By Nate Pritts
In studying the anomaly
it was determined that holiday decorations
look sad out of season,
that there's no excuse for the mistakes
of my people. Red paper hearts
on the front door into April,
a cauldron that doubles as a planter
in summer. Always the starscape
to help keep me honest, to remind me
that distance is easy to cross.
The analytic belt I'm equipped with
reminds me of an indescribable autumn
from one hundred generations ago
though even last year
I was someone else.
I was faced with a choice.
Proceed with the same core
or blow it up to restart
& maybe go further. Most of my programming
has survived into this new battle.
I can smell faint ocean
salt on the breeze & I have different
reactions for its presence or absence.
Now is the time to overcome problems.
I debate the finer points of being desperate,
of wanting things to remain
as they are, though they can't.
I'd rather not go into details
since specifics make me queasy,
like in pictures when people put their heads
too close together. How can they stand
such forced intimacy?
I take off in search of my home planet.
My resolve is stronger than ever.
--------
Pritts' 2010 book is Big Bright Sun.
My Wednesday was about as uneventful as my Tuesday. Took Adam to his summer orthodontist appointment in the morning, brought him home so he could have lunch and go to the track, ordered Daniel out of bed considering that it was practically lunchtime, ate bagels with both kids and discussed London, Wisconsin, Syria, the miracle of Sarah Palin's son's wife having a baby a mere three months after getting married, and the Washington Post food section recipe for summer squash burgers. Adam got lots of exercise -- after the track, he played tennis with my father -- while Daniel got ordered off the PS2 where he was playing Persona 3 to take a walk and get some fresh air.
I didn't see any deer or bunnies in the woods, but the lower temperatures -- anything below 90 degrees is my new favorite weather -- made it lovely to be outdoors anyway. I worked on my LiveJournal reclamation project when I could get Scrapbook to load and no Varnish errors, did some writing, had dinner and watched Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind because younger son and I were both in the mood for a Miyazaki movie and I've only seen that one once. Younger son also menaced me and the cats with a Slinky he found while cleaning his room. Like I said, it was not the most eventful of Wednesdays. Here are some photos from Fort Raleigh and Manteo on Roanoke Island, the original Virginia:
The Elizabeth II docked in Manteo at the Festival Park.
Though the town is named for one of the first Native Americans to travel to England from the New World, many of the streets are named for the settlers' patrons.
This room at Fort Raleigh was once part of Heronden Hall in Kent.
On the wall are reproductions of illustrations of the first Native Americans encountered by the English and the New World town.
This is the view from inside the fort on the site of the original Virginia, which Raleigh named all the land he claimed in the Queen's name.
While on the path to the fort from the visitor center, we saw this skink.
We also passed the stone marking the building of the fort in 1585 and the birth of Virginia Dare.
And Adam climbed a big old tree in the picnic area.
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