Order

The flashlight bobs in the windows,
first here
then there and here again.
The frames on the wall are all
exactly where they were before
but he needs to be sure.

It’s tiresome getting up
to check (at 3am)
but it’s a habit
or a ritual? a need?
and it’s not as if he’s
bothering anyone.

He shaves alone and showers
alone and sits at the breakfast nook
alone
methodically reading the paper,
and with no one there to please
He has complete freedom.

The smell of bookbinding glue and dust
put him at ease
the order and peace of
row upon row upon row
exactly where they’re
supposed to be.

Co-workers exchange pleasantries
and speak in hushed tones about how
the weekend went; a movie seen or
a trip to the country.
He nods, smiles and
straightens the index cards again.


©jrs

blue

the trees stand like an black inkwash against a bruised sky
the crickets are beginning the nightsong;
reet reet reet reet.
standing outside, in the darkening
watching
as the blue smoke curls and twists from my cigarette
drifting
across the blue grass and into the feet of the trees
bats flicker in blue spirals.
a light clicks on and footsteps across the crackling linoleum announce
her presence
in the stillness
the blue hour
joining me in silence
watching everything
watching nothing.



©jrs

I LOVE EGG!!!!!

flash movie; I sing this song in my head all the time now.

You will too. "wiggle jiggle...yellow middle... that's the best of what you are (I love you egg!)"

How Bush Blew It

The reality, say several aides who did not wish to be quoted because it might displease the president, did not really sink in until Thursday night. Some White House staffers were watching the evening news and thought the president needed to see the horrific reports coming out of New Orleans. Counselor Bartlett made up a DVD of the newscasts so Bush could see them in their entirety as he flew down to the Gulf Coast the next morning on Air Force One.

How this could be—how the president of the United States could have even less "situational awareness," as they say in the military, than the average American about the worst natural disaster in a century—is one of the more perplexing and troubling chapters in a story that, despite moments of heroism and acts of great generosity, ranks as a national disgrace. ...from "How Bush Blew it" on msnbc.com.

Surrounded by sycophants and idiots, the President was asleep at the wheel, and then when the Hurricane hit, he didn't even know how bad it was because he couldn't be bothered to turn on the television.

This is a man that has command of most any media resource imaginable, and other than read a fluff-book once in a while, he has no idea what's going on. I suppose it's too much effort to actually be informed. He has aides MAKE DVD DISTILLATIONS OF NEWSCASTS he didn't bother to watch in the first place; he was on vacation and obviously didn't want to let the real world creep in.

Clearly, it's hard to be the illegitimately elected President.

humming

Until this morning, I had never seen a hummingbird. I sat out on my terrace, having a cigarette, and this little black blur floated down towards me. At first, due to the soundof the buzz, I freaked a little, thinking it was a very large stinging insect. He hovered for maybe 10 seconds, checking me out [to see if I was sugary, no doubt] and then slowly rose to the terrrace above me, to play among the plants that my upstairs neighbor has on his railing. I bet he has a hummingbird-feeder up there. What a treat.

I believe it was one of these.

We put out a hummingbird feeder at out home on Long Island, but none ever came; although the guide says that they exist there, I think that they are few and far between, and perhaps further out on the Island. We’re pretty centrally located, and pretty well developed, so I think the hummingbirds moved away from all the noise.

I’m getting a feeder next spring.

I moved into the condo in NP; I've been too busy to update, I'm posting as soon as I can get myself together. It's my birthday today [the 3rd]. I'm getting old. Also: wishlist is in the profile. ;)