From one fundraiser to another–sorry to go political and

sorry to use this blog so extensively for fundraising (I WILL FIX THAT). In April, I was raising money for Tupelo Press, and I was pleased with how that went. Tupelo really is a good press, and even more importantly, pledging to write and post every day in April got me a lot of good poems, and helped me process my father’s dying. He passed away on May 4. I hadn’t realized it was coming quite that fast, but I knew it was coming. Here’s one poem from that batch:

GREEN FROST


Even when I was driving to work all the time, it was hard to spot:
the precise day the hills were no longer gray but just slightly,
in the right light, very, very pale green, a gray-green, 
Russian olive, iceberg, dusty aqua, Pantone 5506. Snapping
a picture, next to impossible but I kept trying today, even though
I had a curbside pickup deadline to meet. Pull over, compose,
click, certain disappointment later when I scan the shots. The phrase
is from my father. I remember him hunting on Sundays when
we were all in the car together, going to church, early 1970s 
it had to be, because my brother stopped going in high school.
It was almost always a little ahead or a little past, so now 
I wonder if he ever did say, “There. That’s it. Today.” I just learned
he always thought rain drops hitting the sidewalk looked like
little ballerinas. This story from my brother, in town to visit
because Dad’s disappearing, little by little, faster, slower, faster,
and getting extra care from women smart enough to ask if
they should say the word “hospice” to him. Great question and
the answer is no. I say it better than I thought I would, but saying
good-bye when that time comes, soon apparently, will be hard
because I have been saying it for years as he’s faded and is now
essentially gone, the poet, the bear, the rock, the smartest man
who would tell me the precise moment is coming but isn’t here yet.

						for Brian

Thanks again to everyone who donated (finally got the thank-yous sent, and I’m ALMOST done with the odes to local businesses who let me set up poetry pop-up shops).

My NEXT fundraising adventure is for Wisconsin Dems. I have pledged to raise at least $210, but I would love to raise a lot more than that.

Why that number? A friend and I were doing a very Wisconsin thing a few weeks ago, making a pilgrimage to Norski Nook in Deforest for pie. The farms between Spring Green and there were OFTEN boasting huge Trump signs. It was distressing. I proposed that we counted the signs on the way back, and I’d make a donation of the # of signs x 10. (This is how you know I’m a retired public educator. I can’t think in terms of multiples of 100 or 1000.)

Wisconsin Dems gave me this link to use, so I can see how much I’m raising.

Thanks for your patience with my fundraising and thanks for any donation you can muster.