Poem for Friday

Buying a Star
By Jane Shore

An ad on the radio says that you can buy a star.
Call the toll-free number, charge it
to your credit card, and they'll send you
a parchment certificate of authenticity
and constellation chart with your actual star circled,
mapping your province of gaseous darkness, fire and ice,
over which you can rule, like the Creator.
The summer we got married, remember the night
we wrapped ourselves in blankets
and lay on our backs on the hood of our Toyota,
watching the meteor shower?
For an hour, we lay so still--
a husband and wife side by side
atop the stone lid of a medieval sarcophagus.
Beneath us, the damp grass
shivered with crickets and, above,
quick as eye blinks,
meteors streaked across the sky.
Every few seconds we'd see one die.
There! there! in the upper-right-hand-corner--
no martgage, no upkeep, no perpetual care--
there we are! buried in darkness, flashing,
then out.

For Howard

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Another day without much excitement. Throat is not better but at least is not worse. Tongue is about the same, which is disturbing! Kitten is adorable (see below). Kids are very loud. My only major venturing-forth was to a local toy store that is having a 20% off sale, in search of Chanukah presents but all we ended up buying were a series of dragon books for Adam. I had my 2008 calendars for relatives' holiday gifts delivered from Shutterfly and they looked so awesome that I worked on a poster for Adam of himself with penguins and another for me of the Chalice Well and magical English places. Need to come up with an idea for a poster for Daniel -- there was a time it would have been trains, but these days it's computers and video games and I don't have photos of that!


We wake from our nap!


We get into a POUNCE! position!


We chase a glittery fish!


We LEAP for it if necessary!


We jump onto the couch to bat at it!


We become slightly sleepy when someone sits next to us!


We fall asleep, not in a cat bed which would be too easy, but pressed against the violin case!

Trek news has been moderately entertaining -- Patrick Stewart wanting to do Doctor Who, Paul McGillion a front-runner to play Scotty (also Poseidon's Vogel in the running for Kirk), George Takei saying he doesn't sweat any bad things that happen to his Heroes character because he expects to bounce back. Watched the Smallville season premiere and sat there thinking, "This isn't really very good, why am I enjoying it so much?" and then realized in the final moments -- no Lana! I also loved evil!Clark offering himself to Lex in lieu of Lex helping the real Clark whom he can't have: "What's more important to you, Lex, destroying me or solving the mystery of Clark Kent?" Hee, and Lex hesitates and is lost. It's too soon for me to know whether I care about any new characters; I was just relieved to see John Glover's name in the opening credits!

And it's pouring rain. Hopefully breaking today's heat for a lovely weekend!