Poem for Tuesday

Matter, Hunger, Storm
By Valerie Martinez

As if this pale delicacy: petal,
and the fire around it,
and some hint of ash,
and a time lapse,
the brown eye that sees.

As if the gesture: desert,
and the dark skin, women’s hands,
and the silk not theirs,
vanishing years,
the clouds’ gradual descending.

As if the poor: bending,
and the knees on fire,
and some dull shimmer,
the flash forward
to aching, blue thunder.

As the dust lifts,
as the tender, underneath.
As the ankles.
As the.
As.

A wicked lightning.

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I had the great pleasure of celebrating Dementordelta's birthday with her on Monday, a couple of days late but that was all right because we had Paul Gross! That is, we had sushi, Blue Crab Bay nuts, and chocolate cream pie, and watched an afternoon's worth of Due South from "The Blue Line" to the end of the first season (Fraser's first boyfriend, Francesca, Jane Krakowski, The X-Files, Fraser's first girlfriend, Rear Window). Spicy tuna and rainbow rolls go very well with Paul Gross. Of course, I can't think of anything that doesn't go with Paul Gross.


Two Confederate reenactors pass the caissons and New York memorial at Antietam National Battlefield yesterday.


The cannons on display at the battlefield can no longer fire...


...but the Confederate artillery unit brought two twelve-pounders for a demonstration in honor of the anniversary of the battle last weekend.


The hills of Washington County, including South Mountain, surround the battlefield.


Reenactors marched to the battlefield from the encampment in the woods.


Several of the farmhouses in the area are the same that were standing during the Civil War.


The bell from the USS Antietam, which saw action during World War II and the Korean War.


The entrance to Antietam National Cemetery, where only Union soldiers from the Civil War are buried (the Confederate dead from the battle are mostly in Rosehill Cemetery in Hagerstown and Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Frederick), though there are also soldiers from the Spanish-American War and both world wars.

We watched New England try to lose to the Bills before remembering that they're the Patriots, then watched part of the Raiders-Chargers game, but Stewart and Colbert are back so we turned off football at eleven. I was sad to hear about Patrick Swayze, though I haven't followed his career in a long time. Really, I am sadder about the murder of Annie Le. Tuesday I plan to spend as much of the day as possible engrossed in a Masonic conspiracy, assuming Amazon.com gets the book to me early enough, so if you don't hear from me, that's why.