Saturday, July 12, 2025

Today and Yesteryear / June 13, 2025

 June 13, 2025

Today and Yesteryear

What Are the Odds

whatd’ya wanna bet
there’s a woman just like me somewhere
maybe just around the corner here in town
maybe a few states away
but for sure born in new jersey
wearing a second-hand short-sleeved stretch-cotton scoop-neck tee
reveling in today’s almost-summer 
wind gusts sweeping her skin
feet in flip flops
two toes taped because of a tight tendon
egg salad in the fridge for a picnic tonight
counting the days till she sees her kids and grandkids in july
putting off vacuuming the bedroom
heard hey jude this morning in the car and cranked it up full blast
could do with a haircut and good shaping
but’ll wait for her appointment in two weeks
has two books going concurrently, one a novel, the other a memoir,
wishes her feet wouldn’t swell in warm weather
watches the phases of the moon with awe—

yet doesn’t have
one single political belief
in common with me

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Wanderlust
6×6″, acrylic on gessobord
abstract
2015

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Notes about poem and art:
• What Are the Odds is the exploration of a thought that popped up as I emptied the dishwasher today.
• I painted Wanderlust while on vacation in Jonesport, Maine, ten years ago today.


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12 responses to “Today and Yesteryear”

  1. YOUR POETRY IS MARVELOUS and right on spot these times. with love, Simone

    1. Simone! THANK YOU for your open-arms receiving of my poem today!

      Like

  2. A glimpse of your day and thoughts through an imaginary third person. How clever!

    Beautiful piece , so happy and positive! Love!

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    1. Carol, thanks! Writing that poem gave me a way to keep exploring commonality and divisiveness in the current circumstances of living in the USA.

      Posting my 2015 painting was a breath of uncomplicated fresh air—I still remember painting it. We were packing up to leave a vacation rental, and the constraints on my time together with my eagerness to paint one more memento from that location made for perfect conditions under which to paint quickly and loosely. Pure delight!

      Liked by 2 people

  3. oh goodness, now you’ve got my multi-verse brain wondering the same! Do my doppelgängers across all the parallel universes share my beliefs? If not, let me jump across space-time and kick some butt! ha ha!

    What a beautiful painting…it makes me want to sit with a glass of cold lemonade and smell the blossoms…xoxoxo

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    1. LOL re kicking some butt! At the very least kick in some information, please. Watch out doppelgängers across all parallel universes!

      Sitting with a glass of cold lemonade and smelling the blossoms of Wanderlust would be perfect, Lola!

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  4. I was so drawn in….and a bit surprised at the end….just what you want poems to do. And all that while emptying the dishwasher. You’re amazing! LOVE the painting.

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  5. MaryAnn, ding! ding! ding! I am so pleased that you were both drawn in and surprised. Heady words to hear : )

    It’s a favorite of mine. See my comments to Carol above!

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  6. Love this, Dotty. Seeing you so clearly, if only for a moment. xoxo

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  7. Dotty! What a hook!
    I’ve had similar meandering thoughts at different times, especially leading up to the last election. This is such an important concept to hold in our consciousness.
    I know I’ve said this before, but this may be one of my favorite paintings of yours. The color palette, the energy = all good. ♥️

    Like

    1. Roseanne! What a gift to have your reflections—I’m touched that you’ve had meandering thoughts at various times similar to mine as expressed in What Are the Odds. Thank you for letting me know.

      AND the color palette and energy of Wanderlust hit a sweet spot for you. ALL GOOD is right!!!

Friday, July 11, 2025

Hypnagogic Hints / June 11, 2025

Hypnagogic Hints

Even as My Empty Hand Reaches

my head heavy
on my pillow
consciousness in a slide
from wakefulness
to sleep
i notice my mind
composing lines
of poetry
lush phrases
intricate cadences
meaning-dense metaphors
that—
in the dark
of night
in the presence
of gravity’s pull on my body
in the absence
of paper and pencil at hand—
evaporate
into a breathing
micro-mist

create a biome
for deep deep

dreams

i wonder

will the dreams
reach a dewpoint
in the light
of some bright
morning
and recondense
into poems?

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Notes about poem and art:
• If today’s poem had a hypnagogic origin, I have no recollection!
• All the Honey is the second of Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s poetry collections I’ve purchased. I got one copy for myself and one to give. I then needed, and so painted, a bookmark for each.


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12 responses to “Hypnagogic Hints”

  1. So much happens when we lay our heads on our pillows and likely informs what follows. Your poem is a lovely result of your dreams.

    Then…creating the matching bookmark was inspired!

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    1. So many magnificent mysteries when awake and when asleep! What a gift to tap into them, what a gift to have friends with whom to share the playground of my inspiration and to get inspiring feedback as icing on the cake. Thank you, MaryAnn.

      Like

  2. I think the decision to follow your desire to make poetry is so good!

    1. Yes, yes, yes, sure feels like a heart-opening energizing decision from where I sit! Thanks, Simone : )

      Like

  3. oh my goodness gracious! Your poetry sings! Resonates! Reaches deep within and calls out hidden thoughts and feelings. The bookmarks! The book!!!!! I am so loving the first volume of her work, which I purchased because of reading her poetry right here! And now to read something my dear friend wrote, married with the art, frolicking with the book cover divine, I say!

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    1. Lola! So energized to hear that my poetry “sings, resonates, reaches deep with and calls out hidden thoughts and feelings”—wow.

      If/when you purchase All the Honey, let me know. There are incipient bookmarks sitting here. Just saying!!!

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      1. ordering it right now! Woooohoooo!

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  4. LOL! guess I’ve got some work/play to do—yay!

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  5. Your poetry brought to mind the story of Ruth Stone running home when she felt a poem chasing her so she could get to a pen and paper before it caught her and left. Told by Elizabeth Gilbert on a Ted talk.

    I love those bookmarks, so fitting for that book. Not familiar with this poet, I will look her up.

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    1. Carol, I JUST finished reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s BIG MAGIC (for the 5th time) in which she tells the story of Ruth Stone : )

      Thanks for your nod to the “so fitting for that book” bookmarks—great fun to create.

      Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer <wordwoman.com> is well worth looking up.

      Liked by 1 person