An Unburied Breath

An unburied breath
can remember its own name
even in the witching hour.
Dreams of my youth startle me
by how bright and close they seem.

Photo by Egor Vikhrev on Unsplash

Song Choice: Breath of Life by Florence and the Machine

Liner Notes for this Groove: This poem is linked to Poets and Storytellers United's Friday Writings, Modern Marvels. The modern invention I'm most grateful for is my new C-PAP machine. Best sleep I've had in ages!

By Rommy Cortez-Driks

Of Sound Minds and Bodies

When asked what I was like as a child, my go-to answer is “pretty much your average paperweight.” Leave me in a spot with a book and there I’d stay until someone came to pull me out of my mental Narnia. As you might imagine, I wasn’t all that physical of a child (unless music was involved—I did and still do love to dance).

I first started working out as a teen because of vanity, then kept it up because of the mood boost I get. As I’ve mentioned other times on the blog, I even learned to appreciate playing sports as an adult. Fitness is a regular part of my routine.

I was proud of myself for keeping up with working out through the pandemic, because even when I was tired, I still wanted that endorphin bump and feeling of accomplishment. Then a few days after I came back from vacation, I rolled my ankle and managed to tweak a ligament on the top of my foot.

I won’t lie. I had lots of ‘poor me’ thoughts for the first few days (especially when I was told I might have broken something). And it didn’t help that I relied on that mood booster in the months that followed a very dear friend’s death (to be honest, I still have horrible days where grief swallows me whole). But I remembered the example of another dear friend, who keeps getting some wicked curveballs thrown at her fitness routine. If one way is closed, try another, and another, until something works.

Turns out YouTube is quite helpful for finding routines you can do without putting weight on your foot. I don’t get the same rush, but it was mentally soothing to me to be able to do them, and then graduate to walking around the block later. Last week I got cleared to go back to my usual routine. I’m glad I took it slow and didn’t reinjure myself. 

My long-term fitness goal is to be the abuelita chasing her grandkids on the playground. But I have a new appreciation for the short-term mood boost benefits too. My body and brain are finally on the same page.

Me in my favorite work-out clothes. Shown here are my 4 main moods:

earnest nerdiness, stoically processing trauma,

cheerleader for family and friends, and MURDER EXPLOSION QUEEN.

By Rommy Cortez-Driks

Song Choice: Dance Again by Selena Gomez

Liner Notes for this Groove: This was written in response to the Weekly Scribblings prompt given at Poets and Storytellers United, Take Care of Your Body.

Sportsball Wizard: Blogging Around with Rommy, Week 43

quick blink—

              and I’m the smallest one

              on an enormous field,   

              praying to the wind

              to keep that ball away

              while trying not to notice

              pitying looks

  and disdainful laughter.

quick blink—

              I’m still the smallest one

              but now I’m the wind

              heading for that ball

              grinning while friendly 

              cheers accompany me

              straight into the goal.

This poem was created in response to the prompt at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: Time Travel -Flashbacks with Bjorn.

Liner Notes for this Groove: As I've mentioned before on this blog, I've become a big fan of playing sportsball (i.e. team sports activities) at my work place. What might be even more surprising to me is (that as long as I remember to diligently warm up) I've become not a half bad player. I'm actually pretty decent to the point people want me on their team. I even earned myself a nickname, "the Wizard" (I always work out in nerd themed gym clothes, including Harry Potter ones).

If Tee Turtle ever carries this t-shirt design back in stock again
I am sooooo getting one. Because reasons.

 My company is moving locations in the near future, so that means there will likely be an interruption to my sportsball time as things settle down. I'll still exercise at home, but it won't be the same. I'm going to miss my sportsball. This reminds a little of a quote by Anne Lamott, who said that figuring the act of writing was its own reward, was "like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony." I went along with sportsball, because it was just a form of exercise. But since then, I've discovered I really need the game itself.

Speaking of moving, I'm moving my main posting day. Starting  Nov 24th, I'll be doing Blogging Around with Rommy on Sundays. Thanks for sticking with me through all the shifting around. So what has you moving these days, Groovers? Talk to me about it in the comments and drop a link to your cyberhome if you feel moved to continue the conversation there.

Song Choice: Do I hear La Copa De La Vida by Ricky Martin in my head sometimes when I'm running on the field? Yep. When I score critical or game winning goals might I hear Pinball Wizard in my head, replacing "pinball" with "sportsball"? Perhaps. 😂

By Rommy Cortez-Driks

Taming of the Food Satan: Blogging Around with Rommy Week 21

Bounty equals bane

when it weakens strong resolve.

Love adjusts its course.

This poem is linked up to Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads' Tuesday Platform.

Liner Notes For This Groove: While I can’t say I’m in bad physical shape, I’ve been trying hard to get better. I’m becoming a champ at sportsball (scored the winning goal last week). I’m also stronger enough in general that I noticed I’m a lot smoother getting up and down from full seiza position in a kimono. But as everyone knows, no health regimen is complete without taking food into consideration.

That’s where things get tricky. My dear, sweet, loving husband has a dark side. Our friends have given him a nickname to describe it—Food Satan. This man knows what tempts you. He can find a gourmet shop in the wilderness (no really, once on a vacation in Maine, in a cabin on an island where you can go days without seeing anyone who isn’t in the cabin with you, he found a store specializing in fancy food and brought a ton of it back with him). People like putting him in charge of bringing food because not only can he find the tastiest prepared treats, he’s also a pretty amazing cook.

My husband is also one of those people who shows love through food. And if you haven’t guessed by reading some of my poetry, we still really dig each other. So for much of my marriage I’ve been showered in impromptu treats of fancy chocolates, beautifully prepared steaks, assorted rich desserts, and matcha lattes. There have been times, when like Jane Austen I'd declare, “But indeed I would rather have nothing but tea.” And he'd return with tea—and a caramel-chocolate-nut-carbohydrate bomb that equals half the caloric requirement a woman my size needs for the day.

 

I know this was a goofy meme, but I'd seriously hang this up as a print in my house.

Changes needed to be made.

It is still a work in progress. I’ve had to remind him occasionally that while I love his thoughtfulness, maybe when it comes to food it’s best not to “surprise” me. But this last Sunday when he went out in search for a cup of coffee from one of his favorite shops he asked me if I wanted a latte first. I told him I had already planned to whip up a lower calorie, homemade version with one of my favorite teas as a treat. And all he brought home that day for me was a kiss.

But he the next day he came home with a ton of turkey bacon and lamb steaks. Yeah, baby steps…baby steps.

By Rommy Cortez-Driks

Song Choice: Everybody Eats When They Come to My House by Cab Calloway

Eye of the Tiger: Blogging Around with Rommy Week 15

That sound of howling you heard on Monday morning coming from Bucks County, PA was not the sound of White Walkers descending upon one of our scenic castles (seriously, we have a few of them). It was the noise I made when I realized how many things I had to do and how little time I had to do them. One of these things was exercise.

As I’ve mentioned here before, I am working hard at keeping up an exercise routine. Last week was a perfect storm of craziness with my birthday, my dad’s birthday, getting my son home from college, getting the house ready for Passover, putting the house back together after Passover, and NaPoWriMo. Also I have hit the Plateau of Nothingness as far as gains from exercise go. So did I blow off my routine?

Nope. I modified it, getting a little extra in on days I knew would be less intense, cutting myself a little slack on days where I felt more confused than Alice at the mad tea party. And I got my goal of 5 workouts a week in. If it’s important to me, I’m going to get it done. Writing works the same way. There were days in April it was tough to stick to even my modified NaPoWriMo schedule (yay, stomach flu). But the 15^th blackout piece gone done and here’s the 15^th expansion:

Carelessly sown seeds

need extra safeguards or else

death comes suddenly.

So I protect my passion.

I’ve seen weakness kill a dream

This blackout piece comes from the galley proof of my book,

The Trouble with Wanting, and Other Not-Quite Faerie Tales.

If you've read the book, you might recognize this as Lynna's sea-glass pendant.

This poem is linked to Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads' Tuesday Platform.

And now I’ve finished up my writing goal! *happy dance* Wilkie Collins once wrote, “My hour for tea is half–past five, and my buttered toast waits for no one.” It is a little past when I normally work out, but I drop my goals for no one. Yeah, I think I can get a good half hour in.

So what’s new in your world Groovers? We can chat about exercise or just tell me how your week is going. Want to keep the conversation going on at your place? Make sure to drop the link to it somewhere in your comments.

