Words and Pieces

copyright Beth Achenbach Toxicity  by Beth Achenbach December 29, 2016 I'm full of poison. The birds, they are dropping dead around me. Put on your Hazmat suit, don’t breach the perimeter. Keep a safe distance! Stay out of the bubble if you know what’s good for you. Toxicity is rising past the mark. Is there a Doctor in the house? My insides are melting and there is a burning smell in the air. Hair stands on end. Sirens dissonant but getting closer. Screeching brakes, metallic taste on the tongue. Bleed me of the sludge. Heed my warnings! Attention! Skull with crossed bones! It is meant to scare you away. Human harmful to touch.

It's 2017 my friends and I had delusions of grandeur for writing a great blog about the traditions of New Year's Day but really I just want to share with you what a nut-ball I am!  Look, I spent a lot of 2016 dealing with this undiagnosed pain in my abdomen.  I went through tests, doctors, more tests, frustration, anxiety and depression.  The point is it dampened my spirit and in return my art.  My camera has been sitting in it's bag for months, with the exception of taking some artsy photos with my iPhone for  Instagram and writing a few poems my artistic endeavors have been few and far between.   The best artistic move I made in 2016 was to create this blog, which I am very pleased with as a starting point to share my thoughts and poetry.  The blog was something I had thought about often and I was just happy that I made the effort instead of just talking about it to my friends.  Which brings me back to New Year's.  I'm not a person that makes resolutions because

"cuckoo" by Beth Achenbach Tick tock,  tick tock, time is up on last year. Drink, drink  drunk, thunk farewell. See the clock, fake the cheer. Chin up,  huff puff, tug of life, silent roar. Bow down,  to rise again. Heal toe, heal toe, soar. Tick tock,  tick tock, begin hefty quest. Press reset,  try again. Still the heart beat the chest. Tick tick  thump thump eyes open,  dawn’s light. New year now,  older you. Tick tock,  tick tock,  fight!

I wrote this poem after spending an hour with a few of my female artistic friends.  We discussed poetry, art, life, and when I got home I felt this overwhelming feeling of inspiration and joy!  Yes!  Joy!  It's like we all shared our energy while we were together.  I just had to write my feelings down.  The words came out of me so easily thinking of my own Sisters and the friends I consider to be Sisters from other Misters.  I wrote the poem in one sitting and a few weeks later I got the idea to record my voice reading it and create a video using photos.  I put a call out on my facebook feed and asked female friends to send me photos of themselves with their Sisters or with their BFFs that they considered Sisters or with women they were inspired by.  The ladies sent me some great images and I used a bunch of my own for fill ins to create this video.  This is definitely one of those labor of love or labor of inspiration times.  Please watch and share!  Words are posted below.

©Beth Achenbach 2016 Wrapped up in devices. My mind is... burnt out from the wires.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016 I sat on the couch Election Night feeling more anxiety than I had ever known.  I didn’t want to believe what was happening but there it was right before my eyes, the electoral map, on my local NBC channel looking like someone wrapped it in red Christmas paper.  I tried to stay hopeful and kept repeating in my head "Hillary, Hillary, Hillary".  I managed a quick nap around midnight, holding out hope that Lovey would wake me up and say “She did it, Hillary is President!” but it never happened.  I woke up about 15 minutes later and it ended up that I was the one nudging her awake around 1am/1:30 saying “let’s go to bed, it’s not looking good” just after they called Florida to the other side.  So we frumped our way upstairs to bed where I lay wide awake for a long time with my mind all a whir. The next day I was feeling very disappointed so I limited my social media browsing and did not watch the news except to see Hillary’s speech, which made me cry.