Saturday, December 05, 2015

Poem for Saturday, Death Wish, Shame, Locust Grove Deer

Stridulation Sonnet
By Jessica Jacobs

Tiger beetles, crickets, velvet ants, all
know the useful friction of part on part,
how rub of wing to leg, plectrum to file,
marks territories, summons mates. How

a lip rasped over finely tined ridges can
play sweet as a needle on vinyl. But
sometimes a lone body is insufficient.
So the sapsucker drums chimney flashing

for our amped-up morning reveille. Or,
later, home again, the wind's papery
come hither through the locust leaves. The roof
arcing its tin back to meet the rain.

The bed's soft creak as I roll to my side.
What sounds will your body make against mine?

--------

I had several cats helping me while I worked on a review of Voyager's "Death Wish" -- apparently my lap needed alternately to be kept warm and to be clawed by crazy flying kittens. That was my major task for the morning. My major task for the afternoon was to start working on labels for holiday cards -- that one won't be finished in any hurry, so if you want to exchange cards, I will find you!

We took a walk in the gorgeous cool early twilight, had dinner with my parents, and came home for the end of the Terps' blowout basketball victory. Then we watched Shame, which we did not see when it was nominated for all the awards -- terrific acting and directing but wow is it a depressing film. I'm not even sure the ending is meant to be hopeful. From Locust Grove a couple of weeks ago, deer in the woods:








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