
Back to the Holocaust book.

***
Biked last night to an American Masters Show on Walt Disney. Talk about power going to your head!

Some of his former animators were interviewed. What ancient faces they had.

Here's my arm.

And here's what happened while I was reading in bed this morning.

A lovely shadow spread itself out on the wall. By the time I ran downstairs to grab my camera, it was gone.

Soon another shadow came on.

Where is that damn camera, I thought, fishing among the myriad things on my bed.

Of course that shadow was gone, but there were another.

Click! Click!

My flash was on so you couldn't see nuffin.

I'm not gonna excoriate myself cuz I don't know how to turn it off. Maybe I should stop off at Authentic Camera and ask Matt how to do it.

Or perhaps when I go out to eat at 1 pm today I can ask someone at the TNT diner. And remember, Ruth, the man/owners name is Tim not Terry.

Delish! The orange is melted cheese. Enhanced by listening to The Girl in Green by Derek Miller, a tale of violence while Saddam Hussein is killing every single body.

READING IN BED WITH MY CLOTHES ON

As I read the Holocaust book
I decided to cheat. Rules!
Pash tush! You make your
own rules unless you're
in the army or a child
dominioned by parents.

I turned to the photos.
The first one was in color!
Real life is in color, methinks,
like the golden tomatoes
basking on the vine.

German soldiers were shown
with pigs on leashes, stealing
them from the Soviet Union, so
their enemy would have nothing
to eat and would starve to death.

You read these words with
a certain nonchalence and
then I noticed something
from the corner of my eye.

Something blinking on my
pink wall near Aunt Ethel's
coat of arms.

It were sprays of light
in abstract formation
dancing on the wall
a Picasso or Seurat

By the time I grabbed
my camera, they were gone!

Gone! Gone!

Gone like the houses,
the photo albums,
the banana trees
the tennis rackets
in Houston.

Is there any sense to this life?
Tell me if you know. 

New version of Blogspot is a colossal PIA - Poem: The Flower at the Top of the Stem

In order to post, you must go through four steps that we never had to do before. And who is there to ask about it?

You can't just sit down with the head of Blogger and have a chat over a cuppa tea.

Just woke up to one of the PBS programs that scares the daylights out of you. Will you have enuf money - and health - to last for years to come?

I'm getting my bad leg taken care of. Decided not to go to Gene Salkind but to go back to Guy Lee. Gotta go thru hoops to get an MRI taken.

Here's what I awoke to:

Anna Netrebko reprises one of her most acclaimed roles as Tatiana, the heroine of Tchaikovsky's opera, adapted from Pushkin's classic novel. Dmitri Hvorostovsky stars as the title character, who rejects Tatiana's love until it's too late. Robin Ticciati conducts the revival of Deborah Warner's staging, which opened the Met's 2013-14 season. Alexey Dolgov sings the role of Onegin's friend-turned-rival, Lenski, with Elena Maximova as Tatiana's sister Olga and Stefan Kocan as Prince Gremin.

   She's a great dramatic actress and grew up in Russia, so the language is no problem for her. Tho in reading the notes, I see that the Tchaikovsky opera has been performed in many languages.

For yrs, Peter Ilyitch wouldn't let it leave Russia, fearing it would not be understood. He loved Gustave Mahler's conducting of it.

I was tired of tripping over my Persian rug, so I rolled it up and brought it upstairs to my Writing Room.

Vacuuming everything in sight with my trusty Miss Bissell.

Dr Wayne Dyer is upstairs on my TV talking about the story of Shaya.



Run to third base, Shia, run to third!

Then, Run Home, Shia, run home. All 18 boys reached their level of God's love (I think he said)

THE FLOWER AT THE TOP OF THE STEM

How we hoped it would be a sunflower
but didn't know for sure
The stem grew straight as a
ruler, with tiny serrations
on the egde

Judy Diaz's fancy pot with
frogs and spigots held it
firm throughout the
incubation period

The soil was rich
mulched from the backyard
with pieces of brown
egg shell sprinkled in

Music from passing cars
lent their various
melodies to the plant
as did my Philip Glass
playing from YouTube

Who knew that one small
flower, one speck of life
whose beauty shines as
golden as the sun
would indeed transform
transcend transmogrify
into a sunflower.

