Back to Work with a Troubled Mind

I got back to my book this week after I finally judged both contests, ranked winning entries and sent the results off to WOMR.  Tuesday I was able to write, finally.  I made decent progress on the 4th draft of my new book. Before I stared editing and revising, I read through the whole second part of the mss.  I found that my ending is too weak and needs a better idea, a stronger conclusion.  So, I know when I get there I have a lot of work to do.               

We finally to walk around the land to see how our trees are doing. Many have died in various storms, fallen over and leaning on healthy trees.  Some giant pitch pine are too close to the house.  Others are in various stages of trouble and need to be taken down.  Since I do not want Woody out there with a chain saw…stay tuned. I’ll have to arrange all that.

We spent last weekend and this one without going out or having company. Woody finished the taxes this morning and has taken them off to our accountant. A big relief.

I wanted to get done finally with the contests, the ranking and recording.  The

first go-through takes a lot of time as there are so many, but that’s easy.  Either a poem has enough merit to consider it or it doesn’t.  I discard at least 2/3s to 3/4s of the  poems.  Then comes the hard part, the winnowing them down.  Every go-through is harder and harder, as there I poems I couldn’t even list as honorable mentions but that were excellent and stick in my mind. I feel bad about those poems, but I am only allowed to issue just so many honorable mentions. I know how serious each poet is about their work and I see it as my responsibility to be a serious judge.

The yoyo winter continues.  Temperature is very erratic, late spring one day and winter the next.  One good thing: plenty of rain to replenish the water table.  That I really appreciate.  We now get hot dry summers.  How can people in the red states not accept that climate change is happening when people are dying of it and more and more dangerous events like tornadoes, wild fires out of control, drought and floods.

I can’t understand the anger at trans people and LGBTQ etc in general.  Why do some people care so much about and get so upset at what other people love and do in bed and decide about their families?  I’ll never get it.  Why shouldn’t someone decide they’ve been assigned the wrong gender?  What business is it of governments?

I think power has driven Republicans insane.  Power is really all they care about and pleasing a fascist. Now they’re going after birth control?  Birth control has been something women took care of since we’ve been human, perhaps before. I get very upset when I consider what’s happening in this country and around the world.  I was upset to tears when Hamas raped, tortured, killed and then carried away as hostage so many Israelis.  But Netanyahu is now a war criminal. You can’t slaughter that many civilians and children without destroying your goodwill from any other nation.  I’m very upset.  And worry about the hostages constantly. It all makes me sick to my stomach.