Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Poem for Wednesday

Letter to Denise
By Hayden Carruth


Remember when you put on that wig
From the grab bag and then looked at yourself
In the mirror and laughed, and we laughed together?
It was a transformation, glamorous flowing tresses.
Who knows if you might not have liked to wear
That wig permanently, but of course you
Wouldn’t. Remember when you told me how
You meditated, looking at a stone until
You knew the soul of the stone? Inwardly I
Scoffed, being the backwoods pragmatic Yankee
That I was, yet I knew what you meant. I
Called it love. No magic was needed. And we
Loved each other too, not in the way of
Romance but in the way of two poets loving
A stone, and the world that the stone signified.
Remember when we had that argument over
Pee and piss in your poem about the bear?
“Bears don’t pee, they piss,” I said. But you were
Adamant. “My bears pee.” And that was that.
Then you moved away, across the continent,
And sometimes for a year I didn’t see you.
We phoned and wrote, we kept in touch. And then
You moved again, much farther away, I don’t
Know where. No word from you now at all. But
I am faithful, my dear Denise. And I still
Love the stone, and, yes, I know its soul.

--------

I spent all morning working on my trip book. Shutterfly crashed twice -- didn't wipe out any of the work but it took me quite a while to get back in and remember where I'd been. (I've tried Snapfish, Photoworks, Imagestation, Kodak, various others...Shutterfly has consistently delivered a much better product for the money than anyone but Mpix, and the latter is just too expensive to use regularly.) I also started the calendar -- we do collage calendars of our trips, so they tend to take time to put together -- and the holiday card, which would feel ridiculous in early October if it weren't for the fact that I have a coupon that'll make it much cheaper to do now.

Younger son had Hebrew school in the afternoon, older son had lots of homework, so it was pretty quiet around here except for laundry (not yet folded) until dinner. We all watched Jurassic Park, since it has to go back to the library tomorrow -- been years since I saw it, so much fun, and the things that make it dated are more the pop culture references and the computers they use than the storyline.

Missed the beginning of the debate -- wasn't really in the mood for it, I am so ready for it to be November, especially now that Obama has a solid lead -- but watched the bulk of it, didn't feel much like a town hall meeting with Brokaw asking so many questions but I thought McCain failed to impress in the format -- the undecided audience sure didn't seem impressed, either in CNN's ticker or in the Q&As afterward -- and that's all I cared about, since I wasn't expecting any big policy revelations. It makes me happy that the audience seemed unhappy whenever McCain started to attack Obama or his policies instead of offering his own solutions.


A bluegrass band performs at the Agricultural History Farm Park's harvest festival.


One of the farmers guides a plow through a field of potatoes...


...which kids (the 6-and-under crowd first) were then welcome to come harvest and keep.


Local honey producers brought a beehive. The queen is the one with the pink dot. There were dozens of kids trying to find her.


Plus there were chestnuts roasting on an open fire. And samples, yum.


A blacksmith was demonstrating his craft making steak turners.


The ears of corn had been harvested but the stalks were still upright for a maze.


Pumpkins are always a welcome sign of impending Halloween!


I'm bummed because I'm going to have to miss out on my fall maritime fun -- Sultana is the only tall ship that will be in Baltimore for the regatta next weekend, according to Sail Baltimore, the rest are leaving on weekdays; and the ships at the Sultana Downrigging Weekend will only be open on Friday (Halloween), when I can't go; they're sailing all afternoon Saturday and Sunday. I love going to Chestertown and to see ships in Baltimore and I feel deprived!

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