Beaver Sighting

Bandit: Breaker, breaker--This is the Bandit, I got the hammer on the floor and looking for more on the I-70 heading west at mile marker 95 coming out of Kansas City—on channel 2-4 anyone got their ears on, come back?

Rock: You got the Rock on channel 2-4 heading towards Denver; I’m at the front door–mile marker 100 heading west. Bandit change to channel 2-2, come back.

Bandit: 10-4, changing to 2-2. Rock this is the Bandit, I got the back door–seen any bears in them woods- come back?

Rock: Ease back on that hammer Bandit we got a Papa bear in a plain brown wrapper at the 99 mile marker, come back.

Bandit: Thank you kindly Rock. Whatcha hauling, come back?

Rock: Life is better with Coca Cola, come back.

Bandit: I’m at the Ball Park with some Angus beef franks, come back.

Rock: Bandit, we got a beaver sighting at the 103 mile marker doing a double nickel—repeat a pack of beavers coming at you with their top down. Got a pink one and the sun is shining bright, come back.

Bandit: Repeat, did you say a beaver pack, come back?

Rock: Should be coming up real soon—four beavers with their top down in a shiny red convertible, come back.

Bandit: That’s a big 10-4, Rock– and they’re smokin hot.

Rock: I’m heading to the Golden State of California, come back– been rolling since 3am.

Bandit: 10-4, hooking up in Wyoming the Equality State—gonna suds ‘em up and find me a sleeper leaper at the pickle park, come back.

Rock: That’s a big 10-4, I’m dancing solo—got me a honey back in San Antonio.

Bandit: Roger that Rock, thank you kindly, this is the Bandit signing off-catch you on the flip flop.

Rock: That’s an affirmative Bandit, Breaker, breaker--you got the Rock heading west at mile marker 175 keep your wheels on the ground and your tool well oiled—anybody out there got their ears on, come back?

CB Radio Slang
On the floor and looking for more: accelerating to full speed
Front door: first truck in the convoy
Back door: last truck in the convoy
Double nickel: 55 miles per hour
Papa Bear- State police
Plain brown wrapper: unmarked brown vehicle
Beaver: woman
Flip flop: on the return trip
Sleeper leaper: working girl
Pickle park: rest area known for working girls
Suds: beer

Smile!

Picture

natural world

inspired by a prompt

unique mixed media designs

collage

Comedy Theme-cinquain

Picture
hilarious
inspired by a prompt
unique mixed media design
collage

No Labels

Flexitarian

Pescatarian

Vegetarian

call it whatever you want

I Don’t Eat Meat!

I woke up the other day

thinking I knew

WHAT I was.

I was wrong.

I got an education in

the many types of vegetarianism

It is more complicated than I thought

apparently I’m NOT ONE

nope-- none of the above.

I actually thought I might be a Pescatarian

for half a minute

but I’m NOT that either

Sound frustrating?

All I know for certain is

that I don’t have any health problems

bleeding hemorrhoids

indigestion

or weight gain.

I exercise

I take my vitamins and

occasionally when the dust bunnies

threaten mutiny

I even vacuum.

I love Netflix

and frozen juice bars

peanut M&M’s

banana smoothies

salads, stuffed Portobello mushrooms

kale

and macaroni—of any kind

Actually I could live on the stuff.

Tofu is okay

Soy or bust

beans and peas and lentils

and curry and tacos and salsa

and fish and eggs and cheese

and ice-cream

gotta have that!

Life wouldn’t be worth living

without my ice-cream

and dark chocolate.

So WHAT I am-- is not even

close to a vegetarian

nope not at all

I just don’t eat meat.

I don’t color

inside no stinking lines

neither.

So call me whatever you want

I’ll still be blessed

with the right combination of

genes

locale and

skills.

Go roll that

in your

Űber hoity toity degree

and smoke it! 

Facebook Mania

Write  a poem using the following words: flood - crying - lost - hope - fun - laughter - rough. Words may be used in different formats (for example: cry, crying, cried) 

A downward spiral

has sucked my brain

into an alarming flood

of multitudinous meanderings.

Exotic monikers

light up my screen

new and old

parading requests

to come and have fun

let’s play games

text and extol

fanciful tales of joy

and woe. You are among friends.

A veritable montage of

learning follows

from a newborn’s first  hopeful cry, to

old best friends who have died too young

and others that married the football captain

the proctologist, and the now homeless

comedian as he muses on future

High School reunions.

