Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Poem for Wednesday and Garden in Bloom

Comet Hyakutake
By Arthur Sze

Comet Hyakutake's tail stretches for 360 million miles—
in 1996, we saw Hyakutake through binoculars—
the ion tail contains the time we saw bats emerge out of a cavern at dusk—
in the cavern, we first heard stalactites dripping—
first silence, then reverberating sound—
our touch reverberates and makes a blossoming track—
a comet's nucleus emits X-rays and leaves tracks—
two thousand miles away, you box up books and, in two days, will step through the
        invisible rays of an airport scanner—
we write on invisible pages in an invisible book with invisible ink—
in nature's infinite book, we read a few pages—
in the sky, we read the ion tracks from the orchard—
the apple orchard where blossoms unfold, where we unfold—
budding, the child who writes, "the puzzle comes to life"—
elated, puzzled, shocked, dismayed, confident, loving: minutes to an hour—
a minute, a pinhole lens through which light passes—
Comet Hyakutake will not pass earth for another 100,000 years—
no matter, ardor is here—
and to the writer of fragments, each fragment is a whole—

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Spring break has ended but the insane spring weather has continued; on Tuesday it was in the 60s, overcast in the morning, brilliant sunshine in the afternoon, yet again no rain in sight. I finally finished folding the laundry, did some work, did some writing, and other exciting weekday things like that. Younger son had tennis in the afternoon so I got to walk in the woods at Cabin John Park, where the creek was unnervingly low but the chipmunks were doing lots of scampering anyway. I would be happier about Santorum suspending his campaign if I were positive he didn't cut a deal with Romney for a job in his hopefully-not-happening administration.

Glee is back and mediocre as ever -- spoilers -- how fortunate for Quinn that despite being paralyzed she doesn't have a single bruise or scar! Very enjoyable music though, since I can listen to '80s schlock any time and there can never be too much Elton John (probably there can be too much Duran Duran, but it didn't happen this week). Ringer is just as mediocre, I suppose, and the oops-I'm-a-psychotic-lesbian-now business really irritates me, but again I have discovered that I will watch Sarah and Ioan do pretty much anything, with bonus points for Doug Witter in a gratuitous sex cameo. Here are some Lewis Ginter Botanic Garden photos from Monday:















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