Some days the words refuse to let me go.
On other days words pretend I am someone they do not know.
The cut-direct should not hurt so.
Tag Archives: photography
LIGHT UP
I am made of stardust
lit by sunlight.
Like lilies of the field
I dig deep into earth
with my toes.
Like birds of the air
I soar on currents stirred
when heat meets cold.
I seek. I soar. I laugh out loud.
I raise my face to the sun.
I dance in moonlight.
My spirit takes flight.
I grow strong.
My beauty abounds.
As earth, my earth
turns round and round.
Time has no meaning
I have found
except to tether my hopes
that change comes around
when most desired,
bright with sounds
of laughter, and courage
unleashed and unbound.
Rejoice in the day,
the month and the year
but stay in the moment.
Have no fear.
Filed under POETRY
WHERE HAVE THE BUTTERFLIES GONE?
Hydrangeas move as if on a breeze.
A breeze of bees moving flower to flower
across lime green, blue and pink.
Across ruby red and native plants
their flowers do a pretty dance.
On this hot, dry day I watch bees play.
But, where have the butterflies gone?
They did not appear this year.
The yard is awash in colorful blooms
In past years butterflies found plenty of room
to feast and sleep a moment or two.
Butterfly bushes and butterfly weeds,
native plants and other species
await their return in sad revery.
I ask everyone I know,
“have you seen a butterfly this year?”
The answer is always a baffled, “No.”
Where did all the butterflies go?
And, will they ever return ?
Who knows? Like lovers spurned,
they may have found another garden
to replace my own.
I can only hope so, as I mourn
a topsy-survey world grown too warm.
Filed under POETRY
THE SQUIRRELS AND I
Squirrels multiply fast around here,
as fast as they run about the yard.
Three new nests in the Linden tree
have appeared,
Hidden by dense leaves
out of view.
The sun hides too.
Her light is now hidden by clouds.
She has stopped dancing amid shadows.
Like the squirrels I am too proud
to simply sit and wait for sun
to show her face.
Without sun
we barely know our place
in this darkened, cooling space.
We no longer dig and play
in garden beds anchored in clay.
The squirrels have stopped their foray
for bulbs planted a month ago,
ceased moving them to a new place
or worse, chewing or eating them first.
The squirrels, and I are nearly as dormant
as the perennials, and as scattered.
My body yearns to find its way,
to dig and plant, to weed and hoe.
It no longer drops onto the garden bench
to rest and watch the birds and bees.
I drop onto my nested couch instead.
The squirrels and I have grown
too cold, too weary
amid days as dark as night.
The squirrels and I have become too quiet.
Sun’s warming disposition
no longer lightens nor warms us.
Birds no longer join us in chorus
as we hummed alongside the busy bees.
Neither of us are ready
for the coming deep-freeze.
We squirrel away.
I on my Netflix couch;
the squirrels find their own
entertainment and playful connection
I remain ignorant of those;
and, so, I and cannot mention
what keeps them tight inside.
My own tightness will not subside
no matter how hard I try.
I cannot blame the sun.
She still hangs overhead.
Like the squirrels and I
she has decided to hide.
Filed under POETRY
Selfies? Neither Deep Nor Wide Enough,Louise Annarino,4-21-2014
Selfies? Neither Deep Nor Wide Enough, Louise Annarino,4-21-2014
In my recent blog Love and Transcendence I discussed the lack of self-awareness in the use of social media and technological communication. The need of each human being to be seen by others is profound and absolutely necessary for survival. We have five senses for a reason. We need to see,hear,taste,touch, and smell one another. We use our physical senses to learn, protect ourselves, and build connection in community.
When no one sees us, we may feel blindingly empty, even non-existent. We may feel vulnerable and disconnected. This need to be seen would be better named the need of our self to be known. Perhaps, this is why the “selfie” has become such an iconic part of tech communication. This need to be seen may have given rise to the “selfie”.
Posting photos of the food we eat, the places we travel, the things we do will never be enough to satisfy this need to be known. We need to be seen as deeply and widely as is possible. We need to be known by all human senses. We create an image hoping others will see our self. But, can “selfie’s” meet our need to be known? Already, it is a fading fad, perhaps because a photo image is so often merely a reflection; not, the real thing.
I believe human beings need to spend time with people, not merely with their technological faceprint. A photo may evoke memories, but only those photos created through interaction between the subjects touch the soul, where self awareness becomes a mutual exchange.
The more time we spend on-line,the less time we have to be together in the flesh. We smile watching people sitting in a coffee shop, sometimes at the same table, engaged with their laptops, not with one another. We say, “that’s how it is now” and chide those who decry such behavior as “not being in tune with the times”.
Perhaps I am out of tune. The song I sing is meant to be heard, seen, touched, tasted and smelled. Don’t send me a “selfie”. Come visit. I want to see you. I want to know you deep and wide. I want to remain fully human. I want to live fully alive. I wish the same for you.
Filed under COMMENTARY
AFTER THE HONEYMOON
http://photos.mercurynews.com/2012/05/super-moon-shines-on-as-brightest-and-closest-of-2012/10379/#7
AFTER THE HONEYMOON
Louise Annarino
May 6, 2012
Yesterday’s moon appeared 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than normal full moons as it passed closest to earth all year. As our orbits grow farther apart, and the light of reflected sun dims, will the moon be any less a presence in the night sky? Or only our perception of it as we look at it from narrower angles? Does such sudden appearance of a moon larger than we can imagine after months and years of only giving the sky an occasional glance while we go about our daily routines diminish the moon, or us?
