Queen for a day

I went to a writers workshop yesterday. The poet in charge, Bill Brown, spoke to us about life changing events. I decided to write about my wedding since getting married is a life changing event. I also wrote about my wedding since my cousin who has schizophrenia went AWOL during the event. It is my cousin who caused me to feel forever interested in sever chronic mental illness. He is responsible for my eventual choice to work in psychiatric hospitals.

Queen for a day

The bride wore a sparkling white crinoline gown holding roses and peonies.
She performed the ceremonial kiss and danced the wedding March
Over current for the day

Cousin John wore a white light sparkling brain
Wilting scents and compelling confusion lived inside his absent facial features
He was seeking rhythm
Consistency
Normalcy
The under current for the day

Cousin John knew what he needed
Not Haldol! On the contrary, he needed home.
A psychotic man flees from a wedding in Ohio to a home in California.

How much can a Queen control?
Familiar clasps of congratulations
Receptive lines of Champaign drinking well-wishers
The Queen holds court in the over current

The under current rises
Phone rings, it’s the police
A caravan line to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport
Receives the absent cousin

Cousin and Bride
Over and under blending
The Queen, gracious and forever curious
The cousin, confused and forever beholden to grace.

Check out the new blog

Please note that I added a new blog to my favorites list. This blog is by Greg Griffy. He is going to Wake Forest university in a few weeks to start a graduate degree in Divinity. I met Greg at southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute where he I was working as a clinical social worker and he was working as a librarian. He is talented and wise. I encourage you to visit his blog.

2 small quilts

Here is a small quilt that I made for Gabe. It still needs to be quilted.
I don't know why these words are underlined and I can't seem to figure out how to make the underline go away.

This is the baby quilt I made for Summer's soon to be born baby boy. I used some of the same material in this quilt that I used in the quilt I made for my son in law.

Satire

I like this satire about voting. I have said this for years but this is the first time since Reagan that anyone has listened.

modern medicine

Check out this funny cartoon.
I feel very frustrated by the cost of health care.
http://z.about.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/o/A/2/miracle-of-modern-medicine.jpg

Meeting JJ part 3

Meeting JJ part 3
Was it April fools day? Since I don’t remember the date. Since it was the beginning of April. Lets call it April fools day. The day I embarked on the foolish adventure called love. The sun was warm. The daffodils were in bloom. The dogwood trees just beginning to bud, held court over trees that are less enigmatic. Both wafted in the gentle breeze of spring. There was no dog nipping at my heal, but I was poised to step over the precipice just the same.

As I came out of the student center, I saw JJ sitting next to a fountain. The air was rich with the smell of new growth and seeds that wanted germinating. That poor sorry fountain was just a rectangle painted blue with water squirting up. But to me it was my first stride into the depths. He was playing a recorder. His trilling flute sounds mingled with the sound of the bubbling fountain. I flipped off my sandals, stepped into the fountain and danced. I danced across the water floating and spinning on the new spring warmth. I sat down next to the pied piper. We spoke with innocence about the weather, the flowers and the beauty of the day. Then he asked me, “Would you like to go on a picnic?”
“Where?”
“I found a new place out in the woods. It is already my favorite place in all the world.”
“What should we take?” After some thought, we decided we would get bread and cheese and fruit and wine. This is my favorite meal from then until now.
His communication skills about the subtleties of feminine comfort were limited at best. Most people believe they are being understood when they are not being understood. I believed I was being understood. I told JJ, “I am going to wear my sandals.” This meant, “I expect you to take me to a place where a girl can walk in sandals.” This meant, “If you are taking me somewhere that sandals are not appropriate, tell me now and I will wear boots.” He did not know that I was asking him if sandals were a good idea. He did not know that I would wear hiking boots if necessary. He was in a daze and unable to understand my cryptic world of woman speak.
I ran back to my dorm room to change into “picnic clothes”
“I am going on a picnic in the woods with a guy I have been trying to get to ask me on a date for weeks!” I was excited and breathless. My roommate was not impressed.
“Bonnie, what do you know about this boy? That’s no place for a date!”
“I’ll be fine!” I was very naive. I was a fool dancing swiftly over the edge.
I flew down the steps in my sandals and met JJ near his old blue Honda. We went to a delicatessen and bought some cheep white wine, cheese, rolls and fruit.
JJ took me to a back road that twisted along side Tools Creek as it makes its way toward the North Fork of the Holston River. The trees were brown and beginning to bud. They over hanged the winding country road forming a tunnel of meandering potential. He pulled over to the side of the road and we walked down to the creek carrying our picnic fare. JJ intended to ford the stream and climb up the side of a mountain. There were no trails or handrails. This was a good place for a rabbit to have a picnic. Did he not get the message about my shoes?
“I don’t think I can get across that creek.”
JJ agreed that I would need help. He carried me across the watery threshold of the hill beyond with the care one might give delicate china. Climbing the mountain was a total body experience. My feet slipped in and out of those sandals while I grabbed onto trees and rocks. We climbed up to a flat place where we could spread out our deli bounty.
We ate and talked and JJ spoke to me the poetry of the golden section and of the Fibonacci sequence. (He may have thrown in some Bob Dylan.) All I saw was gold and jewels coming out of his mouth.
“This is a man I could talk to forever.”
When you start to tumble off the edge of a cliff, there comes a point when you realize that there is nothing you can do to stop it. It is time to let go and plunge into the unknown. I don’t remember getting back to the dorm but I remember enjoying my fall into the web of his thoughts.

Phish quilt

This is a quilt that I made for Gabe. I liked the blue and green colors together. The poor quilt went through Katrina but came out just fine. I think Gabe felt badgered when I repeatedly asked him to get the quilt when he went back for his belongings. I love this kind of quilt because it looks complicated but is actually an easy quilt to make. I love the way a person can make a flowing pattern with straight lines. I think of this one as a Phish quilt. It looks kind of like fish and has an underwater flavor. Gabe was a one time follower of the band.
I think ol Freud would like this one too. It does look like a Rorschach test. Hmm "ant vat iz da virst thing you think of when you look at ze design?"