Idle laughter distilled while

tracking

through

the thick confluence

of a rough relational glue

sold for a click

amid lost days

spent

dodging real

hopelessly caught up

in playing

pretend.

**Disclaimer—a creation.

I Don’t Eat Meat

Listen up okay, because I’m only going to say this once--I’m a vegetarian.

I don’t eat meat. 

I’m not a NUT.

I do eat  nuts, vegetables, fruit, noodles, soy, mushrooms, and beans.

Are you aware that they inject all kinds of antibiotics into that meat you eat?

Yes, that same food supply and those same corporations that are actually causing and perpetuating WORLD HUNGER, because we humans could be eating the grain that they are feeding to the cows, that could live quite well on GRASS, if we didn’t destroy the topsoil in this country’s heartland; livestock and chickens that are being injected with hormones to make them grow bigger and faster and forced to live in filthy cramped conditions, just so they can be slaughtered sooner to end up on your high priced plate next to that tiny gray vegetable that you cooked to death instead of steaming.

So I’m not saying that you shouldn’t eat meat, I’m saying that I don’t

and I would appreciate it if you stopped pushing your opinion down my throat

because opinions are like assholes,

everyone has one and they all stink.

And if you think that your shit is ICE-CREAM,

I got some swamp land in the desert for you.

Here, let me spell it out for you,

V- is for vegetables-fruits and grains, heart healthy nutrients feeding the world.

E- is for educated in diet and nutrition.

G- is for I’m game to kick your gamey ass—so don’t try to mix in any meat with that rice.

E- is for educated—is there an echo in here?

T- is for taught new and interesting recipes.

A- is for able to find plenty of viable alternatives to the protein equation.

R-is for ready to retrain my brain.

I-is for independent, so don’t get any smart ideas.

A-is for action and yes, I still have ALL my marbles.

N- is for NO, I don’t eat meat that means no red meat, no fowl, no pork, no lamb, no deer, alligator, rabbit,
 road kill, worms or insects even if they are dipped in CHOCOLATE.

Do you have it yet?

Moon

Harvest Moon

Remembering 9-11-01

Imploding towers

piled tons of ash and debris

atop shattered lives.

Terror brought home, 

snuffed out by solid leadership

remembered by those left behind.

Loved ones remembered

our country united

faithful and steadfast.

Cautionary note

to those of that ilk

we will hunt you down.

There will be a reckoning

We will not forget the day 

that changed our world.

Rapunzel

Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair!

Come on dearie
don't be so Grimm

there’s nothing left to fear.
The big bad wolf
evil prick that he is
is fooling with some
naive Red Riding Hood
on Facebook
and the wicked enchantress
has roared off
on her broom
to see the fall colors
on the southern rim
of the Grand Canyon.

It’s okay to come out.

Olly Olly Oxen Free!

The bogey woman has left the building
went out for a mocha frappuccino.
She got bored
this story is too predictable
so she went off
to scare up a new Prince.
All the evil turds are gone
Rapunzel
and you’ve gotten the pink slip.

Wake-up sweetie
It’s going to be okay
it was just a nightmare
Yeah- you got banged up a bit
but you made it.

Rapunzel –it’s time to escape
from your ivory tower
maybe go for a makeover.
Color those roots
get out of that frumpy dress
invest in a manicure.

Seriously
you are among friends.
You are a survivor.
It’s over!
And like they say
at the end of the story
And she lived

Happily Ever After!

Please vote for my story on Reader's Digest
Thank you!

http://apps.facebook.com/yourlifecontest/content/our-new-home

Make Me Hot

Make me hot

I want to sizzle

like an egg sunny side up

with my edges lightly browned

crisp

no humdrum lines

or snot

diminishing a

first impression.

I want them

to inhale

my scent

like hungry dogs

hot on the trail

of a

meaty

thigh

bone

dripping

with

drop dead sinew

and pearly white

panache.

Your Taste

You are dark and scathing

hinting at forgotten pleasure

bribing my subconscious

beneath a cloak of sultry red still

you continue to whisper my name.

Tempting rogue

you alone know how to

twist my desire

and color my lust.

I am a nun

and solitary.

This phase will

forge

my chain

secure my allegiance

rebuild a bold character

and transform my prison

but I shall die

before I

forget

your taste.

Emotional Muggers

An Emotional Mugging

is calling up your family

expecting an earful

but getting

an exploding doormat  instead.

is thinking your friends

have your best interests

in mind and finding they’ve

relished eating your heart out.

Emotional muggers

know something

nasty about you

and aren’t afraid to use it.

