Uluru -Kata Tjuta National Park, Australia
NATIONAL WRITERS ASSOCIATION LOS ANGELES AUGUST 2010
More summer fun from the Nwala gang MARY L. PORTS says, “I am presently working on a new illustrated poetry chapbook for young children. It will consist of seventyeight ‘Yacky-Wacky Poems’ — three-lined poems with unusual and preposterous titles chosen from the Word Lover’s Dictionary by Josefa Heifetz. This simple, new form of poetry, devised by Yancy Dalton, a retired cowboy from Utah, is called the Triodyne. My new book will be An Alphabetical Trilogy of Triple Triodynes.” The Formula Title — One word or phrase Three lines following must define the title Rhyme Scheme — Abb or freestyle Syllable Count — With or without. Your choice. Meter — With or without. Your choice.
DERODIDYMUS a two-headed monster One of these is not easy to find Especially one that’s kind
KNIPPERDOLLING any fanatic One who acts excessively Doing things abnormally
EFFLATION the act of blowing or puffing Blowing bubbles can be fun Rainbow colors in the sun
LUBBERLAND a mythical paradise for lazybones Putting forth no industry Life would have no quality
FUNAMBULIST a tightrope walker This takes a lot of skill You don’t want to take a spill
MANCINISM left-handedness or — sidedness Whether day or night You never do it right
GILLYGALOO a mythical bird that lays square eggs Eggs falling from the steepest slopes Won’t roll downhill, so Mother hopes
NIMBIFICATIONS cloud formations Pictures floating in the sky Fun to watch them passing by
Following are a few examples:
ODORIVECTOR something that produces a smell A little boy running at play all day Or a beautiful rose in the month of May
YACKY-WACKY POEMS (An Alphabet of Triodynes) By Mary L. Ports ABECEDISM an acronym Made from initials of words in a phrase Like U.S. for United States; something that we praise BONNYCLABBER coagulated sour milk Not a very tasty drink Better pour it down the sink CALF-SLOBBER meringue on a pie A slangy word for tasty topping In your mouth it might go popping
PALEOMNESIA good memory for past events Mentality with good recall Ability to tell it all HUBBLE-BUBBLE rapid, incomprehensible talk Jibber-jabber, what a blast Can’t understand; you talk too fast IMMENSIKOFF a fur-lined coat An Eskimo, they say Would wear one every day JIGGERY-POKERY deception, trickery A magician knows just how to fool His audience; they think he’s cool
QUAKEBUTTOCK A coward Running from an obligation Never gives you sweet elation RANARIUM a frog farm Their music doesn’t miss a beat You’ll want to dance with both your feet
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Summer fun
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SLOBBER-CHOPS a child or animal that scatters its food Little baby slobber-chops After eating, Mother mops TAURMACHIAN a bullfighter Fearless, noble, highly skilled Quick and cautious — might be killed UNCO something new or strange Remarkably different, uncommon or new Like a beautiful sunset or room with a view VRILLE an aerobatic spinning nosedive From a springboard way up high You jump and dive, twist, turn and fly WAYZGOOSE a printer’s annual vacation Worked hard all year to earn his pay And now, he gets a holiday XANTHOCYANOPSIA form of color blindness, only yellows and blues are seen Daffodils, marigolds and sunny-blue skies Offer up their colors for color-blind eyes YAHOOMANITY people en masse Large crowds of people, noisy or silent Could stand at attention or else start a riot ZAKUSKY hors d’ouevres Crackers and cheese to nibble and taste Delectable goodies to eat but not waste Mary continues, “Another summer project I’m involved in is sorting through and organizing stacks of papers into folders for a new filing cabinet, which I hope to find at Ikea. Then there is the upper garden and hillside where I have recently installed a new drip system for veggies and fruit trees. But there is always weeding to do and benches and iron railings that need repairing. Most of my travels the next few months will be hiking up and down the hill to water and check on things. Of
course, if the muse comes to call, I may travel to some new and unusual places, never before visited; you can never tell.” *** ARTURO RUIZ, along with his co-author Tom Howard, is working on fine-tuning corrections for a final draft of The Glass Plate Mystery, the Found Photos of Fred M. Booth. Arturo is also reading up a storm about Hollywood film history. *** TOM HOWARD, after some extreme spring cleaning required before getting a new carpet in his apartment, takes his yearly trip back East to visit friends and family between July 22 and Aug 12. His favorite haunts are art galleries, beaches, and health food stores. *** MARION ROSEN is recovering from kneereplacement surgery she had on June 24. A physical therapist comes three times a week to put Marion through her paces. And in spite of the surgery, she finished and submitted her film treatment for A Kid from Pittsburgh. *** RAY RAPPA continues to work on his music and the memoir of his career days in the entertainment industry with the likes of “Old Blue Eyes.” *** LOUISE WATKINS says, “The weather in Carlsbad hasn’t come around to summer yet, but I’ve enjoyed the last few months, immensely. I have finished my suspense novel, The Outreach Committee, and started it on its rounds to agents. Two weeks ago, I wrote the first chapter of a mystery novel, The Widows Walk. We can’t make real people perfect friends, so I’m enjoying creating characters, just the way I want them to be. Of course, all won’t be friendly!” *** BARRI CLARK reports she “has been inching forward” with her Holly Grayleson mystery and has finally reached the one hundredth page. She also is meeting with wonderful writers in several groups every week. This keeps her in the loop she says. Last night a friend took her for a drive in his Mercedes Hard Top convertible. A definite highlight and good for research too. ***
