jopomojo

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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

when i invented / this breathing moment / i didn’t reserve all rights // instead i acknowledged you / as my co-author / you and everyone This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

pink and black and blue / above an orange / and faintly yellow cavern // of emerging memory / in the present tense / of the distant past This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

Helga’s watch was supposed to detect Anytime she fell or completely wrecked Her car, or suffered some other calamity, And alert the authorities, but now it was buzzing To tell her a call from her granddaughter Hannah Was coming in, so she hastened back Into the house to find her phone. Hannah, the daughter of the aforementioned Ben, was a brilliant, wild, and well-intentioned But sometimes trouble...

Helga drove a ’97 Buick Skylark that was made in heaven. That’s how she felt about it, anyhow: Cloudy blue and well-traveled, A ding on every corner but nothing Serious, nothing in need of attention. It looked good in the garage’s shadows And was malaise-proof in the midday sun. She popped the trunk and laid the gun Gently in among the bags And blankets and jumper cables neatly Coiled there. What...

Helga’s idea was too extreme, Like reenacting a bad dream, She decided, as she climbed back up And struggled through the gate, Replacing the lock and crossing the lawn, As a pair of squirrels chased each other In spirals up the Lonesome Pine. That was the name she and Joe Had given that tree many years ago When the house had fallen to them After their son-in-law Dan fell asleep at the wheel, And t...

The idea that came to Helga was one That could be dangerous or could be fun But first she would survey her rose garden And the general condition of the yard On this unusually warm first day Of the month of her birth in this year Of fever dreams and election insanities. Leaving her coffee cup half full, Helga followed her inner pull To the back door and out to the lawn. Sebastian the yard guy had b...

“Getting old is getting old,” she said To herself as she got out of bed. It was the day before her birthday And the day after Halloween, The morning dark and dim and fragrant With stale leaves and the after-odor Of trick-or-treaters and candy wrappers.   Helga Caruthers slid her tired old feet Out from under a tangle of bedsheet And onto the cold hardwood floor Of her bedroom. “Gotten old,” she sa...

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

Our work has only just begun. The chaos to come is real and yet all part of the game. Situation normal, all fucked up — whoever came up with that — “snafu” — a f*****g genius! And now we face the rise of a demented, damaged dolt who has somehow managed to gather a cult of mesmerized mothers against drunken driving to ride off the cliff with him. So, yes, there’s some cleanup to do. It isn’t normal...

In the middle of this autumn that has eased its way into my humming summer, I will hold onto my inner springtime and continue this absurd but sweet work as best I can. Like the sunrise I too arise to ease these lines into life to let the colours of dawn stream from my faltering fingers tapping these keys as the coffee stirs my blundering brain, blundering into obstacles but nonetheless pressing on...

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

Fringed with the first fall glowing, / the last low leaves of summer / refuse to let their gladness go. / Inside, the people, too, hold / hot cups of coffee and wield / warm wishful thoughts of far-flung flights. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jopomojo.substack.com/subscribe