Emotional muggers

can cripple you

with their love.

First Friday- Poetry Slam

Spiders

Spider ling’s balloon
over tiny strands of silk
thread- trapeze artists.

Steel spiders muscle 
circus owner, draw sideshow
acts to live wire.

Spider vein try-out’s
announced in carnival ad
beach sandals welcome.

Tall, Thin, Young and Gassy—pidgin poem

One sistah from Kahaluu
stay
carving
into da
banyan tree
next to da
Hygenic Store.

She waitin on Kimo
da kine moke neva even
graduate Castle High School.

Da tita
get one zit da size
of one forklift
on top her
nose.
Pretty soon
she gonna pop da bugga
da ting going ooze
and she going use 'um fo
fill-in da kine words
into dat tree.

Words like
I gonna get you fo dis, KIMO
I not playin wit you
no more games-- gangsta.
I like wrap your brains round dis tree
wat you tink, I no life.
You tink I
going stay hea foreva.

So she tink and she write
some ting else into dat tree
dat no one eva going forget.

It say,
Kimo like sleep
wit ladies undawea on, cuz
he got one ting for -- red lace BVD’S

Dat going fix da bugga.

She smiling now
like she wen release
one huge
onolicious fart.

“Kay den, she say,
my work
pau hea
wea  you like go?”

Trending Pointless

I admit it

I am

not the sharpest knife

in the drawer.

Actually I hail from

a whole set

of dull knives.

In fact, the sharpest one

is currently afflicted with

a pitting problem. No cure

missing some stainless parts

if you know what I mean.

It is surprising

shocking really

that not even one

sibling in the drawer

has an ounce of steel  

or any hidden alloy

of any cutting edge value.

Apparently
when the big guy upstairs

was doling out sharpeners

we all

skipped class.

I must admit-- I’m worried  

the makeup exam

appears to involve

massive pumpkins

and no one’s trained

in carving

except of course

our distant cousin

an ancient

serrated edge

with a long handle

sketching a subliminal

outline.

Multiverse--cinquain

More than
One--is it true
that there is more than ONE!
Maybe we’ll get one more chance to
survive.

 Matter
 exists, to learn
 our origin, stars
 progress, energy amplified
 study.

 Science
 Mathematics
 divide reality
 Quantum theory resides within
 space time.

Capt. Tommy D.

http://blip.tv/habilitat/captain-tommy-d-at-habilitat-hawaii-long-term-rehab-program-5513585

My husband--giving back!

Breakfast at the Villa

Apollo is beginning
with a plastic appetizer
the meal
a cutback sleeve of
a five gallon bucket
fashioned to house
a large dog’s dish.

It is his.

We know this because it
has a large red A on the side
unlike his brother’s
which has a large red R
for Rocky.

They have access
to all the amenities.
These pedigrees
needn’t
bend down to eat.
Gracious NO!

This clever design
keeps their dishes
at shoulder height
a comfortable level for dining.

The cook is late
and Apollo being
extremely advanced
for a bull mastiff
unlike his rather vocal brother
who is whining
doesn’t voice his disdain
but instead has
brought his bucket
to the front overlooking the ponds
and will diplomatically
start
alone.

Getting Out from Beneath the Rubble

I’ve been putting it off long enough.
Yesterday I took a step towards
stirring the crowd.

I found
and relocated some
rather important tomes.
I made progress.
I approached the mammoth
and tried to saddle it
the tonnage clear
roping not an option.

Intent on putting my plan
into gear
I sorted through
the who does this belong to
the what
why and how much
dust had accumulated
reasoning that the one inch pile
could stay
but everyone else
had to go.

I don’t care for slackers.
Most of them left quietly
the days of debauchery over
they were corralled and herded
towards the car
and loaded into the trunk
next stop the LIBRARY.

The connivers next to the nightstand were next
unread in over six months
they were out of there
replaced by the next have to reads.

Then I marched upstairs
to look at the schemer pile
next to the sofa
that seemed content
to stay put.
No threats or
hysterical comments
voiced from that group
so I relented and gave them
another six months to collect
interest, which seems to be at a premium these days.

I think I will issue a press release
or have a PBS show featuring them.
You know, revive interest in the classics
get them on Oprah’s must read list

In the meantime I have
been evaluating and editing
a new
beast that I’m taming
set in Hawaii
(not mine) saved
on a flash drive
but I’m going to
have to ration myself
after all
there is more to life
isn’t there?

Hold on
I think I have a book on that
somewhere.

