montreal
Posted on | May 1, 2011 | 4 Comments
for my recent 30th birthday, russ took me to montreal for a week.
on the way, we stopped at holy cross monastery and stayed a night with the monks and celebrated palm sunday with them.
then we ate and rode bikes and snapped photos and butchered the french language to some very sweet canadians for a week.
it was amazing. more photos soon!
xo,sam
perchance to dream
Posted on | April 28, 2011 | Leave A Comment
i rarely remember my dreams.
sleeping is a slow drifting off, like floating on your back in a great indigo sea, staring up at the sky, never noticing the receding shore….
when i do remember my dreams, they are vivid with color, live-wired with emotion and so real they get all mixed up with my reality and memories. only the absurd is definite dream and even then… i wonder about the possibilities.
i hate saying goodbye.
our friends are moving and it hurts. like dreaming, i never seem to feel things. i generally float through life in an emotional numb state, punctuated by great surges and plummets.
did i mention i hate saying goodbye?
one of the hardest things about living in the city is being so busy. our hearts never seem to slow down enough to enunciate the unspoken ties that bind them.
thanks for being you.
thanks for loving life and being so inspiring.
thanks for friendship.
and vulnerability.
thanks for telling the truth.
and for listening.
thanksthanksthanks….
gratitude feels nice.
for whom are you thankful, in this waking life?
xo,
sam
Green things…
Posted on | April 28, 2011 | Leave A Comment
Growing up, my mother’s relationships with plants were short. We’d plant begonias and pansies around the trees in the front yard. They’d live happily for a week or two and then die from a hideous lack of watering and the dehydration induced by the scorching summer heat. It was tragic.
She once pruned the Azalea bushes so far back that they didn’t bloom for a year. The Crepe Myrtles lining the driveway were the first casualties in her war on trees. Unlike the war on terror, this one had measurable and attainable goals and her success was astonishing. On our modest half acre, there is only one great oak tree left, which being the oldest tree in the whole neighborhood, provided it some immunity from the campaign.
It was many years as an adult before I realized how much I love plants. Regular trips to botanical gardens and photo cards full of flower shots say something. How happy I was to discover that I’m reasonably good at being a plant mom!
I now have an ever expanding collection of succulents that live on artificial light in my fireplace.
Next big goal: find an apartment with enough natural light to keep my plants. Or even one with a terrace.
No brilliant insights on this, just a ramble about plants.
I really like having green things around.
Sam
Swift drifter
Posted on | April 27, 2011 | Leave A Comment
Swift drifter
Sudden shifter
Spring turned to summer
While I glanced over my shoulder
At hills staid and skies vast
At last
Quick fixer
Rich elixir
To keep me younger longer
Than it takes me to befriend gravity
And welcome maturity
Old new friends
…………….
I do apologize for the neglect here. I will make a goal to write something here daily for the next 30 days in honor of my having just turned 30.
Hope everyone’s been well. I’ve been keeping up with most of you on twitter and in other spots, but it’s nice to be here too I think.
Xoxo Sam
merpeople and maritimes
Posted on | April 5, 2011 | Leave A Comment
busybusybusybusybusy
i don’t want to have hurry sickness
and i don’t think i do
but carving out space for breathing
and alone time
and time with my love
and time with my art
and time with friends
all these pie slices are so very thin
but i do so dearly love pie
more things soon my loves.
live well!
sam
bluegrass and other sounds of my past
Posted on | March 21, 2011 | 2 Comments
this is the music that reminds me of home
and my father
although he never listened to it around me
i imagine he did once
as a younger man
foot tapping
impossible grin stretched ear to ear
no one who hears music like this
cannot smile widewidewide
or tap a toe in time
i should have danced
that shyness pinning me to my seat
while energy and rhythm moved in me
i always say this regretfullywistfully
after weddingspartiesanniversaries,
times where celebration and joy
bubble up so great and overflow
moving arms and legs
in the absurd gestures
of true joy
and all goodness
free like children
without shame
next time i vow to dance.
————
xoxo
sam
neglect
Posted on | March 10, 2011 | 2 Comments
neglect is happening here.
i keep thinking: i can do this.
i can be a presence online.
i can think of something to say.
and then,
Oh! i’ve gone to bed again. or out to drinks with friends.
or i’m actually painting.
i’ve begun reading books again.
it’s a cycle i have, i am all or nothing with things like writing, or music.
lately i am swallowing novels whole and eating poems with a cup of coffee in the afternoons.
characters and stories and faraway places all swirling around in my head,
savored like the last dregs of good hot chocolate.
spring is coming.
did you notice?
the tree branches have gone all knobbly with bud-babies
bursting from invisible recesses
awakened from winter slumbers
and i am growing used to the sound
of rain on my imaginary tin roof
which is really my window air conditioning unit
but the effect is the same
or close enough for me.
i guess i’m saying i miss this.
but i am happy too.
i am living.
and dreaming new dreams.
and this is taking my time from writing it all down here.
but i should stop in more
i like the writing it down part.
xoxo
sam
out for delivery
Posted on | February 26, 2011 | 7 Comments
i’m sure you know the feeling.
xoxo,
sam
Shiny new things.
Posted on | February 11, 2011 | 2 Comments
First for some silliness:
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -
Now for the new work:
My favorite new one:
It’s 12″ x 12″ and I made the frame for it too, from a vintage flea market frame that was an odd shape. I’m really pleased with this one!
I’ve discovered as I’ve been painting, that I’m actually a bit tired of my family… or at least having them hog up so much of my artistic horizon. I imagine this could be seen as some sort of growth or progress… so in the meantime, I’ve been inventing characters and making them into paintings.
So there.
xoxo,
Sam
beauty is no weapon
Posted on | February 9, 2011 | 2 Comments
beauty is no weapon to wield
no shotgun to aim
at silver shields
of weaker men.
and lust is a ravenous flame
no controlled blaze
at best it maims
at worst…
but hearts can be these glorious things
resplendent with beating
great silvery wings
spread wide.
yet often they are shriveled up
hard, broken, heavy
a dried out cup.
a shell, a broken shard.
But David said of God’s goodness:
my cup runneth over.
In many deserts an oasis sits
green and lush in sandy pits
water for parched lips.
life… with a kiss.
David said of God’s goodness:
my cup runneth over.
It may be that all my fears
my nightmare dreams
are the lies of controlling,
bitter fiends.
That goodness is no fairy tale ending,
But a real entity.
Quantifiable. Personable.
This is my cautious hope.
And
David said of God’s goodness:
my cup runneth over.
————————————-
Only a poem for you today my friends. I tried to draw something to go along with and nothing seemed to fit. I’ll mull on it. These are the themes I’m working with lately, beauty (both in good form and bad), love, lust, goodness, deity, hope, evil.
You know, pretty light stuff. 
xoxo,
sam