Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Girl In A Rocking Chair.
April 26, 2013

 
Girl In A Rocking Chair
 
Curled up in a bud,
asleep for the awakening
if there’s any hope of coming to life,
the flickering bulb is a siren’s song,
into, instead of away. What’s next,
instead of what’s left –
the glow rubs tired circles onto
the stone steps, halfway up
and halfway down the lie.
A lovely place to pretend to rest
after making promises
life can’t keep
until it does.
 
I love writing poems, or, what an old (and now deceased) friend dubbed my poEms, because they’re a free-er form of writing for me. Partly it’s because they’re not something competitive, like fiction writing definitely must be, in today’s market.
 
These little word puzzles of light, as I called them today, make my writing self happy.
 
Is your writing self happy? My Auntie Em advice for you today is, write what makes you happy.
 
At the least, write something. It doesn’t have to be great, or even good.
 
But it’ll be something.
 
And if you do it often enough, it just may be good.
 
It just may be great.
 
Or it just may be for you, and you alone.
 
As long as the writing makes you happy.
 
That’s how you know.

Federal Appeals Judge Halts NV Wild Horse Roundup.
July 17, 2011

 

I’m a writer, not a politician, it’s true. But I can’t just sit down and write of imaginary worlds as if the real world doesn’t exist. I also use my writing to stand up for the wild mustangs and burros, a cause dear to my heart, as spreading awareness of their story is the first step toward changing their circumstances.

I hail from the east coast, where many have no idea what’s happening to the wild horses of the west. And those who do, often feel the outrage I feel.

How can 1.7 million acres only support 500 to 900 wild horses? How is it not considered inhumane to stampede these animals, both the young, old and pregnant, for miles in the baking, desert heat, using low-flying helicopters to herd the terrified equines into overcrowded government holding pens, with some of these majestic animals later ending up at slaughter — sliced into steak for foreign dinner plates?

What about the 1971 Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act? How can a law passed for these animals’ protection end up disregarded at every turn?

Finally, some good news for the horses. Off I go to hug my own wild mustang, saved from slaughter, with gratitude to the horse lovers and activists toiling on the front lines.

Thanks for all you do. 

Breaking News: Federal Appeals Judge Halts NV Obama's Wild Horse Roundup Second Chance for the Wild Horses? RENO, Nev. — A federal appeals judge on Friday night granted a temporary injunction to halt a government roundup of about 1,700 wild horses from the range in Nevada. Judge Richard Paez of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the order after U.S. District Judge Howard McKibb … Read More

via Straight from the Horse’s Heart

This.
May 28, 2011

Courtesy of: The Left Handers Club.

Click here: Left Handers Club Newsletter – Anything Left-Handed

Left-handed Prime Minister and President get together.

Left handed US President Barack Obama is currently in London visiting Left-handed UK Prime Minister David Cameron. Apart from all the serious business at hand, they found time for a game of table tennis (both left-handed of course) at the Globe Academy in South London.

President Obama also met another fellow left-hander, Prince William, just getting over one of the most high-profile weddings of the year.

Click here for more left-handed leaders

Slow Down, You’re Moving Too Fast …
March 11, 2010

I haven’t had the chance to post as much the last few months. Life has been so busy, the kind of busy where the days fly by in a blur, and sometimes I’m not sure — is it Tuesday or Wednesday? Forget about asking me the date!

I remember as a child how long the days seemed – how waiting for Christmas or a birthday or some exciting event could cause a three week wait to feel like three years.

What happened?

According to physics, as we get older, we slow down, which gives us the illusion of time speeding up. This phenomenon can be worrisome at times, as I feel myself hurtling through the years at warp speed while I worry if there will be enough time to get everything done.

Sometimes a person has to put forth the extra effort to slow down, to stop and smell the flowers, to let the less important things wait, for now, and get back to being a human BEing, not a human DOing.

There will always be things waiting: chores, jobs, worries, in a neverending loop. At times we need to slow down, open our eyes, and enjoy the view.

Because, in a blink, everything could change. As a matter of fact, it’s the very definition of life: change.

It’s one reason I love photography. Not only can moments  be captured permanently, but a photo gives the illusion of time standing still – of moments not lost, but preserved in twinkles — like fireflies on a moist summer’s night. Photographs are the fireflies of life.

What do you remember, when you think back to childhood? Often it’s not the things you think you’d remember. More often it’s the little moments, like your sister’s laughter, a beloved dog’s antics, a horse’s special nicker, your grandmother’s sunny smile … 

It’s the “little” things that dog-ear the pages of our lives. And when we’re spinning through our days like whirling dervishes, often it’s the little things that are sacrificed.

Time was vast when we were children because we were geniuses at slowing down and cherishing the little things. It can be difficult as adults. Here, there are floors to mop and dishes to put away … horses to muck and feed … antibiotics to coax into a grumpy gelding and a temperature to be taken … wet hay to rake up before the next monsoon storm …

… with everything taking longer in the mud and rain. Later, I have rescue dog kennels to clean, laundry to do, edits on my newest manuscript, mud to sweep off the porch, dog feeding, me feeding.

However, for at least an hour each day, I commit to revisiting my childhood wisdom and slowing down.

Today I’ll watch the storm clouds erase  the mountains, and think. Shut my novel’s file and tuck the laptop away. I’ll slip Yo Yo Ma’s Vivaldi’s Cello into the cd player and drift away on the soothing notes, while scratching a dog named Christmas with my foot and marvelling at how the rain comes down sideways.

Tomorrow is another day.

Like the mountains, the dogs, the horses, the weather, the children know:

Just breathe.

Just be.

 Photographs by Emily Murdoch.

(Place your cursor over the photographs for captions.)

Bless The Querying Writer.
March 9, 2009

1000 words.

 

the deed is done

the gauntlet thrown

the friend of yes

the foe of no

and while their fate

in limbo goes,

bless the querying writers

in between

a rock and a hard dream,

wearing their stories

on their sleeves

and just returned

from imaginary lands

still warm to the touch

of their trusty pens.

 

On the middle saguaro -- see the woodpecker making a hole for its nest?

 

Poem and photos by Emily Murdoch.

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