Enga mellom fjella: where from across the meadow, poems sing from mountains and molehills. |
Sentinel Marked as if you own me I bow before the Bitterroots and just like you my rocky soil, my withered grass lays prey to the empty sky. © Kåre Enga 2007 "Sentinel" Reader's Choice of Poems: "Sentinel" "Glice" "Waterlily" "For Jeanette ... when she grows old" "Starbeams on Tulsa" Reader's Choice of blog entries from my old blog "L'aura del Campo" : "Death of Jeannie New Moon" "Doing and don'ting. A scene in 2nd person." "Even in chaos ... More hockey poems." "Half-naked dreams? 'Getting the stain out of genes!" "ENFP, what are you?" FACES PLACES Kåre Enga ~ until everything was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow! And I let the fish go. ~ Elizabeth Bishop The Fish |
It's important to find where they hang out. Vacuum, spray, squish. Whatever works. Which reminds me of... ME: I'm fortunate that I don't have many enemies where I live. None that I know of in fact. No one bites me here; no one nibbles at my faults, reminds me of how unworthy I am. I still do it to myself, of course, but less. Today I had lunch with Joyce and two of her friends. Lovely, absolutely lovely... as my English friends would say. Today I'm having computer issues, but one word to Jeff and it may be taken care of tomorrow. No one bites here. I still have nightmares. Still get easily startled. But the present isn't compounding the wounds of the past. It's one thing to be bruised. They do heal, albeit slowly at times. It's another to keep banging away. Nothing heals. I've found some bugs. I've squished them. Hopefully I won't get more bites. But if I do, they won't be as devastating as the wounds inflicted by mean people. |
... that's what my balance on my phone is after using it two days. Put $100 on account. If I use the phone twice per week I'll be far ahead cost-wise. I figure it'll cost $100-200 per year (200 is more reasonable) as opposed to around $500 with my old plan. I don't have an internet plan but I'm already used to using wi-fi wherever I can find it. The idea is to bundle my calls. Call everyone the same day. This should work out with family and friends from afar. My local friends aren't too pleased, however, that I may not answer my phone... I could really use a cheap-cheap "Senior" plan. Like a landline! Haven't had one of those since 2001. That way friends could call me whenever. I'm already weaned off having to answer the phone when it rings. But I must stay in touch. Meeeeee: Not been well. Struggling. In spite of that I've done minor cleaning and edited a few photos. The idea of editing in my spare time at home is working out. Just posted photos from Norway and Costa Rica. Now I need to label my folders so I can actually find my photos! Since I used more than one camera plus my tablet I have lots of duplicates. And then there are folders I haven't even looked at... Someday I'll get around to Costa Rica 12/2013-1/2014. When I have time... I have posted few photos of Porto and Braga in Portugal. That too must be done. And Belgium? Ack... April 2013... Plenty of work when I'm felling fine. Drags when I'm not. The cool weather has been appreciated. I'd even enjoy it if I felt better. Feels like autumn complete with color-change. The grey skies haven't been quite as welcomed. But the sun will return. Always does. |
ME: It's been hot and dry. Will be cold and rainy for the homecoming game on Saturday. Can't win can we! I'm looking forward to the cooler temps. The heat drains me. 60s would be nice. 70 would be fine. It will snow soon enough. GOOD NEWS! 1. I managed to put Picasa on my old Compaq (the one Bruce gifted to me years ago). 2. This means I can sit at home and edit photos. And I have. 3. Moved and deleted files as well. I now have 26% free space instead of 0%. Did a defrag. 4. Straightened out my phone. I pay $2/day with unlimited use. I put $100 on my pre-paid account. If this works out it'll be a godsend. 5. I had to get a new number though. After 6 years in Montana I have a Montana 406 number. I'll need to manage my phone differently but it'll be easier when I leave the country. I'll bundle my phone calls. Called family today. Still have more phone calls to make. It's a $2 day. |
...vampire stories. My own. Me: I slid right into Spanish at the meeting today. But I tend to talk too much so I decided to chill and read some stuff I'd printed out yesterday. Interesting to read something written years ago. So. Made progress on my vampire stories. Need to make more. I can do editing on line but have a piece of paper in my hands is priceless. Shared "Old Sniffer" with fellow writers last night. I need more pointers on writing style. My degree was NOT English. Still, it was well-received. No other news. Dark rainy morning. Brighter afternoon. Faint color starting to show on the trees. |
...as in a new poem... ME: I went to a poetry workshop yestereve and was given the word "shark" to make an acrostic poem. Instead of using the 5 letters for the first word in each line we were to use it in the middle. Which I did. Now to edit! And post at my other blog. It felt good to write. It usually does. So... do I dare choose 20 plus words associated with the sea. Write short acrostics, choose 12 of them to make a small cheap chapbook to give out at the Festival of the Book next month, October 9th-11th. It's an idea. I need some motivation to write. Any reason will do. |
