Photo by Katy Brown
—Katy Brown, Davis
Slumped in her velvet chair by the window,
she’s almost through dreaming us now.
We’ve moved in and out of scenes
putting on roles the way actors change costumes.
Ethereal hands strike the sets behind us
and pack-away props, reshelf scripts.
The theater of the soul is closing.
We have entertained her for many years,
challenging and teasing and loving:
but we are fading, along with our roles.
Soon she will stir and move the curtain
by the window— there, in the garden —
one flawless rose blooms in the waiting light.
Dove Cottage
—Photo by Katy Brown
Thanks to today's contributors, including Katy Brown and Robin Odam for their tributes to Elsie Whitlow Feliz, who passed away on Saturday, Jan. 8 after several months of illness.
Lots going on up in the mountains with Manzanita Writers Press, including a workshop on Jan. 29 and a reading on Jan. 22 to celebrate the release of their new anthology, Wild Edges. More about the reading tomorrow, or watch the b-board.
Upcoming Manzanita Press Workshops:
•••Sat. (1/29), 8am-5pm: Manzanita Writers Press and the Calaveras County Arts Council present two important writers’ workshops on one day: Ebook Formatting/Publishing and Author Marketing with Media, an all-day Workshop for Writers at the Calaveras County Arts Council Gallery, 22 Main St., San Andreas. The AM workshop will be “Exploring the Ebook Publishing Process: Ebook Publishing Formatting and Submission for Writers,” presented by Jim Lanier and Lou Gonzalez; the PM workshop is “Developing a Multimedia Marketing/Brand/Platform for Writers Online,” presented by Linda Lee. Cost: $75/person for the day; $50 for one session. Reg. deadline is Jan. 28; send check to Manzanita Writers Press, PO Box 632, San Andreas, CA 95249 (if just one session, please indicated which one). Proceeds go towards presenter fees and funding press workshops and events for writers; MWP is a 501(c)3 nonprofit press under the umbrella of the Calaveras County Arts Council. Info: or Monika Rose of Manzanita Writers Press at mrosemanza@jps.net or 209-754-0577 or www.manzapress.com
For info about the presenters and more about the workshops, go to:
•••www.askmepc-webdesign.com/About-Linda-Lee-and-AskMePc-WebDesign.html
•••www.thepinetree.net/index.php?module=announce&ANN_user_op=view&ANN_id=21456
Or, for a taste of the exotic:
•••Sat. (2/5), 10am-4pm: Travel Writing: Mapping Out the Route to Your Dream Profession with Lisa Alpine, sponsored by The Writing Salon in Berkeley. $110. Go to www.LisaAlpine.com to register.
•••Apr. 13-22: Safari and Travel Writing Tour in Kenya: Capturing the Adventure: Writing Travel Vignettes w/Lisa Alpine. Make your 10-day safari to Nairobi, Nakuru, Maji Moto Maasai Cultural Village and Maasai Mara an even richer experience with the addition of writing exercises woven throughout each day. Special Interest Expeditions include the regular expedition itinerary with the addition of inspiring teachers who will connect the adventure with your creativity and spirit. Cost: $3800. Go to www.LisaAlpine.com for info or to register.
________________________
cascade dreaming
—Dawn DiBartolo, Citrus Heights
i dreamed, w/out apology
she avalanched a litany
of abuses…
needles, smoke and nose
tweaked toward exceptional perception
and settled upon the lesser
of self-created ills. and
i dreamed work had walls
that i kept crashing into
but my lips grew wings
and my hair was deeply rooted
feather, by which i flew headfirst
up into the fluorescent abyss. and
i dreamed he was 10 feet tall,
and me rising only to his ankles
couldn’t tell his face from his father’s,
so i bit him viciously down to size, and
satisfied, awoke to…
this is where the dream ends.
____________________
elements
—Dawn DiBartolo
i wanted to drink of the sun,
burned my tongue
on temper
and have been searing
ever since.
i wanted to bathe in moonbeams –
you know, the way seduction
tints the skin with temptation
when the moon is full;
fell in and drowned,
damn midnight sky.
i’d dreamed liquidity,
once, oceans undulating,
sustaining massive tides, crashing
against conformist shores;
but dream eroded into tenet,
left shells littering the sand.
______________________
dreams like yellow suns
—Dawn DiBartolo
your face is intrusive, still
creeps with its indigo spider-legs
into my dreams of yellow sun.
the memory-fangs
then keep me dormant
when what i want
is to run, screaming
into the arms of other burns
~ like fire
or lightning…
_______________________
red shoe wishes
—Dawn DiBartolo
i wanna be
the red shoes
in a black/white movie,
rough skinned;
tough textured voice,
black licorice lips
that sip translucent,
rather than the gray
that binds conformity
to all but the shoes.
_______________________
sapphire dream
—Dawn DiBartolo
it was
of sapphire bondage;
wanting
to touch, be
touched, to give
relentlessly,
and submit
in waves.
smooth mocha skin
and azure satin binds;
climax shared, as
in the end, sky
came down and
touched us both
with blue.
_____________________
black garden
—Dawn DiBartolo
and did i worry
into being
the nightmares
eternally lying there
behind my eyes?
and did the tears
thus water
the demise ~
black garden
desiccated, charred
into statue…
of roses, lilies,
of a dream… ?
_______________________
Today's LittleNip:
FROM THE MOOD
—Robin Gale Odam, Sacramento
We’ve lit a holy candle. We gaze just beyond
each other, sharing stories from the mood of
your last days, rich and deep like dreams.
_______________________
—Medusa
Photo by Robin Gale Odam