My,
oh my. I’m clobbered over the head again with the lesson taught by Tempus Fugit.Traveling
in Scotland, France, Germany. Moving into our new house in Brockport. Wintering
in Florida. Summer turned to autumn turned toward the Solstice. My, oh my, Leonard Cohen sings.
So,
here I write from the condo in North Fort Myers. Just yesterday it seems Roger
was standing at the famous post box in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull in the
Scottish Highlands. Here is one of two extant ahistorical mail drops in the UK. The other is
on Mull, too. It is a mandatory tourist photo op because it and its twin bear
the imprint Edward Regina, the one-who-would be-king-but-abdicated-for-Wallace-Simpson.
The installation had, ahem, been premature. Best of all: there stands Roger, the king of my
heart. Lookin’ good, lookin’ good (for
82.5).
***
Here
is a poem I wrote while we cruised the Inner Hebrides and then the Caledonian Canal
aboard the Lord of the Glen.It came to me as we
were entering infamous Loch Ness. No, no, there was no monster, but we did have the opportunity to meet a Highlands poet. (Ta! Seth Crook, my laddie.) Only this, one of my
gestalt poems meant to encapsulate a locale, an ecosystem. The photograph below intends to do likewise.
***
Highlands Gestalt
fernheather
plovereagle
mistdrizzle
schistgneiss
If
I do not
seep
into sodden bog,
I
will become
the
rippling loch
***
***
The following
photograph is emblematic of Hollywood House, as I call our new home at 237 Hollybrook Road in Brockport. A home that is to my amazement already a home. In my September post I gave you a tour of erstwhile library-nest back at "the lake house." For this posting, I give you a glimpse at my
new study-nest. It is a glimpse at our happy place where we’re part of a
small bustling community with friends so close by. Services, too-- Wegman's is only 1.1 miles away, not 19. And doctors' offices only 40 miles roundtrip, half as much as when we lived on Edrose Shores. What's not to like? As if magically whacked with
a wand, we were townies!
***
Brockport Morning
Etude #1
sounds
according to October
a
chainsaw a chickadee
a
leaf blower jays
riding
mower Carolina wren
neighbor’s
easy-list’ning radio
squirrels'
chattering en chorale
music
of Hollybrook Road
a pick-up truck groans by
I
change my preference
I
choose instead the eye
its
October light
sugar-maple
yellow weeping-cherry green
bronzed
oak golden birch
blue
sky cloud white
I
see home
for William Heyen
***
Shebang! Florida! The 12-day road odyssey passed in a
flash of four visits with family and friends. Lo and behold, one zap it seemed and we were installed at the condo in North Fort Myers.
Synchronicity
You
find me
amid
lichened pines,
far
from
the sinful
city.
***
I leave you with that little sip of the Gulf of Mexico, that wee taste of Florida's woodlands as I wrap up this whirlwind tour of recent months.
More important, I give many thanks for your many gifts to me, whether reading these words or speaking on the phone or emailing or dropping onto Facebook now and again. I am blessed with so many friends and their hugs and their smile. Most important, I am blessed to have my Roger, who is indeed the epicenter of my intimate universe.
***
For
further reading:
Many
thanks to Michael McDermott of the
Black Earth Institute, editor and publisher of About Place Journal. He most
recently published my two poems, “Breathlessly” and “Long, Strange Climate Trip”
in “Voices of the Human Spirit” edition of APJ.
Find them at: http://aboutplacejournal.org/voices/s2-iii-ii/Karla-Merrifield-iii-ii/
I’m
thrilled! At long last I’ve had a poem
published in Literary Bohemian. My
thanks to editor Carolyn Zukowski who refers to herself
as the grand poobah. It delights me that
some words of this Vagabond Poet found at home at LB. Check out the cool
graphics, too! http://www.literarybohemian.com/poetry/poem/african-soundscape-by-karla-linn-merrifield/
It
was a rare and special treat to do a mini interview about my passion for Leonard
Cohen with blog maestro and fellow poet Miriam
Sagan of Santa Fe. Mine was the first in her “What I Know How To Do” series
on her Miriam's Well: Poetry, Land Art, and
Beyond. Find it on: http://miriamswell.wordpress.com/
I’d
love it if you would listen to a recording of my “Sonnet for Leonard” recited
by Vu Vuong, editor of the marvelous
Perfume River Poetry Review,
originally published in the journal’s Issue #2, “Ars Erotica.” To watch, visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJf551Y2h64
Last is a link to my 30-minute interview with Joy Radio's Pattie Welek Hall. How did I get started writing poetry? Who's my muse? Which poets inspire me? Listen up at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/joyradio/2014/12/10/karla-linn-merrifield-eight-time-puschart-prize-nominee-poet
Check Out Poetry Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with JOYRadio with PattieWelekHall on BlogTalkRadio
