SUPER STAMP SUNDAY: EMILY DICKINSON

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UNWANTED

I found an old book in the
gutter today: A battered blue
hardcover unwanted by the
world. It had been kicked
about by a brutal foot - more
than a few pages were wrinkled
and torn. So I plucked it up
and carried it home. After I
wiped off some of the dirt
I saw a cover as blue as
the sea. I wiped some more
until a familiar face appeared -
the Belle Of Amherst - my breath
stood still - Emily Dickinson in
the gutter? Imagine that! Her
good poems once fed my hungry
heart, when the busy world
wouldn't throw me a bone. Now
I'd plucked her from the gutter,
and given her a better home -
so who really saved who?

Poem © 2009 by Dylan Mitchell

PICTURE PERFECT FRIDAY: CARMELITA

Carmelita strikes a pose

A kind friend recently rescued two abandoned cats (and Carmelita!). I've never had much exposure to chickens before (being a shameless city boy), so I have to say that Carmelita has made me question my poor food choices (no more KFC for me).

Carmelita is an absolute delight. She loves to be held, likes to peek into windows, and does her best to sneak into the house as often as she can. She's fiercely independent, and chases away all foolish intruders (including cats) if they dare to ruffle her feathers.

Oh, and there's always a fresh egg or two for breakfast now. Carmelita gives as good as she gets.

SUPER STAMP SUNDAY: JANIS JOPLIN

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Okay, here we go: The first official SUPER STAMP SUNDAY post! Did you guess (thanks to my previous post) that Janis Joplin would finally go postal in late 2014? I'm gonna buy the really cool FDC (First Day Cover) for sure.

I'm thinking it might be sort of awesome to include a little haiku moment with the postal one. So here's something I wrote about Janis a year or two ago? It's not perfect (syllable count totally sucks), but it pretty much sums up how I feel about this great singer:

LITTLE GIRL BLUE

So large on the stage
Her voice like thunder and rain
Little girl blue so alone

P.S. I'm still adjusting to the time change, so I'm sleepy/lazy as hell. I need more coffee big time. See you next week - when I'm actually wide awake!

SUPER STAMP SUNDAY (HALLOWEEN)

I know it's not Sunday, but I couldn't resist posting this really cool US postage stamp from the Classic Hollywood Monsters series (first issued by the U.S. Postal Service in 1997) just in time for Halloween.

There were five monsters to choose from: Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Mummy, The Phantom of the Opera, and Frankenstein's Monster.

Anybody still remember the days when the cost of a postage stamp was just 32 cents, and snail mail had not yet become a thing of the past? Oh well at least most folks still send out their Christmas cards the old fashioned way. Plus the utility bills never stop coming.

I'd best hurry up and grab a pumpkin at the grocery store before it's too late. There were only a few sad and neglected looking ones left at Safeway (last time I checked). But rumor has it that there's still plenty of fresh pumpkins on sale at Fred Meyer, so I'm gonna go for it. Hope you have a Spooktacular Halloween!

P.S. I'm officially launching my Super Stamp Sunday posts on November 2nd, so if you are a lover of U.S. postage stamps (or just curious as hell) be on the lookout. Can you figure out (no help from Google) which awesome rock star from the late 1960s is finally going postal? Here's a little haiku hint for you:

PIECE OF HER HEART

Afraid and lonely
A wallflower from Texas
Bloomed into a rose

Haiku © 2014 by Dylan Mitchell 

STREETS OF FIRE

(for Rodney King)

Home is Hell's
hatred and heat

When battered
blackness boils

the blood
The smoldering

streets smoke
and burn

White men preach
prayers for peace

Poem © 2014 by Dylan Mitchell