The Seminary Of Praying Mantis

Outside in my garden enjoying the afternoon I heard children swimming next door over the fence. I enjoy the sound of children playing. It is a sound that always continues as the sound of the summer birds singing or the crickets that come out at night. Suddenly, a chorus of young children sang this song loudly,

  ”  Ring-a-round the rosie,

    A pocket full of posies,

    Ashes! Ashes!

    We all fall down.”

~ Common American version: Delamar (2001), pp. 38-9.

It was a wake-up call to me out of my summer daze.  As if ancestors were singing the rhyme as a memory of a time long gone by. A time of the Great Plague. I find this ironical that here and now in our modern times we are experiencing a similar plague or pandemic. I wonder if the dead are still grieving. As our generation will be grieving for a long time after the Coronavirus disease has passed. How this all came together as innocent children were playing is not so strange. Yet it felt as if the Realm of the Fay opened and superimposed their song around these children and through them. Dancing fairies swimming through the air as Puck grabbed the moment in a soft breeze.  

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“The invariable sneezing and falling in modern English versions have given would-be origin finders the opportunity to say that the rhyme dates back to the Great Plague. A rosy rash, they allege, was a symptom of the plague, and posies of herbs were carried as protection and to ward off the smell of the disease. Sneezing or coughing was a final fatal symptom, and “all fall down” was exactly what happened.”

 ~[ Opie and Opie (1985), pp. 221–222.. ~Opie and Opie (1951), p. 365.

“Ring a Ring o’ Roses” or “Ring a Ring o’ Rosie” is an English nursery rhyme or folksong and playground singing game. It first appeared in print in 1881, but it is reported that a version was already being sung to the current tune in the 1790s and similar rhymes are known from across Europe. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7925.”

~ Delamar, Gloria T.

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Delamar, Gloria T. (2001) [1987]. Mother Goose, From Nursery to Literature. Lincoln, Nebraska. pp. 38–39. ISBN 978-0595185771.

Opie, Iona; Opie, Peter (1997) [1951]. The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press (Nabu Press). pp. 364–365. ISBN 978-0198600886.

“When I was young some wise fool told me
Live & learn but nothing comes for free
So I did what I could when I was able
To keep the truth away from our table”

~ Corrosion of Conformity – Wiseblood

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Fuck, fuck, fuck the old hippie dude gave me the two fingers up peace sigh. How did he fucking know what I was think’ in!?

OK I turned right and headed down to Topanga Canyon Blvd… down the wormhole towards a holograph of memories…. Think’ in,

“I bet I am the oldest person driving down Topanga to Dumetz Rd now?”

A flash of images came to mind…. Lynn, horse, boyfriends, ditch class go to beach, walking home in the rain, hippies hitchhiking.

The cars were racing as well as I in my little number, a green Fiat.

“Yes, I have the most memories here too… from being in my mom’s womb to now… fucking so much to think upon.”

Making a left turn on Burbank I held on to these wild assumptions of honest to goodness old lady punk truth that I was the oldest and had the most memories.

When I reached Shoup Ave., I raised and went with the bump and about flew away. Landing with a loud car zoom… it was bitchin’ too. Then as I raced my little number to the right of me was an old hippie dude with a grey beard looking at me near his car.

He walked toward an old house . He was fucking reading my mind. His eyes gave me a knowing transcendental slowed down pot look…

“Nope I’ve been here longer…!”

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“There’s blood on the street but there’s nothing to steal from me
Cause I walk alone but at least I walk for free
I listen to few and I’m fueled by fire
Guess now I’m old but not much wiser.|”~COC”

To Ride A Painted Pony Wild

THE ADVENTURES OF SONY AND
RAUBIE

Publication Date: July 19, 2019

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Woodland Hills, California,

“Often, we rode barefoot. When cold we had our
parents’ go shopping to buy us moccasins. We read
about the history of the Medicine Wheel and
experimented with our innocent religiosity.”

Growing up in the San Fernando Valley as a wild teenager was all about being close to nature. It is about the freedom to jump on one’s horse and ride like a native. It is a short time frame within the life of three girls and their horses. A subtle echo of music that inspired them. A fiction novella with a voice that is all-natural prose

This is a year celebration of my publication of this paperback. Writing a memoir is selective in what the focus may be. Moments of time, days, or a feeling that one inspires as perfume towards the readers mind. It may be the smell of wild sage and eucalyptus trees, or the feel of a horse’s breath on one’s shoulder.

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There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. -Alexandre Dumas

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Dumas Dude or Dudea…. clusterfuckers…

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Mr. Fuck says with compassion,

 “So, Mr. Shit where do all these protestors go to the bathroom who are protesting all over the world?”

Mr. Shit ponders as an expert on the subject.

“All that toilet paper desperately bought a month ago is stuffed in their backpacks. Take a crap like a dog and use your doggie bag. Or they can shit in the lights like I do.”

“Mr. Shit that is only when you are drunk! Now that the bars are closed I do not…”

Mr. Shit affirms loudly,

“Have you not noticed the signs on people’s lawns recently? Pick up your dog’s poop? Well it is not the dogs’ !”

