Poem for Saturday

Self-Portrait as Miranda
By Geri Doran

My story begins at sea, in the bitter liquid.
If not, it would begin in Florida, along I-95
in the circular drive of a circular, lime-green motel.
But I have selected the sea, and you must

trust me on this. Truly terrible stories
begin in navigational error, a slight misreading
of the sight that sets the crew in a maelstrom.
Perhaps in another story it would be a man

standing at the door, surprised that he’s knocked,
that you have, in turn, answered. He wishes
now that he had lingered in that drive, paused
before resuming the course toward your door.

As the crew, in desperate but unspoken straits,
wishes belatedly for a drag on the anchor.
Frequently, we are thus carried along.
Frequently, de profundis, we struggle ashore

to find ourselves, if not stranded, then beached.
We are inclined to be grateful for land.
Survivors of shipwreck cast two shadows:
the outline of interrupted light, and an aura, thirst

to drown again. Perhaps, in the unwritten story,
the man at the door looks thirsty. You sense
he has come to repair himself at the dry dock
of your flesh. There is nothing else to do.

Your home is an island of white sand
and he wades in from the shoals of the walkway
asking for fresh water. So you find him berth.
This much Miranda herself could explain:

how Ferdinand come shimmering from the sea
appeared no less a rescuer than she,
with his handful of kelp and the pretty words
of a man desperate for sanctuary.

Ferdinand missed that she was shipwrecked
too. Miranda had the shadowy thirst.
You know the rest of the story.
They’re happy. Then it ends in the bitter sea.

--------

Since and I could not go to the movies as planned, she came over and we put ourselves through watched Attack of the Clones. We figured that we had better do this before next Thursday, so we remembered what in heck Lucas had done to the mythology where we left it, but I must admit I nearly fell asleep during the Naboo "romance" ("Anakin? Are you as bored as I am? Let's talk about your mother...") and the endless Monsters vs. Jedi vs. Droids vs. Clone Army sequence. I have always tended to defend Hayden Christensen, because there is really very little an actor can do when the directing and dialogue are beyond awful, but that didn't make it any easier to watch him.

After school the kids went over to a friend's house and I read for awhile and took a walk, knowing that I had to watch and review two hours of Enterprise at night. Friday is Shabbat dinner with my parents, which was curtailed so I could get home and clear my head, not that that prevented the usual Friday night power struggles; my mother announced that she wanted to play a game with the kids after I had told them twice to turn the TV off, and I went down the basement to find the basement door shut and my mother playing cards with them...with the TV on. Also she had bought them the decks of cards, and books -- I never object to them receiving books, but they get some toy with them every single time. And although my sister is allowed to demand favors any time she wants and my mother will rearrange her entire schedule since she lives out of town and has the grandchildren to hold out like a bribe, I cannot get my mother to commit to feeding my cats for three stinking days when we're on the west coast in June, meaning we will be out a fortune in vet's fees (since they must have had a checkup within six months) and kennel fees. Sigh.

: What 5 shows would you like to see resurrected on the big screen?
1. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, with the original cast
2. Sharpe, but only with Sean Bean
3. VR5
4. The Bionic Woman
5. Quark

: Last Dance
1. What's the last concert you attended? October Project in December, I think.
2. Who is the best live performer you've ever seen? Paul Simon (during the Graceland tour) was pretty amazing. U2 was as well, but we were sitting a lot further from the stage.
3. You can invite 2 artists to your house, but they must sing together. Who are they and what one song will they sing? John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and they can sing any damn song they wrote together. If dead people don't count (though I'd say the odds of John Lennon coming to my house now are about as good as they were when he was alive), then Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks, and they can also sing any damn song in their oeuvre.
4. Pick one to see: ABBA, Jimmy Buffett or Kenny Chesney? ABBA, absolutely no contest.
5. Friday Freebie: Tell us anything you want about music! De do do do, de da da da is all I want to say to you.

: What do you picture...
1. ...when you think of lawyers? My father and his brother.
2. ...when you think of accountants? My brother-in-law and my husband's uncle.
3. ...when you think of clergy? My father-in-law.
4. ...when you think of garbagemen? The guy who helped us at the county refuse facility when we brought our hazardous waste.
5. ...when you think of a best friend? A whole bunch of people I have been blessed to know.

, got it! Thank you! *mwah* Here are those Enterprise reviews: "Terra Prime" and "These Are the Voyages...". I'm afraid I didn't find faith of the heart, though I didn't hate the finale...it was just disappointing, as I could say about so much of this series.


Since I am having a sci-fi geek night anyway, look what got me! Regrettably it's not knitted Marvin (who does not seem to be available anywhere -- anyone know where I can get one?) but big plastic paranoid Marvin and ejecting snake Snape seem to be getting along so well, it makes me wonder how many other Alan Rickman action figures are out there (did they ever make Dr. Lazarus from Galaxy Quest?)


From free comic book day, a miniature Bale as Batman! I feel so well-protected by plastic superheroes.