Poem by Mary Otte Picture by Alison Newey
"The Ancients dream
of things unseen
Where fractured beams
Link with flotsam things.

Words without spellings
Stories without tellings
Peer out through darkness
Illuminating lightness

Like eyes sharp and bright as
A flint struck in fright is
They devour in delight
The things mind puts to sight
In the thick of the night:

The Ancients
Are dreaming
0f we."

Victory for Hemp

On September 28th of this year, California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 566 into the law. Its language, authored by California Senator Mark Leno, is a preparatory outline for farmers and enforcement agencies to be able to move forward with the cultivation of agricultural hemp come January 1, 2014.

SB 566 combines a clear picture of the strict regulations requested by the Department of Justice (to be enforced by the state) and lays out the monetary and environmental potentials of non-psychoactive cannabis sativa (hemp). Minus the regulations, it reads like an excerpt from Jack Herer’s hemp bible, The Emperor Wears No Clothes.

There has, however, been speculation as to if the DoJ will continue to hold the Federal Government’s recent permissive stance on allowing states to enforce cannabis laws as voted in by the people.

Senator Leno remains optimistic. He told HIGH TIMES, “I’m very encouraged by the statements out of the US Department of Justice office. Deputy Attorney General Cole said that as long as states establish a regulatory system for marijuana that the federal government would not interfere. I have to believe this means that if they aren’t going to interfere with states that have regulatory marijuana, why would they interfere with hemp? It is just completely irrational.” He added, “I’ll be working with the state Attorney General to get clarification from the US Attorney General that our belief is correct,” regardless of post-shutdown ripples.

Hemp is the only crop that is illegal to grow in the United States and yet is allowed for import. These schizophrenic policies stem from hemp’s identical federal scheduling to marijuana, basically the stubborn lingering fumes of reefer madness.

Get the whole story here! http://www.hightimes.com/read/victory-hemp

My interview with Adrian Grenier is available here online, but if you haven't already, pick up a hard copy of the AugustHigh Times Magazine anyway before it's too late! Aside from the fantastic articles you'll find, including coverage of the first ever U.S. Cannabis Cup and LSD's 70th birthday, friend Louie Dixon contributed to my recipe column, I interview rapper and all around awesome dude Styles P, and also have a shorty on Iraqi soldier/west coast stoner rapper Singe's new album!

The HIGH TIMES Interview: Adrian Grenier

www.hightimes.com

Best known for his role as Vincent Chase, the laidback heartthrob movie star at the center of HBO’s hit series Entourage, Adrian Grenier is also an active, multi-instrument-rocking

musician, a part-time Brooklyn-based band promoter and an avid

Mary Otte

New article I wrote for Parentgiving.com

Caregiving Lessons from the Oscar Winning Film, Amour »

The Oscar winning film, Amour, is a must see for caregivers, long term care providers and for all of us who plan on aging well or helping others to do so.

and here is a link to a review of the film: http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/film

Poetry by Mary Otte

Mary Otte

When was it that they got ya?

Did ya have the bases covered
From atop your pitcher’s mound
When a flyball left of center
Tipped the glove and hit the ground?

Walkin’ round the corner
Not a worry in the air,
When up came winter’s icy grip,
Stopped your tracks,
And brought on stare?

Paralyzed, but full of hope,
Did ya stand there and just choke,
Cheersing to your withered ghosts?
Lost in eyeball light reflections
Saying you were some sorta perfection
When the ground gave out at last?

Faithful and hardworking
Never done your neighbor wrong
Did they smote your life
Your lovely wife
And take away your health?

Watching stars from out the gutter
Feeling glued upon the sand
Soaring high above the others
Lighting puts you on the land
Thunder rumbles and you cower
Remember days of better had
When money, sex and lots of drugs
Meant a good night with your lads

How was it that they bent you?

A question you couldn’t ask?
A place you couldn’t overtake?
An ass you couldn’t tap?

Get back up you asshole,
This world is meant for living.
Get back up you jackass,
There’s everything to see.
Were those the lines that seemed so fine
You couldn’t believe you couldn’t be?

Words wrap around our fingers
Heads and shoulders
Knees and toes
And whether late or never
Undesired or early show,
Right on time for another’s party
Simply trying to walk the line
You’ve got same in with humanity
As the gurus and the fine:

Those miraculous bursts of sunlight,
Still make it to your eyes.

Poems by Mary Elizabeth Otte

Train Station
Bangbang
One More Round
Just Me Here
Imbalance
Mangos, Nectar, Nectarines
In Full Bloom
Elemental Intoxication
Ode to Divorce
Cleared Out the Moths

from http://www.clydeburger.com/

"People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want
and the courage to take.” Emma Goldman