Poem for Friday

Poetry Is A Trestle
By Nikki Giovanni

poetry is a trestle
spanning the distance between
what i feel
and what i say

like a locomotive
i rush full speed ahead
trusting your strength
to carry me over

sometimes we share a poem
because people are near
and they would notice me
noticing you
so i write X and you write O
and we both win

sometimes we share a poem
because i'm washing the dishes
and you're looking at your news

or sometimes we make a poem
because it's Sunday and you want
ice cream while i want cookies

but always we share a poem
because belief predates action
and i believe
the most beautiful poem
ever heard is your heart
racing

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The ice had melted by late morning, so although my knee is still rather stiff from the way I twisted it on Wednesday, I got out of the house, yay! Had lunch with Heather at Lebanese Taverna, then went to As Kindred Spirits where we agreed that we each needed to get the other a miniature Chartres Labyrinth for Valentine's Day (they look like these), and I discovered Crazylibellule and the Poppies' Les Divines Alcoves perfume -- I got Dans Tes Bras for the sandalwood and patchouli but I almost got Toi Mon Prince with its bergamot, almond and jasmine. Mmmmm! We were right near Petco, which reminded me of last weekend:













Had dinner with my parents who are leaving town to go to Cabo San Lucas with my sister's family, gave kids Valentine chocolate, husband and I exchanged stuff (he got me a book about pirates, hee). Came home and watched Smallville which missed a great opportunity to be slashy -- they could have done flashbacks of Clark and Lex in love from when they were younger! Spoilers: Though that scene with Lionel abusing both Lex and Lillian was incredibly, creepily effective; I wonder whether Lionel admits even to himself that that's how he behaved, and it explains a lot about why Lex replicated it with Lana. I had a lot of woobie moments. I'm ambivalent about Chloe's super-power; we already knew that she was good and generous, and the whole near-death business leaves her passive and vulnerable so much of the time. And I am sure that I am sick of the weekly Sprint ads! Still, at least Lois got to be strong and Lana got to be smart and Lex got to be conflicted, which is an improvement on much of the season.

Because it was the last night it was On Demand, we watched The White Countess. I hadn't seen it before and found some aspects of the storytelling overly hyperbolic -- was it based on a novel? -- but I loved seeing all the Redgraves and listening to Ralph Fiennes doing an accent that sounded to me like Jimmy Stewart playing Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca. Spoilers: Both the horse race through which Jackson wins the money to open the club and the flashback showing how he lost his daughter and his eyesight struck me as improbably cinematic and the timing at the conclusion also felt contrived, like I'd seen the movie already and knew what was going to happen when. I was glad it ended semi-happily, and I enjoyed it visually and in terms of the performances, but it mostly made me want to see Empire of the Sun again.