Mystic

This poem, Mystic, was originally posted on my website, http://www.meganoteri.wordpress.com, that was dedicated to all things rodeo.  I recently made the website password protected to prevent further photo piracy.  I am figuring out what to do about that website.  Lots of left brain stuff has to happen before I make my next move with that website.  So, for now, we will continue our right brain magic here at memomuse.  Oh, how I love the right brain!

For the record, I used to be a Special Education teacher (I was a teacher for 13 years — now I am a stay-at-home mom and freelance writer and photographer), and when I had to get IEP (Individual Education Plan) paperwork ready for IEP meetings, I was a left brained rock star.  I do have a left brain, and a whole brain, but I love me some right brain muse, where color and poetry seeps out like a river running wild, wrapping itself elegantly around a mountain.  So, with that being said, here is a poem I wrote in 2009 in Cheyenne, Wyoming, as the last of the rodeo trailers, cowboys, cowgirls, horses, and people left Frontier Park, when Cheyenne Frontier Days ended.  The photo of this beautiful horse (sepia print) I named Mystic, was one of the last horses in the stalls.  She and I had ourselves a right brained conversation.

I love horses!  What I appreciate and love even more, are the people who take care of them.

Image Source: http://www.kikiskandles.com

It is a lot of work to take care of a horse.  A friend of mine (shout out TJ) recently was up all night, sleeping on and off in her barn, taking care of and loving her horse, who had an injury.  So this is a shout out to all horse lovers and for the people who take care of horses.

Source: artflakes.com via Megan on Pinterest

Mystic ~ Photo by Megan Oteri © All Rights Reserved

I have a horses board on Pinterest.  You can click on the photo of Mystic to lead you there.

Mystic

After the rodeo fans

leave

and the cowboys drive off

to the next rodeo

the horses graze under a sunlit sky

the emptiness of Frontier Park stands still

hearts ache for 2010

and the next time they’ll see each other at The Daddy

horses hold patience while feeding

and an intangible sadness calms the lull

off in the distance are

rodeo cowboys driving down long winding roads

to another ride

another rose

under a sunset somewhere across Western landscape

Poem by Megan Oteri

April is National Poetry Month.  Cowboy Poetry week is April 15 – 21.  Do you know any cowboy poets or cowgirl poets?  I am looking for cowboy poets on the PBR and PRCA rodeo circuit for an article I am writing on Cowboy Poetry.  If you know of any poetic cowboys or cowgirls, tell them to give me a shout.   They can contact me at memomuse@gmail.com.

"Up the Down Staircase" ~ Photo by Megan Oteri © All Rights Reserved ~ Photo of a cowboy going up the stairs in the cowboy ready area.

I think it is rather serendipitous that my photo of Wyoming cowboy poet and country crooner, Chris LeDoux is up for voting the week of Cowboy Poetry week.  Voting starts April 16 for my photo of Chris.  Here is a link to the photo, Chris LeDoux, on Talenthouse.  You can become a supporter today and you will get an email reminder from Talenthouse telling you when voting opens.  I am a fan of reminders.  I will also be posting a story about meeting Chris LeDoux at Cheyenne Frontier Days in 2003.  He is a special man and oh, those sparkly eyes and beautiful smile, can make a Wyoming girl blush.  Chris and I went to the same high school in Cheyenne (not at the same time): Cheyenne Central.  Go Indians!  So stay tuned for that story on Monday, April 16 when voting opens.  I promise it is a good one.

Here is a video of one of my favorite Chris LeDoux songs: This Cowboy Hat

Also, check out the  Chris LeDoux official website, run by his son, Will LeDoux.  When you go to the website, you will be greeted by Chris’ music.   Check out the tab that says, One Ride, while you are on the website too.  One Ride is a musical that depicts the life of a rodeo cowboy, set to Chris LeDoux’s music.  I can’t wait to see the musical when it comes to a theater near me.  Shout out in the comments if you have seen it.  I am writing a guest post on, Lost in E Minor, about it.  I would love to hear your thoughts on it.  Also, shout out if you want and share your thoughts on Chris LeDoux.

