Proof of Life

Pictures are proof that memories happened,
I am in love with this picture of you.
I have so little faith in myself sometimes,
that everything must be captured.
Bubbles of fear in golden champagne
ants in the graveyard pocketing breadcrumbs,
cherries awash the ground, laden the trees.
I am so fearful I will not remember,
or worse, that I am not real at all,
nothing more than evaporating pixels
in a wasteland of selfies.
There must be more to recall than
this is where I was, this is what I wore,
this is what I ate, who I loved, who I miss-
who was there when I was present,
proof it happened,
proof of life.

Baltimore

Smash the pots, then stomp the flowers- a dozen
tired and tawdry hours, in tens of lots,
all mine,
all ours.

Drink it eat it, grow in size, one man's
detritus burdens flies, a fly's conceit
over man's demise.

Death may be blue, in uniform- or maybe
not, this roiling storm, obscures what's true,
or truth,
in any form.

Mayday

Mayday

In better times, when love was fire,
I held the reins, I leapt the mire.
Cold was cold; it could be felt,
but had no sting, and left no welt.

So western now, so lost and loose,
my heart and mind have called a truce.
The cold is cold, the wind like ice,
All fools get taken- once or twice,
and need be shown their own device,

For fools be known by their advice.

Beltane

For friends who help remind me of things to be done, and for Eva especially and forever.
It's a full moon, and I have cats. ;-)

Beltane

Willow sprigs and apricot
a twining forth of
smells like harping
roses

Fog so blessedly thick
makes shoes unnecessary
nothing can be felt
between these worlds that touch

It's only the door
and the sea
and the shadows

Smell or no smell, heart or no heart,
runes that read- cross the ocean
bones that say- gamble not, gamble not.

Time and her sceptre
bask in this age of loss.
Humanity spinning-
Mortal, Immortal- immaterial and
all
of a piece together.

What would be asked of the oracle
if even a question were prompted-
For in this she stands always at ready,
Bathing in tales of the crises,
with fortune for those who will come.

Ice Wine

long past time to go
the wind still whips past me
my hair sticks to my lips
even though they are dry
like the leaves in the frost.

a concert of ancient instruments
forged from metals I can't name and stripped
trees pared to nubs, calls to me,
music I am hearing in between the soft beats of
hearts- I feel responsible for people
who do not care what happens to me.

I dream of endless acres of grape leaves
undifferentiated save their hypnotic undulation
from the heaviness of their fruit and the
pressure of the wind upon them,
so little time before the freeze.

time to pick, time to capture,
time to choose
and then forget.

Wire Wings and Punk Fairy Costume

Had to leave class early today because I have a tooth abscess. Not a happy camper, but my dentist was super nice and helpful. We have to get the infection out, then we will try to have the lil toothy hang in a few more weeks before he has to be replaced with Mr. Artificial Tooth! I need a super hero tooth graphic here!
OMG I love the internet. Four seconds and I have a (um stolen kinda) super hero tooth graphic!!

If the picture is credited across the front, is that stealing a graphic? It's credited and you can't use it to sell anything. I am totally not sure on this one. Anyway!  To the costuming portion of the blog, as I feel too horrid to study.

I wasn't going to DragonCon this year, but Andrew talked me into it and Guy was willing to go. Neither of us had any time to make new costumes, so Guy was Mario again. People go crazy for his Mario, but he says this was the last year. I have this lovely corset MJL bought me and I always wear the purple side, but I've wanted to throw together a costume that uses the blue and silver side, and I've wanted to attempt to make interesting wire wings for a while now. So..blue and silver wire wings made in just a couple of hours.

Here are some pics then instructions:

These wings are delicate and kept getting squished by people who didn't see them, so Guy had to adjust them a lot, but if you are going to a party or Ren fest or someplace where people are not crammed in like cattle, or making for trick or treat, then they would be fine and are very very light.

I didn't know if I would get the usual great comments about my wings this time, but a lot of people told me they were gorgeous. You can't see how pretty the glass beads I used were. Really sparkly and each dangle charm moves constantly.  I made a necklace and earrings to match.

Yes, that is colored duct tape I used to secure the centers. It worked perfectly and I covered it with felt. I use a system of two hair clips (for styling) layered within felt to secure them to my corset. This way there are no arm straps. I believe this is 14 gauge wire. Heavy enough to be strong, but flex easily. I just took a long length and brought the ends together, and it naturally forms a teardrop. No need to force it at all! Then used
some 16 or 18 gauge wire in colors to secure the loops a bit together where they meet.

I wove the top wings with wire and made dangles of glass beads placed on the longest length jewelry making pin heads. Look for these where jewelry supplies are in the craft store. I hung each dangle at an intersection of the wires and wrapped it around so the wires ended up very secure as they were wired at so many points.
Added a couple of wire accents with extra wire that I just let uncurl from the roll naturally. These took me about three hours total. I think I spent longer choosing the beads! Put a premade crochet flower in the center and threw some extra beads on a wire loop.

I like pigtails personally. I never have a lack of fun in pigtails. Hope this inspires you to see what you can do with wire, especially if you have more than three hours to work on them!

Post Mortem

August is wise enough to lie down and wait,
like a dog panting watchfully for its master
until the grass grows up around his paws.
This year the master will not return- he sickened and died
over the course of a short sweet summer,
from complications of a broken heart and too many lies and sugar.

Watching the lost dog is akin to feeling an old wound
when the barometer is low, an ache in the feet or the hands,
that brings memories- heat lightning and trellises made for climbing.
She will watch the stars come out and the stars rise high,
and she will watch the dog turn and go,
and August will pass by kindly, awaiting its turn.