Writer’s solitude tucked into Wyoming’s northeast corner at Ucross Foundation

Alternate 14
offers new levels
of steepness

Wyoming,
home to 10,000
microclimates

The above are two haiku I wrote on the road to Ucross, Wyoming, while traveling east over the Big Horn Mountains. My husband Carlos, friend Raul and I happened to be on our way back to Chicago from a visit to Montana and Yellowstone National Park. The Ucross Foundation Residency Program is one of the premier writers' and artists' retreats in the United States and I had hoped to stop by to visit since we'd be right in the area.

We had taken Alternate 14, which appeared as a shortcut to the city of Sheridan on the map, but turned out to be one of the steepest climbs imaginable through switchbacks and around harrowing ledges, however breathtaking, which eventually landed us in the uplands, grasslands and former Lakota bison hunting grounds on which the Ucross Foundation now occupies.

This gently rolling expanse, 27 miles southeast of Sheridan, was once on an old stagecoach route and former home to the Pratt & Ferris Cattle Company, circa 1880s, of which Marshall Field (of Chicago department store fame) was a founding partner. Today, the town of Ucross (population 25) and the Big Red complex of the Ucross Foundation is surrounded by a 22,000-acre working cattle ranch, devoted to ecologically sound, holistic ranching practices. Half the land has been placed as conservation easement through the Wyoming Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.

It had been a toss-up between our visiting Devil’s Tower and the Ucross Foundation, since our trio only had time for one. I had already seen Devil’s Tower as a child, and my two traveling companions weren’t too keen on making a sidetrip to a sacred Indian landform given up to the name of a western demon, in their words, so Ucross it was. Hooray! I had wanted to get a better handle on what this colony was about for years. The three of us called ahead while in Sheridan to find out if we could stop by for a visit.

A half-hour or so later, we pulled up to the Big Red Ranch House, one of the oldest standing houses in the area, beautifully refurbished and home to the Ucross Foundation administrative offices and Alkire Library. Sharon Dynak, president of the Ucross Foundation and head of its Residency Program, greeted us in the lobby, chatted with us about the program and our trip, then walked us over to the adjacent Big Red Barn. This sizable building houses an art gallery of residents work, a conference space and other offices. Visual art styles range from traditional western themes to highly experimental forms – an exhibition catalog spanning former residents' work is available onsite.

According to Dynak, the foundation’s residency program which hosts 65 writer and artist residents each year has been especially popular with musicians and musical groups. Besides the artists’ and writers’ studios and separate living quarters, are a separate studio with a lithography press, and two composers' cabins, Jesse’s Hideout One and Two, each equipped with a piano and electronic keyboard.

Spring and fall session residents are chosen by a panel of professionals in the arts and humanities in a highly competitive application process. Former well-known residents include Elizabeth Gilbert, author of “Eat, Pray, Love” and Adam Guettel, composer of music and lyrics for "The Light in the Piazza" musical. Residents have gone on to win the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Tony Award, the Guggenheim Fellowship, the MacArthur Fellowship, and many other honors. Gulp. Not sure if I’m ready to forward my latest chapbook published by a teeny, tiny press as my application documentation.

While Ucross is truly out there on a far-flung ranch, there is nothing rustic about it. The grounds, common buildings and studios are all first-rate and recently updated. The frugal end of the deal is that accepted residents can receive two to eight weeks of living accommodations, workspace, and lunch and dinner prepared five days a week by a professional chef with ample provisions on hand for the weekends – all on Ucross Foundation’s dime. The only financial incidental one has to be concerned with is getting to and from Ucross, Wyoming, from wherever is called home.

And you don’t need a car once you get there. There is absolutely nowhere to go within double-digit miles and everything you need to create poems, novels, paintings, plays and compositions lies right before you – giving you tremendous solitude and little distraction besides the local hiking you might attempt and a big sky full of stars to ponder by night. Note: You are not in the mountains here, but can see them in the distance. Find out more about the Ucross Foundation Residency Program, 30 Big Red Lane, Clearmont, Wyoming, at www.ucrossfoundation.org.

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Writer’s solitude tucked into Wyoming’s northeast corner at Ucross Foundation

Use wabi-sabi in your journal entries

Wabi-sabi, the quintessential Japanese aesthetic, can be applied to journaling and is, in fact, an integral part of true journaling, whether we realize it or not. Wabi-sabi is the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest, humble and unconventional.

Published writing is usually rewritten, edited and polished writing, set in symmetrical fonts and printed in uniform order and quality.

Journaling, most often, is composed of our raw thoughts or emotions, scribbled down in an unsteady hand on a commuter train or a dimly-lit kitchen. Perhaps the pages are occasionally smudged with ink or stained by drops of coffee. Entries may be heartfelt and passionate, but can simultaneously be random, incomplete, unconventional and bold, without need to please an audience.

In the long run, the journaling process may add up to a complete picture or an epiphany of revelation, but tracing any single journal's pages, one-by -one, can render a modest journey, the humbleness of following a foggy path with no promise of reaching a clearing.

Most distilled, the Wabi-Sabi of journaling embraces a sense of faith -- in yourself, in life, and in the promise of a future. ◦

Use wabi-sabi in your journal entries

Autumn Equinox Fire Ceremony

Fire has its own life, it transforms everything, it is never static. Fire sustains us, warms us, cooks our food, keep us through cold nights. Fire nurtures us but can also bring death. Fire destroys, burns legacies, ravages forests, but allows new undergrowth to spring forth like a phoenix from ashes.

On the first night of the fall equinox, my husband, two friends amd I attended a fire ceremony in a Chicago suburban backyard. We were here to take a look at ourselves, at the new season and to possibly change and heal ourselves. Would gazing into an outdoor campfire of crackling logs set us on that path?

Some drawbacks: there were too many people in the backyard, too many lawn chairs huddled together, with the warmth of the campfire too far away on a night that dove into the 40s. Nevertheless, after some initial discomfort and disappointment, I chose to ignore these inconveniences. Being here with like-minded people who wanted to use fire as a meditative focus was all that mattered.

The leader started the ceremony. She talked about fire, about rituals, about Native tribes and had each of us, in rotation, throw a small tobacco offering into the flames. It was in thanks for the earth on which the fire stood. It was in thanks for trees and air which feed the fire. She explained how the ceremony would serve to help us release what no longer serves us, such as fear, and set intentions for what we wish to manifest, such as a fervent dream of ours.

Subsequently, we each privately examined that which we most feared. During this fear meditation time, the leader drummed on a bohdran-type handheld drum. Afterward, we each cast a sprig of cedar into the criss-crossed flaming logs. This served as a symbol through which we might banish the fear we identified. In response, the fire rose up briefly in acknowledgement each time. Afterward, we internally cast our thoughts into our dreams and wishes - again more drumming. Then we each tossed a small amount of sage into the fire.

After each segment of the ceremony, two or three of us teamed together to share our thoughts, our fears, our dreams and what we saw through our meditations. I had fulfilling private visions, a mind's-eye visitation of a bluejay, and creative ideas that seem to emerge from nowhere. What blessings!

To me, the fire, tobacco, cedar and sage are all instruments of God and are servants of God. Going through an autumn fire ceremony is a human way to ritualize new beginnings and take a meditative look at what we hope for our futures.

My friend Raminta, though of few words in between the ceremony segments, said she got much from the event. She had arrived on the scene with her mind awhirl, she said, but over the course of the ceremony found peace, relief and relaxation. She looked refreshed with her eyes dancing with new life! ◦

Autumn Equinox Fire Ceremony

What is wabi-sabi? How is it continually and intimately expressed in the life of a frugal poet?

One of the most refined, thoughtful and poetic societies, Japan, has gone through unfathomable disasters in recent history, such as the profound earthquake, tsunami and nuclear catastrophe at Fukushima. Nevertheless, the Japanese people continue to push forward in quiet strength, dedicated to and motivated by their culture, history, sense of humility and connection with one another.

