Fleas!

This has been a loooooonnnnnnnng day. I'm sitting down for the first time... I've been at the circulation desk at the library all day...circulating.

I have fleas in my house. I have sprayed the dining room carpet twice and put medicine on 3 cats, Poppy, Buttercup, and Bunny.  And gave Gretchen, the dog, a flea pill. I'm worn out from flea fatigue. So, this afternoon I have to go buy another package of cat flea medicine and apply it to 3 more cats, Musey, Aussie, and Big Tom. Then I'll have to get a flea bomb for the garage. Then I'm done. Hoping the fleas will subside. Hoping for no more hopping.

So, I wrote a flea poem. Trust me, I wrote this from a true-life experience.

Flea
A flea, a flea
a flea on me
it’s on my toe
it’s on my knee
it’s hopping high
it’s hopping low

it’s on my neck

and my elbow

It’s on my leg

it’s on my shoe
it hops so fast
what can I do
it’s hopping here

it’s hopping there

on my shoulder

in my hair.

A flea, a flea
a flea on me
and I’m as mad
as I can be
I took a bath
I took a shower
I soaked and scrubbed

about an hour

and now the flea
cannot be found
I’m glad to say
I think he drowned.

© Ramey Channell 2012

Buttercup and Poppy

Poetry in Fairhope

Soooo - I went to Fairhope with sister Joanne and nephew Jed, for the Alabama State Poetry meeting! We had a wonderful trip, beautiful weather, good conversation on the road, everything delightful for an enjoyable week-end.

Here we are, the traveling poets, enjoying the beautiful weather and brisk wind on the bay.

My poem, "Eden Road" won 1st Place in the Alabama Residents Only contest, and my poem "david's blood" won an Honorable Mention in the David Cato Prize contest.

Joanne won a truckload of prizes, including a 1st Place, a 2nd Place, two 3rd Place prizes and 2 Honorable Mentions.

Apache Indians at Mt. Vernon, Alabama

We had a great time, and cruised around Mt. Vernon and McIntosh on our way home, hoping to see some historical sites and glean some knowledge of the history of The Old Man, Geronimo, and his time spent in south Alabama in the late 1800s. We saw Searcy State Mental Hospital, the original building which was the military fort around which the Apaches built their cabins, and there were some little white houses which we guessed may have been from the Apache period.

We all thought that visiting a mental hospital after the poetry readings seemed like a logical progression. Jed, who was the designated driver, did "joke" about leaving me and Joanne there, but ended up bringing us back home!

The hospital is scheduled to be closed in September, and we saw no one around to answer questions. I think I'll have to do some online research and make another trip down.

All in all, it was a fun little excursion.

Alabama Poetry Events

Hello world! Ramey and all the painted possums have been out of touch for a while! There has been a flurry of activity here in Possum World, now it's time to blog.

I sent ten poems to the Alabama State Poetry Society's spring contests. And this weekend I plan to attend the ASPS conference in beautiful Fairhope, Alabama, one of my favorite spots to visit.

Also, I have sent entries to the Alabama Writers' Conclave contests. The AWC conference is scheduled for the week-end of July 21st in Huntsville this summer, and I look forward to a trip up north for that event.

   ** One of the oldest writers' organizations in continuous existence in the United States. **

This is a busy time of year for Alabama writers.

Also, I'll soon have a big announcement concerning my book Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge. A new edition is soon to be available in ebook and paperback, and I'm working on the second in the Moonlight Ridge Series.

Picture Book Journey - The Long and the Short of It

I just entered one of my children's picture book manuscripts in the National Children's Book Award of the Year Contest, sponsored by the NAESP Foundation. My picture book manuscript, of course, features a possum!

I'm so excited about this manuscript and this contest! I wrote this story many years ago for my daughter, India Camille, when she was about three years old. She's all grown up now, and this is still one of my favorite stories. I've been working on illustrations and, I must say, the possum and his co-stars are enchanting!

The National Children's Book of the Year Award Contest is open to anyone who is interested in being a published children's book author. Two winners are picked: one picture book and one chapter book.

Outside the Magic Circle

For anyone interested in history, the history of the civil rights movement, especially in Alabama, and a look at the life of a Southern belle, this is a must read.

Virginia Foster Durr, born August 6, 1903, was a delightful, intelligent individual, a civil rights activist and lobbyist, and a talented writer. She was married to lawyer Clifford Durr, who shared her ideals, and she was sister-in-law of Supreme Court Chief Justice Hugo Black. Virginia Durr was a champion of civil rights, and close friends with Rosa Parks and Eleanor Roosevelt, with whom Mrs Durr worked closely in lobbying for legislation to abolish the poll tax, a device that kept black and white southerners from voting.

Outside the Magic Circle truly opens up a world we might otherwise never be privileged to witness, and does it so well that the reader will feel a part of Virginia Foster Durr's life and the historic events recounted in this book.

She was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 2006, seven years after her death.

Peter Matthiessen

Here's a marvelous picture of Peter Matthiessen, a fabulous writer, author of many, many books worth reading. Born in New York City in 1927, he was a founder of The Paris Review in 1950.

I first became acquainted with this author when I read his stellar book, In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, a look at the events surrounding the arrest and incarceration of American Indian activist Leonard Peltier, and chronicling the tumultuous history between the Sioux and the United States Government.

A lawsuit against the author and Viking Press by Bill Janklow, the former governor of South Dakota, kept the book from being sold to the public for eight years after its publication. The court ruled in favor of the author and the publisher.

Other notable books written by Mr. Matthiessen include At Play in the Fields of the Lord, The Tree Where Man Was Born, The Snow Leopard, Killing Mr. Watson, Indian Country, African Silences, Shadow Country, and many more.

An interview with Peter Matthiessen discussing his book, Shadow Country, can be found at www.charlierose.com/view/interview/9104

Steve McQueen

By the '70s, he was the highest paid actor in the world.

Here, he was just somebody's best friend.