Poem for Saturday

Ocean
By Jason Shinder

Good bye again. Say there is a little song in my head

And because of it I can't sleep or change my mind
About the future. Now the song runs all the way down

To the beach where I sit as if the sky

Were my room now. No one, not even you,
can hear me singing.

As if the music rose from the mouth of the ocean.

Like rain before it reaches us.
Like wind twirling dresses on the clothesline.

Who has no one has
the history of the ocean.

Lord, give me two more days. So that
The last moments may be with someone.

--------

We spent Black Friday as far away from the mall and box stores as possible -- we went hiking along Rock Creek Park and Lake Frank at Meadowside Nature Center. It was pretty chilly when we left home, since it was overcast and windy all day with occasional fits of rain, but the sun came out just as we reached the lake, so we had some gorgeous views of the winter trees and ducks. The park has some building ruins in the woods and some reconstructed cabins near the outdoor education buildings, and we walked the long loop since it was so nice out. We also stopped at the Oriental Market because younger son wanted to get red bean paste for sandwiches -- most of his friends at school are Asian and they all share food, and he prefers their lunches to his own.


White-tail deer near one of the hiking trails at Meadowside Nature Center.


A fallen tree spanning Rock Creek.


Daniel and Adam at the Valieant Bridge, built and named by students in memory of a teacher and environmentalist from a nearby high school.


This may be shaped like a big pine cone but it's actually some kind of colorful fungus.


Adam tried out the whetstone in front of the Brown Cabin...


...built in 1868 by the man for whom Brownstown was named, dismantled and moved here by students at a local middle school.


An injured red-shouldered hawk, a permanent resident of the large flight cages behind the nature center.


The sky all day featured dramatic, extreme contrasts of bright and dark. This is how it looked over Lake Frank as we headed back toward the park buildings.

Fannish5: Name five characters who would throw the best holiday gatherings.
1. Julie McCoy, cruise director on The Love Boat
2. Will Riker, first officer of Star Trek: The Next Generation
3. Shirley Schmidt, senior partner in Boston Legal
4. Oliver Queen, poor little rich boy of Smallville
5. Jack Harkness, man of no limits in Torchwood

Speaking of holiday gatherings, we had dinner with my parents and my sister's three daughters -- my sister and her husband always go stay in a hotel the day after Thanksgiving, having had enough of family togetherness -- most people had leftover turkey, stuffing, etc., I had half a bagel with tuna fish and sweet potatoes without the melted marshmallows this time. Having watched the end of Auburn's sad late-game loss to Alabama, we opted to skip more football and watched Princess Mononoke instead -- environmental-themed stories with strong women being much more my thing anyway, and my kids never saying no to a movie where wolves, elk, and boars are major characters!