And I will leave you with a quote I really like.

“Why not just do something a little on the gentle side.” ~ Chris LeDoux

PS – Brain Tumor Thursday will be posted Thursday.  This Thursday I have the pleasure of sharing the profile of an amazing woman.  She calls herself @thelizarmy on Twitter.  She has a blog here: http://thelizarmy.com/.  She is also on the medical advisory board for the National Brain Tumor Society.  Check her out.  She is a rock star and a special human being.  I am really enjoying the connections with the brain tumor community I have made.  My mother has brain tumors.  Read this post to find out more about that and  Brain Tumor Thursday.  You can also read the last two posts here: Tom McLain and Stephanie’s I Am Stronger Now…  If you get freaked out about medical stuff and the mention of brain surgery makes you squeamish, you might want to steer clear on Thursdays.  I encourage you to read the profiles because they are inspiring.  People rock. Period.  Everyone has a story.

Monday Museletter April 9

Photo Piracy

I have had many photos stolen off the internet.  Last week I found them on a gay guy’s cute faces website, a Russian mail order bride website, and a Facebook page for women who love cowboys.  I am not going to digress into details, as I worked through it, and learned how to use water marked photos I have in an online art gallery called http://www.artflakes.com/en/shop/megan-oteri.    I got so bent out of shape and this quote was my tipping point when I saw it:

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Also, I thought of Samantha Jones from Sex and the City, when she said to Smith Jarrod, “First the gays, then the girls, then the industry!” when he was upset about his photo (Absolute Hunk) being on a New York City bus. You’d have to be a Sex and the City fan to get it.  Industry — I’m ready!

 I got over my anger and frustration that I had put up my best photos and did not watermark them (after many fights with myself).  I still am learning how to watermark. It is not an easy thing.  But I did figure out how to upload watermarked images from Artflakes.  Sometimes, you need to use the tools right in front of you.  And sometimes, you just got to GET OVER IT!

Pinterest

My Pinterest website is: http://pinterest.com/memomuse/ if you want to follow me.  So far, I have made two boards: cowboys and horses.  I really haven’t completed them, but I just figured out where my accepted invitation was in my email and joined Saturday.  Read this post, Pirates Have Stolen My Cowboys, if you want to hear me in the midst of a pity party, with valid reasons to be mad. But let’s not BS one another — I was having a pity party.

"Red" ~ Photo by Megan Oteri © All Rights Reserved

This is a watermarked photo. I feel an enormous amount of pride that I executed this watermark. And that I was able to upload it to Pinterest and hot link it back to Artflakes where the photo is for sale. Yippie.  Go ahead and click on the photo, it will take you directly to Artflakes where you can purchase professional quality prints, posters, framed photos, canvas prints, and note cards.  This is an example of the left brain giving the right brain a high five!

Send me a note in a comment and then I can follow you.  Pinterest is going to be trouble!  I already spend too much time on social media.  Oh my though, it will be so much fun and PInterest is so much a girl thang.  I know there are are men on Pinterest and all.  It appeals so much to my love of photography and visual art.  It also makes me feel better that not everyone has their photos watermarked.  Photographers are artists!  There are so many talented photographers out there.  Pinterest is social media mediums that is changing visual media, and I think it is an incredible program.  I don’t like that you can right click and copy images though, that does not serve photographers well who don’t watermark.  It also makes me think that most people are not going to spend money to buy photographs when they can use images for free.  But hey – the times are a-changin’.

Easter

We had a wonderful holiday.  I am so lucky to have such a supportive husband and beautiful son. I feel so lucky.  My husband helps me get out of the negative caverns I inhabit somedays.  He is my magic.  My mother-in-law made a wonderful Easter dinner, with all the trimmings.  She even made these beautiful Easter bunny cookies and hand painted them.  We also hunted for Easter eggs in the house Sunday morning. It was so much fun to watch my almost two-year-old hunt for them like a detective.

My mother-in-law is so talented. She does the special things that make holidays at her home incredible. I am so lucky my in-laws live near us.