...in Costa Rica and throughout Central America. Me: I'm still tied to home. No freedom for me... just yet. Found a cheap flight to Peru! But not ready to commit. Have even contemplated going to Costa Rica in October or November (not a good season to go) and then go elsewhere come December-January. In any case... not just yet. I did get up a bit earlier today. I'm at the Senior Center but lunch is dismal and there's no reason to tarry. Tomorrow is another day. I'm working on "Turkey Necks", part of my Blood of the Garlic series. I'll need to talk to someone who understands how to show dialogue. I revised it just now with em dashes (—). I read some of Melissa Melchreest's poetry. I heard her read Saturday evening. Her poetry is strong. Her presentation could use some work... but her poetry on the page is STRONG. A tad jealous. She's from Connecticut but somehow connects with this Montana landscape in a way I don't seem to. Perhaps I should revise my Oklahoma and Kansas poems? That landscape I do connect to. So... I'm going to leave here (the Senior Center? Missoula?) soon and go looking for a life. It's out there. I just need to declare my freedom to go looking. |
Another slow but pleasant day. Me? I got up, went out, did the usual... Some music from a fund raiser next door. Watched a bit of a program on vhs. Ate. Sneezed a bit. Hope I'm not getting ill. Impossible to avoid ill people in public though. I suspect some of them have nowhere else to go. A bit frustrating when they are in the coffee shop or library. I'm in a coffee shop but there's no one near me. Ran into a fellow artist who just got back from a trip and had an embolism similar to me. Not a good thang! However, they caught it quickly. We may have some warm weather. Locust leaflets turning golden. Cool nights. Clear crisp mornings. Autumn in the air even if it does get above 80. Plus it was the third weekend of football here. Still, nothing great to report. Nothing equals nothing quite like nothing. |
...but can't get computer to work. Meee... Y'see... the Sr. Center got new computers so I got an old one! I wanted it because it has a usable Picasa program on it. But... got it home and realized I had no mouse. Went back and got two... just in case. The keyboard and mouse won't turn on. The monitor and tower don't seem to like each other anymore. So... Maybe it'll work someday, maybe not. However, I do need to edit photos at home instead of the Center. If I can re-organize my life: Up earlier and get to Bernices by 8? to read, have coffee, write. Center by 10 to get on-line and post photos and whatever. Eat with friends at 11:30. Out at 12 except for Wednesdays. Afternoons to go-get-a-life! Evenings for reading, editing, editing photos, whatever... I may cut back time at the Center to 3 days. Monday, Wednesday, Friday would do. But... $3 lunch is cheaper than preparing my own! I also need to make time to submit poems/writings again. If I have emotional support in place I think I could just start and learn along the way. It isn't as easy as it seems. Too many publications with too many rules. It saps my energy and joy. Anyway, I need a new plan because the old ones aren't working for me anymore. Time to reassess and move forward. |
...not sure where it went. Me: Dustin thinks I need to pitch some of my travel ideas to the universe (well... more specific than that) so that I can get some funding for my travels, writing, photography. It would be nice. I'd have to be more disciplined. I don't party so that's not the problem... or maybe it is! Lots of folks want to read/experience the wild side. Me? Too easily exhausted. It would be nice to be able to go on shorter trips. 2 weeks? 3 weeks like when I went to England... But costs keep me from doing that. So... something must give. My body is too worn out to not take days to relax and my income won't allow multiple trips and my legs are crying out for relief (I go to the doctor tomorrow). Plus... I have not been diligent with my writing. I've taken 4 trips with Joyce (Stevensville, Phillipsburg, Arlee, Bison Range) with one more to go. Did I take copious notes and write it up? Nope. My bad. So, if I do get some proposals together I must first complete some writing. Like "A Story told in Stone" from England 2011. Yeah, that one has be waiting far too long. As to my original thought? Can't remember what it was... |
...to know exactly what to do. I posted this at facebook: To those who feel that the complex situations we face need simple and immediate solutions: The president (no matter who) is never on vacation; he's always kept informed. Also, it's not possible for anyone, even with an intelligence network, to be all-knowing. Those who wanted God to be prez should've voted for him. Hasty action (Iraq and "weapons of mass destruction") or inaction (Rwanda) are both fraught with consequences. We live in a complicated world. At present the U.S. has a prez who works quietly and cautiously from behind. Much of the U.S. public on-the-other-hand would seem to prefer a leader that's more like a gangster movie star... Only time will tell what would've been best for everyone. And history will be written by the victors. Me: Got up and out at a decent time today. Yesterday I slept in (far too long) but at least I was cheery! Edited photos. Boiled underwear... as usual. Vacuumed! Last night, I nearly got run over by someone who ran the red-light while I was in the crosswalk. An epidemic in this town it seems. Will try to accomplish more today. Tom gave me chocolate... a great way to begin the day. And it's bright, shiny and cool outside. Heat saps my energy, although it will warm up. Not quite autumn yet but summer is broken. Feeling un-tethered... as in "floating away". And not in a good way. But, life goes on... and on... and on... |