Poem for Wednesday and Nordic Northwest

Buying a Star 

By Jane Shore 

An ad on the radio says that you can buy a star.

Call the toll-free number, charge it

to your credit card, and they'll send you

a parchment certificate of authenticity

and constellation chart with your actual star circled,

mapping your province of gaseous darkness, fire and ice,

over which you can rule, like the Creator.

The summer we got married, remember the night

we wrapped ourselves in blankets

and lay on our backs on the hood of our Toyota,

watching the meteor shower?

For an hour, we lay so still--

a husband and wife side by side

atop the stone lid of a medieval sarcophagus.

Beneath us, the damp grass

shivered with crickets and, above,

quick as eye blinks,

meteors streaked across the sky.

Every few seconds we'd see one die.

There! there! in the upper-right-hand-corner--

no martgage, no upkeep, no perpetual care--

there we are! buried in darkness, flashing,

then out.

For Howard 

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Wednesday was, as often for me, quite social though entirely online. I talked to Linda, Hildy, and Kay in the morning, plus Linda's sister and father who were both visiting her -- I've known them all since I was 10 -- and Hildy's oldest daughter and Kay's younger son were at their houses, so I got to talk to them too. Then I ate lunch, did a couple of chores, and watched the second half of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania with Kristen and Laurie, whom I figured should "meet" since they live near each other and I met them in the same fandom. 

I watched some Olympics and most of the Orioles' triumphant win over the Blue Jays, including Jackson Holliday's first major league home run, which happened to be a grand slam! The Mariners did not fare as well against the Red Sox, and unfortunately the Yankees beat the Phillies. Solveig was posting photos of Indian food at her future in-laws' restaurant, which got me and Paul in the mood for Kanishka, so we ordered malai kofta, paneer mughlai, and other things that were excellent. Then we watched more Time Bandits. The Nordic Northwest campus in Oregon: