Poem for Friday

Passover
By Mary Rose O'Reilley

"Art is what remains when the pot is broken."
                          — Chinese proverb

I know we are bound to the earth,
and the cracked heart, old terra cotta,
surrenders to vine.

                          Listen — I've seen
wind stir the hair of the dead at Belsen,
growing like art from the lacing grass;

what is terrible, even, rises.
The ruined pot dreams of ignition,
each molecule coddles its flame.

Enough alphabet for a torah
sits on the tongue. And all shards
from the winds' end gather again.

I know we are bound to the earth
by desire's green thread
or the milk snake's slippery pass.

Hepatica splits now from its leaf-wing.
Out of the vessel's wreck,
inwardness forms on the air

and that ghost tenderly enters
the soul of some mortal thing.

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Considering how early I got up, I have no idea where Thursday went. Had a lovely lunch with from which I returned with the first season of Stargate Atlantis, and I am ready for my pimping...as soon as the TV season ends, and with Smallville gone as of the past evening, Boston Legal wrapping up next Tuesday and The West Wing gone forever this coming Sunday, we are very close to that. Got a lot of writing done, too, and two rather dull Star Trek articles (designers at aerospace convention, Star Wreck: In the Pirkenning filmmakers' upcoming projects).

The evening, of course, was devoted to Star Trek as well for reviewing tomorrow ("Return To Tomorrow" -- not one of my favorites or least favorites, some nice moments, sort of in the middle), and the aforementioned Smallville season finale, which kept giving me deja vu since I watched The X-Files for its entire run and the Christopher Reeve Superman movies as well. So since some people insist that I must be a misogynist if I can't find it in my heart to love Lana because obviously I'm all about the slash at the expense of female characters, I would like to note that I cheered twice during this episode: when Chloe kissed Clark and when Lionel almost kissed Martha. In fact, my objection to Lana kissing ZodLex at the end has nothing to do with thinking Lex should be with Clark but because I am terrified that this arc will end up with ZodLex discovering from love of Lana that he is Not Evil After All and sparing the world for her sake, because that is so a cliche that these writers would go for and they never let it be Chloe or Lois responsible for the major moments. In fact, they would not even let Lois save herself and Martha but left them unconscious on the floor of the plane; they left Chloe and Lionel in the grip of the mob; and we are supposed to believe that "Somebody Save Me" Lana kickboxed her way to safetly with Lex on the roof? Gag.

So Zod needs a body, Jor-El needs Clark to do his dirty work (note: is this not the same Jor-El who wanted Clark to rule over humanity back a few seasons ago? Did he have a brain transplant that I missed somewhere in the third season?) and Lionel wants Clark to externalize his Oedipal issues! "In certain cultures, when a father presents a son with a knife ,it represents a rite of passage." Hahahaha, go Lionel! Let Clark take his phallic symbol elsewhere while you're putting yours in the increasingly willing Mrs. Kent...ahem. (Oh man did I howl when Lois observed that she knows Martha would go for it if it weren't for Clark's feelings!) Clark's biological father is leaving secret messages for his would be stepfather in the latter's sleep, who can blame him for being messed up? I raised my eyebrows at the way Zod's human form keeps being referred to as "the vessel," which is rather feminizing -- poor Lex raped and bodysnatched by an evil alien, even if he did make it possible. It almost makes me hope for Lex/Zod MPREG! Okay, not really, but that whole business about Zod needing to possess a human form so he can destroy Earth like he destroyed Krypton...oh blah, what a cliche. Unzip his forehead and set him free.

Lionel, making more sense this episode than ever before, gives the Luthor version of "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one" -- namely, explaining to Clark that a real hero must know when the greater good will be served by an evil act. Kill Lex, Lionel concludes, for, as he says to Lex, "You made a deal with the devil. He always comes to collect." And, "if Zod is evil, it's easy to understand why he chose Lex to inhabit." Whoa, daddy! Of course, being hurled into a car window can't have made him feel very affectionate toward his son. (Have I mentioned the staggering hotness of Lionel lately?) Meanwhile Lex lures Lana in by playing the anti-Clark, "I'd never lie to you," even though he lies to her all the time and she's caught him at it as many times as she caught Clark. It makes more sense than Martha would trust Lionel than that Lana would trust Lex, and that really, really is not saying much! So Martha risks becoming Jack Abramoff and takes a ride with Lois in a jet piloted by Spike. Yeah, she only loves Lionel for his campaign contributions.

And, okay, okay, I did love the climactic Clark/Lex fight. "If you thought this friendship was doomed from the begining, then why did you fight so hard to keep it?" Clark wails at Lex. "Because I wanted everythig you had!" Lex announces, pretending it's all been a front since he drove Clark off that bridge so he could covet the family and try to steal the loyal girlfriend who was of course none of the above at that time... "At least I walked away with the part you loved the most," Lex says which makes Clark realize he's not himself. Finally Clark gets something right! Once again Lex sees Clark's superpowers, which means that once again Lex will get amnesia...if we ever get Lex back, as opposed to ZodLex which would be a really cheap way of explaining why he turned to the dark side for good. But stupid Zod says he's there for revenge, proving that he never saw The Wrath Of Khan or any of those other movies where a really smart, tough villain ruins everything because he's bent on revenge instead of independent conquest and triumph. Which is why I fear Love Of Lana will be his downfall. Maybe Clark should consider himself lucky that he's locked in that flat panel in space.

And tomorrow I have ANOTHER really early morning because hubby's meeting did not finish and he has to do it all again! Waah!