Thinking of the Maritimes…

Hey Sweet Annie
Don’t take it so bad
You know the summer’s coming soon
Though the interstate is choking under salt and dirty sand
And it seems the sun is hiding from the moon

Your daddy told you
When you were a girl
The kind of things that come to those who wait
So give it a rest girl
Take a deep breath girl
And meet me at the Bay State tonight

And the snow is coming down
On our New England town
And it’s been falling all day long
What else is new
What could I do
I wrote a valley winter song
To play for you

And late December
Can drag a man down
You feel it deep in your gut
Short days and afternoons spent pottering around
In a dark house with the windows painted shut

Remember New York
Staring outside
As reckless winter made its way
From State Island to the Upper West Side
Whiting out our streets along the way

And the snow is coming down
On our New England town
And it’s been falling all day long
What else is new
What can I do
But sing this valley winter song
I wrote for you

An Excerpt from Eloisa to Abelard by Alexander Pope

“When from the censer clouds of fragrance roll,
And swelling organs lift the rising soul,
One thought of thee puts all the pomp to flight,
Priests, tapers, temples, swim before my sight:
In seas of flame my plunging soul is drown’d,
While altars blaze, and angels tremble round.”

Of the day…

Subject Matter Condescension

flashes and shouts illuminate the scenes,
their speed and furor spark.
all that ‘could’ is not that we would have,
under different circumstances.

how can we regain what has been misplaced,
the most important goal.
who we are is not what you would know,
if you could see away from me now.

time punishes as time should punish all,
the condescension pounces.
things worldly ought be and can be seen,
but from a sunlit prairie front door.

Hiking the Western Frontier

“Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow. ~Henry David Thoreau

I’m thinking of starting a flatland hiking club. Good or bad idea…I don’t know. I’ll get back to you.

LUST

When the rays..break the day…as so many…waves upon a planate shore,

What’s undone…is left in view…needing struck again…so it may be discharged,

Thus repeats…our task here now…we will forge on towards…our unfinished business.

Positivism

Love though abstract conveys:
the heft of omnipotent stares,
the breadth of lands with no heirs,
and the enchantment everyone bears.

So Long Baby

And so it goes – and so it goes…
‘round the cycles of heaves and hoes,

you push it back – you shove it back…
inerrant empathy you inherently lack,

and resist the thought – fight back the thought…
her being someone you wish you she were not,

sadnesses that bother – the anger grows hotter…
it’s inevitable: the baby goes with the water.

COMING SOON

New England Enterprise: A Short Story

America’s Best Idea

America the Beautiful

Ken Burns, especially known for his Civil War documentaries, has a new program on PBS rotation.  I, like many Americans have fond memories of several of our national parks.  We are relatively light on national parks in Kansas, but have several within a good day’s drive.  What national parks have you visited?  What are your favorites?  What problems do you forsee our park needing to overcome as we move through the 21st century?

http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/

A Czech to a German to a Swede

Immigrant Farmer in the Field

Although it has become politically incorrect to ask such questions, I am curious what if any impact a group’s ethnic background plays in their success or population coagulation.  It would appear that a homogenity in background keeps a coummunity glued together.  This is surely due to many factors including a common religion, type of employment, etc.  Is to be a melting pot community conversely a handicap?  Are we not quickly becoming a population of mutts?  How does all of this factor in as we plan and struggle to predict the future?