Poem: Beer Buzz and Wine High

Beer Buzz and Wine High
By Victor Rook from Poetry Pizza

Pour it fast or pour it slow
Sip it nice and let it flow
Any way to get it in
Sooner then to feel the spin

Sweet or sour or bitter taste
Lap it up and leave no waste
Every drop has worth in gold
Once you start you will be sold

Bud or Coors or Miller Lite
Take your wine in red or white
No matter what brand of booze
Soak it in to heal your blues

In no time you’ll lose that edge
A higher plane soon to pledge
Emotions soar within your buzz
For this how and what it does

It strips away the oxygen
And takes you to your origin
Within your blood it will swirl
And make your head all awhirl

Out your mouth words will slur
Thinking now may be a blur
Everything will seem surreal
That’s the way you want to feel

Dial a friend and show you’re cool
But don’t say much or be a fool
For in the morning you may fret
On what you said and now regret

For some it may increase their lust
Walls fall down and ease distrust
Lips will meet and bodies thrust
Protect yourself if you must

For me I am a happy camper
Within my home I will scamper
And bounce around like feral ferrets
This is why they call it spirits

But moderation is the key
Thrice a month no more for me
For it’s the days in between
When loving life means being clean

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When A Fan Recognizes You and Your Work

Thank you to Morgan Combs for making my day, year, and decade today at the Grounds Central Station coffee shop in Manassas, Virginia.

While I was discussing distribution ideas for the Virginia Authors Book Sampler with poet and past President of the Virginia Writers Club, June Forte, a sweet and terrifically good-looking couple started up a conversation about photography with us. It came about as I was taking the selfie below with June. The gentleman, probably in his mid-20s, takes professional photographs at the DC Zoo. June was once a photo journalist, and I take photos as well.

June Forte and Me

I mentioned that I also shoot video, specifically nature videos, and when I brought up my nature film Beyond the Garden Gate, a customer across the way spoke up. Morgan Combs revealed that as a child she would watch my film often with her mother. It was one of her all-time favorites, and they watched it over and over again. Beyond the Garden Gate aired on PBS from 2001-2005, but she thinks they purchased their VHS copy at the National Arboretum at that time.

Morgan Combs and a very speechless me trying to take a decent photo.

I had distribution agreements with several garden centers and public gardens, including the renowned Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia. Even a science museum in Scotland used the video as part of one of their displays for a while. I believe they had the time-lapse photography pieces looping on a monitor inside an Alice in Wonderland tunnel.

Anyway, it's not often--in fact for many of us, never--that you get recognized for your work outside of friends and family. I was lucky enough to have experienced this twice for this film. Back in 2001, just weeks after the 9/11 attacks, a man called me from New York City one night. He said, "I pray that you can help me find the producer of Beyond the Garden Gate. I was watching it here in a coffee shop with some of the remaining firefighters of a battalion that lost a lot of men, and it brought such peace over us." He ordered 20 copies for those friends and their grieving families. It still gives me chills to think about that call, which I recorded midway through. I knew that it was a special moment that needed to be preserved.

When authors write, and filmmakers produce, and painters paint, and photographers shoot, we all do it with the hope that others will get what we are creating. That they will feel the same amount of enthusiasm as we did producing the work. That they will understand the characters, the emotions, the strokes, and the images. That's the connection that means the most to us.

That connection was made today. And I thank June, the terrifically good-looking couple that got us talking about photography, and, of course, Morgan Combs for putting a smile on my face and making me blush.

Beyond the Garden Gate is also available on DVD here and on Amazon.

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Poem: Bumping Into Things

Bumping Into Things
By Victor Rook

Stumbling and fumbling while on the go
Wailing and flailing I’ve come to know
For lately I lack much finesse
What I’ll hit next I can only guess

Doors seem narrower than before
Right from the top down to the floor
My aim on entry is out of whack
Sore shoulders result from their attack

In the kitchen once an open cupboard
Left me stunned and then I shuddered
For I turned away then jolted back
And it met my forehead with a thwack

Hitting my head is a common affair
Inside or out any time of year
Like leaving a car a bit too lame
And smacking against the inside frame

Or leaning too fast in close proximity
To something hard within the vicinity
I must be blind to these hidden spots
A conspiracy in which my body plots

Soon revealed are telltale signs
Of how I moved outside the lines
The shower unveils cuts and bruises
Recent proof of all the abuses

We mustn’t forget stubbing our toes
A misstep of sorts with woeful throes
Worse it is if it suffers your nails
A pain in which everything pales

Upon this desk from which I write
I swing my legs up every night
But if I’m off within my spin
The corner wood will crack my shin

Pain does hang when you bang a bone
Like a hammer slip it makes you moan
You want to scream or cry or both
But as adults we take that oath

To grin and bear as best we can
And move on with our daily plan
Until next time a part is struck
And then we’ll blame it on bad luck

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