Habilitat's Last Saturday Poetry Slam

http://www.viddler.com/explore/habilitat/videos/43/


Featuring Connie D. and the Residents of Habilitat

Habilitat--the place of change

Habilitat--changing the hardcore into the responsible for

Who Do You Want To Be?

Brownie Bites

Rich dark chocolate squares
evoke Grandma’s warm kitchen
mouth watering memories
heaven’s triple sweet reply
to snotty little cousins.

Gratification
is eating a chewy baked
treat and cooling off
with your friends under an
red low flow fire hydrant.

Shrewd brownie judgment
demands that you sweep up crumbs
if you don’t want ants
sharing your picnic basket
or hitching a ride back home.

End Times

Human trafficking
cacophony surpasses
chirping myna birds.

Yellow sun rises
behind filthy mock dwelling
rooster crows three times.

Street rules prevail now
no apparent religion
only hungry dogs.

Blue Horizon

Blue bottle grouping
silent float on the water
pushed in by the tide
Pink and Blue gas-filled bladders
appear old warships full sail.


** Tanka

Tiki Chair

 

Sleeping it Off

 

Thirty Balls

Thirty Balls
give or take
that’s how many
I took
with me
to the Koolau Golf Course today.
Eighteen made the return trip
to wait until the next round
where if they are blessed
they will escape and find a new home
flying left
when they should’ve gone right
taking a sudden detour
deep into the lush green vegetation
dark with plovers pigeons,
cardinals and common myna
chirping on
about the many different
species of
earthworms and the sudden
onslaught of
U.F.O. Sightings
reported
in their neck of the woods.

Hawaiian Birthing Stone

 

Grasshopper

 

Enabler 101

Definition of ENABLER:
enablers are people who by their actions make it easier for an addict to continue their self-destructive behavior by criticizing or rescuing.
one that enables another to achieve an end; especially : one who enables another to persist in self-destructive behavior (as substance abuse) by providing excuses or by making it possible to avoid the consequences of such behavior



Slam Poetry shows
up at Habilitat in
the Fall. Shut my mouth.

A survivor speaks
Letters to a Prisoner
amazon.com

Denial loses
taken over by rebels
gets new perspective.

Conquer addiction
drop the victim at the curb
it’s a new classic.

Watch Olelo in
September or October
Connie D. returns.

Street Smarts—tips for the savvy woman

The steering wheel
shimmy
means your tire is
doing a rubber
strip tease
ladies
beware.

Sleeping Beauty

I write
because
the truth
is a
sleeping beauty
likely
willful
tomorrow
picketing
against
me.

Obsessed

From Mohonk New York

From Mohonk New York

Obsessed
since I quit
smoking
the scale
persuades
I promise
to have a
short memory.

K.I.S.S.

Keep it simple stupid
I say keep it short stupid
I’m getting gray
waiting for
the film
to finish
the sheets need to be changed
my dogs are howling to eat
I have a life too
Keep it short.

I need to do my workout
go to work
load the truck
and wash at least three loads of laundry.

The winds are MORE than EIGHT MILES AN HOUR
on the WINDWARD side of the island
GET a new ANEMOMETER.

Time is running
its marathon
and I’m lagging behind
I’m in the thirteen minute mile group
and I can’t understand
why you keep talking
because I can’t breathe
because I’m pudgy
and out-of –shape
And I’m going to DIE
maybe not today
but soon America
Keep it short.

Say what you mean
Mean what you say
Keep me interested
Keep it short.

Red Sunrise

 

Duck

 

Bufo Toad

 

Making Headlines

I’m calling Ripley’s
I’ve heard of walking the dog
but I can’t believe
what I just saw this morning
I can see the headlines now

Unleashed cat walks free
pet trails behind leashed Shih Tzu
captivates neighbors.

WHITE

White wedding
Dress
Veil
Doves
Rice.


White chocolate
Coconut
Whipped cream icing
Ribbons
Balloons.

Soap
Bubbles
Robes
Wine
Towel-wrapped
Geese
Origami
Paper
Snowflake.

White
Face
Paint
Threads
Magic
Lies.

White Noise
White light
Mushroom clouds
Sand
White caps
Ivory
Moon.

Chalk
Lines
Crayoned
Plaster
White
Knuckled
Outlines.

Ghost
White mothballs
(Death’s perfume
sealed
in cellophane.)

