L'aura del Campo

Too flat for secrets. Read these blogs, entries, poems!

5,412 views

          SUMMER: 8 Kalimat (20 July)          

Think cool !

Weather where I am: 100º. Heat index of 109º.
Weather in Saint Louis, Missouri: 92º. 101º expected.
Weather in La Paz, Bolivia: 59º.

Saint Louis got devastated by storms last night. Both here and there the story today is the heat. Relief comes to us tomorrow. What I'm planting is just weeping away it's life. May wait till tomorrow to plant the rest of it.

Some of you have read this poem:

"Speak soft my name" 

If not, please do so. It is relevant after current events in Indonesia. As found in:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_2006_Java_earthquake

I am always amused to look at stats:

304 views!
57 ratings. Tons of reviews.
25 5-star ratings
21 @ 4.5
6 @ 4.0
3 @ 3.5
2 @ 2.5 (these two were just mean and spiteful anonymous ratings)

Most everyone got the point! Which is better than I expected. I keep thinking people will take offense where none was intended. Gawd ... do I need to get over THAT!

Really, if you haven't read it, please do.
I am always puzzled as to what works or doesn't. This next list of five (yes, five, Scarlett ) have connected with people more than even my tsunami poem has. Why? If I knew why ... I wouldn't be so poor!

"Koan on an October sky" 
"'heart's home'" 
"In Lagada, la vita" 
"At three" 
"Zmitri" 

The last three need a couple more reviews for the stats to make any sense. Please rate and review if you have time (anyone around here got some extra time to sell ... cheap?).

Blogging ... got to visit ten more blogs today that aren't my regular stops. I was the first to leave a comment at two of them :

Schezar , Come Fly with Me--Kiter , Stormy Lady , 1amme, The Ikester , Darla is BAAAAACK! =D , GoCartCherub- St Louis U , cla_reecy, thatBobguy , tirzahlaughs.

Entries of note:

She has lost 50 pounds! Go to GoCartCherub- St Louis U 's entry and give her a hug! (Anyone got a spare merit badge laying around for sheer determination?) Now go read:

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The particular entry from yesterday is:

"Invalid Entry" 

Any one know about PTSD? I suffer from trauma myself, but there has to be someone out there who has a better shoulder to lean on than me. cla_reecy could use some kind support:

"Invalid Entry" 

And read this entry about herself. She likes banana milkshakes! And mentions Turkish toilets ... Hmmmm ...

"Invalid Entry" .

I put this short entry by 1amme here, because I want to use her sketch as a prompt for a poem. It speaks to me:

"Invalid Entry" .

Now Scottiegazelle literally exhausts me with her energy, but with a family to feed she is looking for ways to write for money. Got any ideas?

"Invalid Entry" .

And The Ikester gives the very simple (simple, but then what is 'simple'?) advice of 'Write, Read, Listen, Rivise' in:

"Invalid Entry" .

Darla is BAAAAACK! =D has a condition on the autism spectrum called Semantic-Pragmatic disorder. She mentions this in her blog (do visit) but has written an article explaining it well:

"Invalid Item" 

As always, anyone who is dealing with anything that makes them different that has caused great pain, needs kindness more than anything else, especially if it is hard for family and friends to understand ... I highly recommend a read and kind response.

IMAGES

At the sidewalk sale:

Shorts and jeans and bags and caps and sandals; streets full at 8 a.m. before the heat of day; it's already in the 80s; colored awnings, colored signs; youth and children, few older folks 'of a certain age'; no dogs (well one, a silver standard poodle); few smiling faces except for a portly woman in teal sporting 6 red bags ... as wide as tall; cellphones, strollers; 2 women stopping to admire the flowers, wilting in the city planter; quiet conversations; barely a breeze; cups with drinks both cold and hot.

Richard Hugo has this beautiful line in one of his poems, "This land's too flat for secrets." It led to this poetic sketch last night:

Too flat for secrets

This land's too flat for secrets.
Truth is seen a mile away and closing fast.
The thunderbolts make all foes clasp
each other and the winds that howl
clean out the dust. No hill to calm
the qualms or quivers, the headgerow
that was chopped, no help.
The river's flooded; can't go there.
The here and now cannot go back to where
we've been, to where we last felt safe.
This land's too flat for secrets.
Listen! Hear those thunderbolts? Fear
that Truth rides in on tumbleweeds.
Look! There they roll a mile away.
They're closing fast. [163.261]