Mark Stratton's Blog: AGGASPLETCH, page 26

Bloodroot

Seen on a walk in a butterfly garden yesterday.

'Tender Mercies'

I've been blathering about it on Twitter, created an event page on Facebook for a book signing, and even took the step of creating a Facebook page for my writing news and views, but it occurred to me that I haven't mentioned my first poetry collection here on ol' AGGASPLETCH.

This is a collection of poems based on a series I wrote close to a year ago.  At the time, the poems were telling me that they were part of a series.  After some time away from the poems I had made, I realized the poems ...

30 Day Music Challenge Day 10 – A Song That Makes Me Fall Asleep

I do not believe any song out there has the ability to put me to sleep by virtue of hearing said song.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of boring songs out there (the catalog of Sarah McLachlan comes to mind) and I have fallen to sleep listening to music for most of my life (the radio on all night long will do that for you…).

So, there aren't any songs that will put me to sleep simply because I listen to them.  With this in mind, here's a song that's just fun to listen to.

Curly Shuffle –...

Nice Sass – A Poem

Nice Sass

She said, "Boys, I'll gladly
show my sass any ol' time"
This she sassed with a
laughing smile.

And it's a nice sass,
well rounded,
            from any angle.
A sass you want to grab
            as it drifts past.

It's a thinking mans sass,
with a pinch of bitch
to keep the posers at bay.

After all, she is
anything but a cheap
            piece of sass

—-

Inspired by some witty Twitter repartee….after all, who doesn't like a nice sass?

Thanks for reading!

Baked Feet – A Poem

Baked Feet

I remember the baked feet
of summers past
grass stains and dirt soles.

That saw shoes only on
starched shirt Sunday's
and Aunt Sarah's wedding
when I was eleven.

I remember feet baked in
chasing frogs and swimming
in Old Man Stone's pond
until he caught us.

My feet have forgotten
but I remember…

====

This is very much a draft poem.  Ideas that are cohesive, yet need some work.
Just thought I'd share this one with you.  Thanks for reading!

30 Day Song Challenge Day 9 – A Song That I Can Dance To

These days that list is limited to one song, and that would be the Chicken Dance…and certainly not in public.  No, it's sort of rule I have that fat men shouldn't dance.  Being a fat man, I should never dance again.  Until I am not a fat man any longer.  I'd only hurt myself and end up on YouTube.

Way Back When, before the Internet and Cell Phones, I loved to go out and dance.  And while dancing to Paradise by the Dashboard Light was lots of fun, it's not exactly a song that makes you think...

30 Day Music Challenge Day 8 – A Song I Know All the Words To

There was a time, many years ago, when I knew all the words too "Rapper's Delight" which was pretty cool back then.  Now, that and $5 will get you an overpriced sugary concoction at Starbuck's that resembles coffee but really isn't.

I know the words to entire albums, from groups like Boston to Journey, Randy Travis to Alabama and a couple of Frank Sinatra records thrown in for good measure.  I know the words to songs recorded in recent memory as well, like the Gin Blossom's 'Hey Jealousy' and ...

Two Letters for Mother's Day

Dear Mom,

It's been just a few years, but I miss you.  I know not nearly as much as Elaine does, but I do.  Your passing left a void, an emptiness in many lives.  I think I get a better picture of that as the time passes, but I know I don't have it all yet.

In my mind, I can still her the way you said Elaine's full name.  It still makes me smile, and a touch melancholy.  Because I'll not hear that again, will I?  I'll not have your fried chicken again, nor get to see you finish another craft...

30 Day Song Challenge Day 7 – Songs that Remind Me of Certain Events

Katrina, and the aftermath horrified me, saddened me and made me angry.  The inept response by all level of government before, during and after the hurricane got me to thinking that our Nation was beginning to decline.

While I know that more than just the New Orleans area was hammered by Katrina and that people in those other areas were rightly upset about the media neglect, New Orleans became the Face of Katrina.  The City of New Orleans suffered so much horror, damage and loss.  The soul of ...

30 Day Song Challenge Day 6 – Songs That Remind Me of Somewhere

Music is a virtual time machine.  It has the ability to take you anywhere, if you let it.  Since music, like touch or smell, can trigger memories unbidden, songs that remind a person of place and time should hardly be a surprise.

For me, a couple of places come to mind.  I'll share one of them with you…

All the Gold in California – The Gatlin Brothers

I went to more than one High School.  I was a part of the choir in one of them, and that was in Centralia, MO.   One of the songs our director...