April Ample, Apt,

Ah-ha! The April newsletter from the screenporch on the rattan furniture here in Roundagator. The rooster is watching with persistence from a distance, a tractor just rumbled down the road.

• walking barefoot in the grass, missing a wasp crawling the ground on the warm spring bricks,

• His big hands catching a carpenter bee on the screen porch, holding him tightly and also gently, releasing him into the outside air, everyone smiling

• The sound of a snake into the pond, the sound magnified in the standing water that the beavers diligently protect, 

• The sound also of frogs into the bayou, their myriad, 

• The sound of mosquitos high and tinny in the air above of us, a distant and bloodthirsty angel choir, their cloud not yet stooping to our skin,

• The distant croak of a bullfrog as the stars prick the air

• The silence of the lightning bugs across the pond, and then above us, the first of the year, or maybe they’ve been here and this was the first time we witnessed it, 

• How everything looks like a snake when you are looking for snakes 

• How everything can look like a miracle when you start looking for miracles 

  

• Still his silver colored canoe is there in the daisies, sleeping. Imagine a world where you can cover the waterfront and the land and never rest until you are bone-tired, you can see everything and all of it, what is preventing you, 

• The little plants that are rising in patient rows, 

• The turtles unmoved by gunfire, 

• The cowbirds and their strange rainwater puddle and radio signal singing 

• All that the blue-eyed-cross-eyed cat left was a startlement of her fur, what happened, 

• If you lean back you can see the big dipper,

• The silence and cacophony of the pond as it falls into dusk and then night, 

  

• He said I lead a bunch of painters down to the beach to paint at night, I got to where I memorized where I put colors on the palette, when you stand out, even on a full moon, the colors change, you can’t see exactly what you are doing. If you shine a light on it in the darkness, that changes everything. The best part is to carry it home and look at it, you never know what exactly you’ve done. 

• Crossvine, fallen. Poison ivy, rising. 

• The blossoming, the whole air fragrant, chinaberry to iris to apple blossom, cherry blossom, roses, honeysuckle, everything on the wind, eager to meet you

• Dreaming the ladder to his studio only had one nail that kept it attached to it’s distant platform, I made it to the top but climbed down, couldn’t believe in the strength of the landing 

  

• Morning on the porch reading, Thoreau saying heaven is above our heads and below our feet, 

• Finding where the chickens moved their egg-laying to 

• The fat leaves of the squash covering their row, 

• walking around the yard with a bouquet of wildflowers and cane, or otherwise asparagus in his hands, eating arugula flowers

• The havoc of his planting, when he decides to plant and where, unnamed, unasked, just done and all of a sudden: sweet potato, bitter melon, zinnias, “you got to water them in, you’d be surprised,” 

  

• Opening the windows in the morning, raising the curtains, 

• The dog choosing to lay next to me in my studio, the cat finding a new bed to spend her day sleeping on, 

• A crop-duster bright in the blue sky early, 

• sundogs, more silence

• The bald eagles in the rain, distant, white tailed, unconcerned 

• Always finding someone to say hello to at Wal-Mart, y’all be good now, 

• Boxes of pottery on the porch,

• Another rainy day to work in, another rainy day for the yard, 

• He looked very directly at me, how he can do sometimes, all of a sudden the blues comes down and he says, “That’s the thing about time, once you spend all of it, you don’t get anything back.”

• All of your sins are forgiven, you are loved. 

  

  Hi hello, wowie wow, gosh - thank you so much for a sold out show at The Greenhouse Biloxi - it is always a treat to bring work to the coast, and it means so much it is ever well received. I am looking forward to seeing where the hawks went home to.

Up next, I am so thrilled to bring together friends for a show at Hey! Cafe on the Greenway in New Orleans - My incredibly talented friends in this show are poets, painters, sewers, printers, teachers, all of the above. They include Charlie - (find him on instagram here ), Abby (find her on instagram here) and last but not least, Carmen (she's not great at social media but her work is ever changing and oh so beautiful). I’ll have some work as well and maybe some more stashed in the trunk if I can’t get it all on the wall. The opening is May 17th at 7 pm and closes around June 17th. The address is 2606 St Louis St, New Orleans, LA 70119. Corsiatto helped me arrange this show, and they have given me so many breaks and lifechanging opportunities over the years with one of my first big shows at their former coffee shop Arrow Cafe on Rampart. Grateful this year has brought me full circle with so many of the people who helped me become myself.

The juried show at Lemoyne in Tallahassee, Florida, closes May 18th. I have four pieces in this show and hope if you’re around you can check it out. I haven’t seen many photos, but what I have seen look like it’s full of joy up in there. https://www.lemoyne.org/currentupcoming.html

I also donated a painting to the Walter Anderson Museum for their Firefly Supper fundraiser on June 1st. The event has sold out, but if you’re there please look for a white alligator painting! I had the IMMENSE pleasure of working on an Ocean Springs design for the museum, and you can find some of the design work here - ( mug / magnet / postcard) (I think they have shirts in the museum store)

Delta Arts Alliance has a fundraiser on the same date, where I will also have donated some art - if you’re in Cleveland (or not!) come join us for a sweltery swingin good time. Support the DAA!

Thank y’all to everyone who participated in the raffle for CARES Clarksdale! I never would’ve could’ve predicted such an astonishing response. We (you!!!) raised 1,800$ for this big hearted no kill shelter that needs all the help it can get. Thank you, thank you, thank you. The animals especially say thank you.

Lastly, i am so grateful again for the patience and kindness Hemlock and Carolina have shown me - and to be a part of such a beautiful and thoughtful album (you can find it here..) They are playing in Water Valley!!! On May 23rd at 7:30 to 9 pm, as part of T.I.N. - https://thisisnoteworthy.org/the-valley

This is probably my favorite song, but so many are on this jewel of a creation:

well this is the kind of world i wanna live in, and do, well, here there i was in the car and thinking about something and putting the keys in the ignition and putting on my seatbelt and what way are we gonna get home and it’s raining and i can’t believe the pollen is still stuck to my car like this and it seems like the music is playing “i heard the voice of a porkchop,” wait? “saying come unto me and rest,” well. “aint that nice to be nice when you can be nice?” i hope some kind of good food has somethin good to say to you, soon. the lettuce in the garden, hanging on and lit up by the morning sun, likes to sing gospel every now and then.