By August Kleinzahler
The markets never rest
Always they are somewhere in agitation
Pork bellies, titanium, winter wheat
Electromagnetic ether peppered with photons
Treasure spewing from Unisys A-15 J mainframes
Across the firmament
Soundlessly among the thunderheads and passenger jets
As they make their nightlong journeys
Across the oceans and steppes
Nebulae, incandescent frog spawn of information
Trembling in the claw of Scorpio
Not an instant, then shooting away
Like an enormous cloud of starlings
Garbage scows move slowly down the estuary
The lights of the airport pulse in morning darkness
Food trucks, propane, tortured hearts
The reticent epistemologist parks
Gets out, checks the curb, reparks
Thunder of jets
Peristalsis of great capitals
How pretty in her tartan scarf
Her ruminative frown
Ambiguity and Reason
Locked in a slow, ferocious tango
Of if not, why not
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After Hebrew school, we fulfilled a promise to the kids and went to pick up Pokemon Platinum from Gamestop. Daniel was on a campaign to trade in his DS for a DS Lite, but we insisted that he do some more research about the upcoming DS with the camera and wi-fi before spending $100 essentially for a better battery. We grabbed bubble tea at the kiosk in the mall, then went to see a really terrific production of Sweeney Todd at Daniel's high school. I wasn't expecting all that much, since the vocal roles are so demanding that professionals regularly screw them up, and I was really blown away -- not only was the singing absolutely first-rate, but the production design was better than any local dinner theater I've visited lately and the staging and pacing were both terrific too.
Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett.
Todd preparing to compete with Pirelli...
...and Pirelli showing off his wares.
Mrs. Lovett gives Todd back his razors.
The theater has a multi-level set and can project subtitles onto the screen above.
And the drama boosters were actually selling meat pies at the concession stand -- spicy Italian ones. (They had veggie pies, too.)
Even though it was a gorgeous warm day like Saturday, there was a good-sized crowd.
I must confess that whenever I see a "Sweeney Todd" sign, though, I remember a friend from college who directed the production at Penn that year and announced that he craved "a big Ess and a teeny weeney." On the poster.
My parents took us out for dinner for Paul's birthday, which is on Tuesday. We went to Macaroni Grill, where I had a caesar salad and excellent grilled salmon, some of which I shared with Adam in exchange for some of his shrimp scampi. We went back to my parents' house for cake. In the evening, having been ordered off Guitar Hero for the weekend, Daniel wanted to see some of the scenes in the film version of Sweeney Todd, so I got to see Alan Rickman and Johnny Depp, who may not be the most talented singers ever to perform those roles but whom I enjoy performing "Pretty Women" together very much anyway. I'm already bored with the NCAA tournament, anyway!
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