Good evening friend,
We have officially entered into the languorous, outstretched days of the summer season. Although midsummer was last week, I still feel as if I am held in its palm; that I am surrounded by its aura.
An aura of something like: sherbet, the tinkling of a wind chime, roses & more roses, puddle of roses, les oiseaux, cantaloupe cream, the swift vanishing edge of a dream.
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Let me also say: I was informed that the link for the June playlist which I sent via my last note was incorrect. So.
I know it is the last few hours of June, but maybe June bleeds a little: maybe it isn’t so defined: maybe there is no border between summer months & they just spill into one another like syrup into tea, like gouache onto paper.
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Here is the first bit of exciting news on this last spill of June: a short piece of mine, a sort-of story, was just published today in Issue 10 from Empty House Press.
I wrote this in Connecticut, in the very room I am sitting in right now. It was five or six in the morning, it was spring. I was awoken by the barking of a dog & as I tried to fall back into sleep, the first lines of this story came to me. They made me get up out of bed. They made me write them out of the center of my mind & onto a page. As I wrote, more was pulled from a deeper corner, like one of those magician’s fabrics that seems unending & changes colors the more it is pulled at.
The story is called “Even from Here” & you can read it via this link ~
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As for the second bit of exciting news: I am absolutely honored to share June’s Rhythm/Devotion with you. This month, we are joined by my brilliant friend Kelli Frances Corrado.
Kelli & I met a few years ago. We were playing a show together, at a funny little dive-bar called Slims in downtown Raleigh, & it was an immediate, magical connection. Now Kelli is a dear friend & she is also my piano teacher. We meet on Monday evenings & talk about flower essences, moon-mapping, & Ingmar Bergman before sitting at the keyboard together (online). She is the kind of music teacher I dreamed of my whole life: one who tells me to tune into bird song before I play, to practice listening for rhythm & who tells me to wear a black stone to ground my left side. She will teach you these things too, if you ask.
Kelli’s interview is like biting into a plum. Short, sweet, with a wise, strong stone in the middle. And how a plum leaves you feeling revived, nourished, & a little more mysterious than before. Here is one of my favorite pieces of wisdom she shared in it:
Make your inner archetype real (goddess, warrior, healer etc.). Think it, believe it, dress it, let it be your shield and sword.
And you will be it.
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Find the rest of Kelli’s interview by following this link here, or clicking on the photo of her below:
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This somewhat breeze comes in through the window I have opened & it stirs me makes me realize it is time to turn towards the end of this note, towards the next thing: a stretch outside, a walk, a smell of the yarrow.
I am wishing you a beautiful spill into July & will be in touch soon with a collective reading & with the almanac, & with a few other tidbits to share.
Until then ~
Sending you somewhat breezes,
Chanelle
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