Sunday, April 08, 2018

Poem for Sunday and National Cherry Blossom Festival

Afterwards
By Philip Schultz

Suddenly
everything feels afterwards,
stoic and inevitable,
my eyes ringed with the grease of rumor and complicity,
my hands eager to hold any agreeable infatuation
that might otherwise slip away.
Suddenly
it’s evening and the lights up and
down the street appear hopeful,
even magnanimous,
swollen as they are with ancient grievances
and souring schemes. The sky,
however,
appears unwelcoming,
and aloof, eager to surrender
its indifference to our suffering.
Speaking of suffering,
the houses—our sober, recalcitrant houses—
are swollen with dreams that have grown opaque with age,
hoarding as they do truths
untranslatable into auspicious beliefs.
Meanwhile,
our loneliness,
upon which so many laws are based,
continues to consume everything.
Suddenly,
regardless of what the gods say,
the present remains uninhabitable,
the past unforgiving of the harm it’s seen,
while
the future remains translucent
and unambiguous
in its desire to elude us.

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We had cats pacing on us even though it was Saturday morning, so since we were up at 7:30 anyway, we decided to go downtown early to see the cherry blossoms before 1) crowds or 2) snow started to arrive. It was probably the chilliest day on which I've ever seen the blossoms, but I have to admit I prefer that to hot and mobbed; the views were great, there wasn't a single spot where we got stopped or crushed by throngs of people, we saw several different species of water birds, there were many daffodils and some tulips plus magnolias, hyacinths, and lots of little violets planted nearby, and we were home by lunchtime.

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In the afternoon, around watching depressing Orioles and Nationals losses with some highly questionable officiating, we went to the food store and did some chores. Adam messaged to ask if he could stop by and pick up some mail and camera equipment, so we had him here for dinner, though it was a quick visit because he had to be back in College Park by 8 for one of his volunteer jobs. Paul, Cheryl, and I wanted more Marvel, so we watched Deadpool, which remains hilarious, then we caught up on the excellent Black Lightning before putting on SNL ("Black Jeopardy" is the best)!

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