After what seemed like the full-on advent of Spring we here in the Northeast were slapped hard by the return of frosty air and wind filled with snow. It was hard to take for sure when it hit us squarely across bared faces. I know I should have not fallen for the tease of ease, but I did, rather like an amateur in this region might have made. Quite similarly, I was swept up in the fanfare and glitter on Oscar night, the easy banter of those witty hosts, the hope that this year a more diverse and promising bank of recipients might hold their trophies high over head in pride. And they did. All of that. But the sting of that slap, that one violent recrimination captured by the ever present Eye, stings just as bad as the Arctic blast battering us back inside our homes. Back to wonder, how did we become a nation where shame is no longer felt when it is clearly earned?
Author Archives: Nine Cent Girl
Howl
Today
war is media filtered and heightened by the bots who channel through our clicks and likes
our preferences bring us straight into the bloody horror of what soldiers can’t erase
we feign surprise that civilian are targets despite the centuries of this standard practice since everyone made this their go-to wartime strategy like Hiroshima like London like…an endless list of those blown apart worlds and people haunt us through nighmares
but cynicism feels rough feels like the howling wind
raw
snowflakes blow about a few feet higher than me and I am transposed to wonder
Springing Forward
Historically I never stay down too long. There is something in my nature that beats back dark despair with a burst of frivolity and crazy. For this Nine Cent Girl that avenue back to light often involves some sort of photo shoot. Go back through my past posts in the fashion category and there is the sense of bursting from every photo. Not quite quiet desperation but most certainly standing on the edge. It was the same this week. War for one. Continued COVID fatigue another. General unease about the future of our planet under the direction of demagogues a third. Let’s not kid ourselves with naming one. They stand shoulder to shoulder in our Senate and rule with a recklessness I would not allow with my ninth graders. So, to combat ALL OF THAT, I allowed for a few hours of play.