Wabi-sabi is a philosophy based in Japan that embraces a sense of flawed beauty, the profundity in nature, and of things impermanent, humble, primitive, transient and incomplete. It celebrates the modest, rustic and unconventional. It is the organic versus synthetic, the rough-hewn and uneven over the measured and laser-edged. Loosely explained, wabi means a philosophy of imperfect, natural beauty and sabi means the artistic expression of what’s assymetrical, aged or unpretentious.

Daisetz Suzuki, one of the first scholars to interpret Japanese culture for Westerners, considered wabi-sabi “an active aesthetical appreciation of poverty.” Rather than a poverty of pain and a sense of desperation, it instead gives the relief of removing the weight of material concerns from our lives.

Wabi-sabi suggests the notions that nothing lasts, nothing is finished, nothing is perfect. The Persians are known for a proverb about the true beauty of rugs, a wabi-sabi attitude reflected in a different culture, “A Persian rug is perfectly imperfect, and precisely imprecise.”

Remarkably, wabi-sabi has everything to do with the spirit of the frugal poet. We exist. We go with the flow. We focus on the beautiful. We have strength in light of hardship or snags in our lives. And our poems reflect this attitude. The concept of wabi-sabi reminds me of the lyrics in Leonard Cohen’s song “Anthem,” “Ring the bells that still can ring/Forget your perfect offering/There’s a crack in everything/That’s how the light gets in.”

It is the poets and those with a frugal poet’s spirit who can see both implicit meaning and opportunity in any situation, and can find voice, or at least search for it, to express compassion and humanity even amid injustice or when in mourning.

I had signed up for a multi-evening workshop in the craft of handmade bookbinding at Chicago’s Hull House. Our upper floor studio itself was a wabi-sabi space of lovingly worn benches, nicked but well-used work surfaces and natural lighting pouring in from screenless windows. We used hand-crafted papers, linen thread, monster-sized needles, scads of glue, bone folders, thick pieces of cardboard and stiff oilcloth in an array of colors. There, we crafted and sewed a number of hardcover blank books, Japanese side-stitched bindings and cloth-covered boxes.

I admired a fellow student’s finished handmade book, even though the pages were uneven and had a naturalistic waviness to them. “The only thing perfect is God. I try to remember that in everything I do,” she said. “I am imperfect and every act of creation carries human imperfection along with it.” But therein lay the beauty of her handmade book!

Flawed fictional characters, for example, are more interesting, textured, memorable and beautiful than perfect, static ones. What would Cyrano de Bergerac be without his big nose, The Little Match Girl without her poverty, or even Star Trek’s Mr. Spock without his lack of emotions? ◦

What is wabi-sabi? How is it continually and intimately expressed in the life of a frugal poet?

Japanese haibun method: mixing journal entry with a haiku

A haibun is a Japanese form of journaling involving a journal entry followed by a haiku poem. The haiku serves as a distillation, an associated thought or an epiphany to the actual journal entry. The Japanese poet Basho and the beat poet Jack Kerouac worked in the haibun form.

Remember, the classic haiku poem is 5-7-5 -- meaning three lines of poetry; five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line and five syllables in the third line. However, in English language haiku, these rules are flexible.

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Japanese haibun method: mixing journal entry with a haiku

Frugal Poet’s Guide to Montana-based Hot Springs Spas, Part 3

Most pools at Bozeman Hot Springs are indoors

After having bathed in some of the remarkable outdoor Montana hot springs locations, I was a little disappointed that all except one of the nine Bozeman Hot Springs pools were indoors. I suppose in the dead of winter this would be the ideal.

However, nearly all the pools are butt up to one another making this main indoor poll area humid and crowded. You either have to walk along narrow tile catwalks balance-beam style to get to the inner hot pools - or pull yourself up and over from one to another. The hottest pool has exposed hot faucets and pipes which burn to the touch. Be careful! Only one hot pool really smelled like authentic sulfuric mineral waters and I shifted between that one and the cold plunge. Best feature are the very roomy sauna and steam rooms. They are both excellent!

Bozeman Hot Springs is located about eight miles west of the city on U.S. 191. Entry fee is a humble $8.50. According to the spa founder, "the water resembles in its chemical composition the water of Carlsbad in Europe."

Thermopolis, anyone?
After we headed farther south to Yellowstone National Park. While waiting for Old Faithful to blow, my husband, friend Raul and I got into a conversation with an adventurous fellow who had traveling throughout the Rocky Mountain area for four months. We told him about our hot springs visits up in Montana and he suggested Thermopolis, Wyoming, which is another haven of hot springs bathing he had personally enjoyed. Guess it will have to wait until our next trip out west, but I’m intrigued by the town name and locale. Anyone out there have any experience to share about Thermopolis, or the Montana hot springs?
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Frugal Poet’s Guide to Montana-based Hot Springs Spas, Part 3

Frugal Poet’s Guide to Montana-based Hot Springs Spas, Part 2

Unique motel package deal in Plains let us enjoy Quinn's hot springs in Paradise, Montana
During a visit to the area, a local Montana friend had booked my husband and I at the Glacier Crossroads Motel in Plains, Montana, eight miles north of Quinn's Hot Springs Resort. It was a humble, clean, if spartan motel room, but priced at $60 a night, a value. The big perc was receiving a pass for two to Quinn's Hot Springs pools for each night we stayed at the Glacier Crossroads!

Since the hot springs admission is $10 a person, our passes were worth an extra $20 per day. After our two-day stay at Glacier Crossroads, we used the passes to admit the two of us as well as our two friends to the Quinn's pools. The changing area was clean and nicely decorated.

When we arrived, the sun was just setting and the stars began to poke out one-by-one and dot the sky as we bathed in the rich, sulfuric mineral pools. Pools are open late. I alternated between the hottest pool and the cold plunge right next to it. What a way to relax, feel fabulous and spend time with friends. The cabins situated around the resort look top-rate and, if one has the budget, any one of them would be a wonderful place to stay.

But I think our motel package deal was an excellent way to both enjoy the pools and save on accommodations.
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Frugal Poet’s Guide to Montana-based Hot Springs Spas, Part 2

Frugal Poet’s Guide to Montana-based Hot Springs Spas, Part 1

Symes might offer the hottest, most mineral-rich hot springs in Montana, if not North America
A local Montana gal friend introduced my husband, another friend and myself, three poets from Chicago out on the western trials, to the wonders of the Symes Hot Springs Hotel in Hot Springs, Montana. The unincorporated town proper is one of the funkiest, most laid-back corners of the state, with a natural food grocery, a Zen cafe and lots of former hippy types casually milling around in western laid-back style. We didn't stay at the hotel itself, but paid a mere $7 each to loll for hours in the artesian mineral bath outdoor pools. Meanwhile, dramatic 4,000-foot mountains served as breathtaking background, part of the Flathead Indian Reservation.

Balneotherapy or "taking the waters"
Deep beneath Hot Springs, Montana, lies hot mineral water springs heated by thermal pockets and warmth of the bedrock. At Symes, the hottest (108-degrees?) and most sulfuric-rich pool is absolutely amazing! Our Montana friend told us the waters are only second to Baden-Baden in Germany for rich mineral content. I couldn't find any such claim later online. But maybe she's right!

Our other friend, who has a slight case of arthritis in his hands and lower back, found relief over the next three days after bathing in the sulfuric waters. He mentioned that he hoped to bring his 78-year-old mother up there sometime for her arthritis woes. However, I would imagine the extra-hot waters far too intense for someone in their upper years. But the four of us did feel wonderfully loose and relaxed after lolling in the pools for a couple of hours. It was almost dreamlike!

