By Hans Ostrom
They call each other 'E.' Elvis picks
wildflowers near the river and brings
them to Emily. She explains half-rhymes to him.
In heaven Emily wears her hair long, sports
Levis and western blouses with rhinestones.
Elvis is lean again, wears baggy trousers
and T-shirts, a letterman's jacket from Tupelo High.
They take long walks and often hold hands.
She prefers they remain just friends. Forever.
Emily's poems now contain naugahyde, Cadillacs,
Electricity, jets, TV, Little Richard and Richard
Nixon. The rock-a-billy rhythm makes her smile.
Elvis likes himself with style. This afternoon
he will play guitar and sing 'I Taste A Liquor
Never Brewed' to the tune of 'Love Me Tender.'
Emily will clap and harmonize. Alone
in their cabins later, they'll listen to the river
and nap. They will not think of Amherst
or Las Vegas. They know why God made them
roommates. It's because America
was their hometown. It's because
God is a thing without
feathers. It's because
God wears blue suede shoes.
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Happy February! I had a strange and stressful day with some major highs and major lows. I had plans with Dementordelta that we'd already postponed twice, but she was really sick this morning, so I knew early on that we weren't going to spend the day having a Firth-a-thon. So I did some writing and caught up on a bunch of stuff that I'm STILL behind on from the snowstorm last week -- we have another one arriving tonight, joy -- and Paul came home and took me to The King's Speech since I'm likely to be trapped in the house for the rest of the week, which improved my mood somewhat.
Then I came home to two pieces of truly great news: older son got into the University of Maryland, which we were pretty sure he would, but nothing's a certainty till you have the letter on the table, and I love how when I say I have good news on Facebook, I get so many people "liking" it and being happy with me. Plus Beeej gave me an awesome, awesome present, which will undoubtedly make me smile for many days to come. I'm in a state of disorganization as a result of my mood swings over the course of the day, so here is a rainbow from last summer:
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