Thursday, July 19, 2007

3 points & a poem

  • curtis took aretha, my laptop, to his conference. i don't have my IM, or my web favs... i miss her...
  • i read some c.s. lewis last night - mere christianity - and his brilliant intellect is so accessible, completely lacking in grandiosity or verbal strutting... and even though my pogo stick strained to follow his neatly laid railroad ties, i think i found my new favorite sentences..."Besides being complicated, reality, in my experience, is usually odd. it is not neat, not obvious, not what you expect." story of my life!
  • i had a terrible sleep last night. there were 'bad guys' behind every cricket chirp, and i was up at least every couple of hours to peer out between the slats of the blinds. i slept with the machete beside my bed...

"am I in here?"

once I was a girl who
relished the grass –
rolled
lay
picked
nibbled
on in it

now i carefully prop myself
in chairs & on blankets,
if need be

once i was a fleet footed
indian warrior princess,
racing
whooping
gathering
singing
in a deep wood

now I carefully wash,
clean & despair
at the mess & clutter of childhood

until
suddenly

a young mermaid crowns me
with a twist of vines
and declares me

The Mermaid Queen

and skips away laughing

12 comments:

Sarah said...

Your poem made me smile. And C.S. Lewis is good good stuff. And I can prescribe things that make the "bad guys" go away :)

111 said...

i knew there was a reason i liked you!! ha!

Anonymous said...

Maybe the mermaid was outside your window. mmmmm?
When I feel restless, I drink some tea and do a crossword puzzle...in my bed. Nothing gets me to sleep faster!

Anonymous said...

She is writing poetry! I can see it happening, just as your write. This is why we need our children ...they give life back to us in a real way.
And can I say, I have had a headache for five days, not o complain. I need a mermaid too... do you have one to share? me

Anonymous said...

Let's talk about your poem.

111 said...

let's not and say we did. :)

kristine said...

it's really the mermaid's in life that keep us from topping over the edge of sanity into dispair. but sometimtes they are too few and far between. thanks for beeing my mermaid for 16 days. love ya

Anonymous said...

So, why it the laptop named Aretha?

111 said...

because when i got it, vista OS was very buggy and it was very touchy, yet i loved it so much and it did so much fun stuff, that aretha seemed like an appropriately diva-ish name! :)

Anonymous said...

I keep having to remind myself... our gargoyles and hellions are just mermaids in disguise. I wish they were unmasked more often. I LOVE your poetry... and am so excited that you're writing :-)

111 said...

aren't you the nicest boy...

Anonymous said...

What an amazing poem, Rae! I absolutely love it . . . it transported me immediately from my insulated, cramped office to the best of my childhood memories. I think I'll head home early . . . it's a perfect weather day in Sherwood Park!