The Symes Hotel itself is a throwback to the 1930s, when it first opened. Not too much renovation seems to have been made, but the art deco facade is striking. Randomly weird gift shops inside. Off the first floor lobby, a long hallway leads to private, clawfoot bathtub rentable spa rooms. Here is where folks can bathe in mineral waters au natural and adjust the temperature to their liking. These bathtub rooms of barebones, dated design -- kind of remind me of little hallway rooms a house of prostitution might have in a town like Bangkok (not that I would know) -- or as portrayed in that 1980s Albert Finney movie "Under the Volcano." One room even had a thick red rope that looked like a noose hanging from the ceiling. Yikers!

Then, at the end of the hall lies a private whirlpool and sauna spa room, which can also be rented. Poor room ventilation and cramped quarters, however, made it a turn-off and we didn't opt for it. The women's changing room and shower was nice, however.

Looked at another local motel called Alameda's that offers mineral hot springs in its own motel bathrooms and that seems like it might be a good choice for those who prefer the indoor, individual bathtub experience vs.the little rentable bathtub rooms at Symes.
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Frugal Poet’s Guide to Montana-based Hot Springs Spas, Part 1

Frugal Poet's Guide to Planting Copies of Your Book During Your Travels

If you are a published poet, I think the most important items to bring along on any out-of-town trip or vacation, but which also might weigh the most, are copies of your book or chapbook. When you visit new cities or towns, these destinations have bookstores that haven’t seen your work.

After you introduce yourself, the bookstore owner or manager may buy a couple copies from you outright or take some on consignment. If the bookstores take them on consignment, face the possibility you may never see any money sent cross-country from their sale. Be humble. Just be content that your books have found an additional home where you can send interested parties you meet along the way. Also, different cities may have open mics where you can read your poems and sell your books to audience members who like your work. Or you might meet other writers who simply want to exchange your book of poetry for theirs. It’s a great way for you to expand your poetry tastes and personalize your experiences out of town.

You might also want to donate a copy of your book to the local library of the place you’re visiting. Introduce yourself to the librarian. Tell him or her why you’re in town, and personally hand off a copy of your book for their circulation shelves. You never know who might pick up your book and read it. One of my books “Swimmer’s Prayer” had found itself in one of the Los Angeles libraries. Turns out the poet Charles Harper Webb actually picked up, perused and checked out the book from the library. Before long, he wrote telling me he’d like to republish my poem “Deb at the Ham Slicer” in an anthology he was editing for the University of Iowa Press called Stand-Up Poetry: An Expanded Anthology. Suddenly, I was being published in the same anthology as Billy Collins and Charles Bukowski!

See what I mean about using a book or chapbook as a calling card? The point is to bring your books along on your travels, but to lighten your load along the way. Force yourself to sell or give away every single book so you have none left by the time you wind your way home. You might become a Johnny Appleseed of sorts, but of poetry. Instead of planting apple seeds (and future trees) where ever you wander as Johnny Appleseed did, you will instead plant your poems along your traveled path. If they take seed, you will grow new readers, audiences, and possible future readings and publishing opportunities.

And if you don’t yet have a book or chapbook, then simply use a calling card. A business card that you either craft yourself from a template and print on a laser printer, or purchase from one of the “free’ services online that only charges postage is the “poor poet” way to go. The card should contain at least one url link: to your website, blog or other electronic page where one or more of your poems appear. It could provide a link to the purchase of your poetry e-book version, if you have it available for Kindle or Nook. Hand out this card to interested parties and/or fellow poets you meet in your travels who would want to read your poems. It’s also a way to make new Facebook friends and build correspondences with those who share your interests from other parts of the country, or world.
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Frugal Poet's Guide to Planting Copies of Your Book During Your Travels

A creative, spiritual escape in central Wisconsin: The Christine Center

Living in Chicago and in the 21st century, I sometimes think it's impossible to get away from it all in the traditional sense. At The Christine Center in central Wisconsin, I found out it is 100 percent possible. Close to a state forest, this spiritual retreat center is buffeted by birch woodlands, clean air and quiet.

Over the course of an inspiring "creativity week," I tried the Intuitive Painting process, walked, meditated, wrote poetry, took time for my journal, chanted, ate vegetarian meals, perused the eclectic spiritual library, watched DVDs with others on ecology and the artistic process, tried a wood-fired sauna for the first time and logged some quality group yoga hours.

Founded in the mystical, Essene, Catholic tradition, the Christine Center welcomes guests from any belief system, with silent meditation morning and afternoon sessions in which participants can worship or visualize according to their leanings. Where else can you find a Catholic chapel with stained glass windows marking the colors of the seven chakras? Singing bowls, finger labyrinths and mandalas grace the walls and meditation hall.

I opted to stay in a modern hermitage with full kitchen and shower, cooked my own breakfasts and lunches and joined others for delicious homemade soup and salad suppers at the center. Rustic hermitages have no kitchens or showers, but all buffets meals can be purchased, with solar-powered showers available steps from one's quarters.

Campers have a choice of two locations on safe, clean acreage close to the center and also have access to meal purchases and showers. A return trip to The Christine Center is surely part of my plan. ◦

A creative, spiritual escape in central Wisconsin: The Christine Center

Vitamin B6 May Help You Remember Your Dreams

After waking, if the memory of your previous night's dreams dissolves as quickly as the sugar in your morning coffee, you may want to add Vitamin B6 to your diet. In a blind test, participants who were given 250 milligrams of Vitamin B6 had more vivid, bizarre, colorful and emotional dreams than participants who took lower doses of the vitamin or none at all.

While it can be argued that most dreams are bizarre, colorful and emotional, it may be the vividness quality that fosters the memorability of the dreams.

The theory is that Vitamin B6 helps convert the amino acid tryptophan into serotonin, which wakes up the brain during REM sleep, the time when someone is dreaming, thus enhancing dream recall.

According to dream expert Robert Moss, bananas are an excellent source of Vitamin B6. One of his dream workshop students claimed to have remembered his dreams for the first time in months after eating a banana before bedtime.

Training yourself to remember your dreams is the first step toward keeping a dream journal. Likewise, dream journaling also helps you get in the mindset of remembering your dreams. ## ◦

Vitamin B6 May Help You Remember Your Dreams

Poor Poet's Guide to Being a Performance Poet

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The Uptown Poetry Slam started in Chicago at the Green Mill Jazz Club, circa 1986, and soon became an international phenomenon, thanks to impresario Marc Kelly Smith. So anyone from this town who has anything to do with poetry does, or has done, performance poetry on stage. We need to set an example around here!

Otherwise, you might as well be some suburbanite sitting in a basement by yourself with a stack of envelopes and postage stamps, nursing a plastic tumbler of boxed wine.

Performing poetry doesn't mean just giving a poetry reading. It means breaking the fourth wall and leaping into the crowd with your poetry, if only figuratively.

How do you "perform" poetry or get into the "perfpo" scene? I started in church. Praying helps. But I also volunteered as a commentator and got lots of practice in front of my audience, i.e. the congregation, by presenting field-tested material, i.e. biblical passages.

Simultaneously, I also volunteered to read at least one of my own poems at every open mic reading I attended, which at one time, were legion.

I also took voice and breathing lessons at St. Nicholas Theater Company, in between serving as a volunteer there as well, though you may find this unnecessary.

Memorize at least one of your poems. A performance has to mean you lose the page. Once you get past dwelling on the words, you can move on to your oral and dramatic interpretation. The poem is then released from the mind to the body. The words go on automatic pilot and the actor or actress takes over to transform and deliver the words to the audience emotionally.

I eventually memorized 10 or more of my own poems and actually created a charm bracelet of these poems. My bracelet comprised silver charms I bought on ebay, each one symbolizing an important feature in a given poem, whether it be a sardine can, mermaid, owl, etc., which I attached to a slim bracelet, also purchased on ebay. I wore the bracelet to performances to remind myself on stage which poems I might care to perform, without the need to riffle through pages of a book or peek at an odd index card in case I went completely blank.

