Poem for Wednesday

Money Talks
By Rae Armantrout

1.

Money is talking
to itself again

in this season’s
bondage
and safari look,

its closeout camouflage.

Hit the refresh button
and this is what you get,

money pretending
that its hands are tied.

2.

On a billboard by the 880,

money admonishes,
"Shut up and play."

--------

Another from this week's New Yorker.

The kids and I went to Wheaton at lunchtime to meet Hufflepants at the mall, which I only make it to about once a year, which is silly because it's probably about as close as Lakeforest and there's covered parking. We grabbed food in the food court and wandered around a bit. Then I took a wrong turn out of the mall parking lot, which put me on University Boulevard going east instead of west, and since I was already nearly there, I decided to stop and visit my former favorite comic book store from high school, where I bought Star Trek fotonovels in the days before eBay made those easily accessible at less-than-convention prices. Apparently it is closed on Tuesdays, woe! But it's next door to my favorite local Jewish bookstore, so we went there and I bought a couple of very pretty hamsa charms, plus an Israeli dreidel (the last letter is different from dreidels made everywhere else).

In the late afternoon the kids went to the pool and I folded laundry while watching Burn After Reading, which was whacked even for the Coens. The acting is terrific -- Brad Pitt really should do more comedy, and John Malkovich plays scary-angry yet impotent brilliantly -- but I'm not sure what the point of it all is, except that the people working in the CIA are probably as stupid as the people working in your local gym and there's no such thing as a faithful lover except someone you'd dismiss immediately as a loser. The pacing is great and the editing is good but I'd hesitate to recommend it to anyone who doesn't love the Coen brothers or one of the actors in the film. Why is it that so many critics found this original and clever, rather than typical black comedy with quite a bit of misogyny mitigated only by the fact that the men behave as badly as the women? And in the evening we watched Warehouse 13, which continues to be watchable but unremarkable.


This is my kids' favorite restaurant in downtown Hanover. See if you can guess why. (They've never eaten there.)


It was a hot day for the Dutch Festival last Saturday, but the trees and tent shades made it tolerable outdoors.


Wood crafts are very popular in the area...


...and there are lots of seasonal and holiday decorations.


I love the easy mix of country crafts and Halloween/pagan symbols.


There were at least three tents devoted to designer doggie biscuits, which surprised us in this economy. There were also plenty of doggie shawls and decorated collars.


These bags and packs are all made from recycled clothing bought at a women's shelter.


And these boxes and furnishings were made over near Lancaster.