Poem for Monday

Alfonsina Storni
By Bill Knott

Feeling as you wrote that the cancer quote
Is on its way upstairs   to the throat
One breast had already flown   migrant
Heart   de facto amazon   only the sea remained

Like a jealous mattress an   old pillow stuffed
With insomnia's phonebills the sea
Is there to throw oneself at   at dawn   late
Up all night over   a poem called Voy a

Dormir which says   this   better than this
(Each time I read one by you I revise
Myself my suicide is   to be me instead of you)

Sea that swallowed your poet   throat
Does not   for the having of it   sing less
And besides   only that cancer tried to float

--------

Another from Poet's Choice by Robert Pinsky in the Sunday The Washington Post Book World, this sonnet an elegy for the Argentine poet Alfonsina Storni. Pinsky notes that "sonnets may be a surprise from a rebellious, avant-garde figure. But [Knott] handles the form in a manner as inventive as his quirky, penetrating language. Interestingly, I had forgotten this when I posted yesterday, but former Poet's Choice columnist Edward Hirsch had written about and reproduced a poem from Knott's The Unsubscriber as well; Hirsch's column is here.

Sunday was indeed busy, though not in the ways I expected. Because there had been such an explosion of Star Trek news yesterday, news was relatively light today and I wrote an article about the movie Shatner is making for the Sci Fi Channel...I know that TrekUnited announced tonight that the good fight was over, and there are allegations of all sorts of misdeeds being passed around, but other than to glance through my mail about it I did not read any of the public posts and I officially have no opinion on the campaign that's any different than the opinions I stated when the play to raise $30 million to buy another season of Enterprise was announced. I know there are people saying they're sorry that it's officially over, but I felt that it was officially over the day UPN announced its plan not to renew the series. This has always been about money and ratings, and I'd rather fight for a really good Star Trek that people will watch than for another year of a show that couldn't make it even with a Paramount budget, a decent cast and better writing than it had when it started out. And let me add that by "really good Star Trek", I do not mean that I want a new vision a la JMS or Galactica -- I want what Gene Roddenberry was doing in the first place!

In the morning my internet goddess (and my Snupin goddess) walked me through using .htaccess to prevent people from hotlinking to my images, which took far longer than it should have because I was assuming that I could still run php on my server, which now apparently I would have to pay extra to do. I think I am successfully blocking anyone from importing my photos, yay! But I still have to decide what to do about my journal entries. I have been slowly and sadly coming to the conclusion that I should lock all NC17 material...not sure whether I will do this all at once, since I don't even have all the stories off and in my own journal yet. On the one hand, I like the idea of posting unlocked for 48 hours or so and then locking, but on the other hand, anyone getting RSS feed of my journal could have the content archived by then...I just don't know what to do yet. Although Bloglines had told me that they would take me out of their system, they've only stopped archiving my posts on their site; if I type my username in there now, I get taken to a list of links to my journal here. There is nothing unethical about this, as they are all public posts, but it's made me aware of just how widely things I say get spread and really made me think that I should be locking far more often than I do. I will be keeping this journal, and posting poetry and photos (now that I can stop hotlinking) unlocked, but I really doubt that I'll be talking about personal matters or NC17 material in open entries.

My in-laws arrived in the early afternoon and we had a low-key day with them, walking with their dog, enjoying the spring and showing them trip stuff. My sister and her family never arrived -- apparently one of her kids was sick, but I heard this only third-hand when I called my father to ask what the deal was -- so I am not entirely sure what is going on there. We brought in California Tortilla for dinner and watched the pets circle each other suspiciously under the table. In the evening when they left I watched Desperate Housewives, which could easily become a guilty pleasure -- I rationalize that I really need to keep up with it for Get Desperate! but CSI Files has never made me feel any need or desire to watch any of the CSI shows.

From :

Fire
You are 73% Extroverted and 43% Chaotic

Virtue - Fire people exhibit righteousness. These people conform to the standard of moral law. They do what is right and are known for their sense of fair play. They are truthful, straight-forward, just, upright and virtuous in their dealings with other men.

Core - They demonstrate courage, fortitude, zeal and pugnacity. They have the mental and moral strength that enables them to venture into unknown waters and to persevere and withstand danger. They seldom show fear and are confident in their actions. They have mettle, resolution, and tenacity. They can face danger or difficulty without flinching or retreating. They will fight for their principles and have a stubborn persistence that is unwilling to recognize defeat. They have grit, back bone, guts, and are willing to keep fighting under all odds. They are aggressive and thrive on challenge.

Nature - Their essential characteristic qualities are liveliness, energy, ardor, enthusiasm, courage and action. They have a firm, courageous and assertive disposition which is their most characteristic qualitiy.

Drives - These people like to win or be the best in anything they pursue. Their aggressive nature makes them just one big ego. There is nothing more stimulating to them than to win, and there is nothing more depressing to their ego than to lose. They strive to be the center of attention and are at home when showing-off.

Vice - They are determined, spiteful and revengeful. When angered, they will go to almost any extreme necessary to get revenge, and that revenge will more often be at the moment of the anger. When they're mad they want everyone around them to be mad. They are spiteful and will deliberately and openly do things which irritate someone to the point of anger. They are very short-tempered and anger easily. They are straight-forward and have no reservations about hurting the feelings of others, and they are prone to inflict physical pain as well as mental pain. Just as the main virtue of this sign is being just and right, its main fault is deceit.

My test tracked 2 variables:
How you compared to other people your age and gender:
You scored higher than 94% on Extroverted
You scored higher than 92% on Chaotic

Link: The Which Element Are You? Test written by daemongod81485 on Ok Cupid

I must wake up very early as hubby has to see an orthopedic surgeon about his knee, so I had better go collapse. Still many pretty flowers. Sinuses still clear. Head still foggy though. Am confused.


The house in our neighborhood by far most likely to win some kind of garden award is this one, which in addition to having very lovely annuals around the borders of its garden also has this fish pond with fountain in the middle, with the walkway to the front door built right over it. Here you can see the sunlight on the water, the bubbles from the fountain, the fish, and the greenery which already seems to be growing out of control this spring.