Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Poem for Wednesday and Masonic Temple

Roanoke Pastorale
By David Huddle


Cardinal, goldfinch, titmouse, turkey buzzard—
dear companions of my afternoons—
above this field, high clouds dream of blizzards

to snow me in till spring ends my solitude.
Sober's my binge now, nature my saloon.
Wren, mourning dove, house finch, turkey buzzard—

for your entertainment, I sing the words
of old fifties songs, use baby talk, croon
as I walk the field beneath great blizzard-

dreaming clouds. You gaudy pretties, sweet birds
of my senior years—my later's my soon.
Catbirds flit through cedars in the graveyard,

turkey buzzards swirl their patterns overhead,
across the mountainside sunlight bows a tune
rising to blue eternity but heard

by the heron fishing the creek, wizard
of stillness, creature designed by the moon.
Bluebird, jay, chipping sparrow, turkey buzzard,
clouds, and field—I dream this life, walk this world.

--------

From this week's New Yorker. Glory River is Huddle's most recent book of poems.

I had a nice afternoon with Gblvr after a morning of work and chores -- we went to Tara Thai, where I had panang tofu which is one of my favorite things, then we went to Target, where the remaining spring Liberty of London dresses were on sale for $7 including the very pretty Martha Grace halter dresses. We were very girly and looked at the new little black dress Barbies, too. Again I didn't see any goslings or ducklings, but we didn't walk much by the water; I did see enormous koi out in the middle of the lake, and by the time I left, the morning drizzle had turned into a beautiful afternoon.

I loved the musical numbers on Glee this week but I really didn't like the rest of the episode all that much. Spoilers: For one thing, a week without a Sue Sylvester zinger is like a week without spicy chili lime cashews. For another, as much as I adore Kurt's father and would move in with him if I was Finn's mother in a heartbeat, I have had it out the wazoo with Finn and Rachel and am dying to see more of just about anyone else. Okay, the Goth Tina vampire stuff was hilarious, especially the opening ("This'll get Robert Pattinson's attention"), but the idea that Goth and Twilight are connected is just embarrassing.

And considering that so much of the episode is about letting people be themselves, I think Finn gets a very unfair deal. There's no excuse for the language he uses, but I completely understand his anger: Kurt has NO respect for who Finn is or his most basic needs, he's the roommate from hell, it's all about Kurt all the time with Kurt (couldn't he have asked Finn whether he'd like some football posters and a furniture arrangement that might give Finn some privacy before whining that Finn criticized his unilateral decisions?) I can't take Kurt's alleged pain for being different seriously when he seems incapable of understanding that anyone else might have his own problems. Especially since Kurt's dad is so utterly awesome while Finn has no one who puts him first like that.

Now, the first Lady Gaga number and both Kiss numbers were fabulous, but the Rachel-and-her-mom storyline is so idiotic that I don't know how Idina Menzel could make herself spit out some of those lines. "I found my daughter but she's grown up, what a letdown, so much for that!" All in the space of how many days? Ending with that wishy-washy acoustic "Poker Face"? When we've never actually seen Rachel's gay dads, who are apparently completely peripheral to her life (what did they want a daughter for, anyway)? I try to make myself like Rachel because she's Jewish the same way I try to make myself like Kurt because he's gay, yet my degree of irritation, given the over-the-top way they're both characterized, makes me think the writers are actively trying to make us give more of a shit about Noah and Finn and it's not just the way the comedy crumbles. Cutesy stereotypes can be just as damaging as nasty stereotypes.

Some more photos from the House of the Temple, headquarters of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in the Southern Jurisdiction, in Washington DC:















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