My Autobiography

The Ageless Woman

Table of Contents

Farms in Queens
German Ghetto
St. Thomas the Apostle Parish
Dominican Nuns
The Band
Girl Scouts
The Elevated Train
Brooklyn Catholic High Schools
Convent Life in the Sixties
Coming Out
Meeting the Trappist Priest
Teaching Art in the New York City HS
Having 3 babies in 4 years
Raising Children on the North Shore of Long Island
Equality in a Marriage
Relatives
Divorce
The Midwest
Art & Teaching
Calligraphy
Non-Retirement
Budgets
City girl goes to the Mountains
Home Owners Association
Elder Years
Being Published
Health Maintenance
Grand Children

Riddle#31 Ancestors

Matriarchal Avcestry

Dreams, it has been said, were the first poems and stories told around the fire in ancient tribal cultures. Jan Hutchinson

We gather, holding baskets
filled with fruit;
seeds and juices
of our loins.

Breasts ready to succor,
feet to serve,
ears to learn
what nurture needs.

Umbilical still grows,
Twists its lullabies;
In and out of sleep
and baths and blankets’ cover.

Riddle#30 “Fat”

RedCloak WizardJeanne

The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. All I know is what I have words for.
Ludwig Wittgenstein

Two days ago, my 4 year old grand-daughter tried calling me: “BIG FAT NANA”
HERE are the words I allow:
goddess
rubenesque
mama-jama
large-and-in-charge
opera sized diva
luxurious

In the car on the drive home we wrote this jingle:
Body size not here nor there
Names are bubbles in the air;
Pop them and they disappear!
Skip along with friends held dear.

Wonder how long the campaign to substitute the word will take?

Riddle #29 Rake

Oliver rakes

The old saying for plain, direct speech is “tell it in words of one syllable.” Robert Pinsky
Try not using any forms of the verb: to be.

I rake
to make
the ground flat.
Reach and pull;
push and pat.
Cold
knee work:
bend and
stretch-take
with my rake.

Riddle#28 The Moon

Now that the moon is out of a job
it slides over the forest-all those
million still violins before they are
carved-and follows those paths only air
ever uses.

William Stafford

Moon over deck 4-13

Yellow moon:
amber air alert;
cats’ eye
in the sky
misty message from on high.
I bow, submissive.
(shadorma)
(3-5-3-3-7-5-)

Discovering Woodstock, NY

Love is like the grass, but the heart is deep, wild rock. DH Lawrence

Drove from Hudson to Woodstock
to Upstate Movie Theater
to view Redford’s film “The Company You Keep”
http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/2r0l6TBszwo

Arrived 2 hours before the show
to see George Conant playing keyboard on the stage.
Woodstock Upstste theatre George Conant
He invited us to come to theater
on Sundays, around noon to hear the live house band.

The heart of Woodstock is musicians.
Poems on Tuesdays, bands every night.
The vocalists can’t commit to every rehearsal
Too little control over the deep, wild rocks.

George learned piano, but plays guitar and bass;
Staging with the ghosts of past Woodstock Gatherings.

“Where should we eat?” I ask,
“And can we bring back a fish taco for you?”
Mexican restaurant with jalapeno lights and 100 masks
from El Salvador and Guatemala.

“No charge for tickets” George offers.
“Food costs more than ticket fee.”

“This is our last 35mm film showing” George announces.
“Digital from now on.” Gray heads marvel at the speed
Of media’s rocketing through the deep, wild rocks
Into 3D.
We’re spellbound with the film, and Woodstock’s stage:

Deep, wild rock dreams
for young and old
pull our heart strings!

Riddle#27 Holy Mountain

stump with shoot
Attention!
From the stump will grow a shoot!
Isaiah 11:1
The Spirit will rest upon Him:
wisdom
understanding
counsel
might
knowledge
obedience
insight
truth
fairness
wolf and lamb
leopard and goats
lions and cows
babies and snakes
Nothing will hurt or destroy in all God’s holy mountain.
A glorious place!

Holy Mountain
A shoot
from the stump
grows
wisdom
might
fairness:
leopards and goats share
babies and snakes share
Nothing hurts or destroys on God’s Holy Mountain!

Ridle#27 Cricket in My Neck

Catherine:
This is nothing short of wonderful!
Love the idioms, accents and banter.
Great ending too.
Listen to today’s poetry almanac for all the expressions owed to Shakespeare.
I think you’ve added to the list.
Jeanne
May I post it on the vibrant…?

cricket

Cricket in my Neck
by Catherine Johnson

‘Ouch! Ouch! Got a crick in my neck.’
‘A cricket in your neck? How’d it get in there?
Did it land on your head and crawl through your hair?’
‘No. A crick not a cricket or a tick in the thicket.
Me kneck’s like a wicket once the ball’s knocked the stumps,
so enough about cricket coz your hearings all hicket
lost its seat and its ticket get yer ears checked for lumps.
There ain’t no creepy cricket crawling up and down me hair
just a crick in me kneck like a thorn in foot of bear.’
‘Me ears ‘ave always been this bad, me hearing left me ears ago.
Ain’t no time to doctors go, but cricket green or cricket pitch
or pain in neck much worse than itch is worse than earing nothing much.
Take this cream such and such,’ said Dr. Pardon to Miss Hutch.

Catherine Johnson | April 23, 2013 at 1:18 am

Riddle#26 Scars

scars
…I have woven a parachute out of
everything broken: my scars
are my shield. William Stafford

A
scar is
my newest
recreation. A
bolder sinew: hewn of marriage,
joined with weapon’s tender touch on subtle ground held strong.

Scars

Scars
are new creations:
sinews
touching tender ground.

Riddle#25 Swagger

OliverStandsOnBIKE6-12

teeter totter
toddler stagger
sea saw saw sea
bragger swagger

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