But the biggest breakthrough I experienced as a performance poet was to study different accents (there are CDs at the local library) and apply them to a couple of my poems. I read one poem set in Ireland with a Dublin accent. Hearing Frank McCourt read the entirety of "Angela's Ashes" on audio also helped me master some of the subtleties. For another poem, set in the south, I ply a Carolina accent. When I perform these poems, in particular, I really get outside of myself and feel as if I enter the world of the poem, in the purest and most complete sense. ◦

Poor Poet's Guide to Being a Performance Poet

Poor poet’s guide to happy hour dining

From selling floor to the slam, from cubicle to podium. Where to go in between? Happy hour!

As a poor poet, my dinners were usually eaten at my kitchen able, as were breakfasts. Lunches were brown bagged, unless the current employment powers that be popped for an occasional pizza party or barbecue. But what happens when you want to catch a poetry reading relatively soon after work? Poor poets likely haven’t the cash flow to treat themselves to downtown dinners. There may be no time to stop home, but you don’t want your stomach to growl and be heard over the P.A. system during your reading at an open mic.

Happy hours at the local pub/grill can make the joyful transition between you and hunger on those nights you can’t and don’t want to hurry home to eat. When the poetic muse of the night calls and you don’t want to accept the invitation in a cranky mood from lack of calories, you may find yourself at an outdoor café noshing tidbits to hold you over, watching the urban hoopla whisk by. Better yet, look for citified venues also situated by a river, lake or ocean that offer happy hours. During your brief, but happy, respite, you’ll be front row to the exact same views residents in apartments above pay dearly for.

Happy hour! When else can you get 10-cent chicken wings, dollar tacos or burgers, $2 bar bites or beers, and even $3 complete meals? The bewitching happy hours start around 4 or 5 p.m. on certain nights of the week, sometimes every week night, depending on the establishment, and clocks onward from there. Find yourself there, poor poet! ◦

Poor poet’s guide to happy hour dining

How to Heighten Your Five Senses: Smell

The best writing employs the use of the five senses to explore metaphor, to show instead of just tell. In the book, "The How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci Workbook," the author Michael Gelb poses this self-assessment test to help you become more aware of your sense of smell:
-- I have a favorite scent. (What is it? Why do I like it? What does it remind me of?)
-- Smells affect my emotions strongly, for better or worse.
-- I can recognize friends by their scent.
-- I know how to use aromas to influence my mood.
-- I can reliably judge the quality of food or wine by its aroma.
-- When I see fresh flowers, I usually take a few moments to breathe in their aroma.

Gelb also suggests making "smells" a theme for a day. This could be a perfect journaling "date." Record what you smell and how it affects you through the course of a day. Spend a half hour at your favorite florist. Inhale the aroma of ten different perfumes or essential oils and describe your reactions.

Others have suggested smelling a crayon, chalk, a rubber ball or other simple items from childhood. How does smell affect your mood or memory? Write down your observations. What does each scent remind you of? Comparing sensory reactions to real life experiences or memories is the core of metaphor and image. You might want to even create a poem out of these images. ◦ ◦

How to Heighten Your Five Senses: Smell

Rilke's "New Way" of Writing

In his book on the craft of writing, Next Word, Better Word, poet Stephen Dobyns explains how the great German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, around 1907, attempted to find a “new way” of writing. Instead of waiting for inspiration to engulf him, he would just begin to write on a particular subject, and the inspiration would appear as he wrote.

He actually caught such an idea from another great, the sculptor Auguste Rodin, for whom Rilke had worked as a secretary. Rodin often made preliminary studies of his sculptures in clay. He often didn’t plan on what he wanted to make, but once engaged, inspiration would fall and the subject revealed itself. ◦

Rilke's "New Way" of Writing

What is a chapbook?

Chapbooks were originally small, inexpensive books sold from street carts by merry olde English peddlers called chapmen. From the 1500s through part of the 1800s, these little books, on a variety of topics, were so cheap that once their owners read them, the pages were often used as “bum fodder” (toilet paper).

Today, modern chapbooks have risen in status (most certainly from bum fodder), and are a popular method for publishing poetry. Running only 40 pages or fewer, chapbooks are shorter in length than a perfect bound full poetry collection, and are usually saddle stitched with staples along a folded spine.

Many new poets who may not have written enough poems for a full collection might get more immediate exposure through a chapbook. Also, poets who write a series of poems that connect with one another, or are all on the same or loosely related theme may opt to get a chapbook published.

There are dozens of poetry chapbook contests each year offered by small press or university publishers. Many presses may opt to publish at least part of their output as chapbooks rather than full collections due to tight budgets or, conversely, to be able to publish more poets! Contests are often the vehicle toward chapbook publication in order for all entrants to help contribute toward the manuscript that will ultimately be chosen. This custom is very common and totally acceptable. Chapbook contests also offer presses a way to scope out new or original talent they may not have been exposed through the full collection submissions they receive.

Poets may also prefer to publish a chapbook themselves. With the use of page design programs, clip art, stock photos and speedy printers, a short run of chapbooks doesn’t cost much and can serve as a “calling card” for poets who seek featured readings at local venues, and finally have a way of sharing (and selling) a printed selection of poems with friends, family and fellow poets who’ve been asking, “Where can I find more of your poems?” ◦

What is a chapbook?

My favorite and recommended reference book on writing poetry: The Art & Craft of Poetry by Michael Bugeja

The Art and Craft of Poetry by Michael J. Bugeja (Writers Digest Books). When reading this book, chapter by chapter, how come I feel as if this fine-poet-with-a-funny-last-name is sitting right next to me, giving me a private study on ways of poetry. By the time you reach the end of this highly readable guide, you may feel as if you’ve gained an MFA in poetry writing, if you take what Bugeja (pronounced as if “bluejay-ah” but without the “l”) says to heart and apply his principles to your own writing.

He covers how to approach styles of poetry from love to nature, and from political to occasional. His guides and examples for writing form poetry are accessible and first rate. He puts a lot of himself in the book, which makes his experiences come alive to the reader as the “show” rather than the “tell,” of what could instead be a lecture.

There’s much to relish here, so I recommend taking it slowly and experimenting with your own poetry as you progress. Bugeja makes complicated subjects clear and easy to grasp, and helped me as he mapped out the vital differences between narrative, lyric and dramatic poetry that I now share with my own workshop participants, for example. ◦

My favorite and recommended reference book on writing poetry: The Art & Craft of Poetry by Michael Bugeja

Where to Eat, Shop and Stay in San Antonio: Recommendations

I'm not a restaurant critic or a power shopper, but I am a published foodie poet as well as a bargain hunter. And surely someone with opinions. My opinions about places my family visited recently in San Antonio are no exception. So gather 'round for what to enjoy beyond the city's lovely and beloved Riverwalk.

Top of mind: Food! A dozen people you might meet in San Antonio will tell you the same thing I do: Rosario's has the best fish tacos in town. Even if you order something else, it will be good. Plus, the artsy atmosphere is a kick with overized contemporary paintings of famed latina beauties including Frida Kahlo and Rita Hayworth (a secret latina!) The flagship location is on Alamo in the historic King William neighborhood, but there are others at the Riverwalk and at the airport.

Also in King William within walking distance of Rosario's is the Madhatters Tea House and Cafe, a funky, hippy-style gathering place with good breakfasts and various rooms that offer eclectic decor and casual seating. Also try Taco Haven on 1032 S Presa, voted the best breakfast in the whole state of Texas by the Food Network magazine! Recommend the Torres Special, which is a taco that author Sandra Cisneros also favors, and includes bacon and guacamole right in the tortilla. My husband's Uncle Joe eats breakfast there every morning!

Thai food in San Antonio? Ya' can't always eat Mexican and if you head up to the north part of town, you can't do any better than Sawasdee Thai Cuisine at 6407 Blanco Road (the locals pronounce it blank'-oh). Our table mates thought the cashew chicken dish Aunt Stella ordered was the best. But pick out the hot peppers. It took Uncle Jerry about 15 minutes to recover after he bit into one to see how hot it was. All our dishes were good, accompanied with fresh, bright vegetables and served in an elegant atmosphere.

