The catfish are the Bozos of the bottom,
Blundering from ledges, bumping into me,
Their whiskers slashing my skirt into circus pennants.
Their heads are rocks split across the middle,
Mouths opening slowly as if levered.
They are ugly and regal and harmless,
Even when I forget where I am and startle them
By lifting the sword from the sand
And sending it to the surface before me.
The bass scatter. I speared one once. Continue reading “In the Lake”
Tag: news
Odd-Job Woman at Odds
It is time to make a living via poetry. Well . . . sort of.
I have two weeks left at my full-time job at the rock quarry before I get laid off. I teach part-time for meager wages at two colleges, and it’s not enough to live on. I am excited about not driving to Tulsa 3 days a week, but I am a bit scared about the prospect of supporting myself. I will have more time for museum enterprises, which have never cost much money anyway. The building was donated by my parents, the materials that went into creating the exhibits and displays were found materials or donated or bought on the cheap at yard sales. All the labor that has gone into the museum has been the loving work of friends and family. Continue reading “Odd-Job Woman at Odds”
Arts in the Community
Many of you know that I grew up in the small town I now live in. I graduated from high school in Locust Grove in 1980 and went to various places, none far away. In 2005, I moved back here and began teaching at Pryor Junior High. My mother was a teacher at Locust Grove High School for thirty years, and her family and my dad’s family have lived in Locust Grove and Rose for more than 100 years. This community is important to us. Continue reading “Arts in the Community”
ROMP Shop
The year 2013 ended auspiciously for your humble curator. On Dec. 24, I learned I won a grant for the museum from the Popular Culture Association. Two days later, I was run over by a semi-truck and lost my lovely Black Panther (Ford Ranger) and am still without a vehicle, but I survived.
What will 2014 hold for the museum? The biggest news is that I am expanding. Continue reading “ROMP Shop”
Sometimes
Sometimes you are all together.
Sometimes you are apart.
Sometimes you gather for a holiday.
Sometimes you go to work on your own.
Sometimes you eat in silence.
Sometimes your plate is full with laughter. Continue reading “Sometimes”
Flooded Town
Yonkers, Oklahoma, was abandoned and flooded
To create Lake Fort Gibson in 1933.
Eighty years later, in the scrub oaks of
Northern Wagoner County, it remains in
Foundation puzzles and a one-room skeleton
Of the school where Cherokees and whites
Learned together until water was needed more. Continue reading “Flooded Town”
Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry 