Meet the Artist–the Writing Process and Poetry

July 12, 2016 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

This evening I am the artist at a local Meet the Artist event in Amarillo, Texas. This event occurs bimonthly and past presenters have included musicians, photographers, and painters. While I sing and take photos, my presentation will include reading poems from my book, “On the Rim of Wonder” and new, unpublished poems and talking about the writing process. While I honestly thought few would be interested in the latter, several people have asked me specifically to discuss this.

Although I consider myself a writer, I do not sit down on schedule and write every day like many writers. Inspiration, thoughts, come to me sporadically. I write creatively exactly like I used to write college papers, magazine articles, etc.; I look like I am doing nothing, but in reality, all these ideas run through my head and finally gel. Then I sit down and write it all at once.

The following is one of the poems from my book which I plan to read this evening:

Aging

“Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” Dylan Thomas

Custom says, “Age gracefully.”

Are they crazy, dumb.

Who wants to look

old

wrinkled

grey?

They lie.

All of them.

Who wants a broken mind

confused

unfocused

lost?

Shoot me!

Burn my bones.

Scatter them

in the desert sands

to feed

desert willow where

rattlesnakes lie

searching for shade.

Dealing with Despair by Carol P. Christ

July 11, 2016July 11, 2016 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

This blog post also notes that cities and small towns use traffic tickets for minor violations to fund their governments. Immediately, I thought of a tiny town on the highway from Amarillo to Dallas that rakes in huge amounts of money this way. Then this morning I just read of another incident where police killed a black man who, instead of having a gun as police claimed, had his hands up in the air–from a surveillance camera nearby. The police officers in question had on body cameras–that footage has not yet been released. I am quite sure we will hear more about that one even if it has not been on the national news yet.

Feminism and Religion

Philando Castile, school cafeteria worker, killed driving while black

In a state of shock after the police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, I turned to my Facebook feed, looking for community in my grief and hoping to make sense of what had happened. The statement, “He would not have been shot if he had been white,” referring to Philando Castile, appeared several times. The first time I saw it, I responded, “He would not even have been stopped if he had been white.” Think about it if you are white: how many times have you been pulled over by the police?

I can answer that question: in the United States, only once, and that was because I made a second illegal U-turn at the same stop-lighted intersection as a teenager. The policeman issued me two tickets, stating that he had been willing to let the first offence go…

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Ethiopian Journey, Dubai

July 3, 2016 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

If you have a long enough layover in Dubai, they put you up in their Emirates hotel and feed you in the cafeteria free. The hotel is nice, the food excellent–quite a nice perk. From the hotel it is easy to walk to several places as well as take a van tour around the city. We did both.

The view from my room. The pool has a swim up bar but it is not open during Ramadan which was occurring two years ago when we were there. Alcohol is available in some restaurants and bars but you must imbibe inside.

One of the first places we visited on the tour was this mosque, designed to look like the famous mosque in Istanbul. The following photos are of typical houses near the mosque.

Then we arrived at the beachfront of the Persian Gulf. The water is warm, like lukewarm soup. In the background two of the most expensive hotels in the world tower above the water.

The street goes along the waterfront with luxury hotels on the left. Many of these areas are fill–manmade peninsulas.

You can visit the sister hotel in the Bahamas.

Because of the fill, the fake peninsulas, it is easy to get a bit disoriented. Plus during the summer there is so much haze, it is rather difficult to determine directions.

The tallest building in the world.

After visiting several smaller shopping areas, we arrived here, the famous Dubai mall. This is the largest aquarium in a mall in the world. Here you see people from everywhere in the world dressed in every way imaginable.

A children’s store across from the aquarium contained this lollipop tree with giant lollipops.

In spite of high heat–it was 108 when we arrived–no wind and high humidity (yes, because on the Gulf, even though it is desert, the humidity is stifling), many people were outside awaiting the fountain show.

One part of the skyline reflected in the lake. The fountain show, synchronized with music, is worth the wait even in the heat.

On to the gold and silver souk.

Gold and silver are sold by weight. You can also buy gold in shops at the airport; however, nothing quite has heavy and exotic as some of this.

We did actually shop in the food shops and bought nuts covered in various spices to take along for snacks.

Ranch Bones

June 26, 2016June 30, 2016 / Juliana Lightle / 1 Comment

Skull

Years of bones piled up. Cattle–calves, yearlings, the old–heaped 100 yards

northeast of the ranch house, upwind from the summer, southwest prevailing

winds. Mostly black baldies, a few Charolais. Old bones bleached white,

disintegrated. Some new bloated bodies rotting, nauseating. Others just sundried

hide stretched over skeletons. Drug here by tractor, the dead. Shipping fever, parasites,

drought, extreme weather.

A ranch’s history written in bones.

Bones

June 25, 2016 / Juliana Lightle / 1 Comment

Isabella

The bone is big, more than eighteen inches long. Isabella–

wolf, German shepherd, blue heeler, 80 pounds, lies in cool,

emerald, native grass, gnawing. What kind is it? From where?

Half hour hiking cross canyon, through junipers, tall grass, searching.

Nothing.

One week later, while driving through the gate, I see the neighbor’s

black lab gnawing on identical bone. Surprised, puzzled, I wonder

if it’s the same bone. After running the eighth mile back to my house,

I find the old bone, three pieces scattered in the grass. Not the same.

Neighbor tells me he hiked, searched.

Nothing.

no dead animal smell

meat scraps stuck to bone

we will never know

Gratitude by Esther Nelson

June 23, 2016June 23, 2016 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

Here in the USA I hear so much complaining even about trivia and so little gratitude. I have also come to realize that gender still defines so much, limits what girls in particular think they can accomplish; girls still try to, as this essay notes, “make nice”, often failing to accomplish all they can be. It remains remarkable and a puzzle, as this essay notes, how some people can rise above negative circumstances while it destroys others.

Feminism and Religion

esther-nelson I’ve been in the midst of moving for almost a year, yet am still not finished with that onerous task. My youngest son and family recently moved into the place I’ve called home since 1980. I bought a small house in the vicinity and have just settled in after spending four months painting, cleaning, and hauling box after box to my new dwelling. At the same time, I’ve been traveling back and forth to New Mexico busy with painting, cleaning, and remodeling my “retirement house.”

I’m tired. Am also experiencing emotions that I thought I was impervious to. I never perceived myself as somebody having an attachment to place, but a month or so before moving out of my old home, I began to feel nostalgic. There was so much I didn’t want to leave behind–the woods, birds nesting in bushes around the property as well as on top of…

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Making a Difference: Kiva Loans

June 17, 2016 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

To honor the death of a best friend’s father, I did as she asked, made a Kiva loan. After looking through dozens of potential individuals and groups, I loaned 100 dollars to a group of women in the Democratic Republic of Congo to help fund their poultry raising operation. Even though it has been less than six months, they have paid back more than half, paid on time regularly.

Some loan opportunities require even less money. People often think their efforts don’t count, they are too small to make a difference. Everything each person does makes a difference for better or worse. Make a difference, act, speak out, contribute however you can to make our world a better place for all of us.