Whole Brain

I consider myself right brained. And I talk a big game about not being left brain at all.  My good friend, and publisher of Mamalode magazine told me something I needed to hear.  I was crying on her virtual shoulder in an email about how frsitrated I was about having my photos pirated off the internet.  I was having a pity party.  She is not the type to let anything stand in the way of her goals, and she is brilliant, on both sides of the brain.  She said this:

I think you need to come to terms with the idea of a whole brain. I hear you talk about left vs right a lot. If you want to be a professional writer you need both. The idea of opposing them against each other will not serve you. The business, legality, protocols and all are just as important as the creative. One is really only a hobby without the other.

 

Keep on trucking. You have the gifts needed.  - Elke

This illustration/design was used for Mercedes Benz. I really like it. They have a lot more with different illustrations and examples of right and left brain. Follow the hot link.

The thing is, I needed to hear that.  I knew she would not let me get away with just being a victim of the rickety left brain bridge I dare not cross. The bridge that I  grasp and clutch, white-knuckling onto who ever is near me on the right brain bridge. On the right brained bridge, I do somersaults across and dance and jump without fear. Bottom line — creating and artistic things come natural to me.  Organization and logical sequential is difficult, almost makes me feel like I have a learning disability.  I actually had a severe speech disability and did not speak until I was four.  I had to attend a special pre-school for disabled children.  I also had speech until the end of third grade or fourth grade.

My mom always would tell this story:  When you were in Mrs. Maron’s class, you were sitting in sharing circle and your class was discussing love.  You raised your hand and said, “I know my mommy loves my daddy and my daddy loves my mommy,” and you looked at the boy sitting next to you and said, “And you’re not so bad yourself.”

I guess I was always a ham, with a very intense speech impediment.  I remember vividly trying to say my R’s.  I still struggle with rural.  Please don’t ask me to say it.  I prefer to live rural!  I had an awesome speech teacher too.  I remember the closet I had to go to (literally) to go to speech lessons at school.  Ironic I became a Special Education teacher!  That is what I have my BA in (Elementary and Special Education).

My Mom, Wyoming, and My High School Reunion

My mom is slowly drifting away.  Her voice is very quiet and it is hard to hear her on the phone.  She is losing mobility in her hands.  She is pretty much bed ridden at the nursing home. I need to go visit her soon.   I keep putting off making a decision to go because I don’t want to leave my son.  I can’t take him with me because it would be too much to handle a toddler alone and have quality time with my mom.  Also, tickets are expensive and we just don’t have the extra cash.  Read this post, I Just Got to Town, take a Number, to catch yourself up to speed about almost losing her last May (if you are new to this blog).

Photo is not credited, but it appears on the website which is hot linked. This is my new ethical decision -- to credit the photographer and ask permission to post. This is a public website so I don't have to ask.

Ideally, I’d love to go at the end of July and catch the last couple of days of Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo, and then travel up to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, and then head back down to Cheyenne for my 20th high school reunion in the beginning of August.  Oh yeah – and a magazine would hire me because they are reading my blog right now, or an editor is, and they would hire me to write about Wyoming, Yellowstone, Cheyenne Frontier Days, and my mother, or at least one of those.  (If you are a magazine editor, I am a really good writer and photographer…just sayin’!)

If wishes were kisses, I’d be smothered with lipstick!

Talenthouse – Just LeDoux It!

This is my next submission for a creative invite: Chris LeDoux.  Voting starts April 16.  The winner gets to collaborate with Robert Caplin and Viewbug if they win.  I don’t expect to win.  But I do expect to get all the Chris LeDoux fans to celebrate with me as I bombard social media channels with this photo of him.  I took it in 2003, I think.  He is just a beautiful man.   Chris was one of those human beings that made people feel good.  I didn’t even know him, but I did meet him and I shook his hand.  I was even lucky enough to ask him, “What are your thoughts on being at The Daddy (as in Cheyenne Frontier Days — the largest outdoor rodeo and Western celebration in America).  He smiled right at me, all beautiful-like, and hummed out, “Just happy to be here.”

