Poem for Saturday

May Day
By Kenneth Rexroth

Once more it is early summer,
Like an opal, in Venice.
I listen to the monks sing
Vespers in San Giorgio Maggiore.
Ten years have gone by. I am
No longer alone. My little
Daughter and I sit hand in hand,
As the falling sunlight rises
Up Palladio’s noble aisles
And shimmers in the incense.
The incense billows over
The altar. The Magnificat
Of May Day surges through the incense.
Six years ago, another May Day,
Mary played in a meadow stream,
And caught emerald green baby frogs.
Overhead then, dive bombers wrote
Monograms of death in the sky.
They are still there. Now they have
A new trick. At “He has put down
The mighty from their seat,” one
Of them breaks the sound barrier
With a shuddering belch of hate,
One omnipresent sound in
The sky of Tiepolo.
The same shave jowled apes sit at
The same round mahogany tables,
Just across those pretty mountains.
They are pushing all this pretty
Planet, Venice, and Palladio,
And you and me, and the golden
Sun, nearer and nearer to
Total death. Nothing can stop them.
Soon it will be over. But
This music, and the incense,
And the solemn columned thought,
And the poem of a virgin,
And you and me, and Venice
In the May Day evening on the
Fiery waters, we have our own
Eternity, so fleeting that they
Can never touch it, or even
Know that it has passed them by.

--------

I never made it into the shower Friday morning, because five minutes after I sent younger son off to school, the phone rang. It was the school office: it was younger son's day to bring snack for his school book group, and he sort of forgot that he needed two large bags of chip-type food. So I was at Giant before 9 a.m., not the way I had intended to start my day. Worse, on the way home I noticed that the minivan had a light on the dashboard that said, ominiously, "CHECK" without any sort of illustration or note about specifically what needed to be checked. I called , who announced that, oh yeah, the light had come on for him too when he had driven older son to the bus stop earlier and we really should get it checked out. So I lost my transportation for the day to the Toyota dealer, where it turned out to need its air sensors (or something like that) replaced.

The good news is that the van parts were under warranty, and we got it back in the evening after dinner with my parents. And to make it up to me for being stuck in the house, husband picked up The Glastonbury Tarot for me at a local metaphysical store, yay! I wrote a review of The Next Generation's "The Big Goodbye", possibly better than it deserved, but the supporting cast was terrific and it was fun to see Picard not frowning for a change! And, I mean, so Wesley saves the ship again, big deal -- he still annoys me less than Seven of Nine, Wonder Borg. Oh, we ended up watching Stargate: Atlantis and I really loved this episode, though it was not nearly as hyped to me as other episodes this season, and I think it's because I liked Teyla in it, plus John was great under pressure (and got to tell Ronon he was disturbed) and I like Rodney best when he's cataloguing all the ways in which they're screwed. I enjoy that show when I watch it but I just have no urge to wade into that fandom or any other fandom at the moment!

: Now and Always
1. What was on your mind yesterday? Getting the front step repaired.
2. What is on your mind today? Getting the minivan fixed.
3. Do you like bonfires? Love, love, love them!
4. Do you believe in the paranormal? If by paranormal you mean things that we can't yet explain by science, yes. If by paranormal you mean poltergeists and fairies, no.
5. Can you swim? Won't be winning any Olympic medals for speed, but yes.

: Nudity/Body Awareness, aka "How comfortable are you in your skin, or with others?"
1. Have you ever gone skinny-dipping? Only on private property with no possibility of being seen.
2. When you're home alone, do you strip down to get comfortable? Do you ever go out without underwear (bra and/or panties) because it's more comfortable? I go without a bra whenever humanly possible. I am usually more comfortable with cotton underwear, so I almost always wear it.
3. Have you ever/Do you use the bathroom with the door open? Are you comfortable using public facilities? When I'm alone in the house I always use the bathroom with the door open as it's easier than listening to cats complaining about which side of the door they're on. I'm fine with public facilities if they're clean.
4. When getting intimate with your significant other, lights on or off? If we're already in bed for the night, we don't turn them on, but half the time it's early morning/post-dawn when there are neither kids nor cats around and there's light in the room anyway.
5. How comfortable are you with body exposure/nudity of others? Group shower rooms?, topless/nude beaches?, breastfeeding in public? I breastfed in public, am annoyed that this is even put in the same category as group showers and nude beaches, which I personally am fine with.

: Name five qualities you always find attractive in fictional characters.
1. Generosity
2. Kindness
3. Passion for knowledge
4. The ability to laugh at adversity
5. Appreciation for the differences of others

:
1. Who is your favorite HP couple? (And I mean ACTUAL couple, not ship!) Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange. So far as I can tell, she is the only married woman in HP who isn't a freakin' cliche of wifely and maternal devotion.
2. Which would you rather see: a continuation of Harry's life post-Hogwarts, or a prequel about the original Order of the Phoenix? Prequel, no contest.
3. Who is the bigger jerk: Fudge or Scrimgeour? That remains to be seen...Scrimgeour is winning at the moment, but he still has time in office to make amends.
4. What form would your Patronus take? The Patronus chooses the wizard, doesn't it? So I could announce that I'd like it to be a penguin or a red panda or something, but what would be the point?
5. Which of the Weasley twins' inventions would you most like to try? The vibrating wand...oh wait, that was fanfic. Um, that daydream charm thing.


This is how domestic harmony is shattered: with a cat in a bag.


At first, Rosie can sense that something is up!


"I knew it! There's a cat in that bag!"


But Cinnamon is worried. What if the other bag is better!


"Hmm, no, maybe the first was better."


But oh no! Rosie has already set her sights on Bag Number One!


Should Cinnamon try to sneak back in? Or flee?


But wait...Rosie vanishes! Cinnamon takes this as victory. Even if she still wants to get back into Bag Number One.

I really want to go see the new Amelia Earhart exhibit in Oklahoma City. Anyone here who can tell me about it? *g* I am pleased to report that older son has brought his grade up significantly in science, though he is still grounded due to the Mother's Day Incident and did not get to play computer games (which makes me officially the Meanest Mother Alive, so all the rest of you moms are off the hook). and I are going to try to take our families to Spider-Man this weekend while everyone else is at Shrek, so maybe I will get some points for that!