i'm so glad i found dr. popa's page! great interview. great post. thank yall for sharing. and i agree with your points about substack; its like going to college and giving yourself little homework assignments... i love writing my weekly articles and then snapping off a few notes here and there... so many good visual artists... lots of good music shares... substack is a lot of what i miss with not being in college anymore... and dr. popa posts amazing poems and I even wrote my first poem the other day... so thankful and grateful to have found yalls pages... cheers thank yall.
I love this insight through poetry. I had a zebra-type heart attack when I was 44. Yes, that is how the cardiologists referred to it - not your "normal" type.
oh thank you. and i'm sorry to hear about your heart attack. i was definitely thinking about the medical usage of the phrase 'hearing hooves and thinking horses' but i wanted to think about how everyone goes through having their creativity limited through society or censorship or even fear; but we can't forget about the zebras. and i spent 3 months in the hospital after being sprayed by a crop duster and i heard that phrase firsthand from a doctor too. so, from one zebra to another zebra, it's nice to meet ya! thank you for liking my poem... cheers.
How near was that crop duster? I used to live where small fields were sprayed by small planes, now ag has gotten larger. Back then, spray was just as poisonous, but we never thought we'd be sent to the hospital. Cheers, glad you're still breathing!
Here are my thoughts on Zebras, poetically speaking :-). I wrote these after visiting the Washington Zoo in the late 1980s.
those poems are amazing. i read them a few times to get the rhythm before reading them out loud. they are really amazing. i personally feel like the 2nd poem currently. i'm trying to escape phoenix to start a farm and the answer is no. no i haven't had enough wild running before i was brought here. thank you so much for sharing those poems. funny to make such a connection over zebras... cheers...
I'm not sure we ever feel we've had enough wild running before we are brought to the farm, zoo, old age home (no I'm not there yet). Where are you on the circle of life? I am new to this Substack, so I don't know the members yet. Poetry and writing is where I feel at home. Glad I heard your zebra tonight.
thats a good point. i'm 36. i was running my own business for 8.5 years. i'm new to substack too. reminds me of college! and now i'm scraping together an exit strategy to leave phoenix for northern arizona. and i write about all kinds of stuff. glad we crossed paths as well!
These interviews are such great little intros and insights, thank you Eleanor. This is one of the things I love here too, Maya. Seeing beautiful things that strangers find on their walks and discovering new artists. I venture back to other places that were once filled with beauty, only to be scared away again by intrusions and unpleasantries, so I come back here, and I’m home. Brilliant read, thank you both.
Through this, I found Maya's 22 Feb post featuring 10 poems by various poets, each one as brilliant as the next. That added joy, and thoughtfulness, to the start of my day. I've saved it, to return to when I need that feeling once again. Thanks so much.
Thank you so much again for your thoughtful questions, Eleanor!!!
Really a delight to feature you 🙌🏻
Wonderful interview, a joy to read. Thank you, Eleanor, for featuring the brilliant Dr. Popa. Love to you, Maya! ❤️❤️❤️
💛💛💛
i'm so glad i found dr. popa's page! great interview. great post. thank yall for sharing. and i agree with your points about substack; its like going to college and giving yourself little homework assignments... i love writing my weekly articles and then snapping off a few notes here and there... so many good visual artists... lots of good music shares... substack is a lot of what i miss with not being in college anymore... and dr. popa posts amazing poems and I even wrote my first poem the other day... so thankful and grateful to have found yalls pages... cheers thank yall.
people today are trained
that when they hear hooves
to expect horses
no one expects zebras
there are zebras
zebras among us
zebras all along
zebras the whole time…
🙌🏻
I love this insight through poetry. I had a zebra-type heart attack when I was 44. Yes, that is how the cardiologists referred to it - not your "normal" type.
oh thank you. and i'm sorry to hear about your heart attack. i was definitely thinking about the medical usage of the phrase 'hearing hooves and thinking horses' but i wanted to think about how everyone goes through having their creativity limited through society or censorship or even fear; but we can't forget about the zebras. and i spent 3 months in the hospital after being sprayed by a crop duster and i heard that phrase firsthand from a doctor too. so, from one zebra to another zebra, it's nice to meet ya! thank you for liking my poem... cheers.
How near was that crop duster? I used to live where small fields were sprayed by small planes, now ag has gotten larger. Back then, spray was just as poisonous, but we never thought we'd be sent to the hospital. Cheers, glad you're still breathing!
Here are my thoughts on Zebras, poetically speaking :-). I wrote these after visiting the Washington Zoo in the late 1980s.
I AM A ZEBRA IN THE ZOO
Oh where are my wild kinsmen
hooves mighty in the grass?
Do they still run for sheer joy,
breath pounding breath
in one thrill of flight?
I dream how Lion caught the wind
and turned us, one by one --
We ran like fire
across the plains, ran under moon
on that summer night.
No savannah here
only bleak stone
where I'm pierced to the wall
by stares.
TO A ZEBRA IN THE ZOO
Oh zebra pinned to the wall
what are you dreaming there?
Are you remembering
wild nights on distant plains,
your heart stretched to its limit with love?
Do mornings still make you yearn to run,
to fill your lungs with endless sun?
I hope you had enough of wild running
before they brought you here,
before they snared and dragged you
struggling to stand transfixed,
a black and white pinwheel, by our gaze.
Copyright M Rands
those poems are amazing. i read them a few times to get the rhythm before reading them out loud. they are really amazing. i personally feel like the 2nd poem currently. i'm trying to escape phoenix to start a farm and the answer is no. no i haven't had enough wild running before i was brought here. thank you so much for sharing those poems. funny to make such a connection over zebras... cheers...
I'm not sure we ever feel we've had enough wild running before we are brought to the farm, zoo, old age home (no I'm not there yet). Where are you on the circle of life? I am new to this Substack, so I don't know the members yet. Poetry and writing is where I feel at home. Glad I heard your zebra tonight.
thats a good point. i'm 36. i was running my own business for 8.5 years. i'm new to substack too. reminds me of college! and now i'm scraping together an exit strategy to leave phoenix for northern arizona. and i write about all kinds of stuff. glad we crossed paths as well!
These interviews are such great little intros and insights, thank you Eleanor. This is one of the things I love here too, Maya. Seeing beautiful things that strangers find on their walks and discovering new artists. I venture back to other places that were once filled with beauty, only to be scared away again by intrusions and unpleasantries, so I come back here, and I’m home. Brilliant read, thank you both.
Thank you for reading and to Eleanor, who is as lovely in person as online!!! 🌷
😊❤️🙌 Ditto
Through this, I found Maya's 22 Feb post featuring 10 poems by various poets, each one as brilliant as the next. That added joy, and thoughtfulness, to the start of my day. I've saved it, to return to when I need that feeling once again. Thanks so much.
So kind. Thank you, Annie.
Yes that post. Such quality, all of them.
Delightful to read this and thank you Maya for sharing so many beautiful poems on this platform.
What a fantastic resource! Love her stack's origin story!