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JACK CLUBB says, “This summer has been a busy time for me. I sent out a number of poems to poetry journals. So far, Pegasus has accepted three, Lucidity has accepted two, and Rubies in the Darkness in Britain has also accepted two. “For a vacation, I went to the charming town of Arcata in Humbolt County where the beautiful redwood trees grow in large, lush forests. Arcata has so perfectly preserved its history that the past and present live together in complete harmony. I stayed at the historic Hotel Arcata, which was built in 1915 and is beautifully preserved. In 1915, a room with bath cost two dollars. The rates have increased a great deal since then; but they are still reasonable, and all rooms now have their own bathrooms!” The following free-verse poem was published in the latest issue of Lucidity. DIFFERENT JUNGLES By Jack Clubb Jungle calls. Animal cries. The screech of birds. Treachery in the forest. Pythons in trees. How I long for the simple life in the city. Gang gunfire. Ragged homeless. Murder. Mayhem. People in cardboard boxes Under freeway bridges. Give me city life any day. It is my preferred jungle. I live right where the Hollywood Freeway Enters downtown. Where is my cardboard box, My mattress, my blanket?
AUGUST BIRTHDAYS Wanda Weiskopf, Aug 2 Jaime Pickell, Aug 21 Ray Rappa, Aug 31
President’s corner
Napping and nobbing weeks relaxing with my mom. The other night we got dressed up in rather green clothing to go to an outdoor garden benefit for the American Ireland Fund which sponsors a variety of purposeful educational and cultural projects dedicated to uniting North and South Ireland.
Maybe it’s these hot humid days that cast us on our own hot tin roof. It becomes a challenge to not sleep the summer away, pulled down under that foggy mosquito net hovering between reality and our sultry dreams. My job here should be to uplift and inspire. How am I doing so far? You might do better to just listen to some birds serenading you at your window. I am writing from the “Gray Lady,” another poetic name for the tony resort island of Nantucket, Massachusetts. I came to spend two
Looking forward September is a busy month for Nwala. This is the month we vote our new officers into place. It is also the beginning of our membership drive. In the September issue of Views we will include a ballot with the nominated officers’ names and positions for you to mark and send back in or bring to the meeting. If you want to nominate someone for office, please notify this editor by September 1, lavonne.taylor@ sbcglobal.net or 661-267-2220 We will also include a sign-up sheet so you can update your writing credits on the roster. This can also be sent or brought with you to the meeting.
By Tom Howard
So, even if I am not getting much writing done, at least I am hobnobbing with some successful folks. What more can you ask during the dog days of August?
All blarney aside, it was fun. While waiting for a shuttle bus to the event, we got to meet the jolly U.S. Counsel General of Ireland, Mike Lonergan. Once we arrived at the party, as if she herself were the hostess, mother gracefully stepped into the crowd to introduce Mr. Lonergan to the white-haired keynote speaker, Massachusetts Representative, William Delahunt. I met one of the editors of The New York Times and also talked to the wife of former Meet the Press moderator Tim Russert (1950-2008). And I met a seasoned Vanity Fair journalist named Maureen Orth, author of The Importance of Being Famous, 2004. My mom and I also enjoyed talking with well-known Boston journalist, Mike Barnacle. She chatted with Nantucket’s new Catholic priest and we saw Senator John Kerry and Chris Matthews mingling with the well-heeled guests.
Trudy Howard (above left) dressed to go to the American Ireland Fund benefit. Tom Howard, NWALA prez, above.
TODAY
Word carved on a stone found on John Ruskin’s desk.
Season kickoff For the first meeting of our new program season, we are privileged to have Dr. Kathy Magliato, one of the few female cardiothoracic surgeons in the world, take time out from her demanding schedule to address us. She is currently the Director of Women’s Cardiac Services at Saint John’s Medical Center in Santa Monica, California, where she is developing a Multidisciplinary Women’s Health Center to address the cardiac needs of female patients. Her recent book, Healing Hearts, published by Random House Publishing, Broadway Books Division in February 2010, received a starred review by Publisher’s Weekly Tell your friends, writing colleagues, and a four out of four-star review in People Magazine. and everyone you meet about her apWith over two hundred speaking engagements, she is a pearance before our group. We want sought-after lecturer and has been an invited speaker on a to have a healthy turnout for Dr. multitude of topics to professional audiences throughout Magliato. (Watch for a larger, frontpage write up in September.) the world.
