29 September 2014

almond cookies

almond cookies on amber plates.
auburn hair across her face.
autumn breeze. it's getting late.
and she wonders where you are. where you are.

pine trees green around the year.
paper airplanes. you are here.
pealing bells. you disappear.
and still she wears your sweater.

woodsmoke wafting in the wind.
she's wandering down that path again.
water cannot wash her skin.
you are here. you're gone again.

and still she wears your sweater.

22 September 2014

domination

uproot!
yank, yank, yank.
uproot!

strong twisted roots resist yet
in the end they're out.

uproot!


remove
things that want to grow.
embed
things that (we) want to grow.

and so we sit in judgement over plants.


"approbate the appropriate."
"opprobriate the odd."

dislodge sycamore saplings.
evict viney clover.
pick poke sallat.

and so we sit in judgement over plants.

cultivate sturdy nasturtiums.
grow profuse roses.
plant pretty pansies.


and so
we sit
in judgement
over
plants.

16 September 2014

building birdhouses

so i'm here at starbucks where the people come with their books and highlighters and spirals and whatnot. there's one guy here with a calculator and notebook and his computer open and his noise-cancelling headphones and he just randomly dropped a big pink eraser on the floor and grabbed it back up.

see, that's what i want. books and papers and a big pink eraser that i sort of absently knock to the floor when i reach across the books and the papers to pick up my highlighter, or reach for a sip of coffee, or change the music coming into my noise-cancelling headset.

okay, obvs, i could purchase those items. so it's not simply the having of them. no, that's not all. it's the having of them AND the using of them. but... durr, i could acquire those items and use them. i could get some paper and pencil to write stuff and then erase it and i could get a book in which i could highlight passages. but that's not the point, either, is it? no, it is decidedly not. it's not the having of them AND the using of them for their own sake. the point is to have them and use them for a sake other than the mere having and using.

what's the point of having a hammer if you're not going to drive nails and what's the point of driving nails if you're not going to build a birdhouse? there's got to be something more, something to give meaning to the tools. you've got to have a purpose. it's not about having a hammer and it's not about driving nails. it's about building a birdhouse.

books. paper. pencils. noise-cancelling headphones. a highlighter. a pocket calculator. a big pink eraser. of what purpose are these tools? these are the tools of learning. add index cards, and you have the tools of a good old fashioned research project. a "term paper" as it were.

i wonder if i am capable of this... i once was quite good at it. can i, am i still able, to write a term paper?

i guess the first step is to pick a topic.


Title IX Trickle-down:
How the Summer of '72 Changed Opportunities
for Elementary School Girls
to Play Organized Sports


what do you think?

i think i need to purchase some note cards!

14 September 2014

mason jars in the moonlight

mason jars in the moonlight...
porch swinging, it's a hot night.
you and me baby, we're all right,
all right.

katydids in the sycamore...
breeze knocking at the screen door.
you and me baby, we're forever more,
ever more.

twenty-five years is a real long time.
lot of cups of coffee, lot of clothes on the line,
lot of lay me down to sleep, lot of rise and shine.
twenty-five years is a real long time.

train whistle in the far hill...
katydids cede to the whippoorwill.
you and me baby, we're together still,
together still.