Watermark

Abigail [an old poem]

A woman and her harp have taken up residence
in my basement. I stand, vibrating, at the top
of the stairs. She embraces the pale, shimmering
wood. Each small and perfect note reverberates
off tile walls, stone floors, stained-glass windows.

She carried her music across the sea, from green
to dry land. She howls to train her voice, intones
medieval chants. Coyote, cowled monk. The sunroom
is a wood, the kitchen a cathedral. She cuts
her fingernails to triangles. She sits on the dark

curved stool, plucking sapphires and rubies from red
and blue wires. She sings a ritual of attrition, a descant
on the domestic hum of ordinary life -- luminous,
visible, an iceblink of transcendent sound. The buddha
in the window smiles. His long earlobes quiver.

Friday Cat Blogging

[This post is the last in the Friday Cat Blogging 3 category; the next cat post will inaugurate the Friday Cat Blogging 4 category. See also Friday Cat Blogging 1 and Friday Cat Blogging 2. ]

Friday Ark
Carnival of the Cats
Carnival of the Dogs
Montana Bloggers' Rascal Fair

tulip

Not well. Back soon.

Blogger Interviews

Melanie  is doing a series of interviews with bloggers, and today she published her interview with me. I discovered Chandrasutra shortly after I started blogging, and it has been on my favorites list ever since. I am delighted to be so honored.

Since I've had the questions for some time, I resisted reading the other interviews until I'd finished answering; I feared I would lose my own way. So I've just had the pleasure of  reading the thoughts of a varied, knowledgeable, and articulate group of bloggers, some of whom I'd not previously discovered.

If you are interested in writing, blogging, journalism, and the intersections among them, go check it out.

Spring Blogging

Clicking takes you to the Flickr photo page

I've been having fun with my camera lately, and getting more skilled with it, I think. Spring is a great time to be learning -- so much to look at!

Though I haven't been writing much, I have been thinking about Watermark, and about blogging -- partly due to the recent complaint about loading time, and partly in response to Chandrasutra's questions. This morning, I received an encouraging message:

Congratulations! Watermark has been nominated as a Blogs By Women Favorite Arts & Entertainment Blog!

Voting lasts for one week; you can vote for Watermark here -- or, of course, for one of the other nominees:

Goldfish Pond in Spring

Friday Cat Blogging

      
          Click to go to the Flickr photo page

Cat Translation Dictionary from The Presurfer

Taggregator ~ Cat

This week's Carnival of the Cats; Carnival of the Dogs; Friday Ark

Montana's own blogging carnival: The Rascal Fair (in verse, no less)

Benedict XVI known for love of cats:

"I went with him once," said Konrad Baumgartner, the head of the theology department at Regensburg University. "Afterwards, he went into the old cemetery behind the church.

"It was full of cats, and when he went out, they all ran to him. They knew him and loved him. He stood there, petting some and talking to them, for quite a long time. He visited the cats whenever he visited the church. His love for cats is quite famous."

Have a happy snuggly furry weekend!

Cloud & Blue

Snapshot 20 April 02005

MP3 File

I receive a visitation in the night
from John Paul. He is throwing off
his white robes. He is tap-dancing
in ruby shoes. These mornings
are cold, the color of steel. Fresh
snow in the mountains, little petaled
suns in the flowerbeds. Friends ghost
up from history, emerging through mist
like special effects. Here is Richard
Greene, blood at his temple, pistol
still smoking in his hand and here
JFK, Bobby, Martin Luther King,
the famous and the intimate all lost
together. Terry Schiavo floats past
on a cloud of pale parakeets. Judd
places his hand on my head. Squirrels
are ravenous with spring, trees
filled with complicated song. Joan,
with the certainty of the spiritual,
tells me to take my time.

Heart of the Daffodil