Discovery Project: Millipede and The Real Lives of Famous Literary Figures

This one's a two-fer:

Discovery first up: Millipede

The American Millipede rides on waves. I found one on the wall of the out house. The only metaphor that comes to mind: a car rolling forward at that certain speed at which its wheels appear to start spinning backwards.



(Whit's hand; Chi-chi, the neighbor cat; American Millipede)

Discovery last night: Riding across eastern Kentucky in a pickup truck with Ed McClanahan, I learn (once again) that famous literary figures are real people too. Ed was talking about folks I had written papers on by their first names. Neal (Cassady), Jack (Kerouac). Ken Kesey, Jerry Garcia, Mountain Girl became real for me for the first time. The rolling hills, the pastures and corn fields, sliding by.


(L-R: Ed McClanahan, Ken Kesey, Ken Babbs)

VQR Poem

An excerpt from my poem that was published in the Virginia Quarterly Review in the spring is up online. Check it out.

It was very cool (no pun intended) to be in an issue all about ice.

Discovery Project: Claw/foot

Clawfoot bathtub + sunset + late summer = A very wonderful thing.

There's something about the light, the water, the air that makes me never want to take a rushed gotta-get-to-a-meeting shower again.

Speaking of claws and feet: I also discovered today that both of our brother-cats can be controlled like puppets. Scratch 'em on their back, and they automatically start cleaning themselves. It's tempting to play the puppetmaster, to pet them on the back to see my effect on their behavior (however mundane)--because, lord knows, there's no other way to get a cat to do anything you want it to do--but, watching them act without their own will just kind of creeps me out.

Accepting the Challenge to "Discover Something New Everyday"

I was just reading Silas House's blog in which he recalled James Still's advice to him to "discover something new every day" in order to become a better writer. Well, sign me up! I need to be more in touch with discovery, writing, this blog, James Still even, and this is the nice little kick in the pants I needed. I'll be out there discovering something new, and writing about it here when I remember. Join me?