musings

One Known

2009-11-21T11:35:00.001-08:00

One Known
----
raped, ripped,

        torn, and gone

shaped, gripped;

       mourn the dawn

the light before

      in sight behind

Yet again I ask

       from in My Soul

   For Let To Be

            Just, Enough to seek

       What I should try,

            I ask, consoled within

                 Thy Will, I Would

what thence once was,

      but now nevermore

not since, because:

      as yet still in Thy Mind

What is in my task;

           This from whence My Role

      Or yet to be,

Sail's Winds' luff oblique

        But why should I

              Then task One Olde Myth's Sin

                    I Will, I could

the light before

      in sight behind

what thence beget,

     let still, once was,

         now nevermore

not since, and yet,

         yet will, because:

                still in Thy Mind
----
2009/11/21 14:10
enya "and winter came"

       the music simply calls out what i spresent elsewhere.
       I have to listen to it again, and lala and resources are once a day only.

What Four?

2009-11-06T14:04:00.001-08:00

What Four?
----
Rules are tools

You will use them
or you will lose them

If you abuse them
or if you refuse them

you will confuse them
and you will perfuse them

with hose spat spit
That's all; that's it

Since Fools are fools
====
2009/11/06 early AM when I could not sleep

Inde Herd

2009-10-18T11:58:00.001-07:00

Inde Herd
----
Is that Instant time, that when
That Moment of Momentum
Has been stopped: Deferred

That second, offed Time, then
In torment, then, deterred
As inconsolamentum?
====
2009/10/18 14:55 at lauinger library
From 13th century Catharism: one who is consolamentum is one accepted intot he purity of the faith.

thus ...

Woe: Man Inside

2009-10-17T16:54:00.001-07:00

Woe: Man Inside
(WIP)
----
if the inside man
is not a man inside
and inside the man
is not a man and not inside

would The Man decide
to deride that man
or then all of Man,

decried, inside
deny that side

for all that man

in woe: just so

astride that tide

as man in Man

...denied ...

... had tried ...
====
20090/10/18 14:30 what can i say ...

Very: Dissed Muss

2009-10-17T11:01:00.001-07:00

Very: Dissed Ease Muss

(A BC/E whip (work holy in progress))

----

And not for the first time

And not for a cursed crime

As they've fed them
they have bred them

as they've bed them
they have wed them

as they've bled them
now they've dredd them

     just as all those locks have their keys
            gets ya inta the show podiums
               for the midnight ovah head screen
     blustah jazz rocks when you seize
            bets ya alla them now know ya odiums
                for the kid's night DVD scene

first they led'em
now they've fled'em...

when you played fools the suckah
you became the stool sit muckah

but the groanah: it's true
its ya ownahz .. not you

As they say down Djamekkah way

Sum kine uvva crown Dame'd Fekkah, say

And you ain't got the no, mon

Cuz you cain't not but go on

Betcha alla iz the that doan discourage, yu:

   whatcha calla iz a Rat, doan miss courage (true)...

So, this, damn, you may not learn from

But, Miss Ma'am, pray you mott earn some

   From your empty soul's deepest abcess

      Has split forth and burst slime

             ... comez a hole steeped in drabness

from that part sewer, upward buoyed

comes your heart, skewered from that void

with a smile stacking face: slack smack grabbahs

full of guile, lacking Grace: hack back stabbahs

and it ain't got no color, as it spigots

and it's paint cain't get duller, that of bigots

now in the song, Sweetie Pea, that you've Liszt

how you have wronged P'sTB that you've pzzt!

since yoah name's the web's pick, yah

whence yoah fame will, banned, ebb, strict, nah?

    keeping those comments quite PC
    bleeping the same game inside DC

how that game's on their list

what's your shame: that's the gist

perhaps mebbe in true Court

and, well, no, not from you, sport

cuz you're strict second team high
as you're pricked: con wrecked dreams die

will it then shame all your known family?
or raze the name of your own Amelie

And your Bambi whose game
Must Misuse Christ goring His Name
Nambi pamby; how tame
Shush, It's your shystering, the same

