Poem for Friday

It's obvious
By Greg Hewett

It’s obvious
beauty is a postage stamp,
a composed self-portrait
of Frida Kahlo
wearing a simple necklace,
an image chosen by the USPS
not because it was like one she painted
for Trotsky. Of course
beauty could not include
imagery of hammer and sickle
or black monkey leering
over her shoulder or parrot
twisted under her chin.
And not the one with snakes.
Not the one of her
all butched-up, hair cropped short,
wearing one of Diego’s suits
after they split for the final time.
Not one with wheelchair, spinal-brace,
or scar down her long trunk.
Forget the one of her cloven wide open,
a jungle of history and myth, of poetry
burgeoning forth from her innermost.
Most definitely not
the one of her wearing the collar
of thorns in memory
of Jesus and Trotsky
and revolution
lost.

--------

I can't claim to have had a quiet day, as a trio of Air Force jets came roaring over the house so low that I was sure they were going to land right in the neighborhood, making me fear that a massive invasion was just around the corner. Turned out that they were just doing a fly-over in honor of the new Air Force memorial downtown near Iwo Jima. But at least I didn't have to schlep all over the place. We did have dinner with my parents since we are on our own tomorrow for Shabbat, since they are going to visit my sister and her family, and I did have several hours of younger son's best friend visiting and opening every drawer and cabinet he could while younger son dutifully did his homework, but it was manageable.

And I did watch Smallville, which for a few minutes seemed to be returning to its gay Wall of Weird roots! I was sad watching the Clark-Lex Definitive Breakup scene, which starts with Lex catching Clark in the greenhouse and saying Clark has always had an eye for beauty. But then they start snarking at each other and Lex announces that Clark's days of showing up uninvited at Lex's house are over. No more spontaneous sex! Lana might be watching! And of course she would be shocked and appalled, because she is narrow and dull and so uncreative she can't even come up with a good excuse to go talk to Chloe, who was once her roommate and is now living in her former flat and is in theory still her friend. "Lex seems to think I'm carrying Clark's ghost around," Lana tells Chloe. "And he didn't sign up for a threesome," Chloe surmises. The clever response would have been to have Lana smack herself in the head and say, "OH! That's what he wanted all along!" but Lana and clever never mix.

And really, Chloe is kind of slow to catch on too...she doesn't realize that Jimmy would sign up for a threesome with Clark if only she didn't keep sneaking off into the woods first with the one, then with the other, making them both jealous. Not a big fan of Kryptonite Poison Ivy, clearly the villain from the moment she appeared and shared that incredibly awkward, stilted flirting dialogue with Clark but I don't think Clark knows enough about what women want to notice. The episode dragged but I did rather enjoy the costume ball with the band my son likes that performed, and with Lex proving that despite the Caesar costume, he's no Maximus, and then Lana announcing her willingness to be conquered after insisting all along that she wants her independence by playing Cleopatra to him! It's a good thing I can't stand the actress playing her, because if I actually LIKED the performance and had to put up with the way the character is written, I would cry. She reminds me of Elizabeth Bennett a little, actually: falls for the wealthy obnoxious guy because she can't forget the size of his...endowment, oh yeah and all the family tragedy sob story too.

Lois did a lot of girly stuff this episode and wasn't involved at all in the mystery but she made the party scene for me with two words: "Senator Kent." I love hearing Martha addressed that way! And then Jimmy had the line of the episode other than the threesome, after Chloe saved his life with the defibrillator: "Did you just paddle me?" Whoo, they'll have fun of a sort straightlaced Clark would never have given her! In the end, though the Green (Flaming) Arrow lets Lois go without nookie, everyone is pretty paired off and poor Clark is left, in the words of , playing with his balls.

Also watched Shark because it was there...the TV was still on because I'd been reviewing "Plato's Stepchildren" which is the greatest Mary Sue fantasy ever aired. Was glad Jeri Ryan had more to do, and the daughter had a bigger role, and the case held my interest because I wasn't sure where they were going with it. But they either need to trim down the number of assistants and/or their screen time, or give them more interesting storylines. So far, except for Woods, Ryan and the daughter, I'm unenthralled by the cast.


From the Maryland Historical Society, an Aesthetic Movement secretaire a abbatant made by a German immigrant clerk who spent ten years working on this at night.


The decoration at the back of the fall-front desk is this beautiful painting.


And I just love the detail in the carving and inlaid wood.


After he finished the desk in 1883, the craftsman, Charles Fink, found work as a cabinetmaker.

So does Friday the 13th have extra power when it falls in October? told me that she had gotten The Llewellyn Tarot, and I told her I loved the artist, Anna-Marie Ferguson, from her Arthurian deck and particularly the Sacred Circle Tarot which is probably my favorite deck, and said that she herself was not so much of an Arthurian fan but that this new deck had lovely Welsh-based art, so I ordered it. It arrived today and indeed has lovely Welsh-based art but I must admit that my favorite images were the Welsh Arthurian ones. *g* Llewellyn's packaging has gotten really crappy -- the last several new decks I've bought have all come in boxes that were banged up before they got to me -- and the cards are thinner, but the artwork is really beautiful. Kris Waldherr of US Games' The Goddess Tarot and The Lover's Path has a show at the New York Open Center in Manhattan from October 28th-December 4th showcasing her Divine Feminine images -- since I can't go, someone else please go, and tell me about it!