Poem for Saturday

Battle of Will & Exhaustion, Mother & Child
By Jenny Factor

Two knights surrounded by dinosaurs
are cornered in the kitchen--all threat and bluster.
Action figures always act
even as night tries to soothe them under.

I am the one who laid a nervous hand
on a child's exhausted threat and bluster.
The bunk bed creaks as the story settles,
as night's cool hand tries to soothe us. Under

a Seussian drone I am thinking, anxious,
about someone with a nervous hand.
Will he sleep? Will he sleep? When will he sleep?
The bunk bed creaks as the shipboard settles.

What is the myth of a woman alone
who's thinking through Seuss? Her thoughts are drones
serving a terrible queen of their own.
Can she sleep? Will she sleep? When will she sleep?

The toilet's crystalline drip and the ghosts
of the walls are a myth. And this woman, alone,
is a captain steering too close to the rocks
where the ocean is serving a terrible queen.

Up on the cliff of a Friday midnight
the toilet's crystalline drip and the ghost-
ly snore of the sleepy one riding his dragons
can steer this sad captain away from her rocks.

"Rock me to sleep," cries the wild girl at twenty
up on the cliff with a young man at midnight.
Far below, waves from the sea of Alaska
snore back and forth filled with moon's breath and dragon.

Up on the cliff of a Friday's midnight,
rock me to sleep with the sound that the fridge makes.
Warmth of a tub, hole of a drain.
Memories sleep in the seas of Alaska.

Action figures always act
upon the cliff of a Friday's midnight.
Warmth of a bird's heart. Chill of a stone.
Two knights surrendered. The dinos snore.

--------

Friday ended up being something of a disaster, except it ended with everyone in pretty good moods. There was no school, so was going to take the afternoon off and we were going to take older son and a couple of friends mini-golfing as a late birthday outing (a party near his birthday being impossible as every kid he knows has sports, music or some other after school or weekend activity that made it difficult to find a time). It was pouring in the morning, so when we realized golf was out we called the two local bowling alleys that take lane reservations, only to find that both were booked. The others, which do not take reservations, said we should expect to wait awhile for a lane. Then one of the invited kids cancelled out due to some family obligation, and older son decided he didn't want to go anywhere in such a small group, but would rather play Adventure Quest with his brother.

So instead of going anywhere exciting, we went to California Tortilla for lunch (which he loves), then went to the card store nearby and got him a few packs of some new Magic decks -- or maybe they're old decks but he got sliver cards and something else he wanted to play tournaments at school. We also stopped in a bookstore and got some candy, then came home and watched Batman while playing Scrabble, which I was perfectly willing not to be competitive about but I picked charmed letters and finished almost 100 points ahead of him which I don't think made him very happy! stayed at work and I suspect he will be the next Scrabble opponent. *g* In the evening my parents wanted to take us out to dinner since they are going to California for a week, so we went to California Pizza Kitchen (restaurant name theme completely coincidental) and walked around the mall a bit.

Here's my "Space Seed" review: man I love that episode, the Kirk-Spock-McCoy repartee and Ricardo Montalban, despite the agony of having to watch McGivers. Threshold was again okay but uninspiring and the supposed government convolutions are even less credible than the science, but it's always neat to see the Smithsonian on a drama (though Caffrey was looking out at the Castle, the building she was sitting in front of when the camera was on her wasn't part of the Smithsonian and I don't think it's in DC). For the past two hours we have had some football game and then some preseason basketball game on but I have no clue who was playing. Everyone else probably found out about this before me, but I was so excited to be linked to the Ferret!Draco Goblet of Fire clip!


Elephants parade out for the evening to wherever they sleep during the Faire. (This photo was taken after 7 p.m. at twilight as the grounds were closing for the day; I lightened it as well as I could but couldn't help some blurring!)


These are some of my favorite bumper stickers seen on the way in to the Faire. (I wiped out the license plates for the privacy of the drivers.) This is just a wonderful juxtaposition -- people are always asking me why my kids aren't Boy Scouts and treat me like I'm cracked when I say it's because the Boy Scouts discriminate against atheists and homosexuals, as if the fact that there's a national policy that occasionally punishes some kid who refuses to practice "don't ask, don't tell" is just not a good reason for keeping my own kids out.


For years I've been tempted to get a Darwin fish with little feet, but I sort of like this one better. *g*


And this just entertained me, though I would never put so many stickers on any vehicle I thought I might end up selling one day!