The Passing of a Great Soul - Maya Angelou

"If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded."

There's not a thing I can say about Maya Angelou that won't be said many times over today so I will leave it at this and allow her words to speak for her, just as they always have.

Wings

"We move with eyes shut and ears stopped; we smash walls where doors are waiting to open to the touch; we grope for ladders, forgetting that we have wings." Henry Miller

Time to Take Stock

I have the kind of mind that falls naturally into the understanding and use of metaphor. Even in the most casual of conversations you'll hear me say, "It's like..." I love metaphor as long as it isn't trite or obvious, and my health's sudden nose dive brought up a comparison that I really loved. Let me see if I can explain it to you.

You know, of course, that writers like myself create fictional worlds and characters. Sometimes these are representations of what already exists within the writer. I say sometimes because some writers create the exact opposite. If this isn't true, and some nightmarish worlds and evil characters exist inside other writers, I really don't want to know...

"Tell Me About Your Mother."

Easter 1952.

I always come to Mother's Day a bit warily. It's not a day I place a lot of stock in, but when I'm remembered by my sons I'm always delighted. On the other hand, when they don't acknowledge it I'm not usually hurt. It depends. I'm sure they're as confused as I am and aren't really sure what to do about the day, either. I lay all this confusion unashamedly at the feet of my own mother with whom I had a complex, conflicted relationship.

My mother was 26 when I was born, after seven years of miscarriages and dashed hopes. All she ever wanted in life, even as a child, was a bright, curious red-haired daughter. She'd been disappointed when, at the age of 17, she gave birth to her first child, my brother, who later suffered brain damage due to high fevers as an infant who was as apathetic as a stone and who had black hair. When I came along, all of her secret dreams came true. It was a lot to lay on a child...

The Week I've Had

Monday: I moved bricks around the property to
make a Hollyhock and Sunflower bed.

Interview: Cast of a Thousand

 Just posted on my California Gold Coast Dreamin' website.

Read it here.