i wrote this for you how to love the world

lightning bolts are
fireflies singing, isn’t it sublime?
this tranquil
this velvet
this ember
this whisper
this solitude
this shhh
no one likes to be shushed
unless it’s by the sea
I shot this selfie video this week on a beach in Riccione, the Emilia-Romanga region of Italy.
Don’t forget to turn off the outside noise and listen to the sea.
XO, Annie
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HiYA VEEPS! (Very Exceptional, Extraordinary Peoples)
The video above was recorded in Rhodes, Greece, last week. It was my first time visiting Greece and I am 100% in love with the place. The sea so salty you can float for days without even trying. The people so friendly you just can’t wait to thank them in their language, efharistó! To which they will reply with a sing-songy, Parakaló! The sun so hot but you don’t mind it ‘cause it’s a dry heat, ya know?
I tried to meet up with an online art teacher of mine while I was in Greece because she was just moments away from me, and I had a dream we’d meet (before I even knew we’d both be there.) But in our back-and-forth, it felt like I was bugging her, so I stopped trying. It made me feel bad, though. Like, if she actually knew me, she’d love to meet me! That’s what my mind was telling me. And why would I dream it if it wasn’t to be? What are dreams anyway? Surrealist hopes? Anyhow, I had to let it go. We are always having to let things go, aren’t we?
Oh, and before I knew Greece was in our plans, I was contacted by a translator who wanted to translate one of my books into Greek. So that is happening as we speak. Preeetty, preeeeety cool.
I’m still in Italy, writing and drawing from my “studio” (the blue chair.) And I’m still thankful that you’re here, reading and responding to what I do.

XO, Annie

You can find my books in several languages here!

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I created the above artwork on a recent creative retreat in Ojai and then wrote this poem about it. It got me thinking about inspiration and how, if we stay open to it, we can allow ourselves to be inspired by ourselves, creating an endless loop di loop of awareness and joy. I like this thought. This idea that inspiration is never far and that we ourselves are creating it into existence just by… noticing. This way, we can never run out of it. I’m leaning into this idea with eyes wide open. You?
she floated inside her patterned prism
like a ghost cloud in shades of greenemerald green because — her riches,forest green because — her mystery,olive green because — i’m hungryMaybe I should just get going, I tell my bare feet.’cause i can’t look at herher eyes have been burning holes through my spirit all nighther checkered rainbow scares meshe got tricksher left cheek — waves of peach and violether third eye — an orange box who knows my secretsa mouth that calls mewith lips that won’t moveflowers fly out of her with increasing speedshe’s a gift i didn’t ask fora present wrapped by confused handsshe’s too much to look atsome say i’m too much / so i get itwe can’t be everyone’s Christmasnot all have been taught to swim in deep watersand the weather can be so unpredictable (don’t ya think?)she’s strong and stickysolid and wrinkledi would unwrap her if she’d let metears of gold orchids and blue swans fall down her right eyeMaybe I should just…stay a little longer
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i’m watching you catwalking my applause and i’m
smitten
by the reminder
you’re me thirty years ago
how can i even have a thirty years ago?
it’s impossible
time
it’s too trippy to be real
it’s a Wes Anderson fever dream
time
your mischievous grin both excites and angers me
i invented that f*****g grin!
time
dammit
it’s your turn, isn’t it?
already?
no, no, no, i want more, more, more!
because i kept my wants
i can
grasp for your disco ball rhinestones
i can
taste your shiny leather boots
i can
learn what makes you now
and then i can be it too
your sparks are not shadows of my longing
only a memory
you ask me, aren’t you having fun?
and i want to tell you i am the fun!
i am the one
i want to tell you
i am not your experience
i am not your piece of wisdom
i am not, god forbid, your sampling of maturity
i am you
only then
not now
and now, this now, this now is for you
dammit
i’m not prepared for this
i body roll into 1995 and now my grin matches yours
and my Gen X meets your Gen Z
and then, then, then, then
we are through
we go back in
time
time
time
and i won’t ask the Gods, “where does it go?”
it just
g o e s
A Question Prompt for you:
Do you feel time is zooming by or moving at fine pace? What are some changes you’ve noticed as you get older and how do you feel about those changes?
Write or think on this:
In what ways are you better now that you’re older than you were yesterday?
You can share your thoughts with me in the comments here:

Thank you for being here for my Friday at 11:11 am offerings. 🙏🏼

If you’re a paid subscriber, or if you’ve purchased my books on Amazon, my signed art books here or my original art here, I can’t thank you enough for your extra interest, love and support, you beautiful patron of the arts, you! 🫶🏼



