Oh Nostalgia! Pretty in Pink

Pretty in Pink is an excellent movie, and lately MTV has had the good sense to play it in the afternoons. I remember a few years ago when I was re-introduced to this movie full of awesome fashion (thanks to kooky Trax owner Iona, played by Annie Potts) and marvelously obscure tunes. And the songs I liked the best were the ones played at the club, Cats. Of course these songs are omitted from the soundtrack. Isn't that always the way? Anyway, at that point, the songs were not available on iTunes. But today I peeked again after catching a fave scene (the one were Duckie and Iona are at Cats, and Andie comes by with Blaine) and they had this fabulous rockabilly song on there for the buying! Well wooo-hoooo for me! :)

Overdue

Wow, I've been lax with the posting lately! But here's a poem for you. It's old. From 2005! I was looking at some stuff I had on my external hard drive my old computer, and out of 40 or so poems, this is the only one that really spoke to me in its entirety.


Wanna Get it Right: A Sonic Embodiment
by Cyndle Plaisted Rials

I’ve read everything and you seem kinda fucked up kinda pissed off
off on tangents lots of that off-and-on,
sweet unpredictable
focused madness that spreads and intrigues
and I mirror we mirror
I’d watch your face and trace the changes
thatfast, not so fast
as 8mm film tick ticking winding through wheels cogs reeling back
on itself reflexive like all this cyclical
all that rolling circular
back and forth still brilliance from green to blue
sharp shots pairing wit
imparting fabulous personal truths which wind around
legs tangled hair askew around the body a vacuum
poles magnets of coldness or heat— hard to tell. To leave well
enough alone— not my style not yours not
when things cluster
and break shatter rework in the slow
burning silences or the swift exchange
it’s all melting and pooling, swelling
like speed-heated glass so
fragile I won’t blow too hard.

Vintage Lucite!

Midway Brights Vintage Lucite Necklace


This is probably my favorite out of the seven new vintage Lucite necklaces I posted last week. I love the purple-ish color with the turquoise and that orange stripey bead is just awesome!!! I have some other great color combos going on in the necklaces in the shop--check em out at Frost on Etsy!

Poem: "The Fortuneteller"

Here's another of my circus poems from my MFA manuscript. I've been planning to enter some chapbook/book contests--I think I'll probably expand my circus poems and include them too. I'm also waiting to hear from a dear friend about these and her thoughts on them. I definitely feel that I need some more of them though to really flesh out the series. Anyway, here she is in her dark and shadowed tent,


The Fortuneteller
by Cyndle Plaisted Rials

Some offer palms shyly,
as if they never meant to enter the wine-red
tent smelling of jasmine
and incense, but as soon as the flap falls
shut, even the skeptics’ eyes darken,
widen at the prospect of revelation.
The womb released me
with these ancient talents—on the brackish edge
of a river, I read the sky, the birds, my father’s
face in the heat, my angry brother’s black
looks. I read fear everywhere. The rubes
shield their tender fright
with laughter, cup it in their hands
and offer it to me in the shadows
of my tent. Sometimes I tell
the truth about what I see, if it is not too dark,
not too feverish and tragic. If there’s anything
worse than a sad
ending, it’s the knowing
and the wait.

Florence + the Machine

Here is something sonically gorgeous, visually mind-blowing, and deeply emotive! I just discovered Florence + the Machine this week, and I've been listening to nothing but the debut album "Lungs." I would totally recommend reading her bio too--it really speaks to me, as someone who has a love of magic, fairy tales, dark love and emotions, and juxtaposition. So sometimes the perfect inspiring, stimulating thing really does come along to pull you out of your creative rut. Speaking of which, I was strolling Sage along on the way to the playground yesterday and the perfect little piece of a poem got snagged in my brain, but I just remembered that now--and the piece of a poem is gone. Hopefully I'll find it later, drifting around somewhere else. I have a firm belief that these things find their way back into our work if they were really true and necessary to say.

Anyway, here is the gorgeous stuff! "Cosmic Love" is just killing me with its savage beauty--not to mention, the lyrics are ethereal and gorgeous as the place the vocals reach. And as otherworldly as the visuals.

Labels

This morning I headed online to check some shop stats (though I haven't listed anything new since Sage's surgery), and spotted Tara Gentile's post about labels on Scoutie Girl. I definitely related to her struggles to characterize and label herself. I've considered myself a poet for more than 10 years, and I've been crafting and creating fashion accessories and jewelry for just as long.

I think that's the challenge of being someone who wants to do so many things simultaneously. If I narrowed my focus, would I be a truly accomplished practitioner of just one of those things? Because I certainly can't pour the same energies into a variety of disciplines at once. Some days I feel like writing, some days I feel like revising, some days it's spinning, crocheting, dying, felting, paper crafting, graphic designing, photographing, baking, stringing, blogging--if I only had one of these avenues to express myself, I don't think I'd be as fulfilled.

I feel now more than ever, as being a stay-at-home mom has become my definition to a lot of people, that making my range of skills clear to others is even more vital for my personhood. I think that's why I've never had a truly fulfilling day job--I've never been able to take full advantage of all the things I can do.

Even with style choices I've never felt like I could label myself--I love elements of punk, boho, retro glam, goth, mod. . . and that's influenced (as everything else is) by my mood for the day! So I guess I'll just continue to be a great big amalgam of all the things that I do and that inspire me. I'm going with "limitless", Tara!

New: Fun Vintage Lucite Necklaces

I have been a HUGE fan of vintage Lucite ever since I discovered it about 5 years ago. It comes in amazing colors, a gorgeous array of surface finishes, and who doesn't love vintage? Anyway, last week I went to my favorite supplier and got some great new beads to add to my collection. Today while Sage napped I finally made some lovely new necklaces! I have plans to go buy more bags of wonderful, colorful beads, but for now, these are ready to be photographed tomorrow and listed with the rest of the Frost! goodies on Etsy!

Post-Surgery

Well, Sage had his cleft palate repair on Thursday at Maine Med and we were able to go home on Friday, which I was hoping for. It's always so impossible to sleep in the hospital. The worst thing is how stuffy it is! No fresh air is no good for me. Sage definitely isn't back to 100% yet, but he's having a better time now than he was at first! He can't have any solids at all for the next week or so, and I think he's getting sick of yogurt.

But the best thing about it all is that this is the last surgery he'll have until his permanent teeth come in--I can't even express how nice it is to know that the next time he has to have surgery we'll be able to explain it to him and he'll have an idea of what's coming. I always feel like we're tricking Sage with these surgeries because we can't tell him what's going to happen. And then after that one, he may just need some nose/lip touch-ups as his face grows. But as far as that goes, I'm going to leave it up to him--if it's purely cosmetic and doesn't affect functionality, I think he should decide. I would never want him to feel that he needs to look a certain way--I just want him to feel comfortable with who he is.

It's so weird--children born with clefts are often considered "special needs"--now that he's had the surgeries, that has kind of disappeared. I think a lot of people don't notice the little scar on his lip, the little flatness to the left side of his nose, and his teeth. He's just like any other kid.