Poem for Saturday

Villanelle
By Aaron Fogel

We have no time for riddles, being old.
A warm caress of clarity is best.
Exercise has its limits in the cold.

Contingent mysteries (like rice) take hold
Of sides of bowls and cling, dried, glued, and pressed.
We have no time for riddles, being old.

It’s good to jog around the manifold
Lake’s edge in summer, not when ice is guest.
Exercise has its limits in the cold.

Even a rock dove becomes almost bold
Protecting the puff-children in her nest.
We have no time for riddles, being old.

We know and study. For instance, the word "told"
Means counted—but the tale is manifest.
Exercise has its limits in the cold.

Bring us the chalice that the king foretold.
Bring us the manifesto by behest.
We have no time for riddles, being old.
Exercise has its limits in the cold.

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Yet another snow day due to icy conditions on the sidewalks that make it impossible for walkers to get to school in parts of the county. Once again I was deprived of lunch with , but my father called and asked whether he could take me and the kids to Bagel City since my mother was at lunch with her friends, so we went out with him. The kids both wanted half of one thing, half of another so I had half whitefish salad, half nova lox spread while son #1 had the other half of the lox spread and half a tuna bagel with son #2 eating the other halves of the tuna and whitefish. Then I got my father to stop at a bookstore so I could get son #2 Swordbird, the fantasy novel by the 13-year-old girl, which he said sounded like a ripoff of the Warriors cat novels but wanted to read anyway.

Later I wrote a damned mediocre (in all ways) review of "Encounter at Farpoint" and we had dinner with both my parents -- spaghetti with meatballs and chicken, plus coconut chocolates they brought us back from Florida (just what we need two days after Valentine's Day, more candy!) Came home and I did some research for interviews Saturday at Farpoint while watching Weird Travels on the Travel Channel, the "Mystery Spots" episode, mostly about Machu Picchu, Sedona, and Glastonbury so the latter in particular was of great interest! We recorded Derek Jarman's film of Marlowe's Edward II after that, but I was barely watching, since I was trying to think up questions for Suzie Plakson, copying files to my portable hard drive and being led astray by a vampire. I haven't seen it since the early '90s when it came out and really must sit down and watch it again!

: Shine
1. What's the longest time you've spent standing? I honestly have no idea. Certainly nothing that would impress anyone.
2. How many people on LJ (or your blog) know your real name? Any of them could find it out without a very great effort.
3. What makes you afraid? Idiots, bigots and religious fanatics in government with the ability to deny us health care, imprison us without due process, start a nuclear war, etc.
4. What's the worst physical injury you've had? Assuming two c-sections don't count, it was, knock wood, a pinched nerve in my neck that was quite painful and made it impossible to sleep.
5. What line won't you cross? Um...the demilitarized zone? The entrance to the wildlife sanctuary?

: Name five fanfic cliches you secretly (or not-so-secretly) like.
1. Mate or die!
2. Lost love not really dead after all!
3. Trapped, shivering and desperate for body heat!
4. You were really there? But I thought it was magic/a hologram/a duplicate!
5. I know I said it was just sex, but actually -- now that I suspect it may be reciprocated -- I love you.


The baby sloth bear at the National Zoo examines a patch of snow.


The baby and his mommy live on one side of the enclosure...


...where they were climbing and playing on the rocks in the sun (seen through glass here, sorry about the distortion)...


...but Daddy Bear lives on the other side where he can't get to them, and was pacing impatiently and throwing his water bowl around.

My weekend will consist of several hours working at Farpoint on Saturday -- no time for fun, I'm doing a bunch of interviews and stuff for TrekToday -- then going to Pennsylvania for my father-in-law's birthday. Am hoping the roads near Gettysburg are better than the ones to the west, which were reported to be total nightmares!