The Hallmark greeting card website says today is Friendship Day. Gorgons are not known for their loving personalities, but Medusa carries a huge pack of gratitude on her back for all her friends, many of whom are reading this today. Thank you. The Snake thrives because of Friends.
It is also Joyce Odam's birthday, a perfection of serendipity! Joyce is my friend. I'm very proud to say that. She has a beautiful spirit.
Joyce is also a dear friend of Sacramento poetry. She is a wonderful poet and teacher.
Joyce is also a friend of the national/international poetry scene, having published widely over the past XXX years, both her own poetry and several outstanding literary journals.
Write to Joyce, or call her today and say Happy Birthday. Last year at this time, we made a big hoopla about her 80th; another year is an even bigger milestone. Celebrate it with me!
And here's Joyce's cogent comment on the current heat storm:
RUNNING THE FAN ALL NIGHT
—Joyce Odam, Sacramento
So it's midnight now—
a hot summer night—
neighborhood sounds
fading in and out the window,
the noisy fan making wobbly circles,
the two crows
hanging from it
trembling with vibration.
So much is loud in summer:
the sleepless,
the dead,
their thoughts fusing.
So much is spilled across a page of white paper:
the fact of midnight—a hot summer night—
neighborhood sounds
fading in and out the window.
__________________
Love to you, Joyce. And thanks.
—Medusa