What ever untrue penza denizen you've used
    Whichever in flu senza regimen abused

But not for the worst crime

----

Merry: Grist sleaze puss

====

2009/10/17 13:00 The VA side is lot like the DC side at URL http://musings-roy-crabtree.blogspot.com/2009/04/badboys.html

and one of the first ones at URL http://musings-roy-crabtree.blogspot.com/2008/06/to-owners-who-you-foolin-you-have.html

long before the death of Yoshio Nakada

Misuing a position of fiduciary trust for purposes contrary to the grant in lee involvedis an old corruption
    nad playing fools, shills, and fall guys, while committing Treason against The King (in the Commonwealth usage)

     is also a very old practique.

   but just as miserably sick as it has always been.

I wonder what the laws are for a foreign national from the Commonwealth naturalized
or green carded here in the uS when this type of gambit becomes exposed.

Count Our Blessing: Smoothly Steaming...

2009-10-15T11:32:00.001-07:00

Count Our Blessing: Smoothly Steaming, Our Lady Catherine
-----
Count Our Blessing

Now our Catherine is quite a fair beauty, the lassie
Just a smatherin' of bright, not unduly sassy

    On the move in a breeze
    In the groove as you please

The Tuatha/Erin, and a sprite, yes she is, truly classy

Smoothly Steaming

When it's brewed and then topped with smooth whipped cream
She will stand, just to stare and watch it steam

    And while sipping smooth hot chocolate
    It's a time she does not talk a lot

And it's easy to get lost in that dream
Even if the chili is hot as a scream

Our Lady Catherine

Let Us Pray on this day
    (as we tell, we confess : if we dare) of her birth
As we bray out in gay
   (laugh full well, to success, as we share) joy & mirth

    Never doubt in your own soul, we all know
    Shout it out, Let The Bells Toll, Let it Show!

We can say - this we may -
    (We will tell, and no less: we're aware) of her worth

Let her stay;
    Let her play;
        Long May She Dwell
            Our Lady Fair
                On this, our Earth

Pray it's true:
As to hot chocolate,
    hot or chill
        let us hope
           there's no dearth

And may you
Bike or trot/walk a lot
    else it will
        surely scope
            ... to your girth ...

Be sure that you enjoy
      the full rich sweet and smooth
        from royal brown silk
            to blueberry and white
                candy blocks you got
                    all just according to taste

But do not be too coy
     let it bewitch and sooth
         some pepper, some milk
              make you merry and light
                  (dandy chocolate)
                      ...just don't let it go to waist!
====
2009/03/24 Miriam's Kitchen for Catherine Crum's birthday while there, mainly.
11;14 Lauinger two more stanzas
14:02 last couplet.

But why?

2009-10-13T09:14:00.001-07:00

But why?

----

when thrall to choosing

     gaze then upward, shawled Dowinger

         youth, spanned, rare in joy

                what's still yearned forth springs

             dares touch just what the eye can see

     abaft, flown so:

          a loft, alee,

          trans sept and nave

ken all, a Musing

       Maze, when suffered: tall Lauinger,

            truth stands there, ahoy us,

                    struts astern, and brings

       there, such must strut: a Library

      encraft, stown so,

              but soft, and free,

            sans klept, hands lave

then fall, as pews sing

        grazing, cupward, all browse inward

              new lands, where the joyous

                  bell of learning, rings

            dares much: just the why?, there be

         tho daft, known so,

               what's croft with glee

               Man's crept, banned slave

thus if, anon, remiss, yet pray

     cock's crow's report, bell clocks the dawn

       achieves the goal Men, stalking, stumbled

just shrift when gone, Plea this, let, may

   although held short, as locks when shorn

           alleves the soul, then, balking: humbled

belief in Christ sufficed; let faith accost,

   once whole, we mourn, full well, to dwell, bereaved,

           and will, in wrath, in pain, depraved,

relief, mispriced, enticed, yet wraithed when lost

     the soul, ill torn, (who'll tell: cruel Hell), aggrieved

           but still the path of pain be braved

as tho thru lifting hand:

