THE PASSING
Siphoned up and out into
no boundaries and afloat
this earth offering fearless
infant trusting
cribless soul to you.
Buoyed, cradled and reclaimed
back home, melding into the
universe.
dverse
A mixed bag
All posts in the A mixed bag category
LOCKED OUT
Published May 10, 2016 by Nan MykelFor Dverse
OUT OUT OUT, damned spot!
Don’t you know we want you not?
You can’t come into my parlor
with your unseemly squalor.
We don’t see fit
to have you sit
amongst our caste genteel.
We care not how you feel;
don’t sully us with likes of you.
Begone! Begone! I never knew
what serpent vile
we nursed and all the while
you darkened our door;
You drank and you swore
and laid with the men
while you lived in sin.
Shame shame shame my vile
unrepentant child!
Some day you will come
A’begging me for some
TLC, and all you’ll see
is my back turned on thee.
We don’t care
what you bare.
You can cry and you can beg
and show your pretty nyloned leg,
and though I know it’s very sad,
young lady you’ve been very bad!
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY?
Published May 7, 2016 by Nan Mykel
THE GANG
Don’t worry, this won’t be a complaining post. Au contraire! Just a statement from a wounded child/mother, reflecting on a life of poor communication on her part. I had to put my blind/deaf cat (who trusted me) down on Tuesday, and the last pet I had put down was my pet dog of many years, Gracie. At that time my son made a special trip to town to help comfort me. He held her in the vet’s outbuilding while “she went to sleep.” I was there, too, stroking her. She trusted me, too, but I still wonder if it wasn’t too soon. Much earlier, while living with his father, he had called long-distance to tell me that they were having to put our family dog Buttons down, and he just wanted to let me know. I think those are two of my warmest memories.
After a life of poor or too-late communication, one grows even rustier at it. One of the favorite lines from my book Time Wrinkles is something like “I found a loudspeaker in my crib and just realized it doesn’t work.”
Dear Followers: OOPS!
Published May 5, 2016 by Nan MykelRE: Lady in White short story:
I typed in Part 2 and then lost it, because I tried to connect it to Part One. It’s written but I have to re-type it. Sorry for the inconvenience. Will get it together soon…(As in later today) .Nan
OUR SHADOW SELVES — JUNG
Published May 4, 2016 by Nan MykelME AND MY SHADOW
Watch out! My Shadow’s on the loose
with beaked visage , dressed in puce. 
He’s up to no good, I can tell
trailing his embers straight from hell.
Rude, uncouth, he throws a fit,
replacing niceness with a snit.
He gets like that from time to time,
just when my life is too sublime.
They say that I should chat with him—
admit he springs from my own whim.
But what if he enlists me too
and I become a scary shrew?
What’s worse, they say that he’s a she–
“if I’m a she, then he’s like me.”
No way! I know that it’s a him.
Thinking female would be too grim.
I never thought that this offender
would ever be a transgender!
Oh heck, I’ll claim him for my own,
despite bad seeds that it has sown.
If he is me then I can stay
his acting out this very day!
I’ll say not he or she but we
and end this Shadow fricassee.
I should have said OUR MOTHER MICROBE!
Published April 30, 2016 by Nan MykelI can see that a poem I recently submited to Dverse was poorly communicated to readers, possibly placing me more firmly in la-la land than usual. This is to clarify: I got the idea from information in Life’s Engines (2015) by Paul G. Falkowski, a book recommended by members of the science readers group on “Goodreads.” The lion’s share of the work was done while Falkowski was on sabbatical leave at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University.
On page 39 we find: “What we do know is that is that the basic structure of the tree of life has helped us understand that all extant life on Earth is derived from a single, extinct microbial organism. But if Earth is derived from a common microbial ancestor, when did that last common ancestor arise?” The eventual answer, after much evidence, is about 2.4 billion years ago. In case you missed it, the poem which I wrote, is:
MOTHER MICROBE
My first mom was a microbe–
it is written in my book;
randomness was all it took.
A virgin birth by golly,
no horny teenage folly.
T’was a sideways injection
and without an erection.
That’s the way microbes did it,
linking up to a tidbit
as it says here in my text:
a daisy chain without sex.*
*Life’s Engines by Falkowski, 2015
EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER….
Published April 30, 2016 by Nan MykelNOT one after another, but at the same time! In psychology class we learned that at any one time we aren’t feeling just one emotion, but several. For fun (and boredom) I decided to check out my emotions and their subject…object? I’d be interested in hearing yours.
Worried…That Lucky, my blind and deaf red cat may be failing. I thought maybe I could write a poem about him dying but I haven’t yet nor has he….That you might I’m being cruel for not “putting him down,” but he can still purr and eat and sleeps wih me.
Joy…That after losing only about 8 pounds I have more energy and recently videotaped 3 hours of the International Street Fair, Poetry Corner at the library, the Psychic Fair at the Rec Center, a great talk by an anorexic, and made a guest appearance on Kaleidoscope, with Jane and Shannon, all as a volunteer for Athens Public Access cable 23.
Lonely….If I don’t keep busy.
Sad….That I have been disowned by someone in my family.
Disappointed…That my books aren’t selling.
Challenged….by blogland.
Shy (is that an emotion?) ….Too shy to peddle my books.
Angry (well, a little miffed) that someone was in my parking space tonight and I had to park elsewhere and run the minor risk of being towed.
Fearful…. that an organic chemist in Florida wants to mess with our DNA, inserting new “letters” into its code. Evolution has done pretty well–many of us are alive. What would a change like that incur?
Sleepy…I KNOW that’s not an emotion…exactly, but that’s what I am right now. G’night.
Mother Microbe
Published April 29, 2016 by Nan MykelMOTHER MICROBE
My first mom was a microbe–
it is written in my book;
randomness was all it took.
A virgin birth by golly,
no horny teenage folly.
T’was a sideways injection
and without an erection.
That’s the way microbes did it,
linking up to a tidbit
as it says here in my text:
a daisy chain without sex.*
*Life’s Engines by Falkowski, 2016
COLLECTING FLOTSAM
Published April 25, 2016 by Nan Mykel
Along the Ohio River
I enjoy making collages out of “found” items and in my enthusiasm today I trawled along the banks of the Ohio; literally along, down the banks of the river, carefully stepping over the rocks and debris. Then I was ready to come back up to the car and I’m afraid I made a spectacle of myself. I went down on my knees–a customary way of traversing sometimes, but then near the top of the embankment I found I couldn’t get up. I was very aware of all the people sitting on swngs up above at street level who were enjoying the view of the river…and me. My dauhter Mandy tried to give me an assist, and I had a sturdy stick, but I was stuck, until I was rescued by one of he boatmen who was loading or unloading his boat, I’m not sure which. He was tall and muscular and raised me from my knees. But what am I supposed to do next time I want to go collecting???
I FAILED HIS TEST
Published April 24, 2016 by Nan Mykeldribble.com
ALAN WATTS (1915-1973)
Do you remember Alan Watts, who wrote The Wisdom of Insecurity, The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, The Way of Zen, and Nature, Man and Woman, plus a number I haven’t read? I was re-reading The Wisdom of Insecurity (1951) the other night and saw his anagram on page 72:
NANMYKEL.COM 