If special powers
hailed from this
delicacy, its rays
would flit like
a hummingbird

all over this doggone
world to make it a
better place and the
waters would cease.
***

A friend commissioned me to write a poem. I figured it would take about an hour. But what music should I play?

Quickly I hopped onto YouTube. It remembers what you like, like an attentive lover.

Ah, there was good ole Philip Glass, whose memoir I'd listened to in the car. His etudes are filled with vigor.
 


Since I was in Hatboro today, I stopped at the Hatboro Union Library and checked out some items.

Got a load of audio books, the first of which I will give one more chance in the car, and then toss
into the back seat.

Can't keep track of the characters.

Charlotte's Web in the kitchen is far easier, and what's more, I'm on the last disc. Can't wait to wake up in the morning! Oh dear, it is almost morning, Elektra.

Dyou believe I checked out this 900-page book?

 Problem is, there's no good place in the house to read it. However, will go upstairs, lie down on bed, and resume reading it on page 3. Actually, tho, if you read the Prologue, you've basically read the whole book.

Who is the author Laurence Rees?

Below are my new Solar Lights. What you can't see, Dear Reader, are this criss-cross web-like shadows imprinted all across my front sidewalk.

It's spectacular! If I knew how to use my camera, they would show up. 

A Sunny Sunday - Eileen and I go to Momsie's - Poem: Sweet Little Toes

   For unknown reasons, I have a free subscription to New York Review of Books. 

Here's a photo of Alice and John Coltrane. Read about their relationship here.

John wanted to be a saint. Alice didn't have to worry. She was one already, since her religious childhood as a Baptist.

The current issue is filled with wonderful B&W photos.



Henri Cartier Bresson was one of two foreign photographers allowed in India.

***

Hurricane Harvey is still wreaking havoc in Texas.

When I looked at the photos in the Times, I thought...And to think I used to live there!

Next-door neighbor Eileen and I went to Mom's for lunch. I brought many things - tuna salad, hummus with veggie dips, potato salad (New York style) from Giant. Lynn brought several treats including Rice Krispie Treats, which Mom would make when we were kids.

I ate with impunity, as if I didn't have diabetes.

After we left, we traveled down the Bee Hive Road, stopping this time to view the coming and going of the honeybees. 

We passed by Masons Mill Park.

Yes, she was agreeable to stopping and walking.

I'll tell you right now, when I got home my sugar level was NORMAL.

Told Eileen about the Book Cupboard and she selected a novel by Debbie Macomber.  I've already got my Trixie Belden book.



Anyway, I've absconded, with permission, with the book Eileen chose. In return I gave her a Sue Grafton novel I got for free at the Huntingdon Valley Library.

For free. The sweetest words in the English language.

SWEET LITTLE TOES

The blonde-haired doll was named Sally.
Anatomically correct with a silky red dress
and black Mary Janes that easily slipped off,
her mistress pretended that Sally had
diabetes.

We'll just massage your heart to keep
your blood flowing, strongly,
we'll pinch each one of your
tiny alabaster toes

to make sure the tiny rivers
keep flowing and don't get
clogged with sweet cakes
and Fudgcicles.  

For as go the toes,
So goes lovely
Sally.  

Nation watches as Hurricane Pounds Corpus Christi - Poem: Wives Know Best

WIVES KNOW BEST

Mamie and Nancy
Laura and Michelle
sure did

Go, Donny, go
she advised her
man. You can
be in and out
of Corpus Christi
and back on the
golf course
all in one
morning's time.

How's my hair look,
he asked as they
flew into town.

She smiled that knowing
smile of hers as
the winds of God howled
and struck down
her man

His body sailed up
in the air, twisting
and turning,
his fancy Italian shoes
falling to the ground below

Yes, a regular
horror story by
Stephen King
as the 130 mph winds
flipped his fragile bod
as if he were a
deviled egg
sprinkled with paprika

They're looking for him still,
that 45th president of the
United States, trumped by
the vanity of the Lord.

***

    Gene Salkind, MD.

It was like being with Guy Lee all over again.

Pain in left leg and butt is quite bad. But it's not sciatica.

