Tag: poetry

Musings

Odd-Job Woman at Odds

ROMPoetry
shaun
Shaun telling a story at the Chickasaw Cultural Center

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” →

Events, Musings

Arts in the Community

ROMPoetry
Old photo of Locust Grove
Old photo of Locust Grove

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” →

Events, Musings

ROMP Shop

ROMPoetry

rubysThe 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” →

Musings, Poems

Harness Up The Day

ROMPoetry
The door at the Woody Guthrie Center
At the Woody Guthrie Center

Oklahoma has created some stellar poets, to name a few–John Berryman, Joy Harjo, N. Scott Momaday, and Kevin Welch.  Our fly-over state has also produced some first-rate songwriters who have the musical poet strong inside them: Garth Brooks, Roy Clark, Wanda Jackson, Reba McEntire, Leon Russell, Dwight Twilley, Bob Wills, and Kevin Welch again, among them. But our greatest poet has to be Woody Guthrie. And yes, he was a poet. Just read the lyrics to “Harness Up The Day”: Continue reading “Harness Up The Day” →

Poems

Finding the Place Where

ROMPoetry

locustOne day the question collides in you,
The curve of its newness slick behind
Your ear, mimicking that same arc,
Teasing you into listening, and this time,
To the way the wind whistles around
Your neck, the adjustment your feet
Make to the undulation of the earth
On this path not taken before to a place
Which tethers you without force
—Cool ageless stones lining
The threshold where you pause to drink
From a bowl of water that has appeared
To ease the burden of the new battle
Blushing its shame through your body. Continue reading “Finding the Place Where” →