Any visit to San Antonio should include a shopping trip to Market Square/El Mercado. Shops bursting with Mexican and Tex-Mex treasures, along with ssidewalk restaurants and strolling mariachis to take you south of the border while still in the states. Unless you think of Texas, as many locals like to, as a country separate from the U.S!

Away from downtown are two shopping gems: For gift items and latino cook paraphernalia is Melissa Guerra at the Pearl Beer Factory center at 200 E. Grayson. I bought Mexican paper cut-out streamers for my son's upcoming graduation party and my daughter bought a chili pepper apron and hotpads. It's not cheap here, but has casuela flameware crockery items you may not find elsewhere.

For authentic clothing and decorative items, an indoor and outdoor mecca of choices await you at Fiesta on Main at 2025 N. Main Street. Among the hundreds of Mexican clothing items on hand, my daughter and I both found fabulous embroidered blouses which have garnered endless compliments. I have never seen as many pinatas as in this store's garage-like alcove: skulls, cupcakes, spaceships, some the size of golf carts. If I could return with a car, I would buy the dark wood room divider with colorful saints carved in relief.

The gift shop at the McNay Art Museum at 6000 N New Braunfels Ave is also a fun spot for more contemporary artsy gifts. And we did find some good towel and Bollywood-style file folder bargains at Stein Mart at 999 E Basse Rd.

One last recommendation: If you rent a car, a good place to stay is the Bonner Garden Bed & Breakfast, about halfway between the airport and downtown, in a lovely neighborhood filled with stunning vintage homes. Each room is unique, the owner couple are wonderful people and the long private pool invites you to relax and unwind. Our daughter and son-in-law stayed in The Studio room for five days (see photo above) and didn't want to leave, and my husband and I had stayed in the Ancestor's Room a few years ago.

BTW, the B&B is closeby The Foundry Coffee and Community, a volunteer-run, free-trade, green-living coffee house and the aforementioned Fiesta on Main market-style store. ◦

Where to Eat, Shop and Stay in San Antonio: Recommendations

Caverns Across the Country/Recommended: Natural Bridge Caverns

I've been down to San Antonio about five or six times. Besides welcome and repeat trips to the riverwalk or to indulge in delicious fish tacos at Rosarios, I've always found something new to uncover.

For example, on a recent visit I found a "new" cavern. Over the years, I've taken tours of a number of established caverns. Some of the worst have been Meramec Caverns in Missouri, its stalactites picked over by tourists and thieves, and Ruby Falls in Tennessee, with its tacky music, cheesy light show and underground waterfall with the look and feel of basement plumbing that's sprung a serious leak.

I do hold a tender spot for Cave of the Mounds in southwest Wisconsin, which smaller formations are nonetheless impressive, lending an overall atmosphere both natural and enchanting. Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, on the other hand, is indeed massive, but made up mostly of endless grey cave walls and few cavern formations.

Still on my list to see are the Luray Caverns in Virginia and Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico. And if I should venture deeply into Europe, the Postojna Caves in Slovenia would appear on my itinerary.

Until then, I have found a cave that one ups any cavern I've visited in the past: Natural Bridge Caverns near New Braunsfels, Texas. Though more wet and steep than other cavern tours, it is well worth the effort. Its graded pathways lead into one magnificent room after another, the size of cathedrals and just as awe-inspiring. Its multi-million-year-old, dramatically lit formations tower above and below in a variety of earth-crafted sculpture installations, true art without need for the human touch. Bats also once inhabited these caves, but no longer.

Take the Discovery Tour, lasting 70 minutes and tracing 3/4 of a mile down, around and up the railed, and sometimes unrailed, paths.

Afterward, I had fun digging through a huge tray of polished gemstones in the giftshop, stuffing an array of solid, striped and marbled stones of every color into a small drawstring bag for only $6. Many may be destined for my upcoming earring and necklace jewelry projects. ◦

Caverns Across the Country/Recommended: Natural Bridge Caverns

The Javelins Versus the Pink Ladies in Chicago

In my recent Chicago Reader story about the real Pink Ladies from Chicago's northwest side Taft High School of the 1950s, I talked about the school's popular, local hangout, Canale's Pizza. Located on Higgins near Harlem, the now-defunct Canale's along with nearby and still-thriving Parse's Red Hots and SuperDawg Drive-in served as models for the musical "Grease" Burger Palace, according to Jim Jacobs, "Grease" co-writer and Taft alumni.

The greater neighborhood also spawned an odd lot of celebrities from different ends of the spectrum, from Hillary Rodham Clinton from nearby Park Ridge, to John Wayne Gacy of Norwood Park Township, two blocks from the Chicago border, as well as Taftites, both famous and infamous, ranging from superspy Robert Hanssen, portrayed in the film “Breach,” to the lovely actress Donna Mills of “Play Misty for Me” and TV’s “Knots Landing” fame.

"The depiction of the Pink Ladies [in 'Grease'] is true to us,” said Rosemarie Doladee Marinelli, a former Pink Lady at Taft who now lives in Florida. “We acted tough, but we weren’t tough. In those days, You had to act tough in a public high school dominated by people who never went to a Catholic elementary school, as we had. You needed friends. It was survival.”

“There were the guys’ clubs [such as the Goombas, Imperials and Ravens], and clubs that had both guys and girls, such as the Javelins and the Knights, but we were the first all-girls club at Taft,” she said.

Marinelli remembers a particular confrontation with the Javelins at Canale’s Pizza. “Our friend Margie was a wild child. She stole a lot of girls’ boyfriends,” she said. “When Margie started flirting right there with one of the Javelin guys, the Javelin girls went berserk. In the confusion, they dragged me into their car and two girls held a knife to my neck in the back seat.” It took a guy in the front seat to convince the knife-wielding pair that they had the wrong girl. “They let me go,” said Marinelli. “Margie? She ditched out the restaurant’s back door.”

So much for needing friends to survive, huh Rosemarie?

Marinelli also thinks she may have inspired the "Grease" Pink Lady character “Frenchy,” though Jim Jacobs said he doesn't know and never met Marinelli, who left Taft the year Jacobs started. She said, “I wore glasses and was the geek of the Pink Ladies. I dropped out of high school my junior year to take care of my dad, who had cancer. But I wasn’t a beauty school drop-out.” ◦

The Javelins Versus the Pink Ladies in Chicago

Secret Presidential Hobbies

Certain gossip remains juicy, even if decades or hundreds of years have passed. Case in point: gossip about U.S. presidents' secret hobbies. While these hobbies may not be quite secret, most are little known. Neither were they topics at Oval Office meetings or State of the Union addresses.

I had originally hoped to write a poem about these Commander in Chief pastimes, but instead decided on a blog post. My exposure to this topic started when I missed the 40th Annual Abraham Lincoln National Railsplitting Festival in Lincoln, Ill. I promise the story gets better. Instead, I wandered the nearby Lincoln Heritage Museum and found a series of museum cases devoted to personal and professional stats on all the presidents, including their hobbies.

The father of our country, George Washington, indulged in man's man pursuits: billiards, cards and fox hunting. Andrew Jackson had a penchant for cockfighting, which might reflect his reputation as a sadistic scoundrel. And did you know we had two exhibitionist presidents? Both Teddy Roosevelt and John Quincy Adams shared a preference for skinny-dipping, the later in the Potomac River, the former on safari.

James Polk claimed politics as his pastime. I sure hope so, prez. Conversely, Ulysses S. Grant's sideline was smoking. As unhealthy as that sounds, it might be what got him and the rest of the north through the Civil War, when he had bigger fish to fry besides mainstream "hobbies," i.e. the Rebels.

