Cat Thursday - Funny animal voiceovers (not just cats)

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and often hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite lolcat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Share the link to your post with your comment below.

I've been obsessed with these voiceovers lately. They are so funny. Having a down day? I guarantee watching these will cheer you up. The first two are not all cats. There are some dogs and other animals. The last one...the ducks. I saw it yesterday on Instagram and I could not stop laughing. Enjoy!

@nurse_cristiedavis

♬ original sound - Cristie Davis RN, BSN🩺

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Dancehall by Tim Stobierski - Review

Love is a hard thing. It seems so easy when things are going well, and then they're not, and it's a whole other ball of wax. Many of us (like me, for instance) have hardened our hearts to love because of painful experiences, but that doesn't mean we don't look back at times on the love we had and feel sorrow and a deep longing for it. When I first started reading this collection, I felt the pain and longing rush back and I found myself in tears. It's powerful to evoke this kind of reaction in a reader. 

These two poems from Act One...I was not ready for my reaction (see above)...

Falling in love with you

was like venturing into the sun

after spending hours in the darkness

Melody

The first April night you and I kissed

in the parking lot behind the bar,

I remember the rain

played piano on my skin--

soft and cool, a song

I'd known the lyrics to

so many years before,

sitting in the backseat of my mother's Volvo

as she drove me home from Sunday school

the week we had learned about grace.

The words escape me,

but with your lips against mine

I can almost hear the tune.

and in Act Three, what I went through after my divorce...

from "Heartbreak echoes"...

There is, of course, that first momentous rip--

clear and fibrous and sharp

and so unlike any other pain you have ever felt.

Don't worry. It will heal.

It is the echoes that will get you,

dull and muffled as they are--

It's the echoes that will get you...and they're still there, however small, even after all these years.

And finally, I'm reminded it does get easier. It did get easier. But there's still what was, and what might have been...

from "Just as breathing"...

But just as breathing 

slows once more, and calms

once the running stops,

so, too, does this get easier. 

I'll admit it. This collection wrecked me. But what is poetry if it is not inducing such deep emotion? I say, well done, Mr. Stobierski. 

About the collection:

A queer love story in five acts, Dancehall follows the arc of a relationship from its earliest days to its final, somber conclusion.

In these 60 poems, you will join the speaker as they navigate the highs and the lows, the tranquility and the turbulence, the euphoria and the despair that comes with giving yourself fully to another.

Through language, imagery, and form at once universal and intimate, you are invited to take part in this love story – not as some distant observer, but as a central figure: The “you” to whom the speaker writes these poems.

Experienced poetry readers and poetry novices alike will enjoy the clean, simple style embodied in the majority of the poems.

Whether straight or queer, young or old, single or happily partnered, these poems are for anyone who has ever loved or longed for another.

Advance Praise:

“Tim Stobierski’s debut volume, Dancehall, captures the thrall of first real love in Sapphic poems that tumble with excitement and tumult. I rooted for the lovers, feeling as swept away as the speaker is: “Harvest me by the handful;/tear me out of the black earth.” Stobierski’s stunning imagery will have you enthralled again with the love poem and clinging with suspense while riding the affair’s arc.” – Pegi Deitz Shea, two-time winner of the Connecticut Book Award and author of The Weight of Kindling.

“Erotic, sublime, funny, and sharp, Tim Stobierski writes poems the way tango-dancers cross the floor: His confidence, mastery of language, sexual energy, and essential vitality make it impossible to turn away. You’ll read, and you’ll weep, or sigh, or laugh, or be swept off your feet by longing—grateful to be alive, but reminded of love’s price and desire’s debt. You’ll read Stobierski’s poems out loud and recite them at weddings, and you’ll remember them as you fall asleep.” –Gina Barreca, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of English Literature at the University of Connecticut and author of They Used to Call Me Snow White, But I Drifted.

