Poem for Monday

Monologue for an Onion
By Suji Kwock Kim

I don't mean to make you cry.
I mean nothing, but this has not kept you
From peeling away my body, layer by layer,

The tears clouding your eyes as the table fills
With husks, cut flesh, all the debris of pursuit.
Poor deluded human: you seek my heart.

Hunt all you want. Beneath each skin of mine
Lies another skin: I am pure onion--pure union
Of outside and in, surface and secret core.

Look at you, chopping and weeping. Idiot.
Is this the way you go through life, your mind
A stopless knife, driven by your fantasy of truth,

Of lasting union--slashing away skin after skin
From things, ruin and tears your only signs
Of progress? Enough is enough.

You must not grieve that the world is glimpsed
Through veils. How else can it be seen?
How will you rip away the veil of the eye, the veil

That you are, you who want to grasp the heart
Of things, hungry to know where meaning
Lies. Taste what you hold in your hands: onion-juice,

Yellow peels, my stinging shreds. You are the one
In pieces. Whatever you meant to love, in meaning to
You changed yourself: you are not who you are,

Your soul cut moment to moment by a blade
Of fresh desire, the ground sown with abandoned skins.
And at your inmost circle, what? A core that is

Not one. Poor fool, you are divided at the heart,
Lost in its maze of chambers, blood, and love,
A heart that will one day beat you to death.

--------

Sunday we went downtown to the National Museum of American History, which is closing on September 5th for nearly two years for renovations. The most popular artifacts housed there, such as Kermit the Frog and Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, are moving across the Mall to the National Air and Space Museum, which we also visited. had not seen the fabulous Americans At War exhibit in American History, so we went through that, and we saw the doll's house and Muppets and the lunchbox collection and the Gunboat Philadelphia while around these, other exhibits were already boarded up.

I had realized that I had not been in Air and Space since just after I got a digital camera, when I took pictures of the kids (quite young) in front of Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Vega, and I wanted to see the Enterprise (Captain Kirk's that is -- the orbiter shuttle Enterprise is at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, which we have visited more recently). So we got ice cream and walked across the National Mall and went to see the aeronautical World War I exhibit and some of the historic planes and rockets, but along the way we made a terribly traumatic discovery!


Within a week of the International Astronomical Union declaring that Pluto is no longer a planet but merely one of a number of dwarf planets, the National Air and Space Museum has already pulled it from its position of glory in the planetary gallery with the awful "The Family of the Sun" song playing to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell"!


The symbol for Pluto has already been removed from the entrance to the gallery...


...though it is still represented among the outer planets in this relative size display.


I suspect the big wall display on Uranus, Neptune and Pluto will undergo revision in the very near future. (Insert your own Uranus joke here -- my son did all afternoon.)


To further complicate matters, the museum has an outdoor display stretching up the Independence Avenue side of the National Mall, a scale model of the solar system with a ball-sized sun at the corner by the Air & Space Museum and Pluto as the furthest planet at the Smithsonian Castle.


People had left flowers and a condolence card, telling Pluto not to lose heart and that it has a strong spirit!

Watched the Emmys, originally to see whether William Shatner would win (he lost in the first ten minutes to Alan Alda, which I was really fine with since Alda lost to him last year and I loved The West Wing this season), and then I could have turned it off but I didn't...was curious to see whether Bleak House or Elizabeth I would dominate the miniseries category, and while I am thrilled that Jeremy Irons and Helen Mirren both won and I thought the performances in Elizabeth I were superb, Bleak House was a phenomenal adaptation and I was bummed it didn't take home awards. I see that Rome cleaned up the miniseries technical awards, which it deserved, but other than makeup, Bleak House was mostly overlooked.

Otherwise I was pleased for The Daily Show, amused by the Spelling tribute -- all of Charlie's Angels looked great, Joan Rivers should call their plastic surgeons especially Jaclyn Smith's since she seemed not to be over-hyped like Kate Jackson or over-sedated like Farrah Fawcett -- sorry Blythe Danner didn't get in her usual jabs at the Bush administration and apathetic about the main categories, though I might watch 24 next season after avoiding it since the first season just to see Alexander Siddig.

I was very happy that the Emmys ended on time (thank you, Annette, for keeping it short at the end there) so I could watch the 11 p.m. showing of Brotherhood since I am addicted. Can someone tell me why I am more annnoyed at Tommy for political shenanigans that may gain him power but are in fact for the good of his district than I am at Michael for killing three Russian mob creeps? Strange episode...I loved watching Michael not sure if he likes his old girlfriend being so aggressive and she cracked me up, though the whole masturbating in the car scene seemed quite gratuitous! On the other hand, I mean, if I was in a car with Jason Isaacs, I might have to get off too, so maybe I shouldn't talk. I mean, I almost exploded when he sucked off her finger when she asked if he wanted a taste...oops TMI!

Rose was quite entertaining manipulating everyone but I'm not quite sure what she has planned for Michael...I don't like the idea that she's just a meddlesome mother, I want her to have a grand scheme for the family and the Hill. And I totally love the idea of Pete and Eileen hanging out together, though for a minute before I realized Pete was just trying to make sure Michael was back for the surprise party, I thought he was jealous of Michael's girlfriend and let me tell you, THAT was a lovely thought! (Yes, do please tell me if you've seen fic anywhere!)

Monday my kids go back to school for the fall. I have no idea how this happened so fast!