#Rotary packing machine

[yscpackagingmachine]

Rotary Pouch Fillers and Preformed Bag Packaging Machines

Customization is an important factor when choosing packaging machinery. Both Rotary Pouch Fillers and Sealers and Preformed Bag Packaging Machines can be tailored to meet specific requirements.Using a Rotary Pouch Filler and Sealer can significantly boost productivity. With high-speed operation, these machines reduce bottlenecks in production lines.

[laxmienterprises]

Full Automatic Rotary Egg Tray Making Machine- Paper Tray

Waste paper use make so many difrent types of products . One of those products is egg tray. And today we are going to tell you and show you its entire process. We will explain all the processes one by one, give complete information about the machine, how much it costs and how many types there are. Best Egg Trays Making Machine Factory Using Waste Paper | Fully Auto Egg Cartoon Making , EGG Trays Making Machine with Waste Paper ,

[flourmillmachine]

PAPER BAG PACKING MACHINE LINE for flour, starch etc in grain WhatsApp :...

[creations-by-chaosfay]

Be me.

See the rotary blades you need are 50% off.

Realize that even at 50% off, they're way out of budget. I use the Missouri Star 45mm rotary cutter because it has a ball-bearing in it, which means it takes half the effort to cut through fabric. Most especially several layers at a time. With the wrist issue I have, this is a must. My mother gifted me this, and that's due to how low the price is, about $24 USD. The name brands stuff? Ouch!

MIssouri Star's rotary blades, however, have proven hit-or-miss. I order their blades to go with their cutter, but often as not, the blades either have nicks or a slight bend to them. The 10 pack refills they sell? I have one, and three of the blades thus far have been virtually unusable. The blades were a gift, and I've since informed the sender of the situation. It's what you get when you pay less than $30 for ten blades.

Which is why I want the blades currently linked above. Normally $150 for a 10 pack, but right now they're 50% off. They're titanium, and guaranteed to last twice as long as their steel counterparts.

I have seven blades of my own pack left, so I'll wait until I'm down to the last dull blade before I purchase new ones. Ideally the first link.

Before anyone suggests sharpening these: you can't. Oh, sure, you can find sharpeners. I purchased one...and it just makes the blades duller. It's by Clover, and an absolute waste of money. I did more hunting, and saw much the same from everyone else who left reviews. Every single rotary blade sharpener makes them duller. I contacted a local knife sharpener, and he'll come by your home with his van, take your knives, and sharpen them all in your driveway. When I told him the size and style, he said even my 60mm blades are simply too small for him to even try sharpening.

Hence, long lasting blades. Rotary blades can be very expensive, and when you cut through as much fabric as I do, you dull them rather quickly. How can you tell your rotary blades are dull? If the fabrics are getting more difficult to cut and/or the edges of those cuts aren't straight nor smooth, they need to be changed. On a similar note, if you've been using the same needle, be it on your machine by hand, and it's snagging on the fabric or getting more difficult to push through layers, it needs changing.

[makereadgrow]

It all started with a reddit post.

No it didn’t. It started when I was 5 and my mom handed me fabric and thread and buttons to keep me busy while she sewed. It started with the Christmas and Easter dresses my grandmother turned out every year without fail. It started with holding tapestries my other grandmother wove. It started with listening to my great-grandmother talk about the quilts city women paid her to finish for them and the rugs she wove on her floor. 

I’ve always said that I had textiles in the blood, as a genetic legacy. While only one of the women who came before me called herself an artist (my maternal grandmother) they all chose textiles as their medium. 

