Saturday, January 12, 2013

Poem for Saturday, 'Family Business', Mount Vernon Holidays

Complaint of Isadora Duncan's Scarf
By Charles Jensen

My only glory was in beauty,
how I reached from her slender neck
toward the sky, ravaged by wind

the way a rough lover handles
you: dizzying, powerful,
unpredictable, but with joy,

joy in touching you,
joy in seeing you disheveled. The cool
night air ran its lips on my silk skin

to make me dance. I danced,
long and lean, with perfect
extension and seamless flow.

I had no bones. Not one bit of me
was firm or harsh. I was air
itself. I was becoming

pure performance. I could
see the tire's eye watching me.
The car at the sidewalk with its

inflexible frame-it hated
my freedom, my lift, my flight.
The car, gravity's great love,

envied me. The wind, for a moment,
set me down with ballet grace.
I lit upon the cold steel spokes

striking out from the wheel
like the arms of great Kali. She
tangled me, and when the car

drove off the wheel pulled me
tighter. I wound around its neck
the only way a scarf knows how,

pulling my whole silk body
and everything that anchored me
into the mouth of never.

--------

Friday was uneventful. Daniel slept later than me while I finished a review of Deep Space Nine's "Family Business", then we had lunch and watched a few first season Voyager episodes, "Heroes and Demons," "Cathexis" and "Faces" -- surprisingly enjoyable, particularly when Janeway and Torres do science together, though I will never have any passion for the show again knowing what the later seasons are like. It was dark and rainy all day, so we didn't go out anywhere exciting.

We had dinner with my parents plus Fresh Market cupcakes for dessert. Then we came home to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which Adam's friend had specifically asked if he could come over and watch since he'd never seen it. Angelica is still no Elizabeth, but it has Barbossa, which is all to the good. Here are some more photos from Mount Vernon's winter displays last weekend:
















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