            let, strown, on high

    to waste, misplaced

            to rend, then end,

                  the gifts we're given

when grown, you understand;

             yet know not; aye

     once chaste, debased,

              amend and tend,

                    then drifts, ere riven

the oaths avowed Man's kept can save

the goal to bind,

          depart this world

     new breath, past sin

fair Earth, afleet

betroths allowed, sans klept can lave

   the soul, the mind,

              the heart unfurled,

in death, as in

              rebirth: the feat

And as we fall

     Astride, across

Life has in All

      Defied the Loss

----

2009/10/13 09:11 Metro to GUTS./Rosslyn to GU for breakfast

Thought I would let people see this one as it developed.
The inner paraqeet never knows where it is going to go next, until it gets there..

Versions & revisions can be seen at: https://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfzrv772_1699d3fxnbc2
History of the library may be found at URL http://www.library.georgetown.edu/exhibition/aggregate-planning-and-building-lauinger-library-lauinger-librarys-thirty-fifth-anniversa
2009/10/18 17:32 most of the rest Lauinger/3rd. I do not have a clue where this comes from.

     I am just a witness to it's arrival.

Never try to win the argument with a paraQeet

2009-09-11T11:55:00.001-07:00

Never try to win the argument with a Parakeet

1Abstract

Family is family. Many children survive to adulthood, in spite of this.

On rare occasions^¹, the Gifts given in the interim beggar proper description; only in retrospect does the magnitude of the Gift, and effort, and Love involved, come clear.

Sometimes it takes the adult form of the child’s mind to appreciate this in full.

The Gift of free will is one of those.

