Poem for Monday

A Name, Many Names
by Anne Simpson

I knew you
long before I saw you,
one thing inside another
making itself up. Lightly,
snow fell, kept falling
the night you were born --
like those prayers tied
to branches by the Japanese --
scissored bits of paper,
each one a word:
a name, many names, loose
in the dark.

Later you'll need a name
that's door and window, roof
and bed. You'll need a name to foil
the thief that comes
to live in your heart. But now
you need a name so diaphanous
and small
it takes its shape from air.

--------

Poem snicked from . It made her think of Methos. It makes me think of...no, I am not ready to think about LOTR characters, I haven't got their voices and I really need to watch the ROTK EE to see if they come flooding back -- funny how I had a much stronger sense of Faramir in TTT when there was almost no movie!Faramir to go on, even though I had never loved book!Faramir. Aragorn too: I did not love him in the novels but I had a better sense of who I thought he was and how I thought he talked before I saw the theatrical ROTK.

There is a piece of me that is terrified of having the same thing happen to me with HP movies, which thus far have only enriched my experience of the books...what if some small yet essential change is made that alters all my perceptions? I seem to be very good at picking and choosing canon where I will, so far: Thewlis' Lupin is thoroughly my Lupin, for instance, and I have no objection to the character even in CGI form, but Lucius Malfoy never tried to use an Unforgivable Curse on Harry Potter in the corridor at Hogwarts because that is just ridiculous and wrong. How come I can pick and choose in HP with greater ease than I could in LOTR?

And I have no idea what will happen if I ever try to write anything in the O'Brian universe again. My perceptions of the characters have altered drastically from when I first started writing them. I almost have three distinct sets in my head: the ones I first encountered in the film, the ones I played with in fan fiction who were at times almost caricatures, though there were elements of bookverse creeping in, and then the ones from the novels whom I scarcely dare tamper with as they have brought me so much complete joy as they are, even without anything added. I would change nothing in the world of O'Brian.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, I taped Henry VIII (haven't watched yet) and sat howling through the Dallas reunion. You must understand that when J.R. was shot, I was in eighth grade at the height of my babysitting career; watching Dukes of Hazzard and Dallas got me through my Friday nights, just as watching The Love Boat and Fantasy Island got me through Saturdays until Saturday Night Live. I adored Sue Ellen Ewing for reasons I have never been able to rationalize -- Linda Gray has always seemed much smarter than her character, and there was a time I read a lot of interviews with her, but I have no good rationale for why I cried and cried after Dusty told Sue Ellen never to see him again. (Jared Martin wasn't on the Dallas special but Kate Mulgrew was, for a few seconds, and I know there are people here who will be interested in knowing that!) The women in particular -- Gray, Victoria Principal and Mary Crosby -- looked absolutely amazing, which I was ashamed of feeling because they have obviously had a great deal of work done. Somehow, though, it was comforting to see them relatively unchanged. I am so embarrassed.

So I see there's a shut-up-about-politics-and-post-a-photo meme going around. Look, no politics! And here's a photo of flowers at Huntley Meadows from earlier this season: