By Matthew Rohrer
If you, Tom, could see this inflight video map
of the world turning wildly on its axis
you would not, I think, be mad, though it is not
on paper, and that is what you do, but it is
a useful thing to see the earth twisted up like this;
it is our minds that are twisted, and you
are twisted too around a spoon, and drunk, I'm sure
by now, like me, past Newfoundland's shore
with other peoples' wine and dotted lines
to Bruxelles where I will only be
to switch planes, but you, I think, first went
there of all the other places you've been,
gobbling up the light as you went,
sending presents wrapped in maps.
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From Poets.org, a poem about which Rohrer says, "I was fascinated, reading Catullus translated by Peter Whigham, how he writes in several modes that are unpopular today: letters and maledictions in particular...I was also interested in seeing if I could write differently, and Catullus and I sure write differently. Like many of his, this poem is only one sentence." His most recent book is Destroyer and Preserver.
Remember how I warned that this would not be an exciting week in this journal? Wednesday involved making dermatologist appointments, taking the kids to get bagels, seeing Adam's good friend who is just back from several weeks visiting his father in the midwest, seeing several bunnies while walking in the lovely weather, and being embarrassed by both local baseball teams, each of whom managed to lose by ten or more points.
Speaking of baseball, after dinner we watched Trouble With the Curve. I have a high tolerance for cliches in baseball movies (I adore The Natural, Field of Dreams, The Rookie, etc.) and I like many actors in the cast, but the level of predictability was off the scale; it's like the screenwriters pulled out a formula for sports movies and did not change a single thing. For Cheryl, Pittsburgh Zoo elephants:
Best wishes for Lammas and Lughnasadh if you celebrate!
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