2Table of Contents

1 Abstract 1

2 Table of Contents 1

3 Free Will 3

4 Introduction 4

5 Overview 4

6 Main 5

6.1 Background 5

6.2 Entertaining A Parakeet 6

6.2.1 Arguing With Fingers 6

6.2.2 Nipping Nails 6

6.2.3 Shoulder Seats 6

6.2.4 Exploring Mouths 6

6.2.5 Finding Origin of Basso Sounds in Throat 6

6.2.6 Eating Newspaper 6

6.2.7 Landing on Shelves 6

6.2.8 Climbing Curtains 6

6.2.9 Hanging from Walls 6

6.2.10 Talking with Mirrors 6

6.2.11 Shirt Pockets 6

6.2.12 Use of Collar 6

6.2.13 Grooming Neck Hair 6

6.2.14 Pin Feathers 6

6.2.15 Crooning Into Ear Lobes 6

6.2.16 Stealing Salad 6

6.2.17 Playing Cards 7

6.2.18 Taunting Qats 7

6.3 Eating Calcium 7

6.3.1 Limited Supply 7

6.3.1.1 Better taste 7

6.3.2 Infinite Supply 7

6.3.3 Access paths 7

6.3.3.1 Valises 7

6.3.3.2 High curtain tops 7

6.3.3.3 Rough wall paper 8

6.3.3.4 Stacked shelves 8

6.3.3.5 Adhesion points (Holes) 8

6.3.3.6 The Dining Room Table Lamp 8

6.4 The Battle Aeternal 8

6.4.1 Daily 8

6.4.1.1 Parakeet Psychology 8

6.4.1.2 Parakeet Memory 8

6.4.1.3 Parakeet Obeisance 8

6.4.1.4 Alternative Methods 8

6.4.1.4.1 Ate 9

6.4.1.4.2 Bypass 9

6.4.1.4.3 Comedy 9

6.4.1.4.4 Distractions 9

6.4.1.4.5 Excited inciting 9

6.4.1.4.6 Farrago Filliping 9

6.4.1.4.7 Genuine Gyration 9

6.4.1.4.8 Huffing Hiatus 9

6.4.2 Nightly 9

6.4.3 Ongoing Skirmishes 9

6.4.3.1 The Front Cage Door 9

6.4.3.1.1 One #2 Son 10

6.4.3.1.2 The Latch 10

6.4.3.1.3 Superior Logic 10

6.4.3.1.4 Clothespins 10

6.4.3.1.5 You don’t mean to tell me … 10

6.4.3.1.6 Pete Over the Top 11

6.4.3.1.7 How High Can a Parakeet Count? 11

6.4.3.2 The Cage Top 11

6.4.3.2.1 A Weighty Choice 12

6.4.3.2.2 Additional Weight to the Argument. 12

6.4.3.2.3 Parakeet Catapult 12

6.4.3.2.4 Denial Of Fact 12

6.4.4 Final Warfare 12

6.4.4.1 The Trip Out 12

6.4.4.2 The Park Weekend 12

6.4.4.3 The Trip Back 13

6.4.4.4 Entering The House 13

6.4.4.5 Parakeet Symphony 13

6.4.4.6 The Beautiful Delicious Blown Stucco Ceiling 13

6.5 Victory and Defeat 13

6.6 Capitulation 13

6.7 Final Surrender 13

6.8 And Retribution 14

7 Summary 14

8 Conclusion 14

9 Closing 15

10 Postscript 15

11 Dilemmas of the Day 16

3Free Will

The act of giving birth to a child, and thereupon proceeding with the training, discipline, self sacrifice, and avoidance of parental murder in self defense, is one of those continuous miracles that so hilariously occupies much of Family Life.

My family was no so different from any other in these regards.

My Father’s family was deep south (Birmingham, Alabama); my Mother’s as well (Columbus, Georgia).

Through chance, time, and life, we ended up living as a family in multiple locales:

Near Edwards AFB, California (where my older brother Rick was born^²);
Alexandria, Virginia: where I was born; as well as my younger brother Ron.
Kailua, Hawaii: where my first schooling occurred, as well as my first remembered encounters with Parakeet, the species in person^³.
Orcutt/Santa Maria, California, where we came to know Pete^⁴ V^⁵, and thus learned the proper method of Arguing With Parakeets;
Greensboro, North Carolina, where Pete V’s replacement^⁶ lived and Passed Over^⁷.

Amongst which Santa Maria, California was the homestead of Pete V, and the Great Argument.

4Introduction

We had more than one home in Santa Maria, one on 333 Drake Drive^⁸, and the other at 4854 Harmony Lane^⁹; an apropos address for a fun full family of five assertedly human beings, and a small panoply of critters. Usually the count was more than none and less than too many.

Among other we had, there was:

Boots^¹⁰, a small toy collie, female, who demonstrated the essence of Life, and why you should never try to win any argument with a collie in heat;
Blackie, an eclectic far ranging cat, with a propensity for wingless flies^¹¹ and parakeet hunting^¹²;
And Pete V, standard coloration^¹³ male^¹⁴ parakeet. With all parakeetish^¹⁵ talents therein.^¹⁶.

5Overview

We actually started out without a parakeet; the cacophony of contrived Crabtree child cuckoo caca^¹⁷, collie, and qat was enough without adding to that confusion the craziness of Keet.

However, we had a next door neighbor.

I wish I remembered her name; it has been many years since 1966. She was a beautiful Lady^¹⁸ who allowed Certain Creative Crabtree Kids to play with her husband’s Lionel Train set^¹⁹.

Not that we did very much, we only played with that which was Already In Use. Much safer that way.

Until, sadly, her husband passed away.

She in turn, could not bear to see on a daily basis the love of her husband’s Life, his train set; nor the Love of Her Life that the Love of Her Life gave in Love to Her Life, Pete the Parakeet. Banded in 1958.

So, she gave these to our family.

