Poem for Friday

Apocalypse
By Gerald Stern

Of all sixty of us I am the only one who went
to the four corners though I don't say it
out of pride but more like a type of regret,
and I did it because there was no one I truly believed
in though once when I climbed the hill in Skye
and arrived at the rough tables I saw the only other
elder who was a vegetarian--in Scotland--
and visited Orwell and rode a small motorcycle
to get from place to place; and I immediately
stopped eating fish and meat and lived on soups;
and we wrote each other in the middle and late fifties
though one day I got a letter from his daughter
that he had died in an accident; he was
I'm sure of it, an angel who flew in midair
with one eternal gospel to proclaim
to those inhabiting the earth and every nation;
and now that I go through my papers every day
I search and search for his letters but to my shame
I have even forgotten his name, that messenger
who came to me with tablespoons of blue lentils.

--------

I didn't come close to getting everything done today, but tonight when I went to pick up my older son from Hebrew school at 6 p.m., there was still light in sky and a sliver of silver moon. Which means spring must be approaching. Any day with such a revelation must be counted as a good day, though my Astrocenter horoscope for the morning scared me: "It may be hard for you to feel connected to anyone today. You are probably better off just keeping to yourself. If you are feeling sad or depressed, it is best to work through these feelings on your own. Other people are not apt to be too sympathetic to your situation. You are better off sticking to your work in order to keep the demons out of your head." Heh, good thing I did not post anything whiny and self-indulgent earlier, huh? Am going to take this to mean that my wish to watch Paul Bettany movies with would be thwarted, which they were, but I am sure I shall lure her to The Reckoning soon anyway.

A follow-up to my Million Dollar Baby post of a couple of days ago: Frank Rich in The New York Times, "How Dirty Harry Turned Commie". Much more about the controversy than the film; he made some very good points and said one thing that really pissed me off. Would be curious to hear other people's takes. In other entertainment news, I completely forgot last night to talk about Smallville, which was neither good nor bad but just sort of there. On the one hand, Clark could hardly have been any more gay, could he, running away from those sorority babes straight into the arms of the football jock? But on the other hand, can we have one woman on the show who isn't damsel-in-distress for a few weeks running, please, and if we must have the Lana the Witch storyline, could we see more of Jason's wicked mother and less of Lana herself?

I have one comment on last night's The West Wing, since there was no Josh, Matt or Donna for me to fixate upon and everyone here already knows I think CJ is the coolest woman in the world and deserves better than what she gets from everyone, POTUS on down: There should be Annabeth/Toby fic. I should not be the one to write it, as Toby eludes me, but there should be witty, warm, clever, oh my god I can't believe the things you make me talk about/want to do with you Annabeth/Toby fic. , you were so right when you suggested it.

linked me to 's Snape manips, including this must-see Snape in Braveheart that is well worth clicking over for. In Star Trek news, I never finished my third article for the day on some writer of a couple of DS9 episodes because I got bogged down first with snorting over Manny Coto's just-before-cancellation comments, then last week's ratings, but I did watch parts of "What You Leave Behind" because of certain bad influences here who gave me 1) a Winn/Dukat jones and 2) a Kira/Damar jones. I still owe a couple of drabbles (Lucifer is just not talking to me, Prophecy fans), but here belatedly is a double drabble, by request, first kiss for .

You Are the Very Gay Peppermint Patty!

Softball is the huge tipoff here... As well as a "best friend" who loves to call her "sir"

What Gay Childhood Icon Are You?

And in yet more Trekbabble, since he started it with a "profic is the best" post, I had a brief quarrel with about how his saying all slash is out of character is about as narrow-minded as me saying that Kira would never have fallen for Odo based on her own stated preferences for 1) Bajorans and 2) men who don't have transparent skulls. Sometimes people fall in love with individuals rather than body parts, you know? It's here but go easy on the poor pro Trek writers who are all panicky about losing their paychecks now that, given the shrinking franchise market, Pocket may not publish every piece of crap that Pocket Books editor Marco Palmieri doesn't bother to have copy-edited. All hail Ron Moore, again.


The ice cracking on the canal at Great Falls this weekend. Tomorrow the temperature is supposed to plummet, so this scene may soon reverse itself.