I made my first quilt in middle school, I think. My grandmother spent decades as purely a garment seamstress, working in a suit store and altering prom dresses on the side, sewing for herself and her loved one. She loved clothes and her huge basement was packed with everything she had made herself. She found herself seeking a new challenge. She’d avoided quilting (possibly because her mother was a quilter and they had a complex relationship) but she decided to give it a go. Her first quilt was a pinwheel, pieced by machine and then hand quilted while she recovered from a knee surgery. She let me quilt a block. I decided I’d make a quilt too, pinwheels the same as her. I didn’t have a book, or a pattern, or the internet and she wasn’t there when I started. I cut my triangles mostly by eye, with scissors, on the living room floor. They were big, maybe 10 inches. I sewed them up and wonky is the kindest word I could give them now, but I felt like a genius. I didn’t know you were supposed to quilt it before binding so I bound it, and pinned the layers together. I even quilted some of the squares. And then I slept with it, pinned together for roughly a decade. It was never fully quilted. It wasn’t long enough to cover both my shoulders and feet, but it was the perfect weight for a summer quilt. I wish I knew what had happened to it. 

My second quilt was a whole cloth quilt. I was in grad school. I had the internet, but I didn’t use it. I wanted something the same weight as the first quilt, but long enough to cover my feet. I bound it with satin blanket binding, and quilted a cross, one row up the length through the middle, and one row across the width. I did not read the directions on the batting about how far apart the quilting lines should be. It is now my son’s favorite blanket. It hasn’t fallen apart. 

I did a lot more learning (but not enough) and a lot of growing before I tried quilting again. By this time I was a parent and I had learned the value of measuring and rotary cutting. Again I’d make a pinwheel quilt. I learned how to make half square triangles four at a time. My grandmother passed either shortly before or after I started it and I think of her when I work on it. It took me a long time to make the blocks, it took me even longer to put them together. I thread basted it on the floor. I knew enough not to bind before quilting, but I hadn’t yet learned to start in the center of quilt. I worked around the edges and learned even more. I learned that if I quilt too much my hands hurt, I learned that my spouse will sleep under a quilt left on the couch even if it isn’t finished or bound. I eventually learned I should have started in the middle. I started it in 2019, its 2024 and I’m still slowly quilting the blocks. I bound it eventually because the edges were showing a lot of wear (because my spouse has been sleeping under it). Someday it will be done, but it makes me laugh to know that it is serving its purpose regardless, and has been for years. 

Another chapter in my quilting story. It was roughly 4am and I was sick. Hopped up on every medication known to humankind and scrolling through my phone. I stumbled across a video of someone stitching fabric wrapped around hexagons together by hand. Half a dozen videos later I was sitting at a computer printing out templates onto cardstock paper and digging through the remains of pandemic mask making fabric. I made a coaster, and then I made a pillow. Before I even made it past the fog of flu I started a hexagon quilt. I didn’t plan, but I kept a somewhat cohesive color story. 900+ hexagons later I had a finished quilt top, it took me about a year, and eventually I chose a backing and used my sewing machine to quilt it together, starting from the center working out, binding at the end. And that is the moment that I finally felt like a quilter. 

Its been a while since that night scrolling. I’ve made more quilts, large and small. Not a lot, but enough. I spend a lot of my down time thinking about quilts. When I’m quilting I think about those who came before me, I think about my grandmother’s hands. I think about how intrinsic quilting is to the place I grew up, all the hands that came before my grandmother, and her mother, and the lineage going back through the largely unrecorded history of poor women in rural Appalachia.  

Getting back to reddit. The other day I was scrolling through and was struck by this quilt posted on reddit by u/karenosmile. 

Classic and yet it is also intrinsically modern.Chaotic and random, but also a repeated pattern of the same simple block. It brought to mind quilts I’d seen while looking through museum collections online (which is a delightful activity for slow afternoons). I went back through my links and the collections again, looking at other examples of quilts that feature that classic ageless block - the half square triangle, also known as the HST. I wanted to know what made that quilt on reddit feel so modern.

The oldest quilt I found in my brief review that felt like it had the same feel as the reddit quilt was this quilt from the 1840s. It is orderly, but combining different sizes of half square triangles. I would not see this as old fashioned if I saw this quilt posted online tomorrow. 

The next quilt has been printed out and taped to my wall for months. It was made in 1898 by one Lura, for another Lura. Another lineage. This quilt only has one size of HST and they are orderly arranged to create strong diagonal lines of color across the quilt. 

Coming to the 20th century we have another quilt* that uses half square triangles of different sizes, however this one uses blocks of HSTs arranged and combined with large white triangles to form yet another larger HST. 

Ultimately I think the thing that sets the original reddit quilt apart is the scattered variety of block sizes and the seemingly random placement of the blocks. The varying size abandons the strict repetition of the museum pieces while maintaining the simple geometry of the block itself. 

*Link may not work as it is from Jstor

[dollsonmain]

There's a job in town that I would probably enjoy, but I am all wrong for it.

I'll strikethrough the parts I am not suited for.

Showroom Specialists assist customers with in-store purchases, pick and pack online orders, demonstrate sewing and embroidery machines, and accurately cut fabric and other materials. They use their imagination to inspire customers by creating projects for in-store displays. They also help customers choose materials for their own projects. Must be able to occasionally lift heavy materials and use a rotary cutter repetitively.

Required Skills:

Demonstrated sewing and/or quilting experience

Proficiency with electronic sewing machines

Familiar with reading sewing and quilting patterns

Ability to pair fabrics and other products to create visually appealing combinations

Friendly and inclusive attitude

Desired Skills:

Embroidery machine experience

Knowledge of quilting styles, processes, and tools used

Attention to detail

Ability to use a computer and tablet

Retail experience a plus

This is a part-time position with immediate need for Friday from noon-5pm. Flexibility to assist with team coverage throughout the week (Tue-Sat) and for special events is strongly desired. Please describe your sewing/quilting experience on your resume.

I mean, I can do the REST of it no problem. I am over-good for EVERYTHING ELSE.

Annoyance. It's only $12/hr, though, so I'm not too broken up about it. Just a little.

[bevanne46]

Your First Quilt: A Step-By-Step Guide

Pattern

Select your pattern. For beginners, it’s best to start with a simple charm square pattern that doesn’t require complicated techniques. Check my beginner pattern but make it smaller, free charm square quilt patterns.

Select Fabric

Choose your fabric. Cotton is generally the easiest to work with and is available in a wide range of colors and prints. You can also grab any fabric bundle on sale at the local craft store to get you started. After all, you just want fabric you can practice with. If you have friends or family members that sew, why not ask for some of their scrap fabric or older fabrics they no longer want.

Cutting Fabric

Cut your fabric pieces according to the pattern instructions. Be sure to measure twice and cut once! Use 5″ squares for your first quilt. Buy one or two Pre-Cut Charm Packs. If you are cutting the fabric yourself, be careful using the rotary cutter for the first time. Invest in cutting gloves to protect your hand and fingers so you don’t cut them off! The best ruler for beginners is the 5″ x 24″ straight acrylic quilting ruler. It’s long enough to cover your WOF (width of fabric and it’s 5″, the same size you want your charm squares to be for your first quilt.

Sewing Squares

Use the floor, bed, sofa, or any other flat surface to layout your 5″ squares before sewing. Once you like the layout, sew your fabric pieces together. Start by sewing individual pieces together into rows, then sew the rows together to form the quilt top. Match up your inner corners, pinning in place until you have the full row pinned. Don’t worry if the outer edges don’t match up perfectly, they can be trimmed later if needed.

Basting and Machine Quilting

Add batting (the middle layer of the quilt) and backing fabric, then sew all three layers together. This is known as “basting” and “quilting.” Here are several tutorials on basting, machine quilting with walking foot and straight line quilting.

Binding

Finish your quilt by adding a binding around the edges. This gives your quilt a clean, finished look and protects the edges from wear and tear. Please check out these quilt binding tutorials that include how wide to make your binding, single fold or double fold and how to join the binding ends. Use the top tool bar, search for binding for all posts on this topic.

Congratulations, you’ve just completed your first quilt! Remember, practice makes perfect, so don’t be discouraged if your first few quilts aren’t perfect. The most important thing is that you’re learning and having fun.

[iwannakissasopwithcamel]

Kreuzer Spinne M3 - "Triplane Terror of the Northern Front"

Role: Scout Served With: Gotha Empire First Flight: 1592 Strengths: Extreme Handling Weaknesses: Slow, Unstable Inspiration: Fokker DR.1 (1917)

Description:

Lacking rotary fighters put the Gotha Empire at a distinct disadvantage going into the war in Macchi. The Macchi Singvogels were massively more agile than the Kobra MCs. Eventually, Gotha had to bite the bullet, despite the lack of available castor oil.

The M3 was limited to a mere 110hp engine, so it was made lean and mean: metal framed, closed cowl, and with triple wings for maximum lift. Its secret weapon was birch cantilever spars instead of tension wires for greatly reduced drag. The M3 served many of Gotha’s best aces in large ‘Wolf Pack’ squadrons in the second half of the war, making them quite sought after by post-war pilots.

Despite their excellent characteristics, the M3’s reliance on synthetic lubrication gave them chronic overheating problems in the northern heat, causing an early retirement from service which preserved a great many machines.

[catilinas]

I wasn’t the anon who asked about quilting the other day but, seriously, thank you so much for recommending charm packs! buying a rotary blade and rubber mat was really intimidating me from even trying quilting but now I’m flying with the sewing machine 👍🏻

wahoo!!! you're welcome and im glad you're enjoying it! ALSO omg is that fabric ruby star society starry. i am deeply envious

[pants-magic-pants]

heyy, hope you doing good! and sorry to keep bothering you lol

so you got me really curious

idk if this is something you would share, and it’s totally fine if not, but i was wondering how much went into the costume? both time and money -wise

Hello! I'm... surviving! I hope you are as well.

I am also curious about this question, as I certainly didn't keep track of it. Initially, I did save some receipts, but this project was so long-term that work on it became scattered. Scattered in terms of when I was able to find the right materials, when I was well enough (mentally, physically) to work on it, when progress was actually being made vs. me searching and bumbling around unsuccessfully...

When there was any sort of momentum, it was almost like a part time job, where substantial amounts of hours were put in on all or most of my days off (which I have three). I spent many days hyperfixating on it all day with just a few breaks, so maybe 12 hours in a day, for 2-3 days in a week, so 24-36hrs in a week. But not all my weeks were like that. I went a couple months not working on it at all because it was stealing my soul.

If we were to say that on average there was just one day a week from September 2022 when I began the project, until November 2023, that I worked on it all day, it'd be one day (12hrs) x 4 weeks in a month x 15 months... That means a minimum of 720hrs went into it.

As for the costs? I was very scared to tally this up, but it's not terrible?... If you consider what some cosplays cost? Some of it is ridiculous, like the fact that I probably spent $100 on beads.

I had to look up what some things cost roughly, and sort of guess, but here's my tally:

MATERIALS -- $143 $90 in various beads $10 sea glass $9 aquamarine crystals $9 blue/mirror crystals $10 hot glue sticks packs x 2 $3 black acrylic paint $6 button bases x 2 $6 blue cabochons for buttons

FABRIC -- $146 $65 velvet x 4yds (but mine was free) $13 cuff lace x 1yrd $13 upper coat lining x 1yrd $13 lower coat lining x 1yrd $5 interfacing x 1yrd $12 thread x 4 $20 swatches x 3 $5 felt for padding

TOOLS -- $80 $8 french curve and other curved rulers $15 rotary blades x 3 $30 rotary cutting board (not even a big one) $23 pattern paper $4 microtex needles (Not included $20 walking foot that was useless) (Not included I had to get a whole goddamn new sewing machine, $500)

A few notes about the spending and amounts:

As you can see! The materials COST AS MUCH AS the fabric. hahahahahahahaahahaa It adds up, it seriously adds up. You keep needing more and more, and honestly I bought it all at such spread out intervals that I wasn't aware it was adding up. It could have also been less because there were a few sales at the craft store. hahaha

I did not have to pay for the velvet because of the issues the company had in getting it to me. Overall, you may notice that regardless of that my yardage is pretty low. It won't be the same for everyone. This was what was needed to produce a garment that is roughly a children's size large, or a women's XXS. It's one way that being a miniscule, little pipsqueak is an advantage... for one's wallet. Not much else good to say about it.

Anyway, tools. Tools is an important category. The fabric needed for this project was finicky and troublesome, and it required not only study on how to handle it, but the right tools and a worthy machine to handle it. I literally could not finish the coat without getting a new machine which was actually gifted to me... as I could not afford it in a million years... There is also no way to cut velvet without a sharp rotary blade and board, and you'll go through several blades in very short time.

So I guess that comes to about $370...

Not terrible... right? And it was free velvet. And I was gifted a machine, and I also had a couple patrons who donated over a hundred dollars, bless them. On the other hand, this was only the cost of the coat, and NOT the cost including the dress shirt, cummerbund, wig, etc.

Needless to say, I am dirt poor this year. No sort of spending like this will be occurring any time soon for further work (to make the pants, to get new boots, to go to events, take pictures) unless I'm able to pick up freelance work or earn more patrons. Yeah.

[somediyprojects]

DIY Wool Camera Wrap

Project by Matt Pierce:

One thing I’m typically seen lugging around is a camera. Most camera bags are overkill, especially when you just want a bit of protection walking around, or you’re packing a camera in another bag for a short trip. I picked up a nice looking, heavy wool remnant from the Pendleton outlet last weekend, so I figured I could try my hand at a simple camera wrap. Now I’ve got just the right amount of walk-around camera protection without the “tourist look.” — Matt

Making a structured camera with soft fabric is kinda crazy unless you use a stiff liner, so I was aiming for more of a protective wrap. This way, you can relax about making things exact and just enjoy sewing what is essentially a pocket with a flap. You have options for an enclosure; just make sure it doesn’t involve any metal that would mar your camera. I went with a simple strap closure that ties into itself.

Materials

heavy wool fabric

strap material — leather or canvas

Tools

sewing machine

scissors or rotary knife

pencil

paper

 Instructions

1. Start with the pencil and paper and loosely trace the dimensions of your camera. If it’s small and square, easy! If it’s got an external lens, you’ll have more facets to your pattern. I traced the bottom of mine for the lens profile and used that pattern for the bottom and top but added extra for the flap. I traced the back for height and then just measured what a front panel would be and cut a long rectangle to fit.

2. Add about 1/4″ to your traced pieces to compensate for sewing the panels together and to add some wiggle room for you camera. Cut your paper template pieces out and then use them to cut your fabric panels. *Note: If your lens is off-centered, be sure to flip your bottom template over to cut the top panel of fabric.

3. After the fabric was cut, I carefully sewed all pieces together inside out. Sew any raw edges over to prevent fraying. Remember to leave openings for your strap, too. Once all panels are sewn together to your liking, turn the pocket outside in and test with your camera. Since I was using some loosely drawn templates, I did have to tighten the fit with another line of stitching on one edge.

4. For a closure, I’d envisioned using a piece of leather to wrap around the camera and tie into itself. Measure a strap piece long enough to wrap around your camera a couple times and tie to itself. Since I didn’t flip my pattern for the top and bottom flaps (see the *note above), I had a bulge in my bottom panel. Rather than re-sewing another wrap, I found this to be the perfect attachment point for the strap. You could sew your strap on the back, or just find a messed up piece on your design like I did and rivet it in place. If you do use a rivet or another hardware attachment, make sure the rivet cannot touch your camera. Since my rivet uses the outer fabric goof, I was safe.

[laxmienterprises]

Full Automatic Hydraulic Egg Tray Making Machine

Semi Automatic Paper Egg Tray Making Machine Electric 42 KW 440 Waste Paper Egg Tray Making Machine Automatic Paper Egg Tray Manufacturing Plant & Machines Waste Paper Automatic Egg Tray Machine Recycle Paper Egg Tray Machine Waste Paper Egg TRAY AND APPLE Tray Machine, Best Egg Trays Making Machine Factory Using Waste Paper Waste Paper Egg Tray Making Machine, 440 KW, Production EGG Trays Making Machine with Waste Paper Paper Egg Tray Making Machine, 91 KW, Production Capacity Automatic Rotary Egg Tray / Egg Carton Making Machine Egg Tray Machine With Affordable Prices Semi Automatic Egg Tray Machine _ Laxmi Enterprises Egg Tray Pulping System Semi Automatic Hydraulic Paper Egg Tray Making Machine बेकार कागज का उपयोग करके अंडे की ट्रे बनाने की सर्वोत्तम मशीन फैक्टरी पेपर एग ट्रे मशीन बेकार कागज अंडा ट्रे बनाने की मशीन, 440 किलोवाट, उत्पादन बेकार कागज/छोटे पैमाने के साथ ईजीजी ट्रे बनाने की मशीन पेपर एग ट्रे बनाने की मशीन, 91 किलोवाट, उत्पादन क्षमता स्वचालित रोटरी अंडा ट्रे / अंडा कार्टन बनाने की मशीन

[noloveforned]

i love bandcamp fridays but they certainly distract from getting my radio show together! tune into wlur from 8pm-midnight to see what i end up playing!

we finished up our first theme of the year last week- all year long we've been starting the shows off with songs about 'work'. we heard songs from east river pipe, pernice brothers, the happy thoughts, the flaming lips, mammoth penguins, superchunk, dolly parton, elvis costello, the bangles, the replacements, ramones, the reds pinks & purples, devo, the clash, drive-by truckers, and harry belafonte.

no love for ned on wlur – april 28th, 2023 from 8-10pm

artist // track // album // label harry belafonte // day-o (the banana boat song) // very best of harry belafonte // rca frankie cosmos // fragments // clean weird prone (inner world peace deluxe) // sub pop the hidden cameras // breathe on it // the smell of our own (deluxe edition) // rough trade rob munk // the ghosts of san francisco // phased out // magic door brontez purnell // jaboukie // jaboukie 7" // sub pop display homes // at capacity // what if you're right and they're wrong? // esrte theke tontraeger sir bobby jukebox // don't say goodbye // in the organ loft at midnight // (self-released) cathedrale // an alibi // words / silence // howlin' banana rotary club // american tower // american tower 7" // iron lung the replacements // hangin' downtown (alternate version) // sorry ma, forgot to take out the trash (deluxe edition) // rhino oswald five-o // all night takeout // serenade // grinning idiot water machine // hot real estate // demo cassette // gold mold packs // smallest one // crispy crunchy nothing // fire talk elizaband // talking in tongues // lonesome celestial // (self-released) mope city // mirror puddle // wind locked me out cassingle // (self-released) bardo pond // destroying angel // peel sessions // fire body/head // tripping // come on 2x7" // three lobed jon collin and niklas anderstedt lindgren // 27:19 // dark country // akti elijah mclaughlin ensemble featuring katinka kleijn // parallax // iii // astral spirits fire! orchestra featuring joe mcphee // echoes: i see your eye, part 2 // echoes // rune grammofon benji b, raven bush, theon cross, nubya garcia, tom herbert, shabaka hutchings, nikolaj torp larsen, dave okumu, nick ramm, dan see, tom skinner and martin terefe // it’s one of these // london brew // concord jazz flora purim // light as a feather // butterfly dreams // milestone david ornette cherry // so and so and so and so // organic nation listening club (the continual) // spiritmuse dinner party featuring hi-tek // watts renaissance // enigmatic society // empire linqua franqa featuring ears // the whole bank // the whole bank digital single // ernest jenning cold beat // paper // mother // crime on the moon marlody // these doubts // i'm not sure at all // skep wax snowy // where am i? // lipreader cassette // (self-released) the ekphrastics // fogtown // special delivery // harriet wild carnation // dodger blue // tricycle (expanded edition) // delmore some velvet sidewalk // 20,000 leagues // appetite for extinction // communion

[creations-by-chaosfay]

Remember to clean your sewing machine between projects. The reason you may be dealing with things like pinched seams and skipped stitches is your sewing machine needs some attention. Do not blow into the machine!!! You will only push lint deeper into the gears.

Remember to change your sewing needles. The seams may be messy because of this, as well as torn threads. Seeing needles are very inexpensive unless you buy them at a fabric store.i purchase mine from Organ Neddles Co, in packs of 100, for less than $20 USD online.

