pantoum's Diaryland Diary

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MIND THE GAP

219.

Writer�s Almanac featured the following on Tuesday:

REUNION
by Amber Coverdale Sumrall

In your old pickup we drive the length of the island looking for
blackberries and trails that lead to the lighthouse, tell stories
about our six cats, the ones we divided when I left. I took your
favorites, the ones that were mine before we met. Your fifth
marriage is faltering. I am falling in love for the third time since
we separated. All you want to do is fish in your father's rowboat,
build a small cabin on five acres of land. Beyond right now,
I don't know what I want. Somewhere on Orcas another woman
dreams of you, waits for you to enter her life.

We smoke from your well-seasoned pipe, nervous as new
lovers. Those last months I refused to get high with you; we
always fought afterward. I remember why I loved you and why,
after ten years, I left. The reasons blend together, rise with the
smoke and dissipate. You ask me to tell you why, once again.
Each time the story is different, a work in progress. Days pass
in one afternoon. Is there still a chance, you ask.

We smile at one another, our defenses down. No one knows
us better. At the trailhead you pick purple flowers, hand
them to me, suddenly shy. I trip over exposed roots as we walk,
instinctively take your outstretched hand then let it go. In the
lagoon a pair of herons dance for one another, lowering their
long necks in courtship. Hidden behind boulders, we watch in
silence until the birds lift and disappear beyond the lighthouse.
There is always a chance, I say.

I like some things about this�the exposed roots are a little obvious, but okay. Ditto her instinctively taking his hand. But can someone tell me exactly what makes this thing a poem? It�s three paragraphs of straight narrative in my book.

Have just finished finagling a new PC for an editor whose hard drive went kaput today�and BTW have you backed up your hard drive lately?�and then completely revamped an electronic publishing policy I�ve been working on. It is sure to piss off some faculty members who are under the impression that we should just GIVE everything they write away (I swear, some of them are such divas, could care less about how much money it takes to actually keep this place running, but Gawd help you if there�s no one there to pull that piece of paper out of their printer because they don�t know how to load the simple thing).

And speaking of poetry, today�s Writer�s Almanac poet may have changed her mind about her format if she�d read Tuesday�s New York Times article about poet August Kleinzahler, who said

Most poets are shiftless, no account fools.

And, actually, when you think about it, this would have been a really appropriate article for her to read, since Kleinzahler publicly criticized Garrison Keilor (the publisher of said Writer�s Almanac) for his middlebrow tastes in verse.

Some so-called middlebrow writing doesn't bother me at all though, and anyway, anyone who would write

If you�re a poet, you�ve earned the right to blow off whoever you want

Very fortunate indeed that the New York Times did not drop that second three-letter word while typesetting that line.

Now here�s a portion of the Kleinzahler poem �On Waking in a Room and Not Knowing Where One Is��a poem that does make use of those end stops:

In a moment or two you will know
exactly where you are,
on which side of the door,
your wallet, your shoes,
and what today you�ll have to do.
Cities each have a kind of light,
a color even,
or set of undertones
determined by the river or hills
as well as by the stone
of their countless buildings.
I cannot yet recall what city this is I�m in.
It must be close to dawn.

�

It�s an odd week on campus because school is not in session (because of summer break). This means no gym hours�although you�d think someone would notice how many faculty and staff work year-round and pay good money for gym privileges.

�

If you have a minute to read something entertaining, Connie-Cobb�s brief blog entry Letter to The Editor (of MTV) on 8.2 is really, really right-on hilarious.

�

Have been thinking about a couple of things today. First, there�s this argument that we should downgrade Pluto to the status of icy sphere and admit that we were mistaken when we declared it a planet. Does this mean that we can downgrade, oh, idiots like GWB to low-wattage shrubbery and admit that we never should have elected the man president too? I�m in favor of that, but think too many of us just want a president who�s a bobblehead spouting jingoistic, feel-good lines that guarantee that we can continue to pat ourselves on the back and not think too much. A jingoistic actor, a cowboy. Reagan. Guess I�ve ranted about that enough though for now....

Also Rob Breszny wrote about IDD�Intention Deficit Disorder�in his Aquarius horoscope for last week. People whose �good intentions get derailed by modest challenges� suffer from this disorder. His brother, a realtor, frequently encounters IDD people who �act as if they really want to buy or sell a house, but then never get past the first few fledgling steps toward that end.�

My pal Operagrrl's ex Jane was still trying to get her house ready to sell two years later and has lived in her new house for over three years now without unpacking. I�m no doctor, but can also diagnose IDD.

The other thing on my mind is the Pacific NW (which I�m still willing to believe I can visit in November, even though buying my mother a car will probably mean that I can no longer afford the trip).

All right. I�m getting depressed now because I probably won�t get to go there or see Filmgrrli now that I have to buy my mother a car (and the legislature is talking about giving us an, oh, $600 raise this year, which won�t even cover what they just cut in our health insurance!).

LISTENING TO: �Tainted Love��or at least I was when I was driving into work today because NPR was boring me

READING: AdBusters magazine

>SANG IN SHOWER: nothing (pout)

BEST OF SPAM: Subj: lewd. You know you need it. The longer and thicker you are, the better everyone involved will be. Don�t delay on the world�s best solution for your problem. Make �it� work like a king today. Up-size it. ((Okey-dokey! Wonder what color I should order this time....)) � Be Assured of Your Performance ((I am.))

10:13 a.m. - 2005-08-04

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