“Tim Stobierski’s collection, Dancehall, is in itself an ode to love, with all its passion and contradictions, gifting readers a wisdom we could only learn through a language like his, a skillful juxtaposition of love and loss, tenderness and lust. Stobierski is a master of craft, a speaker who knows how to feel, who knows that love is a journey and a puzzle. His titles intrigue, his last lines transport the reader way beyond the initial moment. Each short poem is a tender vignette that smacks of the truth of human relationships, each one a moment to be felt, tasted, savored, cold and warmth juxtaposed. In them, we feel the passion and contradictions, something between the tender and the tumultuous—something like love Tim Stobierski’s poems speak to everyone. Dancehall is a welcome reminder of poetry’s often overlooked power to awaken us to the beauty, complexity, and fragility of love, life, and the small gifts we often ignore.” –Pat Mottola, author of After Hours (Five Oaks Press)

“In these tender poems, Tim Stobierski traces the familiar yet always-wrenching arc of early love gained, then lost. And while the darlings here are queer and kissing in parking lots, this tale brings us right back to Dante’s Vita Nuova and the love lyric’s difficult task: to explore the particularities of a singular vanished beloved in language that allows its readers, its voyeurs, to feel intimately present.” –V. Penelope Pelizzon, author of Whose Flesh Is Flame, Whose Bone Is Time

“This book works like the metal teeth of a zipper, alternating exigent heartbreak with love throes. You can read it in one sitting, persisting even as its teeth catch on and scrape your skin, because it is such a pleasure ‘to remember what it is like / to be so lonely.'” –Darcie Dennigan, author of Corinna A-Maying the Apocalypse and Madame X

“At first glance, Dancehall is a title that conjures, to some, Jamaican dancehall music and the various popular dances this reggae style and vibe created. But a dancehall is also a public hall or building in which people dance, whether you call it a club, a disco, or a nightspot. Tim Stobierski’s Dancehall tells the tale of a queer love story enacted nimbly as image/word dances and flourishes on the page. The speaker in these poems invites the reader to consider the myriad ways narratives are crafted in poetic form. One is struck by the brevity Stobierski establishes with poems such as the “Apolloniad,” which calls upon Greek mythology, and one poem “Falling in love with you” that appears pirouette-like in all five “acts” of the collection. There is a lot to admire in Stobierski’s collection of poems, and it’s a gem I’ll enjoy reading again and again.” –Sean Frederick Forbes, author of Providencia, a book of poems

“In Dancehall, a love story in five acts, Stobierski selects, dissects, and presents a series of moments—ranging from the mundane to the passionate to the anguished—that, when strung together, tell the complicated story of loving someone fully. While each poem is strong on its own, the work is tied together by recurring themes, comparisons, and language that take the reader on a rollercoaster of love and loss. Both playful and hard-hitting, it’s unputdownable.” –Catherine Cote, founder of Project Empathy

“Stobierski’s Dancehall traces romantic love from its early, ingenuous encounters, when one lover can entreat the other to “speak me into being“ and the whole natural world, from the keenest flower to the ocean itself, grows more vital and fine. But Stobierski’s book, like love itself, also embraces darkness. It goes on to explore that same love lost, as the poet learns to “give praise to the shadows,” in a renewed and more reflective effort to entwine the self and the other. These poems are acutely attuned to love’s shadow and love’s light.” –David Groff, Live in Suspense

About the Poet:

Tim Stobierski writes about relationships. His work explores universal themes of love, lust, longing, and loss — presented through the lens of his own experiences as a queer man. His poetry has been published in a number of journals, including the Connecticut River Review, Midwest Quarterly, and Grey Sparrow. His first book of poetry, Chronicles of a Bee Whisperer, was published by River Otter Press in 2012.

To pay the bills, he is a freelance writer and content strategist focused on the world of finance, investing, fintech, insurance, and software. In his professional writing, he prides himself on his ability to help the reader understand complicated subjects easily, a quality that informs his poetry.

He is also the founder and editor of Student Debt Warriors, a free resource for college students, graduates, and parents who are struggling to make sense of the complex world of student loans. Follow Tim on Instagram.

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Available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

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Cat Thursday: Authors and Cats (123) Muriel Spark

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite lolcat pic you may have come acros s, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Share the link to your post with your comment below.

The second Cat Thursday of each month is Authors and Cats Thursday. Each time I will feature an author, pictured with their/a cat(s), or guest posts by cat loving authors who also (sometimes) write about cats.

Muriel Spark, copyright Alan Riding for New York Times.

Dame Muriel Spark, DBE was a prolific Scottish novelist, short story writer and poet whose darkly comedic voice made her one of the most distinctive writers of the twentieth century. In 2008 The Times newspaper named Spark in its list of "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945".

Spark received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1965 for The Mandelbaum Gate, the Ingersoll Foundation TS Eliot Award in 1992 and the David Cohen Prize in 1997. She became Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993, in recognition of her services to literature. She has been twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize, in 1969 for The Public Image and in 1981 for Loitering with Intent. In 1998, she was awarded the Golden PEN Award by English PEN for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature". In 2010, Spark was shortlisted for the Lost Man Booker Prize of 1970 for The Driver's Seat.

