Blame Allen Ginsberg, Solstice Solar Blog and First Thoughts

I am blaming everything today on Allen Ginsberg.  I tend to honor his "First thought, best thought" credo and then spend hours agonizing about something stupid I said or wrote because I've taken that pledge. So, take that world, it's all Allen Ginsberg's fault.

On the other hand, Feliz Navidad is on the radio, and my greenhouse getting ready for the big moment.
At 10:11 it is the solstice.  We have a wonderful solar greenhouse my husband planned into this house, full of geraniums which he hates and San Pedro cacti which he loves. The yin and yang of it aside, it is a beautiful greenhouse and heats us all day if the sun is out. Today it is and so I can find that line which shows how far up the wall the sun crawls every year as the angle of the sun swoops down and we have a line there,  Last night at my reading of the solstice renga verse, Jerry Wellman or maybe Matthew Chace Daniel called it our Sun Dagger a la Chaco Canyon.  It does pierce the center of us when we shower (there's a shower there I forgot to tell you), water plants, or just heat up a bit.   I want us to have a full solstice experience, and though I was unable to take a flattering selfie we have eleven minutes till the days begin getting longer, and what with my night blindness which restricts my wild social life, I am happy for this solar turn of events. James Taylor is covering "Here Comes the Sun" on the radio.  The song is perfect.   Little darling.  I wonder if that is the darling I have to slay?

Yesterday life in Santa Fe touched back into the "Here Comes the Sun " life that I love.  I got to have my photo taken and there were four other poets being interviewed for a New New Mexican article of poets in Santa Fe. See Pasatiempo January10th. Then I zipped over to Sanbusco, that great space that used to house Borders, RIP, and the students from New Mexico School for the Arts got a piano donated, painted in, and it is now a "Play Me Piano."  I hear it as a statement as in "Now I gonna play me piano."  But I believe it means, play-me,  piano.  Or play, me piano--the piano speaking.  See how important punctuation or line break can be.

Anyhow they got it permitted and insured and held a big musical fundraiser with singers, musicians, and I got to mix some poems in with Mohit Dubey on violin and piano.  It was absolutely so much fun.  Three people from my mailing list came, that was epic. Thanks to Mohit's dad for these photos and to
Mohit and his inspired friends for the all day event, I was just one voice in the mix.

Then We skittered on over to The Renga Project.  Three people from my list came there, and that was the biggest audience they have had in weeks for what amounts to a 5-10 second poetry reading in the cold.  Mercifully short.  When the photos come, you'll be the first to see them here in blog world.

Are you listening, Allen Ginsberg?   Now it's solstice night, my old friend Jim Oberlander just started talking to me about Allen Ginsberg and I said, oh no.  It must be Allen Ginsberg Day! All these holidays cropping up.  He told me his Ginsberg stories and about where he was on the day Ginsberg died. Jim was on his way to Disneyland. I told him I have a poem "My Day the Day Allen Ginsberg Died" in my book, The Singing Bowl.  I was in Albuquerque humming Ginsberg's songs, no kidding.

Happy Allen Ginsberg Day to all.  I think First Thoughts may be a lot better than obsessive thoughts.
Writing is a cure for that, and being asked to be involved in very cool and genius community poetry .
Also, the solstice helps. It's the soltice!   Now I can exhale and get more optimistic.