Poem for Monday

Andy, Alone in the City
By Wayne Miller

First a church,
then an awning,
then a dog
licking a stain
from a cobblestone,
windows through
which strangers
obliquely mirror
the recognizable,
an empty fountain
full of dry leaves,
a corner — motorcycle
firing itself away —,
steps to a hospital
(or a school), a beautiful
woman descending
along an iron rail,
a sidewalk café— chairs
pressed to the wall
as if by the wind —,
a word he knows
from the mouth
of an old woman,
or her son, an ice
cream cart, a sewer
smell rising like water,
a hawker hawking
for a strip club, a hostel,
or a day spa, a cigarette
tossed deliberately
from a balcony,
a yellow wall
catching the light —
taking his breath —,
a butcher sawing
through slabs
of bone, a kid
with a busted lip
rushing past,
knocking Andy down,
so he must rise
and check his hands
for grit, one by one
gather up his
scattered belongings —

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My family spent all day Sunday at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire with Dementordelta, which was fantastic as always, and the weather was magnificent, more than justifying our decision not to go last weekend in the rain. We knew we would go this weekend even if rain was forecast because this was the last week both comedians Don Juan & Miguel and acrobats Barely Balanced would be there, and we love them -- so we saw both shows by each, plus sword swallower Damian Blade, several street performers and musicians, and the afternoon joust, which featured the best stunt riding I have ever seen. We got back quite late for a school night so here are a few photos with more details to come:


Here I am outside the pirate ship that is also an armory at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire.


It was Pirate Invasion Weekend, so there were many, many buccaneers wandering around as well as this Jack Sparrow working on the ship.


Casey (Small), Cameron (Medium), and Dreagn (Large) juggle knives in an insane position at the early Barely Balanced show.


Dreagn is also a musician -- here he is performing as half of the Dandy Pirates.


Don Juan, Miguel, and Don Juan's daughter Esmerelda do tricks with whips and swords while telling jokes -- lots of "arrrrr" jokes this weekend in keeping with the theme.


We only saw the early joust since the later one was at the same time as Don Juan & Miguel's Weird Show, so we missed the fireworks, but the champions and challengers performed some amazing feats on horseback.


A mermaid enjoyed the beautiful weather on land.


My kids enjoyed the beautiful weather and the performances too. Here they are waiting for Damian Blade...


...who juggled with a sword down his throat.

My review of The Lost Symbol has been posted at The Green Man Review -- there are no spoilers for the conclusion but if you don't like to know anything about a book before you read it, then you should not click that link. We missed all the sports action for the weekend, were sorry to learn that the Ravens lost, bemused that the Redskins won, and sorry that it had to be Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees to set that single-inning RBI record!