soft April, but March, thin & particular, dry,
we require or dryly imagine we do. Also wrong
(this is Daido roshi, though not his words) to believe
in the 1-way linear rapturous run after roll-out
from gate, & that flight deck's sharp calibrations
tell truth. (They do, of course, as long as plane chooses
to view these downwashing south Appalachians, splay
-fingered reservoirs, parking lots' black, impermeable
lakes.) Wrong to clutch for what's bound
to be next: a lush month that scorns the unbinding
way. Right now, it's Atlanta (where else) 5 parallel infinite
concourses serving as high-security hub of the 10
-000 things. Serving well as any dimensionless point
on the star-strung mesh of hollow unfolding. The roshis
say intimacy comes (not with sweet Zephirus, showers,
the woods' inspirations) with forgetting of rapture, that lie
of an anxious serial liar, the self. With dissolution:
here/other, now/not. With just this as yes on the vergeland,
a blink before touchdown, on March 9th when
there is no before, no day after, no spring --
a white grove of Bradfords (up north at take-off,
only branches in 1st bud) laced with precision,
past full bloom, pivots. Half petal, half green.
Present. Uninvolved in ekstasis or motion.
-- Jeanne Larsen
--------
"'When I die and go to heaven,' runs the old joke, 'I'll hafta change planes in Atlanta.' Me, whatever hub I'm flying in or out of, I try to remember what an astonishing opportunity I've been given," writes Jeanne Larsen in Poet's Choice. "I try to get a window seat. I try to recollect old Chinese seekers who went to so much effort (climbing, maybe doing breathing practice or a little internal alchemy) in order to look out at the level of the clouds. We owe our grandchildren's kids that much -- owe them attentiveness, at least -- as we burn through their air."
Far too much of this beautiful Saturday was spent in pursuit of appropriate shorts for Daniel, who is very picky. He hates zippers and buttons, he doesn't like pockets, he won't wear anything that needs a belt, and he prefers 100 percent cotton, which pretty much leaves...pyjamas. Plus they have to be knee-length, which even cotton pyjama shorts generally are not. We tried Target and Kohl's, having had no luck at Sears and Macy's, and finally convinced him to get a couple of pairs of cargo shorts, since what he's looking for doesn't seem to exist in his size. Then the boys went to the pool, in bathing suits that will hopefully fit all summer
My only accomplishment for the day was finishing my review of "Ensign Ro", which is not as articulate a review as the episode deserves. It's impossible to watch that one without thinking about the Bajoran-Cardassian arc and the Maquis, which in turn makes me think that while everyone is waxing rhapsodic over Rebootrek, I should rewatch Deep Space Nine, which I continue to believe is as good as Star Trek ever got. I didn't always love it with the same visceral adoration I had for the original series, which is grounded in a particular time and place in my own youth, but my sense of how good it is has only grown over time.
This is what has been keeping my cats occupied when they are not the Most Woeful Beasts in the Universe.
You may remember that we formerly had a front step with a big crater...
...that younger son would not let us have repaired because a chipmunk lived under the stairs.
I am pleased to report, however, that our eventual decision to repair the stairs rather than risk having them collapse does not appear to have deterred the chipmunk.
As you can see, the chipmunk has returned to torment the cats.
Daisy in particular wants to get outside and grab him, and forgets that she can't run through the window.
Apparently not even azaleas dissuade chipmunks. Maybe they eat them.
The Friday Five: Bad Habits
1. What bad habits do you have? Procrastination. Wasting my time on pointless memes.
2. What bad habit would you most like to break? Completely freaking out over what turn out to be fairly minor crises.
3. Have you ever overcome any bad habits? What were they? I bit my nails for several years in my youth.
4. Do you have any habits other people consider bad that you rather like about yourself? What are they? Hmm. Speaking my mind? Having conversations with my cats?
5. What habit annoys you most in other people? Having to have the last word.
Fannish 5: Name five fannish things that never fail to cheer you up.
1. Pushing Daisies.
2. Winn/Dukat.
3. Denny Crane.
4. The Dawson's Creek soundtracks.
5. Sarah Jane Smith.
Speaking of Pushing Daisies, I wasn't sure if it really would cheer me up after all this time and knowing there are only a couple of episodes before it vanishes to a place where Ned can't touch it and bring it back. But I loved it. I love that they did an Olive-centric episode and let Kristen Chenoweth sing! Even if what she sang was Lionel Richie's "Hello," and Daniel promptly said, "That song was funnier in Scary Movie 4 (when it was used in the Brokeback Mountain parody scene, which was admittedly hilarious). Plus what fun to see Richard Benjamin, George Segal, and Constance Zimmer on top of the main cast and the aunts! I feel very lucky to have gotten to see this show on television, even if it was too good a thing to last. And I'm sad about Susan Boyle, though of course I've never heard of the dance group that won, let alone seen them. Hopefully with the pressure of the competition off she can record and album and live her life the way she wants.
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