By Rommy Cortez-Driks

Song Choice: Eye of the Tiger by Survivor

Stretching

Stretching
towards sunlight
reminds tired muscles
boundaries can be pushed
again.

Song Choice: I'll Make a Man Out of You performed by Jackie Chan


I like tea and yoga, but I don’t do yoga.
-Moby

Notes from the real world:

A couple of months ago, I injured myself in a friendly game of sportsball* during an exercise class at work (I may have been taking out my ire over political events on unsuspecting coworkers). This was completely preventable had I bothered to warm up and then stretch, instead of jumping in like I was possessed by the ghost of Boudica. No more sportsball, no more aerobics or Zumba for me for at least a few weeks. Unable to face the risk of going mad from lack of activity, I grudgingly turned to a yoga DVD my husband had bought years ago.

Funny thing, I forgot how much I really enjoyed yoga. I think I stopped doing it because of misguided ideas about what it meant to challenge myself. But after a few weeks of doing it, and feeling a lot of improvement in my hip and in my overall body strength and flexibility, I realized it'd be really dumb of me move forward with any exercise plan that didn't include yoga, especially if it means I could get better  at the other physical stuff I'm doing. I don't limit myself to just matcha tea, so why should I limit the types of physical activity I do?

I've been giving a lot of thought to what comes next for me in terms of writing. I am coming out of what feels like an editing marathon, so a little down time is in order. But just like I don't like being physically inactive, I don't think could stay away from writing completely. Firstly, I can't, as Magaly has made sure I'm blogging regularly on Wednesdays. But even more than that, I forgot that sharing bits of the real world is both fun and qualifies as a disciplined writing practice. While it may take a couple more weeks for me to settle on The Next Big Goal (and let's be real, even when I pick something, I'll still need to take time to work out a good plan or writing outline) I'm kind of enjoying this. With all due respect to Moby, if you like something, why not do it, especially if it in no way impedes you (or might even help) in doing other things you love? It seems kind of silly not to. 

*Sportsball - What I call pretty much any game played with a ball. I'm really not much of an athlete, I just like to run around fast.

By Rommy Cortez-Driks

Shimmy Drill

A bit of soreness in my thighs,

that’s what I get for being a paperweight as a child -

hips that aren’t quite as fluid as I’d like,

feet that turn out,

and a bit of a slouch.

Muscles groan.

Bones ask me,

"Do you really want to do this?"

Then the music starts.

I whirl,

brought to life by the rhythm.

I scoff at the soreness.
There will be stretches.
And perhaps Epsom salts later.

But, yes,
I want this.

By Rommy Cortez-Driks

Image used with kind permission of the artist, Meredith Dillman. 

This and other art by her is available at her etsy store The Art of Meredith Dillman.

Song choice: Chicky by Oojami 
This poem was created from a prompt offered by Magaly Guerrero for NaPoWriMo (Day 8: It Hurts But Does Not Harm)

A Bit O' Sunshine

Woot! Got nominated for another blogger award.

OK, let's get the 11 facts out of the way:

1.) I'm an unrepentant food snob. It's actually a fabulous way to keep charge of my health. I only blow my calories on stuff I really like. As Anton Ego said in Ratatouille, "If I don't love it, I don't swallow."

2.) That may be the most unintentionally dirty line in a Pixar movie ever.

3.) I am the shortest person at my office.

4.) I actually don't mind snow days too much - unless my house loses power!

5.) I adore Indian food.

6.) Even though Valentine's Day was a snow day with the kids, the hubby made sure to grab some Indian food to eat in once the roads were clear.

7.) The first Valentine's Day I spent with the hubby we watched Army of Darkness.

8.) Though our Valentine's evening was delayed, we continued the tradition by watching an episode of Dexter on our date night.

9.) Although the hubby and I are different religions, we agreed about the way our children should be brought up - as geeks.

10.) Dr. Who is family TV at our place, along with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

11.) My daughter returned the favor by introducing me to My Little Pony. As much as I wanted to avoid that show, I ended up liking it.

I am also going to stick with just 3 blogs to nominate for this award:

She Who Seeks
Rhissanna
Rue and Hyssop

By Rommy Cortez-Driks