Archive for February, 2008
interstate shuffle
< New YorkTexasLouisianaTexasNew YorkOhioCaliforniaTexasTennesseeCaliforniaTexasArkansasTennesseeMississippiLouisiannaTexasMarylandWashington DCVirginiaTexasDelawareTexasi have been to 12 different states in less than 10 months.little pushpins on the map, back and forth, there and back.and the more i fly, the less i like it.
Add comment February 28, 2008
we like to declare the day conquered
when a whim becomes reality
and all of sudden we’re rowing a kayak downstream
and upstream
and under bridges
and beside turtles
with swans and squat ducks and sticks and such.
dipping paddles in a cityscape reflection
the bell churns the tones of four o’clock
and we’ve been buoyant for two hours
we feel it in our churning arms, and gripping fingers, our bracing backs,
and in our wayward legs as we finally reclaim terra firma.
our reward is juice
Add comment February 18, 2008
Slight
precipice
terminus
on the verge of curves and envy
and poetry flees me,
receeds from me,
my thoughts impede me
and do my heart no health.
how tight seem the seams,
restitching old tangles with a fish hook.
cotton in my ears
green fire in my belly
cooling my heals
from bended knees,
pared bare,
and sullen.
Add comment February 17, 2008
Highlights
- Already a week back from Memphis and have yet to write.
- Blazed through East Texas with winter stars beyond our cracked windshield.
- Louis L’Amore western short-stories read by Willie Nelson narrated us to Texarkana.
- Arkansas passed by without impression.
- Memphis is mostly underbelly.
- Every second counts, especially 90 of them.
- Yazoo City Mississippi. Coffeeville Mississippi. Ebenezor Mississippi.
- William Faulkner’s ‘A Rose For Emily’ read by Debra Winger.
- Bees Bayou Louisiana.
- East Texas Baptist College to visit Tucker. God knows if you go to seminary class because you have to swipe your ID card.
- 7 red bulls (an UPTA sponsor)
- 9 hours of Jack Kerouac’s ‘On The Road’ bringing us homeward.
Add comment February 16, 2008
Super Tuesday
Hillary’s appearance on Late Night with David Letterman the night before Super Tuesday Jack Nicholson’s call to voters to support Hillary
Add comment February 5, 2008
Austin Adventure Day
Instead of sitting in front of a television yesterday we took the opportunity to traverse a 7 mile expedition of Austin proper. At 4:30pm we armed ourselves with bottle of water, a PB&J, and a notebook (the latter two we made no use of). We headed first to Deep Eddy Pool on Lake Austin Blvd. byway of Exposition Blvd. (on which we live) and then ambled along and across the Colorado river into Zilker Park Botanical Gardens. With ten minutes before closing time we briefly enjoyed the Japanese Zen Gardens and the Cactus/Succulent Pathways and vowed to return with our mothers on a bright spring morning.On to Zilker Metropolitan Park in all its kite-flying, soccer kicking , skyline viewing glory. We reclined on knoll for an hour and gradually turned our heads upward as the firmament glowed like a electric peach. Motivated to move our feet we promenaded down Barton Springs. It was there where I declared…”Sometimes…we forget.” and we laughed! So hard! I know I had more profound and poignant remark to make but I was caught, mid-thought by the sound of crickets which I mistook for an electric current from the power-lines above our heads and I lost the grounding of my proposition. So we chuckled our way into the Daily Juice stand where we bought two young coconuts from which we drank a sweet salty electrolyte nectar that was everything that we ever wanted.
As we past a Uncle Billy’s Brew & Que a young boy on the patio smiled at what I held in my hand and asked without words….then I said, “Oh, its a Coconut”. He said, “Look Mom, Dad! A coconut!” The parents reluctantly turned from the big game and looked me up and down. Suddenly, I was the ambassador of coconuts, smiling and palming the fruit for all to see. They shrugged and then we were on our way. Along Chavez we let our feet fly down a riverfront hill that was too steep to take on any other way. The bank was tiled in blue with a pew or two close enough to throw a stone in the water. A dozing homeless man made me skittish and made me wonder why so many transients are so sleepy. (?!). Past the condemned power plant which hosts the Blue Lapis Light site-specific dance performances. Past an wrought-iron gazeebo that I deemed to be haunted on pure intuition. Eventually we decided to sit on a bench on a pedestrian bridge and count distinguishable red lights in in the Austin skyline. He counted 40. I counted 45. Together we counted 44. Walk. Walk. Walk. Up to the Congress building to let the wind breath on us and blow under our armpits on the corner of Guadalupe. Down 9th street and its historical homesteads.On to a patio to watch the final seconds of, at that point, a very exciting game. Into BookPeople to browse and pee (in reverse order).Caught a bus to 24th.Hiked the hills of 24th, under the highway, shouted at by fools in a SUV. Shouted back. Twisted an ankle. Twanged a texas accent. Home. You know you’ve walked a lot when your feet are dirty and you are wearing closed toed shoes. We showered. Drank water. Ate a fridge-ful of leftovers and watched a documentary about the playwright Eugene O’Neil. 1:30 am End of Play. Here is a map of our adventure.
Add comment February 4, 2008
Add comment February 4, 2008
