Loose Lips
Your tongue is loose, it has been said,
and though you swear “Better off dead
than tell your secret,” still, it’s true
you’ll find someone to leak it to.
So though you did it without knowing,
I fear, my dear, your slip is showing.
For the dVerse Poets Quadrille Challenge: Slip
I hope you don’t mind that I used this photo I took of you a few years ago, Erin, and Pat. In no way is the poem about you. it was just the perfect illustration!! xoxo
Photo by Vince Fleming on Unsplash. Used with permission.
And this…from a loved one in Minneapolis.
As most of you know (and if you didn’t know, now you do) me and my family live in the heart of Minneapolis. We live in the North neighborhood, about half a mile from downtown and about 2 miles from uptown. I just wanted to give a very upfront picture of what is actually happening over here, bc I believe the media isn’t reporting/showing it all the way it is; instead placing blame where it doesn’t belong and paving a road for more pain and destruction.
During the day, protests are generally pretty peaceful. No one is trying to hurt anyone, just simply exercising their first amendment rights. There are also organized clean-ups. LOTS of people donating to established drop sites for those in the communities affected, that need help. Safe places for people to go to rest, rejuvenate, cry, talk. A community coming together to fix something that has caused so much pain and suffering to our friends, family and neighbors, for far too long. And I am proud of Minneapolis for stepping up and not being afraid to FINALLY make that change and to support and lift eachother during this time. It’s emotional and beautiful and overwhelming.
In the evening, some things have shifted. This isn’t everywhere; some spots are still very peaceful. There are still people out doing good. But with the widespread coverage of what’s going on in our city, we have unfortunately attracted anarchists and white supremacists from out of town, even out of state, that have seen this as their opportunity to cause the destruction and uprising that they have been waiting for, and derail the purpose of the protestors that are doing right. Last night there were some arrests made, and 90% of those arrests were people that didn’t live in Minneapolis, or even MN. There have been truck loads of white men, armed with rifles, driving around the protest areas and neighborhoods. One of my best friends owns a home just blocks from the 5th precinct and she was up most of the night, protecting her home, bc a group of white men were running around her neighborhood, lighting garbage cans, cars, anything they could find, on fire in front of people’s homes. These are not BLM protestors. These are not protestors fighting for equal rights. These are opportunists that don’t even believe in the cause, and are fighting for their own beliefs, allowing the blame to be placed elsewhere. We’ve seen it with our own eyes.
For those that don’t live in Minneapolis/St Paul and would like to help, I am more than happy to pass along event pages for clean-ups and gatherings to help our affected communities. I am also happy to take any donations you may have and can distribute them accordingly. I have also listed some organizations below that could use some help, by way of donations, to support their cause; one is a Northside arts nonprofit, that is crucial to our neighborhood, and had some damage.
If you believe that what happened to George Floyd, and the countless other black and brown people all over our country, was wrong, then you should be doing something about it. It’s time. And there are so many ways to help! If you don’t believe that what happened was wrong, please unfriend me now. This is about human lives that have been taken and can’t be replaced. I don’t care what religion or political party you come from….this is about PEOPLE.
Official George Floyd Memorial Fund
Lake Street Council
Black Visions Collective
Reclaim the Block
MN Freedom Fund
Black Lives Matter
Juxtaposition Arts
I love you Minneapolis
Black Lives Matter
Love’s Meander
In those first months of its success,
when first love starts to evanesce,
we flounder in its first excesses,
never guessing what the stresses
are that love will soon let loose–
when the gander feels the noose
and in his imagination
conjures up a short vacation
wherein he is free to wander
here and there and over yonder
to see what other lovebirds might
desire to feel his loving bite.
Needless to say, his sudden bolt
may give his present love a jolt,
and when he chooses to meander,
what cooks the goose may burn the gander!
Word prompts today are bolt, lovebirds, goose, evanesce and imagination. Photo by James Wainscoat on Unsplash. Used with permission.
For Our Good
Since he’s not known for abnegating,
there’s no chance he’s abdicating
even for our nation’s good,
although how much we wish he would!
We’d hold a giant jubilee—
you in your house, me with me
in light of social distancing,
the protests and the rioting.
He could finally be the hero,
send stress levels down to zero
if (oh if) he’d only switch
his playground to the very rich
and leave real world decisions to
those others who know how to do!
The whole world could cease its grieving
as he fixated on his thieving
and left the running of the earth
to folks of greater moral worth,
more intellect and common sense.
(But, hopefully, not Michael Pence.)
Prompts today are “for our good,” thief, jubilee, abnegate and stress. Image by Christian Lue on Unsplash, used with permission.
I’ve been getting a bloom a day on this new hibiscus. Today it looks like mother and child. Click on photos to enlarge views.
I thought I’d published this before but can’t find it. I’m thinking this is the mood my usually loving and docile cats were in when they wreaked havoc on my house last night or early this morning.
Click on photos to enlarge.
No Hints Given
Outdoors is bright and sunny. The rain has ceased its patter.
The pecking birds are pecking and the chattering birds chatter.
Butterflies stage a homecoming around the tabachine
announcing the retirement of the big machine
that worked the big lot next to me with giant rolling claws,
For eight long hours, it it scooped and scraped without a single pause.
It trounced the giant boulders and put them in their place,
crushed the weeds and tree limbs, leaving not a trace
of all the weeds and rubble, the stones and the debris,
burying it within the earth so we cannot see
all the ugliness of nineteen years’ accumulation.
of our neighborhood’s detritus, so here’s a small ovation.
What new event will crown this lot? What may be coming next?
I guess you’ll have to read about it in upcoming text.
I finally got my lot next door cleared of all the debris neighbors have been piling on it for 19 years. Wish I’d gotten a better photo of the “before,” but here are a a few Johnny-come-lately shots.
Prompt words today are outdoors, homecoming, sunny, trounce and text.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2020/05/30/right-wing-conspiracists-pull-from-old-playbook-blame-george-soros-for-riots/#35a728414100
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 