Poem for Wednesday

Dismantling the House
By Stephen Dunn

Rent a flatbed with a winch.
With the right leverage
anything can be hoisted, driven off.

Or the man with a Bobcat comes in,
then the hauler with his enormous truck.
A leveler or a lawyer does the rest;

experts always are willing to help.
The structure was old, rotten in spots.
Hadn't it already begun to implode?

Believe you've just sped the process up.
Photographs, toys, the things that break
your heart—let's trust

they would have been removed,
perhaps are safe with the children
who soon will have children of their own.

It's over. It's time for loss to build
its tower in the yard where you
are merely a spectator now.

Admit you'd like to find something
discarded or damaged, even gone,
and lift it back into the world.

--------

It was a rainy Tuesday, so I took the kids to see Sky High (their choice -- I pushed first for March of the Penguins which they rejected as too informational, then The Island which they just didn't feel like seeing). I was expecting to be bored and was very pleasantly surprised; the plot is utterly predictable and you can see some of the gags coming for several minutes, but it's also sweet and earnest and reasonably funny and well-acted. I am tempted to talk about all the ways in which it seems to rip off The X-Men, The Incredibles, Spy Kids and even Harry Potter, but I liked it better than the first three and there are even some advantages in the female character department over HPB, though it's rather Dawson's Creek in the romance department. My expectations were pretty low which might be why I enjoyed it so much, but given how disappointing I have found a lot of this year's movies, this was a delightful surprise. It's worth the money for the coming out scene alone.

My in-laws are taking the kids camping in Pennsylvania from Wednesday afternoon through Saturday afternoon (in the morning younger son has an orthodontist appointment), so in the late afternoon we played games (my mother beat older son at Scrabble; younger son quit playing Mystery at Hogwarts with me because I refused to let him throw back an H card he didn't like). Around this I managed to get three articles written; I know there will be people here interested to know that Connor Trinneer will be guest starring on Stargate Atlantis, and that Kate Mulgrew has once again opened her big stupid mouth and pissed off both her lesbian fans and a lot of Catholics -- I swear that woman needs a filter! (She's all yours, , heh.)

Otherwise, I attempted to secure 's place in hell and decided to put my LJ colors back to the same ones I have had for so long because I am really that boring, though I am very fond of my new layout and might even play with the font sizes a little. (, I meant to call you back but this late hour is my first time child-free all day!) And have I mentioned that I am seeing Master & Commander again on a big screen Thursday night and I am very happy about this? *g* In honor of my seafaring mood, today, to go with the crabs in Baltimore, I bring you...


Tropical reef-patterned dolphin by a mural in the game store courtyard, part of Rehoboth's public art display.


Sexy dolphin in a hula skirt.


Rainbow dolphin by the hippie clothing store, Sunshine Octopus.


Statue of Liberty dolphin with Rehoboth water tower in the background.


Mosaic tiled dolphin.


A bright undersea-decorated dolphin.


Funky surrealist dolphin.


Floral dolphin.


And outside the pub, an Irish dolphin.