For Richard Nixon, his thing was "bowling." Somehow, it's hard for me to picture him eyeballing the head-pin at an alley poised with a big blue baby watermelon under his chin. I know someone suggested Nixon also try tennis, but he claimed, "I'm not the tennis type." He had a streak of self-realization.

Millard Fillmore, the president with the funny name and automatic stand-in after Zachary Taylor suddenly died, had an avocation as a book collector and dealer. I knew there was something to like about this guy!

Presidents get voted in, but even before they're nominated I think they should each be required to take reading, writing and public speaking tests. The public needs to know the results before it's too late, if you get my drift.

But the presidents who fortunately did not need such tests and naturally favored the word arts as passions included William Henry Harrison, who liked reading the bible; Abraham Lincoln who preferred reading, as well as his well-known railsplitting, early on, and also theater in his latter years (which unfortunately brought down the final curtain on his presidency), and our 44th president, Barack Obama, who finds lecturing, writing and playing basketball to hold special emphases in his life.

I wish I had more room to talk about what all the presidents did for fun, such as John Kennedy and Bill Clinton. On second thought, never mind about those two, at least as far as hobbies are concerned! ◦

Secret Presidential Hobbies

Catch the fire of Tierra Roja Flamenco

Chicago has a new flamenco dance and music group, Tierra Roja Flamenco! Lead dancer and choreographer La Perla, percussionist and hammer dulcimer musician Julian X. Cumpian and dancer Raye Bemis make up the core of this fabulous flamenco troupe performing in various venues around Chicago, and beyond. Guest dancers and guitarists are also featured.

Make reservations to see their performances every other Sunday at 6:30 p.m. at Tapas Gitana in Northfield, Ill. Upcoming Wednesday performances are scheduled for Summer 2011 at Carnivale restaurant in downtown Chicago.

"La Perla is a true star. She matches, if not exceeds, any flamenco performer I've seen in Spain."
~ patron at La Taberna Tapas on Halsted

Tierra Roja Flamenco can be contacted at 312-450-1332, tierrarojaflamenco@gmail.com or visit the Tierra Roja Flamenco Facebook page. ◦

Catch the fire of Tierra Roja Flamenco

Tsunami Poem

Another poem I wrote that's part of an "Earth Changes" series:

Tsunami

Some hoped it would stay locked in time,
like Hokusai’s “Great Wave,” its balance
“most beautiful, just before” its collapse.

This isn’t high-cresting art, but rather about reach,
which starts by scraping clean with watery knife,
exposing unseen shore,

Sucking sounds of hands on clay,
that push and prod fingers wet
with oceanic slip miles into land,

Grabbing what’s grown, built, born,
welded, nailed, poured,
prepared and painted,

To carry back to sea,
that roiling volcanic kiln
from where it all arose.

~ Cynthia Gallaher ◦

Tsunami Poem

Crossing Portages

A poem I wrote that expresses a theory of what might transpire in conjunction with the NMSZ:

Crossing Portages

Eagles soar over their namesake marsh only once a year,
in the state marketed as “a great place to sleep!”
to those on cross-country road trips.

When they roost, eagle eyes might connect dots
that draw carp fingerlings between raindrops,
across flooded portages to meander toward Erie.

Before long, their massive filets could back-flip over Niagara,
like divers who catapult from Acapulco cliffs
with all their strength.

Here in the lolling headwaters, it’s awfully quiet in Lime City,
where the old canal that carved its artifice next to the real
waits smothered under buildings and concrete roadways.

When I put my ear to the ground
close to the banks of the Little River,
I’m not sure if I hear

the splash of thousands of fins on approach,
or these rivers, angry, twice invaded,
scheming to split what George Washington sought,

right down the middle.

~ Cynthia Gallaher ◦

Crossing Portages

We Are All April Fools

“If every fool wore a crown, we should all be kings.” ~ Welsh Proverb

The first of April,
ah, the day when we’re allowed to lie,
to say hello, when we mean goodbye.

The day to tape a quarter to the floor,
to see what fool will try to pick it up,
a day to place an apple core in sister’s drawer,
or plastic bug in brother’s cup.

A day when you can’t wait to get to school,
and find a boy or girl to fool.

But everybody’s thinking the same thing,
‘cause being fooled first feels like a sting,
it’s salt inside a wound, it’s green eggs and ham,
when it’s you who’s lampooned, when you fall for a scam.

Is now the time to reciprocate?
Sorry, Charlie, too late,
to tell Jack he’s got dirt on his face,
when he’s just one-upped you in the April Fool’s race.

But it’s a long day, give the clock some ticks,
then dish out the phony compliments.
Suppose you say, “That’s a lovely necklace, Annie,”
when Annie isn’t wearing any,
she reaches up to touch her neck. What the heck??
“April Fool’s!”

All day, you need keep on guard. You know it’s hard.
Just remember if someone yells, “Your shoe’s untied,”
keep on walking, put pride in your stride.

But there’s a moment that always makes fools of us all,
when teacher hard pitches a stunning curve ball,
and announces early on when the a.m. bell rings,

“Class, listen up, there is no school today.”
Then adds,
“April Fool! You’ve all got to stay.”

~ Cynthia Gallaher ◦

We Are All April Fools

Why record your dreams in a journal?

In the Robert Moss book, The Three 'Only' Things: Tapping the Powers of Dreams, Coincidence and Imagination, he cites "The Nine Powers of Dreaming:" 1. We solve problems in our dreams. 2. Dreams coach us for future challenges and opportunities. 3. Dreams hold up a magic mirror to our actions and behavior. 4. Dreams show us what we need to do to stay well. 5. Dreams are a secret laboratory. 6. Dreams are a creative studio. 7. Dreams help us mend our divided selves. 8. Dreaming is a key to better relationships. 9. Dreams recall us to our larger purpose.

And when we journal dreams on a consistent basis, perhaps for a two or three-week trial period, we may see a pattern develop that can help give us greater insight into that "other" side of ourselves.

◦

Why record your dreams in a journal?

My Off-The-Strip, Weight Loss Las Vegas Experience

While some prefer to be in the thick of the brilliant lights, over-the-top glitz and dizzying spectacle of the Las Vegas strip, I opted instead to settle a mile or so east at the Holiday Inn Las Vegas – Flamingo during my recent three-day stay. I enjoyed this vantage point from beginning to end! The five-story hotel is new, clean, quiet, away from the madness, and in an off-strip area of good restaurants. The lobby and rooms are HGTV-style in contemporary interior design and décor. Most of all it was convenient to the University where I attended a social media conference. UNLV is also an off-strip haven, with contemporary architecture in earthy adobe colors and airy walkways next to desert gardens.

My business associate, on the other hand, stayed on the strip. However, he said he couldn't sleep from the overstimulation of electricity and sound that surrounded him along Las Vegas Blvd. On the strip itself, you wait in line to check in your hotel, wait in line for cabs, pay up to $15 for wi-fi costs, wait in line to get into a restaurant.

But after each one of my conference days, I returned to my hotel and checked e-mails and social media at the Holiday Inn free business center. Hardly anyone else was there. Then, after a bite to eat, I took the hotel’s free shuttle to and from the strip to check out how Vegas has drastically changed since my last visit years ago. The hotel staff and shuttle drivers are friendly, authentic and couldn’t do enough for me. Since this hotel is relatively new, not many people yet stay there, so I received special treatment and quick service at breakfast.

Breakfasts, such as the garden and California omelettes were excellent. Enjoyed a nearby Spanish tapas restaurant called Firefly, around the corner on Paradise, with visiting relatives. Try their bacon-wrapped dates or veggie empanadas. And across the street from the hotel is Roy's Hawaiian Fusion. Entrees there are usually around $25 or so, but I stopped in during happy hour, weekdays until 6:30 p.m. and had two filling appetizers and a small glass of wine, all for $15. Try the lobster California maki or the beef tenderloin skewers with spicy vegetables.