More accurately, tried to. Dad would Not Accept the train set. Ostensibly, because it was worth too much, but in All Probable Truth^²⁰, probably because he truly Foresaw what he would have had to Construct and Maintain had he done so.

And since he had just recently won the War over ownership of a Private Space in the House (The Garage) and was fighting a desperate rear guard action to Banish All Foes from the Sink (which only he foresaw the need of), and losing with much Valiancy^²¹, he likely decided that the Bettor^²² Part of Valour^²³ lay in assuring that there would be no Convoy of Materiel for Further Warfare In Support of Any Other Invading Force^²⁴ present within the household.

That much at least he had learned from World War II. In which he was on the^²⁵ winning side.

And so succeeded in this Event^²⁶. By suggesting that our next door neighbor, Bless Her Heart, should Giveth the Train Set to the local train club^²⁷.

Ewe, in stead, got the better part of the bargain: one 8 year old banded parakeet named Pete, who became in Our Household Pete V, along with the various and sundry paraphernalia accumulated thereon: one yard high cage with Ten Pound Top, several months, err weeks, feed in millet seed, and an unlimited supply of cuttlefish, gone almost immediately.

6Main

And therein lies the essence of The Great Debate.

Parakeets, like most other birds, need a constant supply of calcium, as their bones grow form the inside out, like their beaks, and they excrete calcium all the time.

A new supply is needed at all times. Egg shells, chalk sticks, or cuttle fish bones, among others.

In addition, they usually prefer to be Out Of The D-----d Cage.

If at all possible^²⁸.

And, if also possible, with one or more entertaining things to do.

6.1Background

A short aside:

Long ago, in the middle f the Great Depression, things were difficult at times. MY father made do as the son of a sharecropper, and later became the plant electrician at one of the steel mills in Birmingham, Alabama, during Liberty Ship production times.

Mom was a nurse in the hospitals of the area, and received industrial accident training in earnest. The local hospital was supported fervently by the local chapter of the Roman Catholic Church, and my mother as such sought to train her children within the faith as a result.

Dad, on the other hand, had had some type of a very bad experience, which lead him to forsake organized theology.

However, such was the measure of the man, that he withheld discussion of this incident in any form for years, so as not to impact his children’s search for the truth.

And when Mom wanted us to be trained in the faith, Dad agreed to be the disciplinarian on three sons to go to Catechism.

Which we did, until Confirmed.

Whereupon Dad innocuously asked the local parish priest (in Santa Maria, if memory serves me right), as to whether we were regarded as adults in the eyes of the Church. Which we were.

Upon which, he ceased to act as disciplinarian, and allowed each of us to make our choices n the matter.

Over time, we made the choices that you would expect of teenagers, and at times, Mom succeeded in getting some of the topic back onto the discussion list, including Dad’s previous encounter with the Church.

At one point, a local Jesuit priest visited, had dinner and we had some discourse on topics of faith. A logical debate ensued, and the Jesuit attempted the normal gambit of dialectic, which was to attempt to get the other party to try to win, and thereupon lose, said debate, by the priest not trying to win; thus not being able to lose, and the other side losing by not winning.

Dad won the debate by not falling for that gambit, and not trying to win, thus frustrating that gambit, and the priest, by not losing by not trying to win, which made the priest lose by not winning since the other side did not lose by trying to win.

If you get all that.

All the while, the priest was gently playing with Pete the Parakeet, engaging him in gentle animated argument. To the enjoyment of both.

6.2Entertaining A Parakeet

Which is, of course, the main preoccupation one has with a parakeet: entertaining them. Or you, it’s all much the same.

This can be done any number of ways, quite easily. Some examples:

6.2.1Arguing With Fingers

Any single finger suffices to have an argument with. Either off or on the finger.

You are allowed to try (but not succeed!) in trapping Parakeet Feet, provided you are willing to be Nipped when failing.

A lot of fun.