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one night a group of poets
gathered in a musical home
where a man called Scooter warned,
“they will want to divide us. we can’t let them divide us.”

i take a quiz online and learn that i am no superhero
that a desperate thunder storm makes me run for shelter
that an unspoken curveball hurts my brain
i change my passwords but the unwanted
still arrives
i want to be who i have always been
but will it upset my mother long gone?
can i mother myself into knowing
tulips can’t thrive from these ashes
we can’t enjoy the purple speckle stem of the blood lilies
and the desert rose blossoms only
when the sun shines brightly
nothing beautiful can bloom in hate dry land this
instead, let us gather together in a musical home
and listen to a man called Scooter

Thanks for being here for my Fridays at 11:11 am offerings.

And if you’re a paid subscriber, or if you’ve purchased my books on Amazon, my signed art books here or my original art here, I can’t thank you enough for your extra interest, love and support. 🫶🏼 You beautiful patron of the arts, you!


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Is your Lavender Done Blooming?
I don’t think so
I planted it as a child
I lulled myself to sleep with visions of me
on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
Decades later,
in my waking life,
it happens!
I’m on The Tonight Show!
Carson is out
Leno is in.
(It’ll have to do.)
Jay wants me to spend my time talking about a boy
a rock star I’m dating
I’m young but not too young to know that this moment may never come again
So I’m taking it for me
Not for a boy
So I refuse
So I instead,
talk about my mom,
letters from prison
and my feet.
So many letters from prison. In perfect penmanship. About my feet.
All I ever wanted was my own TV show and a dog. In the late 90s, I got both. I told E Entertainment that’s all I want and it might still be true.
No, who am I kidding/I want much more now.
But yes the dog, always the dog.
Having dreams come true made me feel extra generous so why not give the fans what they want? It was my idea for a shoeless show - for the feet fanciers of the world. After that episode airs,
the letters really start coming in.
I didn’t keep these letters from prison so before going on Leno, so I rewrite one from memory; in my impossibly sloppy penmanship, I write a fake letter from prison to myself, and I read it to Jay on The Tonight Show
Leno snatches it from my hand as soon as I’m done, “ Let me see that,” he holds it up to the camera, “Look at this crazy writing. you can tell it’s from prison.”
Smoke fills my brain fog of angels in the mirror, and I/it all unfolds before my very eyes…
Hollywood legend Ralph Edwards gives me the thumbs up, he’s so proud. I’m everybody’s daughter, sister, and sharp-tongued gal. I’ve always loved television and I don’t regret a single rerun watched, and I’m ready when I become the one to be watched.
The moonless sound stage begins to flicker, and the color fades from everyone and everything; the glitter is gone off of Leno’s face - he’s only a sepia man now, oblivious to the change. I must have willed Old Hollywood to come to me because it’s The Colgate Hour and canned laughter fills the air.
I Henny Youngman my way to the edge of the stage, and I reach out my arms to hug the crowd. My right arm turns into a microphone, circa 1946, and my left arm turns into an antenna so I can come in clearly. so I speak into my right arm,
I told the doctor I broke my leg in two places. He told me to quit going to those places. HAHAHAH!!!!!
But the audience doesn’t laugh. They are frozen. I adjust my left arm to see if it’s me causing the bad reception - but no, they are all still frozen. I look back at Leno and I guess when I wasn’t looking, his head became a hubcap.
Someone somewhere musta opened a can, ‘cause the laughter is a crackling thunderstorm and I like it at first but then it won’t stop and it keeps getting louder.
The applause sign is blinking so fast I think I might blow a fuse.
I can feel it in my chest, that feeling - I’m on stage, and everything is as it should be - no one knows me but everyone loves me in a chaotic distant way and I can’t hear myself think but maybe it’s for the best - all my dreams are coming true - if I’m sleeping, let me be, if I’m awake I’ll take off my shoes   
these are my feet,
this is my lousy handwriting,
this is my moment
this could be too much
this could be not enough
God, I hope it never ends.



Extra Content:
Below is a sneak peak at the movie I'm co-starring in.
Coming soon, sometime in late 2024.
An unemployed man with too much time on his hands teams up with his no-nonsense ex-girlfriend to make a true crime documentary about his fiancé's twenty-year-old kidnapping. Everyone is a suspect, including him.
Director
John Weiner
Writer
John Weiner
Stars
Annie Wood - John Weiner - Toby Huss
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