This is Helen! By Maggie Scratch

Helen Gosch

A Poet? A Potter? A Candlestick Maker?

She’s busy everywhere!

She’ll be there if you need her,

that’s what a friend is for.

Helen, today you are the

“coy mistress.”

I quote from a poem you wrote,

Pulled into the World.

“I can imagine the awe felt

In the hands of all that is warm and beautiful.”

I can imagine it too.

 

The written word for you is not enough.

You love to get your hands in all kinds of stuff.

You pulled this woman into the world—

you created her on a tray!

Helen of Tray!

The coy mistress…

This must be you!

 

 

Do You Believe in Reincarnation? by Maggie Scratch

My New Friend

That’s a gigantic bone Noire is chomping on.

I get a whole bag of bones from the village butcher.

 But Noire was my friend

before I ever gave her a bone.

One day, Noire the valley shepherd dog jumped up to greet me on the Camino

as if she’d always known me.

As if she was my dog,

from way back when.

I had a dog like Noire once.

And here she is

come back to walk with me

again.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, bones to bones.

Noire, the valley shepherd dog,

my new friend

 my old dog

 come back home.

 

Noire in Red

 

Infinity Serendipity

A Day With Marie by Maggie Scratch

This is what happens when you spend the day with Marie.

She makes things come alive.

And then she takes you for a drive.

Rain, snow, hail around us.

Marie turns on the radio.

Debussy sounds like Erik Satie.

Chopin.

Opera.

We talk of love.

“Love and Peace,” she says.

We arrive at our destination.

La vieille jument is waiting for us.

The old brown mare.

We have brought her favorites, carrots, and a bag of dry bread.

Marie stands under an umbrella, I have worn my hat.

She wants to take my picture, feeding the old brown mare.

When all the bread is gone

and the mountain hail is strong

we climb back in the car.

Marie rolls down the window and pulls up to speak to the horse.

Hail stones fly into the car, everything is wet.

We’re not cold, we’re happy, but when I mention it,

what does Marie have to say?

“No problem! It will dry!”

 

It’s Not That I’m Saying Goodbye by Maggie Scratch

I’m leaving Barcelona, but I’ll be back.

There’s always so much work to do.

Spread the word!

The soul is love!

Have fun, be a friend, be a buddy, pass on the good stuff.

Here’s Kasia from Warsaw with a world of words in her head.

 Polish!  German! English! Spanish! And Catalan too!

A culture-bug-bookworm with Master’s Degrees!

Linguistics! Communication! Philology!

What does all this mean?

Find your path and hit the road.

Dig in.

There’s gold in our roots.

I’m getting my boots on.

I’m ready, let’s go!

Every step we take, here we are!

Back in Barcelona Unwinding With The Screamin Demon by Maggie Scratch

 

 

I don’t usually listen to rock. In fact, I love silence, but you never know when lightning will strike. It struck me last night lying on my couch. So I put the headphones in, far in, and went down a hard rocker’s road. It wasn’t hard at all. It was like I always knew this voice, this guy from Boston, my alma mater, my alma, this unbedded fellow beast, this soul mate of words, this Joe Cocker creature, his gray streaks and chiseled face, this reinvented rebel with cause for fame, this father, this son, this singer, this man, this twin at heart. I guess you could sum it all up and say I love  his voice. But it’s more than that. Steven Tyler is my coach. My mentor. My guide. He’s a total inspiration for an old fart grandmother. Here I am, about to look at 32 years of my life, starting with my daughter’s bedroom. I will start with her closet. She is never coming back to use this closet. She has her own closet in Oslo but she still has all these clothes on hangers, shoes stuffed into bags, bags of stuff on the closet floor, all kinds of gauzy skirts that she made or collected,  stuff hanging out of duffle bags, paper bags, bags and bags and bags of her life. I really don’t want to go in there, so I don’t. I look out at the plum tree. Look! The blackbird is back! Can that bird hear the water I splashed into the dish this morning? Can the bird smell that I’ve returned from the north? Something is up! What’s up is that I am now living in the pre-new-now. The new now is what I’m trying to get my mind around. That’s why I’m fascinated by Steven Tyler. That’s why I’m starting with my daughter’s bedroom. The combination of Steven Tyler’s voice screaming at me to get my mind around the fact that something is up  and the act of cleaning out my daughter’s closet is no coincidence.It’s lightning striking twice. It’s reality. I was lying on my couch trying to unwind and Steven Tyler  wound me up.He’s still winding me up. I need this guy to scream at me louder and louder and louder, dream on, dream on, dream on… and finally, as if he were an axe — he makes a dent. Right, I don’t want to miss a thing either.  Two outstanding tee-shirts have walked by me recently. First, Now Or Never. Then,  Get Over It. How does anyone  know what will happen? Freud says: “You know everything.” But, I, for one, need a dent to realize what I already know. I’m about to stare 32 years of my life in the face. At least today I get it. The past is done. Get over it. The new-now is promising. It’s true what Freud said. I know everything. Deep deep down, if I really think about it, I always knew this would happen.  I always dreamed it. It’s all good. I’ll start with the closet.