6.2.2Nipping Nails

In the alternative, you can always have a beak to beak nail argument. The only place a good solid thwap of a beak can truly be appreciated.

6.2.3Shoulder Seats

Sometimes merely occupying space on a shoulder is enough. You get to watch the world go by.

6.2.4Exploring Mouths

Since parakeets make noises in very small places, they are continuously curious about noises coming out of Large Spaces. This leads to the concept of Echo Chamber, in which many a game (hack, thfwip, OUT feathers) can be played.

Though sometimes it tastes like Wet Bird.

6.2.5Finding Origin of Basso Sounds in Throat

Small birds have a difficult time making bass sounds, and are mysteriously intrigued as tot he Point of Origin.

And, it is Almost Impossible to Swallow Parakeet.

Though claws on tongue do not taste like Chocolate.

6.2.6Eating Newspaper

As a change of paste, err, pace, parakeets love to sit on the upper edge of a newspaper^²⁹, and attempt to distract you.

The best one is to grab the newspaper between claws, and tear downwards.

This starts a precipitating event that Cascades to Completion, resulting in a Free Ride to The Lap^³⁰.

6.2.7Landing on Shelves

Only after inspecting for Absence of Qat. This involves a preliminary Fly By, with Inspection, followed by The Turn, and Skidding In.

6.2.8Climbing Curtains

Any curtain with any weft at all above silk^³¹ can be clawed from, and climbed to The Top.

This is used as an alternative method to Get There, when bored.

6.2.9Hanging from Walls

Wallpaper sometimes has a coarse weft. Or small areas wherein the sheets of it do not match exactly, or marry to the wall imperfectly flatly.

Bad mistake.

6.2.10Talking with Mirrors

Any platform, hanging wire, or other soap dish in front of any reflective surface is good for entertainment for hours.

6.2.11Shirt Pockets

They have Neat Things Hidden In Them. Including obnoxious green and yellow things.

6.2.12Use of Collar

Perfect perch for a nap. Or communal communing.

6.2.13Grooming Neck Hair

Usually from collar only, and always having dressed oneself, the favor being returned to arrange all short neck hairs carefully, neatly, appropriately.

6.2.14Pin Feathers

… and in return, borrowing (never Demanding) use of Fingers to Open Up That Last Pinfeather On my Ruff, pleeease?

6.2.15Crooning Into Ear Lobes

And if you do that, a lullaby will be crooned forever after into your earlobe, along with a rich diet of pre-digested cropped millet seed. Suitably fluid.

True love.

6.2.16Stealing Salad

If you permit communal dining (we did, as long as it was from shoulder^³²), shared food is a Pete treat.

Thus, snips of salad, tomato, tastes of steak (yuck) and chocolate pie (cream, yes; what’s that ugly brown stuff?), tea (gagh!) and lemonade (more, pleeease?).

Even milk, as an alternate source of calcium^³³.

6.2.17Playing Cards

After dinner at the table, sometimes Yahtze, or Monopoly, pitch in and play.

Although the sight of a green and yellow card carrier quietly talking to Himself (yurks, yortles, cackles, and razzes, among others) can be distracting at times.

As well as cards sometimes being mysteriously mislocated when you went to refill your glass with tea^³⁴.

6.2.18Taunting Qats

A favorite pastime, either from the sanctity of the cage, or from the wires used to hang the hanging lamp over the Dining Room Table^³⁵.

Strangely enough, when a qat is in Sphinx mode, and OmniPurr is on, it is permissible for Small Obnoxious Green and Yellow Things to groom the tips of ears from the shoulders behind the head.

While in Prowl mode, however, a Bomb and Peck run can result in a visual demonstration that qats are quire capable of teleportation form Four Foot Down to Inverted Claw Spread formation, and do at times land on their backs.

While glaring and Communication telepathically with Said Winged Green Bomber Pilot.

Succinctly, using Qat logic^³⁶.

6.3Eating Calcium

But the single Most Favorite Thing a parakeet does is each more calcium.

