Category Archives: Uncategorized

Poison

Poison
September 27, 2008

I remember when poison
was clearly marked
with a skull and bones,
and, drunk by grinning cartoon characters,
resulted in Xed eyes, a dramatic expiration,
eyes uplifted to heaven,
fanfared closing credits,
and then they’re back
for another improbable episode.

Like many lessons learned on Saturday
mornings, this one falls rather short.

Sugar Smacks are not a complete breakfast,
and knowing is much,
much less than half the battle.

This poisonous man invades
our safe places with bows,
eyes uplifted to heaven, and servile
words that fool no-one — unless, perhaps,
he fools himself, truly believes
that poison unseen, hidden away,
imagined gone,
miraculously transubstantiates
into grape juice,

that those of us who have drunk
deeply of this
too-many-years aged vintage
spontaneously spring back up
for another slapstick-filled
show, brought to you
by Matel and Kool-Aid,

and by Arsenic,
part of this complete breakfast.

700 Billion Dollars

With 700 billion dollars, you could give everyone on the planet $100, which is more than a sizable percentage of them will make this year.

With 700 billion dollars, you could give every citizen of the United States $2000 – of course, it sort of works the other way around, doesn’t it? We’re the ones that will be giving the $2000 to foot the bill for this.

Instead, for 700 billion dollars, we are rewarding companies that were mismanaged. Which means, I presume, that a very small number of already-absurdly-wealthy old white guys will be made even wealthier. And I will still be left trying to make ends meet every month.

I’m sure there’s a huge amount about this that I don’t understand, but what I do understand is that I am being asked to pay for irresponsible management of huge companies, and I also understand that this is not capitalism. This is corporate welfare. This is a handout. And it’s a bunch of wealthy people in government rewarding themselves, propping up their own portfolios, and rewarding their buddies on wall street, completely without regard for those of us who foot the bill.

It makes me sick.

Flying Eagle Water Colors

Flying Eagle Water Colour, 12 Colours
September 14, 2008

It seemed a shrewd trade
at the time — a bulging
Ziploc bag of stickers
for a box of Flying Eagle
Water Colours, with magical
names like Prussian Blue, Vermillion,
Chrome Yellow Mid.,
and Emerald Green.

Charles disagreed, assured me
that the allure of Cobalt Blue
would fade, and I would yearn
for my “Kick Me” stickers.
He felt I should have invested
more wisely. For example,
give him the stickers, and then bask
in the Yellow Ochre warmth
of a good deed, done for a loyal friend.

I relinquished to Andrea the 1001 Funny Stickers,
accepted the exotic hues
from far away China
to reflect the Lemon Yellow rays of my imagination
in more than oriental splendor.

But then, for twenty years,
not much happened.

The Burnt Sienna petrified.
The Carmine coagulated a little.
The box travelled
with me across an ocean
and through five or six moves,
never used for anything
but a conversation starter,

until I caught the Light Green
eyes of my artist,
and knew, at last, that
I had traded well.

I expect, now rediscovered, the paints
will quickly be used up, turning many
Black and White shadows
into a spectrum of
images so long boxed up and carried around

unseen.

Reasonable Doubt

Reasonable Doubt
September 21, 2008

I don’t remember
of what he stood accused —
only that I sat in judgment,
declared him guilty
beyond reasonable doubt,
sent him to serve time
for an infraction of which
I had no conclusive proof,
just the word of others
hardly above reproach themselves,
of whim I had
plenty of doubt.

We asked just one question,
my eleven colleagues and I:
What constitutes reasonable doubt?
How much doubt, exactly,
is reasonable, your honor?
His honor declined to answer —
insisted, in fact, that his refusal
to answer was, itself,
a fundamental pillar of the phrase
“A Jury Of Your Peers.”

We were not his peers.

He, poor and dark,
trouble-stained and life-weary.

We, privileged and pale,
inclined to have unreasonable doubts,
based more in the fact that
we were not his peers
than in any facts presented
by those more his peers
than we.

So we determined,
the twelve of us,
that our doubt was reasonable,
and stripped this young man
of his youth and manhood.

One of us said
what the rest of us thought:
If he hadn’t done this,
surely he had done something.

I have no doubt
that given more opportunity
and less doubt
this young man would have given
us more opportunity to doubt.

I have no doubt
that that’s not reasonable.

Dreams

I can’t claim credit for this. This is a senryu by Jimmy, our favorite wait-person at The Pub, where we go whenever we can afford to.

You may dream your dreams
in C++, but I dream
mine in A Minor.

Bourbon Festival

Today I attended the Kentucky Bourbon Festival with Greg Stein and Bruno Bowden. We attended the Barrel Rolling contest, which was amazing. Men and women who work in the distilleries compete to see how fast they can roll full Bourbon barrels around a track of wooden rails, and roll them into a chute such that they reach the end with the rubber bung pointing up – so they have to know which end up they need to be when they go into the chute.

It was just amazing how fast these folks were. I left to come home before it was all over, but stayed long enough to see the mens’ individual, women’s individual, and the womens’ team event.



A Christmas Carol, The Original Manuscript

On returning home today, we found in the front door a copy of “A Christmas Carol”, by Charles Dickens. The cover is slightly water damaged, but it’s otherwise in good shape. It’s a 1967 edition which contains facsimiles of the original manuscript across the page from the print version, and with the John Leech illustrations (the ones that were in the first edition).

I don’t know who left it there, but, whoever it was, thank you. It was very thoughtful of you.

(Update: Turns out I do know who left it. And she even told me ahead of time that she was going to, but it completely slipped my mind. Thanks, Aunt Pat!!)

Blue Snowball

After reading a LOT of reviews, and receiving a number of recommendations, I ordered the Blue Snowball. It arrived yesterday, and I haven’t had any time to play with it, because we had a friend visiting from out of town. However, a few initial impressions. It’s a lot bigger than I thought it would be, but lighter than I expected.

And the sound is just great. I recorded just a few seconds of audio, and then did a longer reading. The crispness of the plosives and sibilants was very impressive. I’m looking forward to recording something, and getting back into podcasting.

And it’s got a little switch on it that turns it from a one-sided mic to an omnidirectional mic. Still need to figure out which is which. But I think that means that it’ll make a better interview mic than what I had before.

Thanks, everyone, for the great recommendations. I think I picked the right mic. Stay tuned for some more podcasts, finally.