Saturday, December 02, 2023

Poem for Friday and Brookside Lights

the pomegranate's decimation 
By Carrie Ayagaduk Ojanen 

arils loosed from the yellow membrane
pith pocked and pocketed

spread across the plate Aapa 
gave us on our wedding day
my daughter, my panniq, picking at the crimson 
carapace, her graceful small fingers 
examining each aril between finger and thumb
before she consumes it, just so

reminds me of crab cooked in winter
my uncles letting loose
their catch across the tile floor
the clatter as thin tine toes
chased us 
and later the bodies’ 
carapace—craggy corniced interiors
the inner sanctum 
the source of life 
the sacred centering 
cathedral
of appreciation

have I done enough to deserve this

I hold each memory

the December light flickers out
between the dark damp trees

I watch my daughter, my panniq, as she is this moment

-------- 

I got up early Friday because Paul had a dentist appointment walking distance from a lot of Redmond shopping, so I went to Ross to look for slippers and boots and to Rite Aid for sundries before he was finished, at which point we both went to Safeway since we hadn't been since we got back from Maryland. The Christmas decorations are going up everywhere. In the afternoon, we took a walk to the beach, where someone's off-leash dog terrified all the geese and ducks into the lake with a lot of honking and squawking. 

We watched the unexpectedly thrilling Washington-Oregon game, possibly the last Pac-12 championship game, which it looked like Oregon could come back and win until there were less than two minutes left. Then, after dinner, we watched May December, which is a really strange movie that goes out of its way to make the cryptic actress character less likeable than the damaged child abuser and leaves so much just dangling. There are great performances, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it. Winter lights set up at Brookside Gardens last week:

2023-11-22 15.44.47

2023-11-22 15.46.09

2023-11-22 15.49.06

2023-11-22 15.43.27

2023-11-22 15.47.41

2023-11-22 15.49.37

2023-11-22 15.52.33

No comments: