Sunday, April 20, 2008

Introductions: Poet/Pinata Lady in a Tree house

Ephemeral Permeance

Hot ginseng tea from
the rebel siege next door
and leftover chinese luncheon special
stacked on our stacked
newspaper mattress.

From the Hilltop Queen Anne victorian
We peer northwest
through
leaded glass
rain streaks, mist
chinatown, gastown, downtown
bay and lion peaks.

This window,this view.
Our photo gray
closing snap.

Tomorrow the
demolition squad alarm clock
on the first floor will jar
us from our down and into
separate yukons
north and south.





The poem was published some time ago in The Cafe Review a lit mag out of Portland, Maine. It is based on a trip with a group of travelers I met in a hostel in Montreal in the long days of June many years ago.

I am retro-cycling into that more agreeable hippy like sphere once again after a responsible 22 year stint in the real world of social service agencies, as I raised my three children. I am making pinatas and other items that strike my fancy, reading cards at the best tattoo shop in town and working in my perennial gardens, right now. My youngest son is still in high school. My middlest one is struggling after a brief stint at college- writing music and sci-fi and drawing anime figures here in the tree house. My daughter the activist, is off in Philly stirring up the masses in her quietly charged way.

I did not merely quit my day job. The company I was working for spiraled and crashed after an ugly year. Allegedly, taking people's IRAs, definitely taking their mileage and vacation pay. I know for a fact they weren't even paying into unemployment insurance, because I ran into that stumbling block when I tried to collect some. It was a blend of poor management and another unseen casualty of war as have been so many social service agencies. Don't even get me started on no child left behind..... A system for creating cannon fodder.

Losing the job and the attached politics of the downward spiral was horrific, but ultimately good timing. My better half had just undergone a series of surgeries for a methosilioma like cancer just before it happened, I spent three weeks in the ICU with my love and I was needed at home for the long recovery process. The chemo is over and there is a tentative remission, but with this sort of cancer they can only do rudimentary scans as it is considered terminal and insurance won't cover PET scans.

I am still maintaining the vestiges of that more traditional life more specifically a mortgage to pay. So I am my tossing hat into the ring for at least a part time position. In the mean time, check out my wares at my little Etsy shop of the same name and while you are there, visit the other etsy shops : etsy Maine team, freethinkers shops and the pagans of etsy. They are a fun and talented bunch of artists and crafts people. Maybe to spice things up I'll introduce you to some of them along the way.

This blog will feature some of my works and I hope will be a positive reflection of my creativity as I try to stay on my quest for fun and color and keep the treehouse near Merrymeeting Bay in the family.



2 comments:

SuzeesJubileeZ said...

I cant figure out why it says that I have 5 comments and I cant find them anywhere.... any thoughts hints or clues? and will I be able to see them?

Anonymous said...

I have no idea about the phantom comments, but I *DO* want to

CONGRATULATE YOU on your new life's direction! I'm very excited for you, it's inspiring to me, and I am impressed that you have the courage to follow your heart in this new Adventure!

Best, best wishes my dear.

Life is smiling on you, and may it continue to do so!

Thanks so much for keeping in touch.