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A split-second misstep and life changes forever
Walking into trouble By Don Peyer
It took only one little misstep on my part to bring about a drastic change in my life. From that second on, my life has not been the same.
stretcher, checking me over. One said, “I’m no doctor, but I think your hip is just dislocated.” This lifted my spirits.
I blame it on the rain that splashed through a side vent in our garage. My wife had just backed out her car on her way to a seminar with her friend Molly, thus revealing the puddles of water.
In minutes, I was in the ambulance rolling toward the hospital. I don’t remember much of the rest of the day except being shown an Xray of my hip on a computer screen, which revealed a broken hip socket. All I could imagine then was months of recuperation and disability. At age eighty-seven and nearing eighty-eight, I didn’t know what to expect. I had been active all my life, exploring all seven continents, and was not ready to give up.
S H OWCA S E
With a push broom in hand, I proceeded to the corner of the garage. I don’t remember taking one swipe at it before I was flying through the air and landing on my left hip with a thud. My first impulse was to get up and take care of the job, but a sharp pain in my leg stopped me. Now what? I thought. Do I have to wait for help? My wife, Jokki, had already backed out and was on her way. I didn’t have a cell phone on me. A portable phone was on the dryer in front of my car. I dragged myself to the dryer, but couldn’t reach the phone.
After seventeen days in the hospital with complications from the anesthesia and being fed through my veins for days because my digestive system shut down, I asked to have the IV removed and began to eat again. One other complication was a blood clot, meaning that I must wear tight elastic stockings and take a blood thinner for about three months.
Next, my mind went back to a television program I had watched the night before, “I Ought to be Dead.” The program was about a man exploring the wilds of Canada with a fourwheel ATV and how he had an accident that pinned him under his vehicle four days before being rescued. Well, I though, this isn’t as bad as that. I’ll figure a way out.
The doctors and nurses and therapist have been wonderful. They have been following up with me on a weekly basis, some calling me to see how I am doing, sending me appointment cards, sending a technician to the house once a week to draw blood, and later calling me with the results so they could advise me how much blood thinner to take.
The big garage door was open so I waited a bit for someone to walk by that I could call to, but it was early on a Saturday morning and when no one came, I assumed people were staying in bed for a little extra shut-eye. A few cars whizzed by.
I am getting about without a walker now, and I am free of pain. In less than two months, I was able to drive, shop for groceries, go up and down steps, sweep the patio and do some light chores around home. I have resumed my daily walks, gradually increasing the distance. My gardens are in full bloom and have never looked better.
Then I saw the broom hanging by the dryer. I took it off the wall and pulled the phone off the dryer and down to the floor. I dialed 911 and calmly told them of my accident. I thought, if only the man pinned under his vehicle had been that fortunate. The paramedics were there in three or four minutes – great big men, who pulled me onto a
In spite of these welcome improvements, I can’t deny that my life has changed. I may not be the carefree traveling adventurer of old, tromping from country to country, but I’m going to make the best of it. For starters, I have reservations to fly to Northern California for my son’s wedding. It will take more than a
Four
broken hip to shut me down for good. At my last appointment, my primary doctor said, “Please be careful.” I’d like to pass that on to everybody in their seventies and eighties. Be careful. Your life can change forever in one second. In addition to being a faithful member of NWALA, Don Peyer is a forty-seven-year resident of Carson, California, and the former president of the United Amateur Press Association.
Uluru-Kata Tjuta
Page one banner Uluru is Australia’s most recognizable natural icon and has become a focal point for Australia and the world’s acknowledgement of Australian indigenous culture. The world-renowned sandstone monolith, stands 348 meters high with most of its bulk below the ground. To Anangu (local indigenous people), Uluru is a place name and this “rock” has a number of different landmarks where many ancestral beings have interacted with the landscape and/or each other on their journey across central Australia, some are even believed to still reside here. Kata Tjuta, meaning “many heads,” is a sacred men’s place relating to knowledge that is considered very powerful and dangerous, only suitable for initiated men. The rock is made up of a group of thirty-six conglomerate domes that date back 500 million years. Anangu are the owners of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. They believe that their culture has always existed in Central Australia and was created at the beginning of time by ancestral beings. Uluru and Kata Tjuta provide evidence of feats performed during creation. As both Uluru and Kata Tjuta have great cultural significance for the Anangu traditional landowners, they often lead walking tours, entertaining tourists with stories of the area.