Be the Cat in Catastrophe




Avoid Adapting Other People's Negative Views
By Sharon Dolin

                  ~   after Epictetus
                      

To gaze upon the fatal
without commiserating gloom:
 
what every friend should be—
not one who rends her coat of doom
 
nor one who lets her ankle rankle
nor her dogged love to the hounds.          
 
Be the cat in catastrophe
who survives eight more dives.
 
Though in the clutch of damage
a dame must age,
 
in the crazy-quilt of guilt
it was never your fault.
 
In the company of morose
always pull out the rose.

April is Poetry Month


Marrying the Wind

I proposed to the wind and the wind said yes
but now we are encountering extreme difficulties

putting together our wedding registry.
The wind wants feathers, dust bunnies,

confetti. It has no interest in candelabras. The wind
wants only things that can be carried

on its soft voice. I want all the seasons
of Breaking Bad. The wind cannot appreciate

Walter White, but it may like to carry away a cloud
of smoke. I am unsure if my love can be held

in the wind’s arms. Nothing is softer than the wind’s arms
it loves to hold hands with my hair. But I want to fight

about this espresso machine the wind doesn’t want.
The wind cannot pick up the registry scanner

so I am forced to do all the booping.
Cornmeal boop. Flour boop. Wood shavings boop.

I buy a Diet Coke and the wind takes the receipt.
I scream into the wind and the wind screams back.

~ by Brett Elizabeth Jenkins

Cherry Blossoms


Abby and I spent a few days in DC at the start of the Cherry Blossom Festival. The trees were just starting to flower so we didn’t get the full effect. Apparently the blossoms start out white, eventually turn pink and then will be truly breathtaking.

The city takes the cherry blossoms very seriously. It was fun to see everything decked out for the celebration.

Bold Choices


Drove by this house today and my eyes nearly popped out! I had to drive back by it to get a picture. I wonder if I can convince Paul to paint our house pink.