Poem for Saturday

The Watch
By Michael Collier

Three days after our friend died,
having dropped to his knees
at the feet of his teammates,
we are sitting in a long,
narrow, windowless chapel,
staring at his casket
that runs parallel to the pews.
It’s like a balance beam
or a bench you could sit on—
floral sprays around it,
a wooden lectern behind,
and a priest nobody knew,
a man I’d seen in the parking lot,
pulling on a beret and stamping out
a cigarette, all in one move,
as he emerged from his car,
holding a black book.
And now he is reassuring us
that our friend is in
a better place, that God,
too soon, has called him home,
a mystery faith endures.
Occasionally he looks down
to check his watch, the habit
of a man who always has
a next place to be, which must be why
he barely stays to finish the job.
                                Our friend
had the most beautiful voice
and his guitar was as cool
and smart, soulful
in its registers. When he played,
he gave his body to the music,
his eyes closed sometimes and his head bent,
sheltering what he made of himself,
his fingers knowing the next place
and the next—his voice, too—
taking each of us with him.

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Had a quiet Friday, did some reading, tore the house apart looking for a stupid thing I couldn't find and still haven't found and don't really need that badly but now it's a matter of principle that I find it, wrote a pretty scathing review of "Turnabout Intruder" with reference to not-quite-redeeming slashiness (when the misogyny is that pronounced, no amount of slashiness helps). Entertained myself with the widespread coverage of my boyfriend Russell Crowe getting rid of the cheerleaders for the rugby team he co-owns, the South Sydney Rabbitohs, because the scantily clad cheerleading squad "makes women uncomfortable and it makes blokes who take their son to the football also uncomfortable" and he wants to return the focus to the sport itself. Oh, Russell, no matter how many punches or telephones you throw, I cannot resist you.

Tried calling three times to find out where she was, but didn't manage to get ahold of her -- hopefully her surgery went well. Thought my new bluetooth headset wasn't working right, then realized I had failed to read the manual on how to get it out of standby mode -- my bad -- though it meant I ended up behind when picking older son up from the bus and dropping him at a friend's house. We all had dinner with my parents who gave us Valentine's Day candy early because they are going to Florida next week, came home and watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on cable, then Torchwood's "Day One" which has none of the subtle, incisive writing of Doctor Who but has a wonderful cast and can't help being sexy -- give me a female character I adore and it just makes everything so much better (thank you so much, again, !) Now have The Player on some Starz channel because in addition to being snarky, sarcastic and well-filmed, just about every actress I love who was known in the late 1980s is in it (Louise Fletcher, Anjelica Huston, Susan Sarandon, Cher, Lily Tomlin, Whoopi Goldberg, Dina Merrill, et al).

: Easy as the Breeze
1. How's your weather? Chilly, still a bit of snow on the ground in patches.
2. What can you hear right now? Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on HBO, myself typing, husband typing, older son in shower, cat snurging next to me.
3. Do you like to spy on people? Not particularly. I people-watch when I'm sitting around, but I'm not a window-peeper or anything.
4. When is the last time you had to prove yourself? Every time I have dealings with my son's school I feel like I have to prove myself.
5. What would you like to take back? The time I smacked younger son three years ago...not that he will ever let me forget it.

: The Colors in the Wheel
1. If you were a crayon, which color would you want to be? Forest Green.
2. Which color do you think you would be regardless of what you wanted? Either Turquoise, which is my birthstone, or Leaf Green, which is the English translation of my father's family name.
3. Would you rather be used and get blunt, broken and lose your wrapper, or not be used and stay pristine? Used! What's the point of pristine crayons!
4. Would you rather be in a small set of crayons or a large set? 64, which was the biggest Crayola box when I was in elementary school.
5. Would you rather be Crayola, or a different brand? I'd rather be Crayola than RoseArt, which are waxier and don't stick to paper as well. But I don't know the other brands very well.

: Who are your five favorite sidekicks?
This is kind of a difficult question, since none of these are really sidekicks in the traditional sense -- I tend to like balance in my hero relationships. Although I am tempted to say Robin just because he and Batman are so very gay, I have to go with:
1. Mr. Spock, Star Trek
2. Stephen Maturin, Master & Commander
3. Samwise Gamgee, The Lord of the Rings
4. William Bush, Horatio Hornblower
5. Denny Crane, Boston Legal


A sting ray and a gar share a tank at Congressional Aquarium. The tanks are all color coded with dots to tell how aggressive the various fish are.


The shark egg is obviously harmless now, but when that little striped shark hatches, it will grow several feet. (Last time we saw the egg it was only about an inch and now it looks ready to burst!)


I didn't realize people could buy horseshoe crabs, I had thought they were endangered. There were a few little tiny ones in this tank under two inches.


I love the salt water tanks with the anemones and little crabs and lobster and clownfish.


And the awesome Lettuce Nudibranch and Arrow Crab.