Pull Over (not the sweatshirt kind)

Jess and I were driving to Memphis today . . .
oh, those blazoning blue lights,
lighting like pinpricks in my consciousness;
yes, the boys in blue -- well, one for now.

Quick, check the speed limit . . . right on . . . safe.
Is there a problem, sir?
Seems to me u were cuting that wite line: you on drugs boy?
No sir, I was trying to let you pass (tailgated by an unmarked popo)
Lemme c ur driver's licence and insurance.
Just a minute. . . it's in here. . .
that one's outdated. . .
oh, here it is, thanks honey
strut, strut, strut
. . .
looks like he's called for backup
. . .
boy, you supost to where shews win u drive
yessir, they're right here.
You got a restriction on your license
. . .?
Supost to be whereing somethang.
Yessir, I wear contacts.
Why u nervous boy?
I get nervous when I get pulled over. (we have a title!)
Get outta the car.

You doin drugggs?
Nosir.
Empty ur pokets.
Whose that with you?
My girlfriend.
Mind if we search the trunk?
Go ahead.
Wear u goin boy?
An art gallery in Memphis.
Aiight, u can go.


Where does right start,
Where does it end?
If I think I'm right,
and you think you're,
then can I condemn you
without first fairly condeming myself?

(Thanks to William Faulkner and William Carlos Williams for some poetic inspiration...)

an old epiphany, newed

People matter. Achievements don't.

Sealing and filing the spring break zip-lock bag

Hiking in East TN was an experience -- which is something I've been yearning for. Sometimes I read so much that my imagination aches for words to be reality, and although a book can take our minds to different places, there is something existentially profound about going there bodily.

Highlites of the week:
-- having out 5-person tent laden with sleeping bags caught up by a gale-force wind and blow across the campsite hitting a tree.
-- reciting The Raven while the wind and rain pillaged our tent.
-- reading Slaughter-House Five, The Road, and Richard II
-- enjoying the quiet of mountains

Grad school update:
I've now gotten acceptance/assistantship letters from OU and OSU. I have gotten rejection letters from FSU and UTenn. Purdue and Mizzou are left.

Mom's Chemo Update:
She has had chemo for the past couple weeks and is still doing fine. Apparently it can take a little while for the drugs to have their debilitating side effects. She hasn't lost her hair yet and is in good spirits.

"I have come to the highway home,
and lo, it is ended."
~Robert Frost

Simple Irony

MS Word's two spell-checker choices for "Confuscious" were "Confucius" and "confusions."

A parody of Wallace Stevens

Thirteen Ways of Cooking a Blackbird
a parody

I
Among twenty boiling frying pans,
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the blackbird.

II
This verse has three lines
Like a pot
In which there are three blackbirds.

III
The blackbird twirled on the open spit.
It was a small part of the feast.

IV
A man and a woman
Are one.
A blackbird and cranberry sauce
Are one.

V
I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of deep-frying
Or the beauty of casserole,
The blackbird who is whole
Or cut up in bits.

VI
An indecipherable cause
Makes me wonder,
Is the blackbird finest
In a barbaric stew
Or black
In blackbird pie?

VII
O thin King Midas,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird
Tastes so sweet
To the women about you?

VIII
The blackbird knows what I know
And knows his taste
Rises above other birds,
But I know he is a cannibal,
And he does not.

IX
When the blackbird’s filleted just right,
It marks the edge
Of many menus.

X
The blackbird tastes good,
Blue cheese on wheat bread,
Cheddar on rye bread,
Swiss on croissant.

XI
My dad went to Connecticut
In a glass cage.
Once, a fear strangled him,
In that he mistook
The shadow of a wren
For a blackbird.

XII
The steam is rising.
The blackbird must be dying.

XIII
It was evening all evening.
It was hailing,
And it was going to hail.
The blackbird bones
Littered our plates.

2/21/08

random

When I was a freshman, I talked like a freshman, I thought like a freshman, I reasoned like a freshman. When I became a senior, I put freshman ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection, as in a facebook photo album.

Thankful for...

- good friends who bring healing potions
- poetry, especially the way it sounds coming off your tongue
- cheddar cheese
- jess
- visual art
- leadership
- mom being okay
- warm water on the face
- the present