My father’s younger brother, Jim de la Perriere, died during the early morning hours of March 25, 2014 in Georgia. He was a sweet man who had a not-terribly-happy life.

Jim adored his animals; he loved football; he graduated from University of Georgia law school; he served in local government in the 1970s. He knew everyone in Athens & everyone knew him, but he was, I believe, one of the loneliest people I’ve ever known.

Over the past 15 years he developed Alzheimer’s, had to give up his beloved dogs & move into a nursing home, fell apart physically in ways that no one would want to hear about & spent down every cent he had ever worked so hard to make, dying without a dime to his name in a place where no one much cared about him.

If you read this and if you can, say a prayer for him today to let him know that, regardless of everything, the world is smaller without him in it & that we’re so glad he’s finally released, & wish him Godspeed.

DdlP with Rilke (the former Safeway parking lot cat) dressed to the nines & hard at work  [text is from the poem “Penelope at the Wheel”]

What was Women Poets Wearing Sweatpants?

“A feminist intervention. A poetry journal at meme speed. An attempt to give the internet what it wanted. A critique and a joke. A joke of a critique? A lot of fun. Not enough. A pop-up virtual community that published every submission it received. A stocking stuffer advertised entirely via social media, and conceived, curated, and closed in two weeks. A commentary on the too-easy conflation of women’s artwork, physical bodies, and virtual existences. A taking-back of the reigns. A nod to Barbara Kruger. A toast to the selfie. A laugh of the Medusa. Was it snarky? Was it earnest? Was it equalizing? Was it dumb? Was it empowering? It was post by post.
—Becca Klaver

 More here: http://womenpoetswearingsweatpants.tumblr.com/