Praising art monsters . . .
Friday, August 1, 2025. It's Fria's (Frigg's) day . . .A good four-hour visited rain TulseyTown this morning. Forecasts indicate Northerlies with cloudy and much cooler conditions throughout the weekend and for the first few days of the coming week before the heat dome returns.
Nearly everything we are taught is false except how to read. – Jim Harrison
Novelist Herman Melville was born on this day in New York City (1819
Keeping track of Trump's narcicissm. – Heather Cox Richardson, in yesterday evening's Letters From An American.
A tragic moment for the judiciary.-- Joyce Vance, Civil Discourse, 7.31.25.
Happy U.S. birthday, Colorado.
In Praise of Art Monsters. – Sophie Strand, in Make Me Good Soil, 8.1.25.
Another Country
I love these raw moist dawns with
a thousand birds you hear but can't
quite see in the mist.
My old alien body is a foreigner
struggling to get into another country.
The loon call makes me shiver.
Back at the cabin I see a book
and am not quite sure what that is.
– Jim Harrison, "Another Country" from Dead Man’s Float. Copper Canyon Press, 2016.
Joy is coming . . .
Thursday, July 31, 2025. It's Thor's day . . . Much cooler days are under way in TulseyTown. Moderate Northerlies brought light rain to the morning and are forecasted to maintain cloudy skies until tomorrow evening. A preview of September? Heat indices are indicated to be in the 90's along with high humidity. The heat dome is to return Tuesday.
“Publishing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.”
― Don Marquis.
J.K. Rowling turns 60 today. The Harry Potter author was born in 1965 Yate, Gloucestershire, England.
A fave of mine, poet and novelist Kim Addonizio turns 71 today (gasp!). The born in Washington, D.C. (1954).
. . . six months into the second Trump administration, on the sixtieth anniversary of the law that symbolized the modern American state by establishing Medicare and Medicaid, it’s clear we are indeed in a revolution designed to destroy the government we have known in favor of the radical right-wing government envisioned by those who wrote Project 2025. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American.
How we lose it all. – Robert Reich, What fascist control looks like. Online, 7.31.25.
A “you're welcome” note to Okieland from Gavin Newsom’’…
California sent $83 billion more than they received to the federal government.
That means red states that receive more than they send rely on California for critical dollars from the federal government that help fund education, healthcare and — apparently — this new tax break supported by Oklahoma Republicans.
This isn’t the people of Oklahoma’s fault. It’s irresponsible Republican legislators and governors like Stitt who are so used to California paying for their necessities, they decide to give the money they have to rich folks instead of investing in their people and their needs. You're welcome, I guess... Gavin Newsom, from an email left over in my mailbox over the past weekend.
It is worth recalling that Oklahoma voters – that would be some of your neighbors and maybe even you – are responsible for putting the present governor and legislators into office.
Some events are better experienced than explained. Take soul. Your joy is your job. And yours alone. – Samantha Thornhill, “38. Shedding The Old.” The Academy of American Poets, 7.31.25.
. . . if you swam across a river under rain sang
using a dildo for a microphone stayed up
to watch the moon eat the sun entire
ripped out the stitches in your heart
because why not if you think nothing &
no one can / listen I love you joy is coming
– Kim Addonizio, “To the Woman Crying Uncontrollably in the Next Stall.” Now We're Getting Somewhere. W.W. Norton, 2021.
Perfectly imperfect . . .
Wednesday, July 30, 2025. It's Odin's day . . . TulseyTown's heat eases
There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in. – Leonard Cohen
Yesterday
Poet Stanley Kunitz was born in 1905 Worcester, Massachusetts.
Don Marquis was born in 1878 Walnut, Illinois. The novelist, poet, newspaper columnist, and playwright. He created the famous characters Archy and Mehitabel.
“Publishing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.” ― Don Marquis.
Today
Emily Brontë was born in 1818 Thornton, Yorkshire, England, the sister of Anne and Charlotte Brontë.
Sculptor Henry Moore was born on this day in 1898, Castleford,Yorkshire, England
Buddy Guy is 89 today. The blues guitarist was born in 1936 Lettsworth, Louisiana.
Kate Bush turns 67 today. The English singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer was born in 1958, Bexleyheath, Kent, England. Hear about the deal she wants to make at the very end of today’s entries.
It's Christopher Nolan's 55th birthday. The British film director and writer was born today in 1970, London, England.
And, the U.S.'s first national health insurance program – Medicare and Medicade – came into law on this day with President Lyndon Johnson's signature on the Social Security Act of 1965.
It is in the process of embracing our imperfections that we find our truest gifts – Brené Brown in Meditations, The Center for Action and Contemplation, 7.29.25
The Layers
I have walked through many lives,
some of them my own,
and I am not who I was,
though some principle of being
abides, from which I struggle
not to stray.
[...]
In my darkest night,
when the moon was covered
and I roamed through wreckage,
a nimbus-clouded voice
directed me:
“Live in the layers,
not on the litter.”
Though I lack the art
to decipher it,
no doubt the next chapter
in my book of transformations
is already written.
I am not done with my changes.
– Stanley Kunitz, The Layers, From The Collected Poems by Stanley Kunitz .W. W. Norton, 1978.