Dear Reader,
Waxing the Parasitical Muse has advanced a round in a chapbook competition. I’m not going to say which one, and there are rounds to go yet, but I believe in celebrating every step. My bold little chapbook has received some attention, and Word Raccoon is clapping and cheering.
(You mean that first poem didn’t make them run? They must be my kind of people!)
The bonus episode of the Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast, “Move Happier: Would You Spend a Week Hiding Out in the Metropolitan Museum?”, delighted WR and me. It takes listeners on a literary wander through the Met, tracing objects and corners connected to E. L. Konigsburg’s children’s novel From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. It’s part museum tour, part bookish scavenger hunt, which feels like the ideal use of a museum, doesn’t it?
And naturally, it helped Gretchen get in her 26 for 26: 26 minutes of movement each day of 2026.
“WR, do we know that voice?” I asked when the guest host spoke on the episode. Yes, it was Sophie Gee of The Secret Life of Books podcast! Extra points for this fantastic collab, Gretchen!
More literary walks, please!
As to the book they discussed, I didn’t read it until I was an adult, when my child Mia was reading it. I found it adorable, and who wouldn’t want to live in a museum? (WR says she wants to, and she’s scanning a blueprint of museums right now. WR, I don’t think we can do that!)
I ended up writing three poems last night, “Everyone Gets Fries,” which features recipe cards and a band, “Economically Fixed,” about Indiana, and “When ASMR is Your Grandma,” the poem that gives you backrubs and storytime.
Well, that last one is only a few lines in progress but it knows what it is. (Oops, am I giving away that I’m a fan of ASMR? Oh well…)
Do these poems belong to The Gospel of Shrug?
Shrug.
LOL.
Very tempted to wear my fabulous Dolly Parton tee the son gave me for Mother’s Day tomorrow. But I won’t be cutting the sides open as he did his, though I teased him that I was going to. (And psst…Zack’s girlfriend is a sweetheart. We like her.)
We had a very nice dinner, complete with the traditional making of the lasagna by Barry while I sat reading the newest Martha Stewart book that he bought me. I usually flip through a magazine while he cooks, but I forgot to buy one. MS’s book was a great substitute. (I have not thought of Martha in YEARS!)
And now, thanks to her book, I want to collect sour cream glasses. Which I didn’t even know were a thing.
Also, she has a flippin’ building for her baskets! FOR. HER. BASKETS.
Perhaps you will not be surprise to hear I wrote “A Building for Your Baskets” just now and I’m about to write “Sour Cream Glasses,” I think, though WR is yawning. (Obviously we will not really call it sour cream glasses, but it will be about them. Maybe.)
A cat is walking up and down the street.
Do cats ever get lonely?
Over caffeinatedly,
Drema
dremadrudge.com 