Sunday, July 31, 2011

Come sit awhile...

24 comments:

  1. Howard's got it!

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  2. He sure does.

    And Congress sure doesn't.

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  3. I think most of Congress does. The founding fathers set up a system where the majority could become the hostage of the (kooky) minority. And the rightwingnuts drove a tank through the crevasse. . . .

    Kornbluth has a story called the Marching Morons about what happens when the educated stop breeding, and the unwashed masses don't. . . . If we don't fix education, soon, the rest will pretty much get lost.

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  4. Pretty, green and sunny, *moderate* day (for a change!). Fan's on, AC isn't. Puppy done wore himself playing fetch/keepaway. Cat is asleep on the front porch (playing keepaway from da puppy). Life is sweet.

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  5. One of the prize winning poems. Can't remember whether you guys have seen it already.

    When You Were Mine

    When you were mine every day was Summer
    The night always overflowed with stars
    Each kiss and every touch was newborn magic
    Nothing blocked our way; the world was ours.

    When you were mine the shadows couldn’t scare us
    The future spread before us bright and clear
    My light was just your smile; my music was your laughter,
    Nothing else meant anything to me.

    There’s nothing now except your memory
    My heart is bleak as Winter but still sometimes
    You call to me across the years and again
    I’m with you in the sweet days when you were mine.

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  6. Other prize winning poem:

    It Doesn't Matter Any More

    The afternoon’s last sunlight lies in bars across the floor
    Soon it fades and melts away as twilight falls once more.
    This used to be the time of day I always loved the most,
    But now it’s just the nightfall, that doesn’t matter any more.

    The dawn is soft with silver mist and soon the rain appears
    It blurs the edges of the day and merges with my tears.
    This used to be the time of day you always held me close.
    But now it’s just the morning that doesn’t matter any more.

    My friends say that I should find a new love.
    They tell me I’ll be happy once again.
    But my heart could never part with you, Love
    Where’s happiness when the world is cold and dead?

    So now I watch the nights and days go spinning by.
    At times I cry, but mostly I just wonder why,
    Why you were taken from my arms when we finally had it all
    I love you so but now, it doesn’t matter any more.


    They must have been pretty desperate. These aren't particularly good poems. Still, the recognition is nice, I suppose.

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  7. BTW the latest Firefox never did download. Guess it doesn't matter.

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  8. Any more. . .

    They are certainly NOT bad poems, Cat! You are allowed to give yourself credit, eh?

    Thanks for posting 'em.

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  9. Thanks, Puddle. Guess I'm just kind'a down.

    Can you believe it's only recently that I discovered anymore is one word. *sigh*

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  10. You noticed I didn't notice, lol! Just had to check it on the spell checker. Some things don't matter much, anymore. . .

    Celebrate the booty -- think what you can buy at Vermont Country Store with $150!!!

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  11. I was one of the judges for the Maryland state poetry society for a couple of years. The entries fell exactly into two categories: dreadful and wonderful. Nothing in between. One year it was just first second and third place. Couldn't even drum up an honorable mention. The other, mostly good stuff, and it was a lot harder. That one year, I was ready to vote for no awards until the great stuff showed up. . . .

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  12. Bill Thomasson7/31/2011 06:53:00 PM

    And today, right at the deadline, I cast my ballot for the Hugo awards. Only cast my ballot in the fiction categories, because that was all I had time to read (and didn't finish two of the novels at that). To my surprise, I ended up voting for No Award in the short story category. Two of the stories did nothing for me and one of the other two had a premise/setting in which I could not suspend disbelief, even though it was pretty good otherwise. The last one was a pretty good story, but the theme could have been developed in more depth and I couldn't at the end convince myself it deerved an award.

    Will be interested to hear what Cat thought.

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  13. Bill Thomasson7/31/2011 06:55:00 PM

    I agree with puddle. The second is particularly good. Not immortal poetry, but you don't need to hold yourself to that standard.

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  14. Ooh, Puddle! What a lovely idear!

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  15. Didn't vote. I thought you said something about being sent PDFs of the nominees? Never received them. RATS!

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  16. Come to that, never got a ballot.

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  17. Off to the Writers Division phone gathering. Catch y'all later.

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  18. {{{ {{ { Miss Catreona , these are BOTH good poems!! } }} }}}

    I remember seeing both before and I like the first one more, but I'm not sure why.

    What comes through as I read them is that you are writing from a very real depth. Conveying a real depth well is very difficult, because you know it so well that it's hard to put into words that say enough. Yet you've done it, and what makes it prize-worthy is that you took something that is complex and heartfelt and impossible to express and not only managed to say it, said it in pretty good rhyme!

    So, you earned that prize money and I applaud you having some real fun in spending it.
    Be sure to get at least one thing that you'll still have on your dresser in ten years.

    XOXOXXX

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  19. I still recall the moment I discovered that definitely wasn't spelled "definately." Of course it would, because it has the word finite in it. Why hadn't I thought of that. But it never ever mattered a wit.

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  20. Now this has been a day!

    ALL THREE Granddaughters were here for about 5 hours today, along with our 2 (so far) daughters-in-law, and one of our sons. Mania! FUN! Sweetnesses! Delightful exhaustion!

    Then, as if that weren't enough, a blog friend has returned. The founder and moderator of a weather blog I've long posted at went missing 16 months ago. No one ever heard from him and even those of us who phoned him got no answer. He had NEVER done something like that before, so after awhile we began to assume the worst...that he had died or become seriously injured in some way. The mourning was enormous. BUT HE'S BACK!!! He had gotten into a very bad (and first ever in his life) depression and was simply incapable of posting. But now he's come though that bout and is among us again.

    It feels like the Resurrection morning....!

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  21. Ah, listener, altogether lovely. All of it. Good day!

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  22. What Puddle said.

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  23. Bill, thanks so much. The Renovations progress reports have vanished from my e-mailbox. That is, I searched the entire thing, not merely Inbox and Trash. I remember reading one attentively and seem to remember several others, but they have vanished. So, no PIN. So, no voting. *sigh*

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