By Marilyn Hacker
No body stops dreaming it’s twenty-five,
or twelve, or ten, when what is possible's
a long road poplars curtain against loss, able
to swim the river, hike the culvert, drive
through the open portal, find the gold hive
dripping with liquid sweetness. Risible
fantasy, if, all the while, invisible
entropies block the roads, so you arrive
outside a ruin, where trees bald with blight
wane by a river drained to sluggish mud.
The setting sun looks terribly like blood.
The hovering swarm has nothing to forgive.
Your voice petitions the indifferent night:
"I don't know how to die yet. Let me live."
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I spent most of Thursday on my feet, which is a good thing -- my feet are sore but my back is less so. My primary care doctor said that my MRI didn't show anything very scary -- several bulging discs but nothing seriously herniated, though she wants me to see an orthopedist so he can look at the scans since it isn't her specialty; she suggested a week of steroids since that sometimes makes swelling go down and knocks out the pain, thus avoiding more invasive injections, and she also suggested physical therapy to stop the pain from returning. So I am working on more appointments (and have switched to Walgreens from the local CVS, my pharmacy for over 20 years, since they claimed they couldn't find me in the system, said the doctor never sent the prescription although she sent me a copy of it and why would she have bothered if she'd never sent the original, and laughed at me when I asked them to please double check).
Paul and I went shopping earlier in the day -- a trip to Michael's which had frames on sale (for one day, for 15% on top of a 40% markdown), across Rockville Pike to a fitness store to see whether they had treadmill desks (online prices are better though we have to see about shipping), to the park for a walk (caught another Onix so I now have a Steelix!), and to Giant and the aforementioned CVS (at least I have spicy cheese). Then we went to Union Jack's to meet Kay and her husband and younger son for dinner (their Lady Jane salad, with pistachios, cranberries, grapes, and vinaigrette, is wonderful). After we ate, we walked around Washingtonian Lake, which was good for all our backs. When we got home, we watched this week's episode of The Handmaid's Tale. I had no time to crop new photos so here are some Brookside butterflies from last year, since they're now getting ready for this year's!
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