In the bottom cavern of my Mom Angela’s china closet, was a stack of photo albums on the right, and a cardboard whiskey box chock full of photos on the left. The photos in albums always seemed more precious for the effort Mom made to enshrine them for posterity. Four triangular holders encased the corners of each photo. They had to be licked before pasting the edges of each photo onto the black pages. It was a work of art;black and white photos against the black page,starkly elegant. This took time, so what was so special about these photos?
The photos in the albums were of my parents when they first met during the war, of each others family members standing with them in first introductions, of days spent at the beach on Staten Island when my Dad Angelo had a few hours leave, of Angelo and his sailor buddies while stationed in Honolulu, of Angelo aboard ship, of Angelo and Angela’s childhood events: first communions, confirmations, graduations; and, of simple things like Angelo riding a bike, Angela and her younger sister Millie eating ice cream cones.
These photos of my parents were 14% bigger and 30% brighter than the parents I knew in the flesh. They were the moments my parents first fell in love. They were on their honeymoon. They offered a glimpse of their true being, not parents, just people in love with life and with one another. It was a new perspective for me. It was a honeymoon for me to look at those photos, and I looked at them every few weeks.
Mom would often end up sitting beside me before the open doors, the albums spread around me, one open on my lap. I enticed her by shouting questions to her as she worked in the kitchen. Soon, we were back in time, Mom’s face aglow as she remembered much more of her life before kids. Story after story unfolded and she became a glorious creature right before my eyes. I no longer saw her in a sauce splattered apron, hair pulled back, small brother clinging to her leg whining, an exasperated look at the clock moving too fast to get everything done on time. She became the fullness of being that was Angela, bigger and brighter than Mom.
I would corner Dad with an album, climbing on his lap to make him take it seriously and keep him from falling asleep in the chair. Running a restaurant meant twelve hour days, six or seven days a week. Dad usually fell asleep as soon as he hit the chair. But when he looked at the album, his first response was a happy chuckle. His tired eyes lit up, his grin awakened his spirit, his happy energy seeped from his body to mine. As he embellished the stories behind each photo, I learned about his youthful shenanigans not caught on film, how many planes he shot down during each battle he fought in the South Pacific, aboard a destroyer. How he was introduced to Mom and immediately asked her to dance; his first words to her, “I’m going to marry you.” He gave me his war medals,battle ribbons and bronze stars to keep in safety, sensing a kindred spirit in his lone daughter. He became the fullness of being that was Angelo,bigger and brighter than Dad.
Yesterday, as the moon was gathering its fullness, Ohio State University welcomed President Obama for his 2012 campaign kick-off. At such a huge rally, President Obama appeared 14% bigger and 30% brighter than normal. He showed us his fullness of being. He has been the president for over 3 years now. We have come to view him from narrower angles. We have gone about our daily routines, giving him an occasional glance. Others have tried to cast a cloud over him, take pieces out of him, dim his light and reduce his impact on our nation and on our world. But, yesterday, we looked up and gave him our full attention, and we saw him as he is – a leader who understands the tides of war and peace, who pushes the economic flow with a subtlety of purpose that increases growth without eroding profitability and productivity, who monitors the winds and tides of our environment, who strives to keeps us healthy-educated-employed. He has done so since elected, turning back the destruction he found upon his ascendance to the presidency.
The work of the moon is sometimes imperceptible but inexorable. The work of President Obama is often the same. He keeps moving us forward in the right direction, despite sustained opposition of other forces. At yesterday’s rally, we took out the photo album and rejoiced together. We each recalled the honeymoon of 2008 and the inauguration. Life got complicated after that. Reality set in, we each got busy. We lost track of the larger vision. The 2012 campaign is a chance to shine some light on what we have accomplished, where President Obama has taken us, how far we have yet to go. But, we can now see it more clearly and act with more confidence in him, and in ourselves.
The honeymoon is over; let the real work begin. Let’s knock on doors, make phone calls, register voters, get them proper I.D., get them to the polls. Let’s win this election!
Filed under POLITICS
annarino writes 
DECONSTRUCTION
The streets were lined for blocks on end.
Signs reminded all who rejoiced to attend
Why they walked and talked and smiled and waved
At passing cars who braved delays
While drivers honked horns and shouted out
“Vote him out and make it a rout!”
Costumed critters danced to our delight
Knowing their freedom would give him a fright.
Deconstruct the lies we have been told.
Deconstruct the narrative being sold.
Deconstruct the bullie’s hold.
Deconstruct institutional mold.
Gather in peace the young and the old.
Stronger are you, more wise, more bold.
Deconstruct so we can rebuild
What he has destroyed with his minions’ lack of skill.
We know how to do this, and more.
We have done it many times before.
My thanks to my friends in Clintonville area of Columbus who helped me attend this moment of patriots’ challenge to the con men robbing the USA of its power, wealth, ideals and humanity. The lack of media coverage was appalling. The misrepresentation of attendance numbers cannot be challenged when media fails to provide images of the gatherings. A local station covered it AFTER it was over and crowds had dispersed. Another stated hundreds attended when it was actually thousands. We are here. We are resisting. We are going nowhere until the despotism and kidnapping of people and the Supreme Court, universities, news organizations, social media outlets, medical and public health Institutions… even our very language and the meaning of words and phrases has been brought to an end and freedom restored.
We shall not be silenced.
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Filed under COMMENTARY, POETRY, POLITICS
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