It’s just under 2 minutes long. Even if you hate it at first, I BEG you to spend (squander?) another minute to watch the transition. (I’ve already had a longtime reader who has refused to watch to the end. Two minutes. Yeez, y’all can suffer two minutes, right?)
Judy/Remi/LifeLessons was asked today by a new acquaintance (who happens to be my doppelganger) what her relationship was with me. “I said you were my boy friend.. jeeze I felt like a teenager again!!!”
After I replied, “Yer my bobbie-soxer baby,” it occurred to me that we of a certain advanced stature in life should have a more age-appropriate term if we’re not spouses. “Significant Other” just doesn’t cut it – too damn sterile. Continue reading
Late into the evening and in my cups – now – I listen to my music, often older tunes, just before I lay meself down to sleep. This bittersweet song just presented itself, and I realize that its relevance when it was first released is magnified a thousandfold today. This isn’t just a poignant song in today’s Trumpian dystopia – it’s a friggin’ ANTHEM!! Please listen (again), and let it slip deep into you. It resonates, yes?
Update: I neglected to note the friggin’ amazing writers of this song: Jim Dickinson, John Hiatt, Ry Cooder. There are several recorded versions of this song, but Freddy Fender’s will always be be the standard for me.
Don’t you just know that the kid at the far right of the front row is SO jealous that HE isn’t the one who gets to hold Cisco’s sombrero?! He’s even chewing on his finger in jealousy! I know it’s true, ’cause that kid is me! And that little girl to my right – the one with Cisco’s hand on her shoulder – that’s my 15-months-younger sister.
The Cisco Kid, for those of you who have not yet advanced to a certain age, played three afternoons a week on the local TV station here in southeast Missouri, and I was a rabid fan. It was running in syndication and sponsored by the grocery distribution warehouse where my dad worked, where this photo was snapped. Cisco (aka Duncan Renaldo) was apparently touring the country in support of his show. This event was for warehouse employees & their families. Just after this photo was snapped, Cisco moved about 30 feet away, drew his revolver, pointed it straight up, and fired it! BANG!
To this day, Cisco is still the most famous person to shake my hand.
I’ve already posted a memory about kites that was triggered by Judy/Remi’s lovely poem HERE. But after a third re-reading, this lovely memory surfaced.
My favorite food memory: I occasionally drove a farm tractor for my good friend Dan my first summer out of high school. When the afternoon got so, so hot, he would give me a couple bucks and have me go to town to get a cold watermelon or two. The crew would gather on his tree-shaded concrete storm cellar & oh-my-goddess devour. We were already dirty, so the juice running down our chins, our chests, was pink & brown. But climbing back on our tractors, well, we were happy.
Remi/Judy just wrote this lovely poem about – well not about – but it included a kite. It triggered a memory of my own. I told her about it on Skype, and she suggested urged cajoled me to elaborate. Here is that elaboration. Continue reading
To finally say what I really think - in poems, essays, borrowed words, fiction and photos. Pull up a chair and let's have a chat.
A blog where two lazy writers write
An interdisciplinary journal about the American Midwest
Just another reason why my children are embarrassed by me.
Reflections on Life through poetry, essays and photos
from my side of the counselor's couch
defining the words that define us