Marco Polo

Marco Polo
is a new guest
he scurries around
the perimeter of the fish pond
foraging
for remnants of trout chow
trapped between the rocky crevices
sharpening his claws
on neighboring plants
and fruit trees
papaya, coconut
orange and
lychee
tumbling
now into a pitcher plant
another new arrival
from Borneo.

Poor Marco,
traveling to this oasis
took a lot out of him
he’s so thirsty to explore
he hasn’t read the warning signs
little does he know
who his host is
that the table is being prepared
for an exotic rat stew.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trWzDlRvv1M

Blind Faith

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forego their use." - Galileo Galilei
"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Blind Faith

is
hoping
to catch one
fish for dinner
in a polluted
reservoir so you can
feed your scruffy family
of five, expecting that one fish
will multiply into plenty, plus
too, persuade them into thinking its God.

Consequences

We
all need
to face the
I-Told-You-So
the bouncing bad check
snorting white powder costs.
The medicated food chain
bloated size eighteen appetite
the rash rolling click of a blind mouse
trust placed in who packs our parachute.


**Etheree

Good Morning America!

Good Morning America

Good Morning Starbucks
Venti Me!
I’m going for the bypass tomorrow
I woke up today and
all my size twelve’s turned into four’s
and I can’t get the zipper UP
I may need EMS to resuscitate me
from this god dammed war
that’s killing all of our boys
and I’m asking MR. President
what is it all FOR?
I want OFF this rollercoaster
I want Opie and Andy
to call I LOVE LUCY
and tell her that
marrying RICKY is a big mistake
that Ethel is a cow and Fred is really a cereal killer.

Good Morning America
I need a ZEN moment
a place to exhale all the garbage
from my black lungs
coughed up in the trenches
of foreign wars
that I can’t afford
because my credit just went down the tubes
and needs a banker
a little gold to back me up
prevent my guts from being
blown up in the chopper
in a bombed out country
that hires kids as mercenaries
What the hell is it for
Mr. Senator?

Good Morning America!
Stop the bullshit
the crying
soap opera
raging
about the streets
of London
Don’t you see that
we are all in this together?
We need a plan
we need Mr. Spock
to beam down
and give us the logical
answer
before the Alien High Council
sends us to a frozen prison planet
because no one here is INNOCENT.

Good Morning America!
Let’s toast our Statue of Liberty
one last time before China
calls in her note.
Before the polar ice cap melts
the earth stops resettling and
before Voyager reaches its final destination.

Good Morning America
Today is the day
we resurrect GOD
meet those ancient aliens
who designed the giant stone monoliths
that litter the planet
like an ad for air travel.
Refrigerator magnets
to foreign collectors
from a far off galaxy
who will surely
look up in their ancient texts
calculating the odds
of contracting the human infection
inoculating the crew
for their close encounter of a shitty kind.

Good Morning America
Wake up!
We are being consumed by a sinkhole
a malfunction in the earth’s crust
sliding, suffocating
obsessed and arrogant
and our time is running out.
Pardon me
Excuse my partisan ass
Mr. Speaker but
America is pissed
off and we were wondering
when you people on Capitol Hill
will get up off your rich collective butts
and DO what you were elected for
which is to speak for the PEOPLE
because we are tired of swallowing
your sovereign AGENDA’s and we’re not going to finance them ANYMORE!

Geography Lesson

From the front of the class
I can see the chalk smudges
on the back of her dress.
Two white hand prints

cross her parallel shoulders
and a longitudinal eraser mark
stares at me from her angular derriere.
That’s what I’m thinking, when she asks me

to recite the exact latitude
and longitude of Honolulu, Hawaii
the correct answer being
21° 6' 35" N / 157° 31' 51" W

I grin back and as far as I can tell
the equivalent of that
has absolutely nothing to do
with the location

of the chalk marks on her dress
and relatively everything to do with
last night’s homework assignment.
So I do what any red-blooded kid would do

I grab my crotch
make a face and
I ask permission
to use the restroom.

Congress

Words pour from their mouths
like water from a faucet
making promises

until we need them.

Until we realize they’ve said
something they shouldn’t have.

Sealed with government approval
they caw, squawk and eat away at our resolve
taunting us
stabbing us over and over
with our own
deceit.

Their black beaks
daring us to
stop them and
see
before
they mushroom
into a dark cloud
before they grow bigger
and transform into something else.

Scavengers fixed to gorge on the placated
at the table of procrastination
and donkey white lies.