Here is the link to the photo, Chris LeDoux. You can click on the link and become a supporter today.  By becoming a supporter, you will be sent an email from Talenthouse when voting opens, reminding you to vote.  Voting starts April 16 – so spread the word to all the country crooner fans you know and especially to Chris LeDoux fans.  Did you know that Chris and I went to the same high school in Cheyenne?  Go Cheyenne Central Indians!

One Ride is a musical celebrating Chris’ music and tells the story of the rodeo cowboy.  Check out the website, One Ride, to find more info.  You can also find information about the musical, One Ride, at the Chris LeDoux offical website and you can listen to lots of his beautiful country songs.  When you click on the website, you will be greeted by one of my favorite songs, “Old Paint.”  Click here to read the lyrics to that song. Chris was a true cowboy bard and poet.

Brain Tumor Thursday

This Thursday I have the pleasure of sharing the profile of an amazing woman.  She calls herself @thelizarmy on Twitter.  She has a blog here: http://thelizarmy.com/.  She is also on the medical advisory board for the National Brain Tumor Society.  Check her out.  She is a rock star and a special human being.  I am really enjoying the connections with the brain tumor community I have made.  My mother has brain tumors.  Read this post to find out more about that and  Brain Tumor Thursday.  You can also read the last two posts here: Tom McLain and Stephanie’s I Am Stronger Now…  If you get freaked out about medical stuff and the mention of brain surgery makes you squeamish, you might want to steer clear on Thursdays.  I encourage you to read the profiles because they are inspiring.  People rock. Period.

National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month.  I have been posting poems on my blog.  My favorite poem is called, Separation Anxiety.  

Thanks for tuning in for the Monday Museletter.

Hope. Wish. Dream. Be.

~ memomuse

So Much Depends…

Ben in Basinette (C) Sarah Turner - All Rights Reserved

The Red Wheelbarrow

William Carlos Williams

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

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Poem written 2011

Sleeping Baby

Megan Oteri (memomuse)

So much depends

upon

A sleeping, happy

baby

Covered with

baby drool

Laying in

a basinette

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“Blue Wheel Barrow” (c) Megan Oteri – All Rights Reserved

Light Sparkle

Megan Oteri (memomuse)

A circle of light pierced the room,

as if a sparkly star, pinned like a bull’s eye in Ben’s room,

has chosen his room to shine

Both of us lying down for nap time, my son twisted and continued to play

while my eyes

danced like merry-go-round

The intensity of this small luminary

on the periwinkle blue of his room wall

moved me

I stayed still though

engaged in this tiny fractured moment

this light still shines in memory

Poem (Light Sparkle) written 4/3/12

"Light" (c) Sarah Turner - All Rights Reserved

This is a photo of my son at ten days old. A good friend and wonderful photographer took these photos. Her website is http://www.sturnerphotos.com.  She is very reasonable and great to work with.  This photo appeared in Natural Living magazine with an article about home birth written by my good friend, Debi Elramey.  You can read all her wonderful writing at her blog, Pure and Simple.  You can also read the article, The Gentle Art of Birthing at Home and see my son’s magazine debut.

My friend, Debi is a writer and poet.  I just adore her.  She lifts my spirit and gives me comfort.  Some people are just walking poems.  She not only walks, she dances as a poem.  Who is your writer comfort friend?  Who in your life is your walking, breathing, dancing poem?

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What image has struck your fancy today?  That could be the kernel of a poem.  Write about it and post it in the comments (if you’d like to share).

Or fill in the blank  – “So much depends…”

I will fill in mine:  So much depends upon a happy toddler engaged in an activity!

Happy National Poetry Month.

If you live in Wilson or near by, come on down to the Teen Poetry Slam at the Wilson Public Library today, April 3.  It starts at 7 pm and snacks and refreshments will be served.  Food and poetry — what more do you need!  I am a judge for the slam.  I think poetry is a great way to give teenagers a voice for expression.  They have so much to say.  Come on down and listen tonight! Here is the website for the Wilson Public Library.