I didn't choose Priceline name-your-own-price on this hotel like I usually do. That's because I was set on staying at this specific hotel: as I said close to the University, easy to get a cab (they call for you), the free shuttle to and from the airport and from the strip, new, non-smoking, cool décor and free wi-fi. Cost was far less than the strip. I found a $2 off coupon at the hotel for the nearby Atomic Testing Museum, which was better than I imagined, although quite an oddity. One of my relatives told me I must have been “desperate for something to do” to go there, but you never know when a poem might spring from such an unusual experience.

Living on appetizers and an occasional energy bar, walking mile after mile along the strip, taking in a session at the Breathe oxygen bar at New York, New York to keep me going, I actually lost weight while in Vegas, but never felt hungry. ◦

My Off-The-Strip, Weight Loss Las Vegas Experience

Characteristics of the Creative Personality

In his classic book Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, author and creativity researcher Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi outlines the characteristics of creative individuals. He wrote, “If there is one word that makes creative people different from others, it is the word complexity. Instead of being an individual, they are a multitude.”

Some of the creative characteristics to look for, which he discusses in his book:
1. A great deal of physical energy alternating with a great need for quiet and rest.
2. Highly sexual, yet often celibate, especially when working.
3. Both extravagant and spartan.
4. Smart and naïve at the same time. A mix of wisdom and childishness. Emotional immaturity along with the deepest insights.
5. Convergent (rational, left brain, sound judgment) and divergent (intuitive, right brain, visionary) thinking. Divergence is the ability to generate a great quantity of ideas, to switch from one perspective to another, and to pick unusual associations of ideas. Convergence involves evaluation and choice. Creative people have the capacity to think both ways.
6. Both extroverted and introverted, needing people and solitude equally.
7. Humble and proud, both painfully self-doubting and wildly self-confident.
8. May defy gender stereotypes, and are likely to have not only the strengths of their own gender but those of the other as well. A kind of psychic androgyny.
9. Can be rebellious and independent on one hand, and traditional and conservative on the other.
10. A natural openness and sensitivity that often exposes them to extreme suffering and pain, yet also to a great deal of enjoyment. Despair alternates with bliss, despair when they aren’t working, and bliss when they are.

Does this sound like you or someone you might know? If so, keep up the creativity! ◦

Characteristics of the Creative Personality

Punxsutawney Phil on Groundhog Day

Punxsutawney Phil
Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Weather Reporter Extraordinaire
Halfway between the dawn and sunset of winter,
it’s the high noon of the season.
Will old sol wear sunglasses today
and keep his rays of warmth and wisdom to himself,
or take Punxsy Phil by surprise?

Phil ascends with bleary eyes
from watching “Groundhog Day” over or over
again last night in his public library lair,
and looks as puzzled and ruffled haired as Bill Murray
as he pokes his head out of the tree stump, wondering,
“What did I get myself in the middle of?”

He stands on hind legs and raises his paws
you’d think he were Santa Claus the way the cameras flash,
causing artificial shadows of himself
to loom in every direction,
like a dozen enormous cut-outs of T-rex, vexed.

Halfway between Christmas and Easter,
between the solstice and equinox,
between a native ritual and a European tradition,
between a squirrel and a woodchuck,
Phil’s stuck,
here, with all these people.
He keeps looking over the crowd
for Andie MacDowell, but only faces strangers.

Then Phil sees the sun peeking out from behind
a billowy cumulus cloud,
and hears the sudden roar of the crowd,
because everyone finally notices his real shadow
is what’s on the ground,
and think he’s afraid when he looks where they’re looking,
then exits the other way back down the tree stump hole.

But he’s not scared at all,
just plain tired of all the fuss
and from staying up so groundhog, doggone late,
when any other rodent worth his fur
would know to hibernate.

~ by Cynthia Gallaher ◦

Punxsutawney Phil on Groundhog Day

The Night Before Snow Day

The Night Before Snow Day
It hasn’t snowed a flake
since Christmas Eve,
but that was weeks ago.

Clouds are thick above my head
on a school night here below,
it’s so hard to go to sleep tonight,
cause I fear that it won’t snow.

Sun Valley School could use a Snow Day,
it’s been mighty overdue,
I could almost eat a tray of ice
to make it all come true.

I wear pajamas inside out
before I go to bed,
do a snow dance
'round the table,
even shampoo my dog Fred.

Later, in the deep of night,
I hear scratches at my window,
and it's not the squirrels
but crazy whirls
of snowflakes hitting glass
real hard.

And in my yard,
snow comes drifting up the stairs,
hiding all the flower pots,
'cause there is lots
and lots of snow.

Even TV says it’s so,
when I turn on early morning news
and find out

Schools are closed down on the south side,
up north schools are chained and locked,
schools 10 miles away are closing,
plus the one I go to down the block.

Sun Valley School is closed today.

Sun Valley School? What did the newsman say?
I yell Snow Day! Snow Day! Snow Day!
I can’t help myself from screaming,
I wake my little brother,
to tell him I’m not dreaming.

I make plans to build a snow fort
and sled down parkside hills,
fill our day with well-packed thrills,
make a snowball bowling alley,

Hold a no-school, snow-stoked rally,
cause our one-and-only Snow Day's
here, at long last, in Sun Valley.

~ by Cynthia Gallaher ◦

The Night Before Snow Day

Why Gery Chico Has to Be Chicago's Next Mayor

Hey Chicago. It's time to take off the gloves and show Rahm Emanuel that he doesn't belong in Chicago. Chicago doesn't belong to him and Washington no longer does either.

Beyond the hoopla, beyond the numbers, beyond the hype, stands Gery Chico, an experienced, dedicated, highly qualified workhorse of an individual who is the most qualified person to take on the tough job of leading as mayor of America's City -- Chicago.

I spent time tonight with an old friend, Lenny, who worked closely with Chico while he was President of Chicago School Board. We were at an art opening making chit-chat. Lots of people work for bosses they don't like. This wasn't the case with Lenny. He greatly admired and respected Gery Chico when he worked for him, and still does. He's campaigning for him now. Why does he feel this way?

This is what Lenny told me. Gery Chico is a straight shooter who tells it like it is. He doesn't pull punches. He doesn't hide behind politics. He works with the people and cares for the city he works for. Chicago isn't a stop-off for higher ambitions as another candidate might imagine.

This story is about HOW Chico works. Lenny has seen other politicians give the same busy-work assignments to seven different people while spending their own time politicking and chewing the fat. Instead, according to Lenny, Gery Chico was hands-on, and used project management skills to make the most of the Chicago citizens' money on each project he was responsible for. He asked his staffers for reports, data, progress and kept close tabs on tasks that led to the desired end results, under budget.

Lenny told me that when someone reported to Chico, he empowered that person to contribute, prove and convince. He never dictated but wanted each person, including Lenny, to provide the data and proof if that staffer had a new idea or suggestion. Then Chico followed up on what was right -- versus dictating what he wanted, as some others might do who are running for mayor right now :) Chico, in contrast, believed in teamwork. He listened and responded to those who had hard evidence for their arguments instead of pushing any type of self-centered agenda. He backed good things that got DONE.

According to Lenny, Chico worked with the people of Chicago and his staff members to make the best decisions and pragmatic moves to improve the city instead of trying to "rahm" his way down the public's throat with his own wants and ambitions.

Personally, I watched the recent WTTW mayoral panel. When reporter Carol Marin asked which among the mayoral candidates was bullied in school, Chico was the only one who didn't raise his hand. My coworkers asked, "Does that mean he was a bully?" I totally thought the opposite: he was instead someone who wasn't a bully but who stood up for himself. The back story goes that his younger brother was being attacked, with someone was actually on his brother's back. Gery Chico ran to his brother's defense and knocked the guy down, clocking him. After standing up for his brother and himself a couple of times on the south side of Chicago, the goofballs laid off, respecting him and leaving him alone. We need someone like Gery Chico, someone who can stand up to all comers and keep Chicago strong.

