Cereal Box Flap Collage Update. Fibonacci 75

You/

may/

ask why/

I'm building a /

collage from cereal box flaps./

My reasons are myriad, beginning with the absence/

of recycling in my neighborhood, continuing with a desire to save our landfills,/

and ending with the sense of possibility created when small bits of fill in the blank: cardstock, fabric, or cereal boxes)/

appear inexorably in my hands at breakfast each morning.  Someone (I once would have referrred to "some corporation" but now the Supreme Court priviliges them as much as our finest scholars) spent good/

money on designs for the boxes, on the question of whispering or shouting their recycling claims, on the argument over the precise shade of red, blue, lime, yellow, orange, purple.  In this collage, I reify their decisions and reject their mass-market appeal -- although not until one or the other of us has emptied the box./

Mass/

market/

art become/

mini-market as one

individual comes closer to self-satisfaction.

 by Mary Cartledgehayes



Again -- Fibonacci 74

Again

1   Time/

1   to/

2   begin again -- /

3   to begin again./

5   The end of March contains /

8  dangerous shoals. I hold the water chart tightly. 

                                                                          by Mary Cartledgehayes

Fibonacci 71. The Wearing of the Green

The Wearing of the Green

1     Happy
1     Saint
2     Patrick's Day.
3     Soon I shall
5     break out in green nailpolish.
                                                Mary Cartledgehayes

Fibonacci 69. Earthquake, Tsunami

Earthquake, Tsunami

1     Earthquake. /
1     Tsunami. /
2     Radiation danger. /
3     In words from /
5     the Hindenburg disaster, "O, the /

1     humanity." /
1     We /
2     can't fathom /
3     such grievous loss. /
5    We:  the world - the United /

1    States -/
1    I /
2    The earth /
3    shifted 6.5 inches /
5    on its axis.  Japan moved /
8    east eight feet, twelve in some few places, /

1   making/
1    us/
2    closer neighbors./

1    Haiti's/
1    earthquake/
2     in 2010:/
3    7.0 and 8 /
5    miles below the ocean's surface./

1    Deaths?/
1    316,000./

1    Chile's/
1    earthquake/
2    in 2010:/
3    8.8 and 22 /
5    miles below the ocean's surface./

1     Deaths?/
1     521./

1     Japan's/
1     earthquake/
2     in 2011:/
3     8.9 and 15 /
5     miles below the ocean's surface./

1     Deaths?/
1     Unknown./

1      Correction. /
1      Haitians /
2      may fathom /
3      such grievous loss. /

1       As/
1       always,/
2       nature wins.
                                by Mary Cartledgehayes

Fibonacci 67. Giving up Charlie Sheen for Lent

Lent

1     Got/
1      another/
2      idea. For/
3      Lent, let's all/
5     stop slobbering over Charlie Sheen./
8     His wild eyes are enchanting, but look away/
13    for pity's sake, lest he draw you into his spiraling, cycling, simple-minded madness.
                                                      by Mary Cartledgehayes                                              

Fibonacci (Variation) 66. Actual Disaster

Actual Disaster

1    Each
1    time
2    the words
3    "Charlie Sheen" arrive
5    in your thoughts or on
8    your television, substitute the word "Japan" and understand
13  that suffering is not entertainment for our idle hours.
                                              by Mary Cartledgehayes

Fibonacci 65. My Afflictions

My Afflictions

1     I've/
1     been/
2     told that/
3     when writing Fibonaccis/
5     I go deaf to television,/
8     barks, and voices.  I'm happy to say I/
13   apparently don't get surly -- but that's only because I forget human beings exist.

                                                        by Mary Cartledgehayes

Fibonacci 64. What would happen

What would happen

1   What/
1    would/
2    happen if/
3    in the coming/
5    three days I addressed every/
8    last nagging task, taunting angels sitting on my/
13  shoulder this month?
             What if I answered every e-mail, every letter, every phone/
21   call; filed every paper; read every magazine; loaded those items onto etsy I prepared fifteen months ago; put the Lily Pulitzer/
34   dress (with tags) on ebay; cleaned the dogs' ears, the garage, and the patio; de-accessioned the found pieces I don't truly love; repaired the veneer on the cedar chest and went to Lowe's to/
55   purchase the Johnson Paste Wax that will return the chest to its original splendor; framed the emerging cicada to place beside the fully emerged one; filed those last medical bills that turned up in the wrong folder; rode my bicycle, walked my dogs, kissed my fella, called my mom, bought the batting for that one/
89  quilt and stitched a top for that darling girl; edited manuscripts and printed out Fibonaccis and decided which bishop needs which piece of mail. art and -- oh, yes, I've been putting this off -- write the letter they're awaiting without knowing it?  What would  happen if I cleaned the bathrooms and kitchen, finished the big art projects, mailed my pieces to A Book about Death and Imagine Blue Squirrels, and hung the art now leaning against the walls?  What would be left if, after that, I still felt unfinished?