Remember to sharpen your scissors and change your rotary cutter blades. There are scissor sharpeners sold at fabric and craft stores, and they are very inexpensive. If you're unable to acquire one, take some aluminum foil, about 18 inches, fold it in half, and cut down the middle. Put the layers on top of each other and cut again. Do this one more time and cut it into thin strips. Voila, your blade is sharpened. There are rotary blade sharpeners as well, but they're more expensive. Save your used blades for sharpening you can do at a later date.

Your machine will thank you by not breaking and requiring parts be replaced.

Oh, and you do need to get your machine into a shop for full maintenance at least once a year. Folks who specialize in this may even be willing to do this in your home, especially for antique machines. Shops that are approved by retailers will cost significantly more than independent specialists. The only place approved by retailers here charges $150 USD per machine, regardless of whether it's manual or computerized. I went on the NextDoor app and asked for references for finding an independent specialist. It was $89 USD per machine, and he had them back to me in less than two weeks whereas the retailer approved shop gave me an ETA of four months. Give your machine the spa treatment it deserves. When it's returned to you, you will discover it's suddenly quieter, running smoothly, and working significantly better because these were things that built up so gradually, you didn't even notice.

You're welcome.

[ruknowhere]

There is nothing to be learned from history anymore. We’re in science fiction now.

— Allen Ginsberg

*

*

“We have to create. It is the only thing louder than destruction.”

— Andrea Gibson

*

*

Today

-Mary Oliver

Today I’m flying low and I’m

not saying a word.

I’m letting all the voodoos of ambition sleep.

The world goes on as it must,

the bees in the garden rumbling a little,

the fish leaping, the gnats getting eaten.

And so forth.

But I’m taking the day off.

Quiet as a feather.

I hardly move though really I’m traveling

a terrific distance.

Stillness. One of the doors

into the temple.

- Mary Oliver

*

*

These days

Whatever you have to say, leave

the roots on, let them

dangle

And the dirt

Just to make clear

where they come from

--Charles Olson

*

*

To yield is to be preserved whole.

To be bent is to become straight.

To be empty is to be full.

To be worn out is to be renewed.

To have little is to possess.

- Lao Tzu

*

*

Love Like Salt

It lies in our hands in crystals

too intricate to decipher

It goes into the skillet

without being given a second thought

It spills on the floor so fine

we step all over it

We carry a pinch behind each eyeball

It breaks out on our foreheads

We store it inside our bodies

in secret wineskins

At supper, we pass it around the table

talking of holidays and the sea.

-Lisel Mueller from

Leaves and Blossoms

*

*

Only Once

All which, because it was

flame and song and granted us

joy, we thought we'd do, be, revisit,

turns out to have been what it was

that once, only; every invitation

did not begin

a series, a build-up: the marvelous

did happen in our lives, our stories

are not drab with its absence: but don't

expect to return for more. Whatever more

there will be will be

unique as those were unique. Try

to acknowledge the next

song in its body -- halo of flames as utterly

present, as now or never.

-Denise Levertov

*

*

My Grandparents’ Generation

They are taking so many things with them:

their sewing machines and fine china,

their ability to fold a newspaper

with one hand and swat a fly.

They are taking their rotary telephones,

and fat televisions, and knitting needles,

their cast iron frying pans, and Tupperware.

They are packing away the picnics

and perambulators, the wagons

and church socials. They are wrapped in

lipstick and big band music, dressed

in recipes. Buried with them: bathtubs

with feet, front porches, dogs without leashes.

These are the people who raised me

and now I am left behind in

a world without paper letters,

a place where the phone

has grown as eager as a weed.

I am going to miss their attics,

their ordinary coffee, their chicken

fried in lard. I would give anything

to be ten again, up late with them

in that cottage by the river, buying

Marvin Gardens and passing go,

collecting two hundred dollars.

-Faith Shearin

from Telling the Bees.

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Fight for your dreams, and your dreams will fight for you.

— Paulo Coelho

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