IMAGINE THIS

Today I have two new poems.

So Imagine Something New

He said you can do anything.

Put your mind to 

It will happen.

And he was right.

I imagined an art center

in the background, 

of my mind's eye,

unknowingly.

It came to be 10 years ago.

I was enthused

And inspired,

Unstoppable.

I'm still pumping my life blood

into the center.

But I am tired.

It consumes me,

feeling used up.

Imagine This

Imagine something new for us.

Let the present

Become the past

Bill and I

Moving forward.

What if there were no books to keep

No art shows and

No openings,

No press releases,

No email blasts?

What if the properties were sold,

The bills paid off,

A nest egg banked?

What would we do?

Touring, dining, walking, a nap-

A sketch, a play

A book, quiet

Conversation.

Last Day of Summer Art Camp but Time for a Poem

No What If's

Exploring Quantum Mechanics

Subatomic 

Waves and particles

Size and movement.

Where particles move so quickly

in and then out

There and not there

At the same time.

In a parallel universe

I'm there, I'm not

I did, didn't

Guilty, guiltless. 

July 10th - Storms & Poems

Here's my almost daily poem. 

Step into the dark, cool hallway.
Close the door on
heat of the day.
The dog greets me.

Time passes, the rooms grow darker.
Crepe myrtles move
back and forth in
the blowing winds.

The dog grows ansy as thunder
booms. She hears it
before I do.
We sit and wait.


The rain's here but quickly over,
The sun is out.
Dark clouds move south,
Hot summer day.

1 Minute Poem #1

Yesterday I joined a group of ladies and we were introduced to writing the 1 Minute Poem.   The poem takes more than a minute to write, but it contains 60 syllables, thus the name.  Cool. 

First we were told to think of images, smells, sounds, thoughts that we had engaged.  The next step was to select one which "jumped" out.  From there we went into James Joyce mode writing whatever came to mind about "our pick".   Finally we were instructed to write a poem using the structure of 3 verses, the first line of each would be 8 syllables, followed by 3 lines of 4 syllables each. 

Here's mine:

Title:  Cold Enough

Maybe I should visit a glacier.

Frozen water,

Icy cold air,

So very large.

Where I can stand close by wearing

My Tibetan

Black, woolen hat

And long red coat.

This may be the place I long for.

Cold enough for 

Me to seek warmth.

(c)  GMK 07/2013

One more thing.   While there we discussed our reactions to each others poems.   At one point, while talking, a word eluded me.  Everyone waited for me to think of the word.   No one tried to help.  No one interrupted.  They just waited, patiently for me.     Amazing.  

On Health Care

We have a mess. The insurance companies (acting as bookkeepers) are driving up cost since they are not "mutual companies" where profits go back into the business but rather are "public companies" where profits go to shareholders.

Doctors and hospitals react to insurance companies by increasing fees and services to cover enormous "bookkeeping and accounting" requirements, malpractice "insurance" and to pay for R&D.

The American people can't look to the private sector to "do the right thing" and make health care affordable, so the public looks to the government to help the "insurance companies and health care providers" do the right thing. But what can the Federal Government do? Is there a model? Certainly not Europe where so many countries are going bankrupt with these social programs.

I'm thinking the American people would love to pay their own way but it's really hard if not impossible to pay out of pocket for health care AND insurance. You'd think with all the smart people we have in the USA that we could come up with a plan, a model that we could try on a section of people/location (and don't say Massachusetts) - I mean a plan like none other.
I went to the hospital for 1 night, a couple of years ago. I got some antibiotics and an IV for dehydration and some medicine to keep me from throwing up. The bill was $12,000. The "adjusted" bill after insurance was $7,000. My deductible was $7,000. I called the hospital and said that to get all the money I'd have to take it out of my IRA but I could come up with $5,000 would they settle for that. They said yes. What is all this about... this inflated bill. Something is amiss and believe me the government with more forms to fill out and a building full of employees and computer systems to manage it won't fix anything. I'll try to think of a solution. Stay tuned.

I'm checking this out:   Single Payer System.... http://singlepayeraction.org/about.html

Art Works - Richmond Virginia: Six new tapestries arrived for Maximo Laura's exhibit

Art Works - Richmond Virginia: Six new tapestries arrived for Maximo Laura's exhibit

Four Years Later

Here he is. All grown up. Taking care of business. Our youngest son graduating from JMU excelling in his studies, making us proud. Although we were happy when we took him to college on that first day, as we walked to our car we stopped on the street corner and Bill and I cried a little. Sometimes you notice milestones and this one was.

I remember crying another time. October 1988, we sat down to a steak dinner supplied by the hospital after the baby was born. We had to take the dinner home with us because we couldn't afford to stay more than 1 day in the hospital and have the dinner served to us there. So we sat on the couch with our new baby in his borrowed buggy/bassinet and felt our hearts fill with gratitude. Another milestone.

He was a sweet, sweet child and very loving. In first grade elementary school, he and little Coleen acted as mediators on the playground. Whenever there was an argument, Coleen would take one of the parties aside and Albert would take the other and they'd council with them. Coleen said when she grew up she was going to be President of the United States. I would so vote for her!

There were many milestones, like learning to ride the bike when he sat got up the next morning and smiled and said "I'm so proud of myself". And in high school when he got the Governor's award and most valuable senior chorus member and in little league when he got most improve player and went to All Stars in the Babe Ruth Lakeside Little League and when I'd see his friends gather round him and the girls would hug him and be so excited just seeing him.

He's a nice person, kind and smart and he's our son.