Spark received eight honorary doctorates in her lifetime. These included a Doctor of the University degree (Honoris causa) from her alma mater, Heriot-Watt University in 1995; a Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris causa) from the American University of Paris in 2005; and Honorary Doctor of Letters degrees from the Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, London, Oxford, St Andrews and Strathclyde.

Spark grew up in Edinburgh and worked as a department store secretary, writer for trade magazines, and literary editor before publishing her first novel, The Comforters, in 1957. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, published in 1961, and considered her masterpiece, was made into a stage play, a TV series, and a film.

Source: Goodreads

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Cat Thursday - They don't even have to try to be funny

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and often hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite lolcat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Share the link to your post with your comment below.

My Arya can sit like that too!

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Cat Thursday - Senior cats

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and often hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite lolcat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Share the link to your post with your comment below.

Check out more at Cheezburger

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The Unempty Spaces Between by Louis Efron - Review

I always find it uncanny when I read a collection and one particular poem seems to fit with my current mindset. I had been thinking about keepsakes and memories, photographs, and school papers and artwork from my sons' school days. I started feeling sad because we always seem to forget to go back and look at that stuff, and want so much to do it, and make the time for it...and yet, I feel like there's no time. And so, I read the poem "Empty Attic" and there it is, pretty much what I was thinking. And I quote, "...our treasures...memories unlit by such neglected bulbs...still failing to see ourselves illuminated as dust settles again on the balconies of our mind...precious things boxed for overwhelmed hands and a crowded heart..."

"Nicked Wedding Ring"...boy, does it speak the truth. I have witnessed a couple of deaths where greed and anger are all that seemed present. I quote a couple of stanzas here...

Death brings out the very best in people

The ugly DNA of their soul

Self-righteousness hangs above the church steeple

A look into a twisted peephole

Even before the body grows cold

Vultures fighting over the money basket

Papers burned to keep the stolen gold

Jewelry hidden in the viewing casket

"Arcadian Eyes" really captures the current crisis of our so plugged in world. "...we are lonely...a world that can no longer be unplugged...where soft hands without heartbeats join then pass through to emptiness."

A lot of the poetry I've been reading lately touches on the state of our world. Poetry is so organic. I think it is one of the best forms for these topics. In "Reflection," the last two stanzas are powerful.

A rhyme that riffs a careless scrawl

A world in desperate need of peace

Two hands dropping a wanting ball

A time that now must cease

What will tomorrow's reflection hold?

Blood-stained cheeks, sockets conspiring to swell

Clocks stop ticking before the story is told

Doors now open, a quick descent to Hell

This is an outstanding debut collection. Highly recommended to anyone who loves poetry.

Advance Praise:

"A beautiful creation of song and scar, of emotional complexity and simple witness, Louis Efron’s debut collection The Unempty Spaces Between mingles the natural and human worlds in a series of accessible, personal, universal poems. From lush to bare, the landscapes he presents us with are so intertwined with and impacted by our actions that we realize the two have always been one. Brimming with meditations deep as winter snow and boundless compassion and curiosity, these vibrant poems remain grounded in a universal familiarity that opens us up to something greater." -John Sibley Williams, author of As One Fire Consumes Another

"Haunting, harrowing and frighteningly incisive . . . a welcome assault on the senses" -Jim Volz, PH.D
Editor, Shakespeare Theatre Association’s Quarto

" . . . a reverence for nature and personal connection that reminds us of Mary Oliver’s gorgeous nature poems." - Karol Nielsen, author of Small Life

"This work of poetry is worthy of a good read and the time of those who enjoy serious writing." -Emmett Wheatfall, author of Our Scarlet Blue Wounds

About the Poet:

Louis Efron is a poet and writer who has been featured in Forbes, Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune, POETiCA REViEW, The Orchards Poetry Journal, Academy of the Heart and Mind, Literary Yard, New Reader Magazine and over 100 other national and global publications. He is also the author of five books, including The Unempty Spaces Between, How to Find a Job, Career and Life You Love; Purpose Meets Execution; Beyond the Ink; as well as the children’s book What Kind of Bee Can I Be?

Available on Amazon

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Cat Thursday - Never a dull moment

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and often hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite lolcat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Share the link to your post with your comment below.

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