Poetic License Horoscopes for November 18-24

Scorpio (Oct. 22-Nov. 22):  You are as comforting and comforted as snuggling on the couch in front of Mystery Science Theatre 3000: the gentle rhythm of time-capsule jokes, the Zen of B-movie (Or C- or D-Movie) framing, silly and soft as breath.

Sagittarius (Nov. 23-Dec. 22): Last weekend, I got the following fortune cookie, and it reminded me of you: “You will be spending time outdoors, in the mountains, near water.” The coming weeks will be like that, exactly like an advertisement for being alive. Collect lots of leaves and luck, and keep them.

Capricorn (Dec. 23-Jan. 20): Last week in church, the sermon was about learning the trapeze. It turns out, when someone is reaching out to catch you, you can’t just reach for them back. This is what’s referred to as “grabby hands.” You can’t catch them, you just have to hold your hands forward and let them catch you.

Aquarius (Jan. 21-Feb. 19): “You change all the lead/ sleeping in my head/ to gold.” (Arcade Fire,Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) Yes, maybe I refer to this song too often, but only because alchemy is so important—let things mingle in unexpected ways and see what shiny things might happen.

Pisces (Feb. 20-March 20):  You are a flurry of breakthroughs, a hurricane of progress, moving as fast and as warm and as glowing as a galaxy-be sure you are ready to catch everything spiraling by. Write it all down and be a metaphor millionaire, swimming in gold just like Scrooge McDuck.

Aries (March 21-April 18): “It’s not the long walk home that will change this heart, but the welcome I receive with a restart.” (Mumford and Sons, Roll Away Your Stone) Life is always starting over, dear, beautiful and fresh.

Taurus (April 19-May 18): “Walk me all through you. I am not afraid of all the shades. We dreamed of faith.” (S.C.U.M. Faith Unfolds) It’s perfectly acceptable to lose faith, from time to time. It’s the kind of thing that tends to wander back on its own.

Gemini (May 19June 21): It’s totally okay to be a little braggadocio about your life, dear. You made it this way with 

love and adorableness and generosity and well-chosen songs. Write a list of all the things that are totally AMAZING about you. Make copies and post them up 

everywhere like show flyers. 

Cancer (June 22-July 23): This week, whenever there’s a choice to be made, make the optimistic one. It may be a risk, but you might just end up neck-deep in snuggles and/or publication credits.

Leo (July 24-Aug. 23): If all of your energy is suddenly fizzing, take advantage of it. Make out often and emphatically, write a whole novel, make mixes for everyone you know. Take advantage of the surge while you have it, then rest.

Virgo (Aug. 24-Sept. 23):  “No one ever told us we had to study our lives,/ make of our lives a study, as if learning natural history/ or music, that we should begin/ with the simple exercises first/ and slowly go on trying/ the hard ones, practicing till strength/ and accuracy become one with the daring/ to leap into transcendence.” (Adrienne Rich, Transcendental Etude)

 Libra (Sept 24-Oct 21): The stars would like thank you for all the time you've spent listening to our secrets, for the all the miles and texts received. Never forget, you are generous and perfect, sweet as fancy cinnamon. warm as toast.

Motivation Mondays: After the Storm (for a friend who's moving away)

Today’s post is dedicated to a friend who’s really sad and scared to be moving out of town. I guess a hurricane metaphor might not be the most comforting, but I work with what I’ve got.

I’m not usually scared of storms, and at first, I wasn’t scared of this one. Mostly I was just glad that I’d have a chance to spend some extra time catching up with Amy and catching up on my library books. But that night, she put on the news and I shouldn’t have watched. What could be more end-of-the worldy than a hurricane heading for Manhattan. And oh, the tornado maps—when they started to show the names of towns my friends live in, I really got scared. There was so much chaos an absolutely nothing I could do about it. So, after Amy put masking tape Xes over all the windows, I went to sleep, praying in the primeval way that you do, when it’s the only thing you can do. To my surprise, I slept, and when I woke up, it was clear that the storm had passed.

So, my dear worried friend, I want to take this opportunity to celebrate those connections that made me scared in the hurricane, all of the people we love all over the place. And I wish for you more than anything that feeling, when the sun comes up and there’s still a light drizzle, but you know you’re safe and home.

Don’t forget, too, that you’ll have yourself with you, and all of the resources that entails. You’ll know exactly what to do.

Two More Songs of The Week: Roll Away Your Stone, For Good

These songs are really different from each other expect that they are both awesome at helping me plow through the rest of the semester/ the end of camp.

BTW, wish my dear dear dear kids luck (or, I guess, break a leg) for their performance of Wicked and some other things, (including some parts they wrote for themselves!) tomorrow night and Thursday night. God willing, I'll make it home in time for Project Runway.

Motivation Mondays: What to Get (Inspired by...Shappy!)

(Pssst: If you feel like you'd like a writing prompt for motivation, go visit my post on Radius--Made Up Forms: The Cut-Up Pop Song, after this, of course. )

“If you see something you love, you’ve just gotta get it, and eat it.” –Shappy Seasholtz

I would first like to mention that the same Shappy Seasholtz bought me a bag of caramel creams yesterday, because he knows they remind me of racial harmony. I was so touched that I got a tiny bit choked up, but then again, I was a little sleep deprived.

Anyway, though maybe I don’t always need to follow his advice when it comes to pie, it’s good writing advice.

The trick, though, is figuring out how to discern which things you REALLY love, which aspects of your goals are the most important ways to spend your finite time. I’m an urgent girl, so it seems really important to figure these things out.

There have been parts of poetry that I’ve always felt guilty about not doing. I’ve always felt bad that I haven’t tried harder to compete in slams, but I’m delighted to say I’m ready to let that guilt go. As much as I will never support the arbitrary and false division between page and stage, I feel much more comfortable and happy competing for publication than for points. (And of course I so much admire people who are wholehearted at both!)  And of course, having said that, I’m still going to try and get on my own venue’s team.

There’s a difference, though, between neglecting to do things because they aren’t priorities and avoiding things out of fear. There are a few things that are very important to me that I’ve avoided for years, waiting until it feels safe, I guess, but that avoidance is starting to make me feel stunted and repressed. (And, since I’m always encouraging everyone else to be honest and expressive, a little bit hypocritical.)  Admitting that those goals and desires are real and important seems like a good first step towards pushing past the fears and ignoring all of the prohibitive voices that have built up over the years. (My pal Cristen calls these my “anxiety terrorists.”)

So how can we move our own boundaries and dismantle the arbitrary limits we’ve placed on ourselves? All that from a quote about pie.


Mumford and Sons - Awake My Soul from Thomas Henley on Vimeo.