“How about their masks? They can use them as wiping devices.”

“Mr. Fuck that would spread the virus. Yet if any of those clusterfuckers poopers come down our street … I will have to retaliate … with my water & bleach super soaker. They are ‘dumas’ if they do not think they are infecting us all!”

Using Praying Mantis symbolism in my art has meaning to me. It is meant to be humorous, provocative, and honest. I have practiced the Crone’s Crowning ritual for years now. For me is an acknowledgement of growing older as a woman and dealing with transformation and seeing death on the same terms as transformation. They are one and the same, yet the idea of transformation is easier to deal with than death.

I have been working on this project for some time. I finally started to get the inspiration to finish it. I waited until after the summer solstice. I also blend the ritual in with the native American medicine wheel of nature. As it is clear in what is presented below. I find it helpful in this time of change, death, and civil rights protests. It is a time of transformation and death. We are all going through a type of world initiation. I am making this small offering to help.

Inspired by Susun S. Weed

Book: Menopausal Years, The Wise Woman Way

Alternative Approaches for Women 30 – 90

Poem ritual by Hudley

Crones of The East

those that sing

the songs of the transforming

The songs of the dying

And songs of the universe.

Crones of The South

those that stir the caldron

Of change

That set the feast

For the transforming

And dying.

Crones of The West

those that open the door

To the transforming

And the dying

And shed the tears of letting go.

Crones of The North

those who wait in the realm of the transforming

The realm of the dying.

Silently helping with smiling faces.

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I am not one to get bored but at this age of 62 several decades of life do surface up now. Being isolated with three cats and a 19-year-old son is ok. Husband working on the front lines does cause anxious moments. We have a fine garden. I have growing wild Santa Monica Promethean Fennel, wild Hollyhocks and have so many other nature creatures to focus my attention on. We take safe drives now and then through the deserts and by the ocean. A friend of mine is doing an on going walk down punk memory lane and I just wrote an essay for another. He is coming out with a book about music venues. So, while outside in my garden I dreamed up taking a picture of the First Flipside I was part of.

Los Angeles fLIPSIDE fANZINE 16

Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine had not come out for about 5 months. There was a depressed feeling in the punk scene. I helped Al get it back going. Maybe it was my enthusiasm, but Al said he needed a paste-up artist. So, the story goes…. I only did a few Flipside Covers and this was my first. On a hot summer day Al traveled from Whittier to the San Fernando Valley to give me everything I needed to do this cover. I laid it out… it more ways than one. I goofed on this cover as you can see. You most likely will not think it is goofed up and think it was punk. I guess both ways work for me. Yet here it is. I hear Exene Cervenka had a museum in the 1990s where she had presented this Fear Cover with many other images. I did not know about it then I just was told about it later. OK by me.

I've taken this extravagant journey
So it seems to me
To arrive from nowhere
And to go straight back there
 
You know me--I'm acting dumb
You know the scene--very humdrum
Boredom--boredom--boredom

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“…Keep the dream alive,”

Close the window calm the light

And it will be alright

No need to bother now

Let it out let it all begin

Throw it to the wind my love

Hold me dear.”

Dreaming of a huge 1980s party at the house. I ran around looking for silverware for guests. Found a large container of plastic forks, spoons and knifes. Then standing next to the stage I realized the party was already taken care of. Close before me was Mike from Zed records and Joey Ramone. They were presenting and showing some crazy art videos. I was between two friends and we were young. Hair smelled that youthful smell of mid-twenties.

I awoke to the realization I was now 62. My youthful rebellion is long past. It is ok by me, yet my dreams consistently place me back at those times. I awoke affirming the truth often. So today while outside with the cats’ daily romp I addressed this reality and stepped next to the crones around the cauldron. Enjoying my cackling fate as such.

Then I viewed Facebook and two hits came forward quickly.  The curse of punk rock. My published books were being acknowledged and enjoyed, and thought time to finally let it go. No way. So, I guess I will be present with my punk story still.

Later youngest son and I went to our local 70s flashback market. I like to blend my lived generations. A musical cocktail. The idea of ballads came forth as Boz Scaggs – We’re All Alone a 70s ballad played in the ethers in this charmed market. Driving home another ballad from the 80s played on the car radio, Billy Idol – Eyes Without A Face. This is my 2020 experience now… cackle cackle.

“Once a storys told

It can’t help but grow old

Roses do lovers too so cast

Your seasons to the wind

And hold me dear oh hold me dear”

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Mercury, Venus Neptune 

And the new moon.

Bernie Taupin

Picture 

Art show June 2020.

Ed Kuepper 

Jock Blyth 

Favorite guitar players. 

I sent a message to Bernie today

Telling him about my book

That I dedicated to him

And Elton,

“To ride a Painted Pony Wild. 

Instagram dreaming. 

Musically I made contact with some of my favorite musicians, 

lyricist and two electric guitar players. 

Who knows where this will lead 

Who will respond…

It was a most special day for me.

I felt the love. 

new moon In Gemini.