Poem for Yule

The Volcano and the Covenant
By Alicia Ostriker

as if one could cut a covenant
with a roaring volcano

imagine our souls
being birthed and destroyed

the way a flame
uncurls in one instant

and when the next passes, it is no more
yet is like a scorching white word

in the red ongoing song
then grey ash that crumbles

softly to nothing, oh
burn like that

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My mother invited me out to lunch, but we ended up spending far less time at lunch (Middle Eastern food, fantastic hummus, yum) than at Best Buy looking at MP3 players for me, video games for younger son and DVDs for older son (they want Legend of Zelda and The Simpsons and younger son wants an iCat and older son wants some Mario game that isn't even out until the spring and I keep telling my mother she should get them a new violin and theater summer camp but she wants to get them lots of little crap instead). Shopping this near to the holidays with all these panicked people always makes me feel stressed rather than joyous in the holiday spirit and I want a quiet Yule with a few minutes at the solstice (7:22 p.m. EST Thursday) to light candles and think about the season turning.

My sister and brother-in-law got the calendar we send out every year with photos of our kids to our nearest and dearest. This year -- since Shutterfly is letting people have birthdays and anniversaries printed right on the calendar for free, and since we lost 's grandmother who always used to send calendars to each family member with every single birthdate written in by hand -- I put in as many family birthdays as I could find on my master list, which I knew was missing my cousin's younger son and was a day off on 's brother's new baby. Somehow I left my brother-in-law's birthday off...and he is turning 40 in April. I am never going to hear the end of this. *g*


From the Rockwell's America exhibit at the Maryland Science Center, Santa Claus plots a route.


Many of the sculptures were based on popular Rockwell paintings, like this one...


...and the infamous romantic graffiti image.


Plus there was a live Rosie the Riveter demonstrating how the factory assembly line worked to kids.


There was also a telephone exhibit with an operator...


...so one could call other rooms in the exhibit and talk to one's children or whoever picked up.


And there was sports memorabilia, one of Rockwell's favorite subjects.

In important seasonal news, Santa's immigration status is being questioned in a parody web site for a town that apparently hates everyone not born in the USA and sex does the body good: regular romps can provide a host of physiological benefits, including avoiding colds, a reduced risk of prostate cancer and my personal favorite, cleaner teeth!