Diagnosis is

M96.1

Postlaminectomy syndrome, not elsewhere classified. M96.1 is a billable/specific ICD-10-CM code that can be used to indicate a diagnosis for reimbursement purposes. This is the American ICD-10-CM version of M96.1.

SO, I'm not the only person who suffers post-surgery.

While I was eating my dinner salad last night, Scott came over and said he'd drive me to Guy Lee's office on Maryland Avenue.

I couldn't find it for my Monday appt which is why I'm seeing Salkind.

Eating my salad in the car - seasoned with mayo and turmeric - I was delighted to look out the window and not worry about a thing except spilling onto his seat. 

And sure enuf, there it was.

Gonna eat my breakfast now. Later, it's Grace's seventh bday party.

  This is the sequel to HATCHET. Nothing can compare to the original. I'll listen to the audio book while I make breakfast.

I told Salkind that the best way to make my leg feel better is to be on my computer for awhile. And I couldn't believe he hadn't heard of physical therapist Margaret Fitzpatrick. 

 

Painting on the Back Porch - Hurricane Harvey - Poem about Powerball Winner

 Zeke came a knocking on my front door. Rode his scooter over. He was up for doing anything and suggested we make a salad together. Then I said Why don't we go on the back porch and paint!

So we did. These are pieces of Styrofoam that came with my new printer. I had him go home, ask his mum if he could, and to change into 'painting close' as did I.

 Gosh, I have loads of paint.

He was fascinated by my rags and asked where I got this mens' sock. Dunno.

 Tomro is Grace's seventh bday. This is the gift I bought her. Nilla wafers.

 Sarah and Ethan: He writes from his blog: A new DTM page reviews the marvelous experience Sarah and I had in Cornwall at the St. Endellion festival. Topics include Mark Padmore, Sebald, Britten, and the harp.

Ah, to be there.

Here's where I was 15 minutes ago.

Watching Diabolique on TCM.

More images please in this very scary and shocking film




Apparently Hitchcock wanted to make it but a French dude got there first.

Here's Roger Ebert's review of the 1995 film.

When I walked home from Scott's house - he had slept thru two Simone Signoret films - Room at the Top and Diabolique - I walked myself down the block a bit.

Twas very bright - at around 11 30  under a street light. I hurried by like a thief. What was I carrying in my hands?

My glucose tabs, a CTAS catalog, and a blue plastic bag.

The movie THE SHACK, free at the Huntingdon Valley library. I read the reviews which were awful but decided to go anyway.

The movie was terrible. I'd describe it as a proselytizing Christian film that believes in the power of love and forgiveness.



Filled with cliches and with the same lines delivered at different times during the unbearably long - over two hour-film.

I did nap during it. Went to Mom and Ellen's afterward and explained what a cliche was. Then Ellen and I went to eat at Robin Hood Restaurant.

  I had matzoh ball soup with the matzoh ball being larger than a tennis ball but far tastier. Also had a BLT.

We sat at the counter.

   You can talk to people at the counter. It was great! A woman my age had heart surgery at Abington. She was very pleased and is starting an exercise program as well as altering her diet:

Tasty Cakes
Dairy Queen Treats
Cream Cheese Pretzels from Dunkin Donuts
Yasso Greek Yogurt Pops

I discovered them by accident, standing at the ice cream cooler at the Giant, pulling everything out, reading the ingredients.

Okay now we're going to visit our anchors in Texas to see what's going on with Hurricane Harvey. A poem first tho, which I wrote on this morning's FB

POWERBALL WINNER

Mavis, a healthcare worker,
just wants to take a break.
Sit back and relax.

She quit her job in Chicopee
Mass and can contemplate
the great questions of
the world from her
backyard patio.

What if Hurricane Harvey
made a detour and sped
up the eastern coast
like a red Ferrari

Mavis was writing out
some checks for some
new carpeting from
Specialty Flooring
in Roslyn and
to Merry Maids for
a lifetime cleaning
service.

Suddenly, from her
maple Ethan Allen desk
her ears nearly burst
from the sound of
10 million earthquakes

The sky's a bright yellow
and Armageddon has surely
come. And all Mavis
wanted was a little
peace and calm.
 
***

Funny b/c after I wrote the name MAVIS I kept encountering it.

***



For starters.