Chico went to Chicago Public Schools and so did his kids. He walked into City Hall, by himself, while still a junior in college (UIC) and asked for a job. He didn't loll around the north shore, get extra privileges and connections, and turn wimpy getting knocked off his bike, needing to be rescued by his younger brother, like you know who. Chico is our man. Chico for Chicago. ◦

Why Gery Chico Has to Be Chicago's Next Mayor

Heighten Five Senses: Hearing

I'm continuing the series on developing the five senses, based on "The How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci Workbook" by Michael Gelb. Try this sense of hearing self-assessment:
-- Friends describe me as a good listener.
-- I am sensitive to noise.
-- I can tell when someone is singing off-key.
-- I can sing on-key.
-- I listen to jazz or classical music regularly.
-- I can distinguish the melody from the bassline in a piece of music.
-- I know what all the controls on my stereo system are for and can hear the difference when I adjust them.
-- I enjoy silence.
-- I am attuned to subtle changes in a speaker's voice tone, volume and inflection.

However, I personally wouldn't agree that you have to proficient in all of the above to be considered attuned to the sense of hearing. I can't sing, but I consider myself a good dancer. I took dance lessons, not music lessons, as a child for seven years, and subsequent Irish, Brazilian, Zumba and Group Groove dance classes as an adult, not to mention flat-out dance induction on the disco floor back when.

I think being aware of rhythm is essential to my poetry as well as song lyric writing, though you wouldn't want to hear me personally sing any of the songs I've written. I've never been good with the bass or treble controls on either my car or home stereo (is this really a guy thing?), but am acutely aware when a spoken word performer, whether reciting poetry, prose or drama, is just missing the emotional points and high and low subtleties of the piece. This is particularly sad when he or she is the actual author.

Stretch your hearing awareness. If you do like to listen to jazz and/or classical music, you might want to play a game of "guess the composer" with your friends and family that we enjoy at my house. ◦

Heighten Five Senses: Hearing

Heighten Five Senses: Vision

To continue this mini-series on the five senses, which is both inspired and adapted from the book "The How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci Workbook" by Michael Gelb -- let's now take a look at what we see -- with impressions on the mind's eye leading to true vision. Can you identify with the following:
-- I am sensitive to color harmonies and clashes.
-- I know the color of all my friends' eyes.
-- I look out into the far horizon and up to the sky at least once a day.
-- I am good at describing a scene in detail.
-- I like doodling and drawing.
-- Friends would describe me as alert.
-- I am sensitive to subtle changes in lighting.
-- I can picture things clearly in my mind's eye.

Don't think that journaling or even drawing, for that matter, needs to end up as finished works of art for all to admire. Look at Leonardo da Vinci's methods -- he didn't necessarily draw to please others but because he loved to draw. Most of his drawings are contained in his "unpublished" notebooks. He valued process more than product. By first observing, followed by writing or drawing, we can enhance our capacity for "saper vedere" or knowing how to see. ◦

Heighten Five Senses: Vision

Let Wabi-Sabi Happen in Your Journal

Wabi-sabi, the quintessential Japanese aesthetic, can be applied to journaling and is, in fact, an integral part of true journaling, whether we realize it or not. Wabi-sabi is the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest, humble and unconventional.

Published writing is usually rewritten, edited and polished writing, set in symmetrical fonts and printed in uniform order and quality.

Journaling, most often, is composed of our raw thoughts or emotions, scribbled down in an unsteady hand on a commuter train or a dimly-lit kitchen. Perhaps the pages are occasionally smudged with ink or stained by drops of coffee. Entries may be heartfelt and passionate, but can simultaneously be random, incomplete, unconventional and bold, without need to please an audience.

In the long run, the journaling process may add up to a complete picture or an epiphany of revelation, but tracing any single journal's pages, one-by -one, can render a modest journey, the humbleness of following a foggy path with no promise of reaching a clearing.

Most distilled, the Wabi-Sabi of journaling embraces a sense of faith -- in yourself, in life, and in the promise of a future. ◦

Let Wabi-Sabi Happen in Your Journal

Practice Naikan While Journaling

Naikan (pronounced nye-kahn) is a Japanese practice that blends meditation and gratitude. The word means "inner observation," made up of nai (inner or inside) and kan (observation). Naikan creates awareness by helping you remember the significant people in your life.

In the book, "Wabi Sabi Simple," author Richard Powell suggests taking your journal to a quiet room and sitting comfortably with no distractions, preferably in a corner behind a screen. Write down the names of one to five people who mean a lot to you, whether relatives, friends, teachers or coworkers. Then ask yourself three questions concerning each person:
1. What have I received from _________?
2. What have I given this person?
3. What troubles, difficulties or worries have I caused this person?

Write down concrete examples, such as "My mother always made lunch for me for school and told me she loved me as I left the house in the morning." General statements such as "My mother was nice to me" doesn't work. Try to put yourself in the other person's shoes and try to feel what he or she has felt.

Through your meditations and writing, what you find important about your relationship to this person will become more clear. When the time is right, express to each person on your list your gratitude for the specific things that they have given you. ◦

Practice Naikan While Journaling

British blog features Wisconsin organic retreat

The British blog, Shedworking, which is devoted to stories on garden offices and other small dwellings, recently featured a story on my two-week experience on the Poetryfarm in southern Wisconsin.

While there, I spent half my day working on a 12-acre organic fruit farm, which sold its goods at the Madison Farmers' Market, and the other half day spending time on my own creative writing. I was assigned a private, one-room "pod" where I wrote, read, slept and sought inspiration from the clean air, rustle of apple trees and grape vines, sunsets and the magnificent, starlit sky. ◦

British blog features Wisconsin organic retreat

Fabulous Flamenco at Chicago's Alhambra Palace on Fridays

The guitar, the drums, the flamenco dance, the romance of Alhambra Palace on Fridays! Soul and Duende Flamenco Dance Company performs for no cover charge every Friday night from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. for patrons who dine at the Alhambra Palace Restaurant, 1240 W. Randolph St, Chicago. 312-666-0456. It's on the far west end of Randolph Street's restaurant row.

Chicago's Alhambra Palace has to be seen to be believed. It is named after and inspired by the 13th century fortress in Granada, Spain. After I entered the arches of its grand entrance, I asked myself, "Am I really in Chicago anymore? Could I instead have been suddenly beamed down into an elaborate dining den in the Casbah -- or the most plush Las Vegas nightclub?" Ah, Alhambra's over-the-top facade, inviting balconies, ornate balustrades, secret nooks and exotic crannies of its bar area, the vastness of its main room. Alhambra Palace is beyond fabulous and so is the entertainment.

My party and I sat in the sideline mezzanine at a table for four, noshed on small plates of hummus, baba ghanous and batata, sipped on Almaza beer from Lebanon, and took in the wondrous hour-long show. Soul and Duende is a flamenco dance company based in Chicago, offering up multiple numbers of group and solo flamenco dances in an endless array of authentic costuming. The troupe is headed by Azucena Vega, who has danced with the great Jose Greco and the Ballet Espanol de Madrid. Soul and Duende's set also includes two numbers by Mexican dancers who perform authentic folk dances from the Mexican state of Jalisco.

For a great night out for a big party or a special date for two, I am pressed to think of where in Chicago you can get so much atmosphere and entertainment than at Alhambra Palace, all for the price of a meal or, perhaps, just some appetizers and drinks.

Musical accompaniment is by guitar, castanets, and two drums -- the Spanish cajon, and darbuka or goblet drum, which is a thick ceramic drum traditionally covered in sturgeon fish skin. Orale, ole! The Soul and Duende flamenco performance is followed by an Arab band and bellydancer at 9:30, which we stayed for and enjoyed, as well.

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Fabulous Flamenco at Chicago's Alhambra Palace on Fridays