Fibonacci 62. Making Wishes

 

Making Wishes

1     Walking
1      across
2      a parking
3      lot, I noticed
5      a wishbone twig. I brought
8      it home to show it off, but what
13    now?  Wishes are made on bones, not twigs. Could one still come true?
                                                by Mary Cartledgehayes

Fibonacci 61. On Writing

On Writing

1    I
1    write
2    every single
3    day,  but often
5    I use invisible
8    ink so I can consider numerous things simultaneously.
13  The world is quite large; events happen quickly; I see too many connections.
                                                      by Mary Cartledgehayes

Fibonacci 59. Janis, John, and Charlie

Janis, John, and Charlie

1    Turn
1    off
2    the cameras,
3    you mercenary death-dealers.
                                             by Mary Cartledgehayes

Fibonacci 56. Peace Corps

1     Happy
1     birthday,
2     Peace Corps.
3     I remember the
5     day you were born and
8     the day Jimmy Carter's mom joined up.  Growing
13   pains mean mistakes were sometimes made, but good emerged.  Long life and prosper.
                                                                         by Mary Cartledgehayes

Fibonacci 50. February 19

We Meet Again

1      Reunion!
1      The
2      fourteen 2010 Casting
3     Casting for Recovery
5      women met at Audubon Country
8      Club to eat, make a scrapbook and collage,
13    exchange silly gifts, and meet the flyfisherwomen from earlier years.  My roommate wasn't
21    there.  Worried, I called her house, talked to her husband. She's being treated now for lymphoma.  When I got off the
34    phone, I was all right, but when I came upon a mutual friend, my eyes got wet. We went to the bathroom and emerged later, brave enough to continue. I won a pink glitter lava lamp
45    and triumphantly brought it home.  Time was I despised lava lamps.  The first one I saw was orange with globs of super-sized yellow chicken fat floating within, and it terrified me in its ugliness.  My new lamp, all sparkling glittery movement, sings of vibrant life.

Fibonacci 49. February 18

Where I Am:  February

1    The
1     quilt
2     emerges slowly.
3     The collage, too.
5     More life than art lately.

Fibonacci 48. February 17, 2011. Revised

February 17, 2011   Ash Wednesday

1    One
1    year
2    ago this
3    evening, my father
5    died.  My therapist tells me
8    I'm experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, again.  Memories
13   of my husband's coma merge with my father's and so do thoughts of
21  my friend Johanna, who just experienced the same timeless life of the dying, consummated when her David died on Saturday. Amen
34   to all we love. Blessed be. Hello to all we love. Blessed be. It's quite different on this side. But the life we lived as they lay dying -- those timeless moments are unceasing. Amen.
                                                                     by Mary Cartledgehayes

365 . 42 Fibonacci. Jennifer's Amaryllis

1    That's
1    how
2    it bites
3    you.  A lifetime
5    of indifference to photographs unless
8    they captured people you love and then, one
13  winter afternoon, an amaryllis blooms and you, unconscious of the long-term impact, snap
21   a photo.

 21 But wait.  That wasn't the best angle.  It's more beautiful head on.  You can see the pale star on

1    the
1    petals,
2    the way
3    they descend into
5    unfathomable mystery while, low down,
 8   you glimpse a bud and see simultaneously what
13  was and will be; leaving you to wonder if you've captured anything real.

1    You
1    return
2    each day
3    to learn more.

 1    When
1     the
2     lower bud
3     blooms, faith re-enters
5    your life.You yearn for
8    others to feel your thrill, and this time
13   you turn the pot; leaving nothing head-on except the bud, still mostly furled.

1   Try
1   the
2   other side.

1    Or
1    angle
2    the camera
3    a bit downward.
                                                                      by Mary Cartledgehayes
TO BE CONTINUED

365. 41 Fibonnaci. What to Do

What to Do

1   Some/
1   things/
2   are easier/
3   thought than done./
5   Writing a poem a day./
8   Quitting smoking once and for all, permanently, amen./
13  Taking the dogs for a very long walk on a very cold day./
21  Cleaning the carpet washing the dishes changing the linens cooking the ham making potato salad -- all the repetitive trivial daytime chores./
34   Gathering the documentation for taxes; and sorting; and circling; and adding; and listing; and searching the bedroom, the office, the auto, the stacks of magazines for receipts; and then filling out the required forms./
55   I've just read on the blog of a collage artist that she keeps all the images she collects in shoe boxes.  Shoe boxes. What a great idea. I most recently turned to file folders, which are both unsuccessful (too hard to dig out a single page) and space-consuming. Transplanting paper images:  easier done than thought.
                                                                      by Mary Cartledgehayes

Dailiness

TODAY IS
    scan received mail art
    pick up prescriptions
    pay bills
    make Valentine/Susan B. Anthony cards for family
    co-ordinate hospital / doctor bills and insurance EOBs
    make more mail art?
    start the purple quilt?
    finish pasting cereal box parts to the collage?
                DAY.

Here's a lovely from around the edge of their packaging (soon to be cut up), courtesy of the folks at Magic Hat, where they make Scrumptious Spring Lager:
"Soaring in on shining wings, the season-shifter sings of spring's return.  The revolution blooms again."

On reflection, my issue today is that I want to begin two quilts, but other things are imperative:  the scanning of received art out of respect for the artists; the sorting of medical paperwork out of respect for the checkbook balance. And if I don't pay bills or make Valentines for family, will they be completed and received on time?  These questions may explain the anxiety attack that walloped me when I walked into the kitchen fifteen minutes ago.

365.38 February 7, 2011. Fibonacci

 Always Thinking of You

1    When
1     the
2     small dog
3     and I noticed
5     an empty dumpster this morning,
8     we left an echo inside it for you.
                          Made with love by Mary Cartledgehayes

Fibonacci 365. 34 Year of the Rabbit

Year of the Rabbit, February 3, 2011

1   Happy
1   Chinese
2   (new) Year
3   of the Rabbit.
5.  I've purchased red envelopes in
8   which to mail holiday letters filled with benevolences.
                                             by Mary Cartledgehayes