Problem Solving-- ABCdarian

Aaron is the eldest. He is twelve. He loves
Baseball. His problem is he has to babysit
Corinne his younger sister. Corinne is five and she
Demands his complete attention, she cries
Every time he tries to practice with
Frank his younger brother in the backyard.
Garth the family Doberman
Howls competing for notice, making
It impossible to focus. Garth sometimes
Jumps and nips Frank in the butt as he tries to catch the ball, this
Keeps Aaron quite busy.
Let’s just say
Multi-tasking is not Aaron’s strong suit.
Now Aaron’s
Only hope of getting good at baseball is to dream up a
Plan that will keep Corinne and Garth busy so he and Frank can practice. He has to think
Quickly. He grins. Nearby a
Rope
Swing sways in the old oak
Tree, rubbing against the branches and swishing
Under the greenery. Corinne, I’ll buy you a
Vanilla ice-cream cone and I’ll
Wager a chew bone to Garth to see who can keep quiet the longest.
X-ing, his fingers behind his back Aaron reaches down to pick up a stick. Garth instantly
Yields. Fetch, Garth. Corinne plays with Garth, Aaron's practice resumes in the clever
Zone.

Jealousy

Jealousy’s best friend is Suspicion.
She has rights, perceives your weakness
and is married to Envy.
She distrusts everyone
their children are Greed
Anxiety
Bitterness
Self-doubt
Fear.


**Nonet

Letters to a Prisoner by Connie D.

Letters to a Prisoner by Cornelia "Connie D" DeDona

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Amazon and Kindle



A Survivor speaks out!



Required reading at Habilitat- a drug rehab in Hawaii



Honorable Mention in Poetry at the 2011 New York Book Festival!!



Outstanding look! A unique perspective from a Mom into the mind of the enabler. Free Yourself and the Addict!







View all my reviews

Bible Acrostics

Groovy
Out-smoking
Dude

Resourceful
Outspoken
Militant empire exacting their
Absolute philosophy over all other
Neophyte
Societies

Priest
Apostle
Unique
Lecturer

Jewish rabbi
Erudite
Scholar
Unwavering
Spirited son.

Fire Dance

Check out my latest Photography Book, Fire Dance!
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore​/detail/2319240

Writing a True Novel

Writing a true novel is like dueling with a cockroach; penetrating and exploring the past could get real messy. Don’t kid yourself if there is anything else you can think of to do, go ahead and do it. It involves a truckload of continence and revision.

You begin by dreaming about the past, sorting through old pictures and searching for and actually finding old friends, who you later discover were better left in the dark.

You set your scene; research the town you grew up in and thought you knew. Lots of surprises await your discovery under the dusty covers. Then you get to pick which roads to go down and which ones to pass up. It requires enormous energy and creativity; buckets of right and wrong decisions line up for inspection. Old issues march up to, and then parade-rest at your door. Closure takes on a higher meaning, something akin to, should I tell them about the implant, and which one?

Who is your audience? Why should they care? Can anything human relate? Or should you save the paper for puppy training? Why now, have you achieved enlightenment? Who will it hurt or help? Precious time is spent writing poems, honey-do and shopping lists, feeding the dogs, and taking pictures of cloud formations. You spend an inordinate amount of time reading other inspired memoirs and novels, and spending time with the grandkids, anything but writing that damn book…

But wait there’s more, you have to get your facts straight, no embellishing to make it more interesting; names need to be correctly spelled and a time frame established. Trust only a handful of your friends to read and critique. Don’t post online if you want to publish a chapter elsewhere. Take all advice with two aspirin and try not to get confused; one chapter at a time. Find a group meeting and stick with it.

Don’t forget about Aunt So and So, who worked at the Library and discovered the cure for that deadly virus, or the Uncle who won the bronze in Seoul, or the neighbor from next door who died of Cancer because family and friends will get mad at you if you leave them out.

Show them, describe using all the senses, make it colorful, who was popular, what music was playing on the radio and what did you wear. Sprinkle in some dialogue with a dash of character. Pack a punch, leave them wanting more and don’t solve all your characters’ problems; your next blockbuster is wheezing in the wings.

Giant Tag

We tackled the beach

dodging Man ‘o War jelly’s

tagging Big foot’s mark.

Jellyfish

The straggler popped, cracked beneath my heel
resembling light blue bubble gum
startling me from my daydream.
I looked down in dismay.
Would that bubble sting
or would it just
flatten blue
burn the
sand.

*Nonet--A nonet has nine lines. The first line has nine syllables, the second line eight syllables, the third line seven syllables, etc... until line nine that finishes with just one syllable. It can be on any subject and rhyming is optional.