6.3.1Limited Supply

Of which there is never enough In The Cage. Much less wherever you happen to be Out Of The D-----d^³⁷ Cage.

6.3.1.1Better taste

Besides, it must taste better elsewhere. Always. Even dog and qat bone^³⁸.

6.3.2Infinite Supply

So, parakeets are always in search of more and more plentiful sources of calcium.

Like, for example, blown stucco ceilings.

Never allow this today; chemicals may be added.

But back in the 60s, blown stucco ceilings were usually calcium carbonate and water^³⁹.

And towards which, parakeets gravitate.

Vertically. In any manner possible.

Which my Father, The Sovereign, Dad, did discover. To his horror.

6.3.3Access paths

This discovery came form inspection of certain shelf spaces in the darkest, most remote corner of certain out of direct sight rooms. Apparently, birds are aware when they are being watched.

And over time, other access paths came to be known well:

6.3.3.1Valises

Them thingees over curtains that streeetch up towards that beautiful, delicious, blown stucco ceiling.

You hafta get rid of’em. No choice.

6.3.3.2High curtain tops

After valises, you lower the curtains. Enough^⁴⁰. Or else^⁴¹.

6.3.3.3Rough wall paper

It is technically possible to climb on almost any vertical surface, provided there are enough gripping areas.

Any non-gloss, non-smooth wallpaper will provide this.

Whereupon The Sovereign will put up gloss stripping above the shelving layer, new wallpaper or paint above the curtains in the living room, and other methods^⁴² as needed.

6.3.3.4Stacked shelves

Thou Shalt Not Use Thy Shelves To Store Things.

At least, not higher than farther than Parakeet Stretch Limit^⁴³.

6.3.3.5Adhesion points (Holes)

There are many ways for a parakeet to get access.

One of Pete’s favorites was to find the Top of a piece of wall paper, and then fly up to it, inverting at the last moment, and Sticking Claw Into Impossibly Small Loose Piece of Paper.

This lead to non-stop inspection of Wallpaper Tops, as well as an interesting collection of New Sounds of Feathered Body Dropping Down Wall Fluttering^⁴⁴.

Another point was any hole in the ceiling at all. Though how a four-ounce parakeet can hold on with only one claw in an inverted position while beaking friable material is somewhat difficult to see.

6.3.3.6The Dining Room Table Lamp

The most accessible point, though, was the dining room table lamp. Three wires trisecting a circle, hanging at an angle of about 55 degrees. Or thereabouts.

Not a problem for an enterprising claw footed parakeet on perch.

Watching a talking with a Golden Bird in a Golden mirror.

6.4The Battle Aeternal

And this was the source of the Battle Aeternal that raged in our Home for many a month.

You see, The Sovereign had already given permission for Parakeet to sit on the lamp, and was Extremely Loath to change such instructions unless Absolutely Necessary (all living things need permission to be free).

And He also had calculated the co$t of a cut piece of glass to roadblock Parakeet from Beautiful Delicious Blown Stucco Ceiling. And upon seeing parakeet hanging from ceiling hole by one claw, mirror top on wall by one claw, and loose wallpaper top by one claw, decide It Ain’t Worth It.

Especially since it would interfere with seeing that Golden Base Of Lamp clearly.

Thereupon, The Edict became that Parakeet could Sit ON Lamp, and Talk To Golden Bird in Golden Mirror, but Must Not Touch Beautiful Delicious Blown Stucco Ceiling on Pain of Banishment^⁴⁵.

Thus, the Battle Aeternal was launched.

6.4.1Daily

Daily, my Father would arrive home, have dinner (usually without parakeet), and then settle in to relax and read the newspaper.

Whereupon, official permission for the parakeet to be Let Out (by opening the front cage door) would be given.

Pete would fly up to the lamp, and begin his daily routine.

6.4.1.1Parakeet Psychology

Most parakeets are extremely obedient; once you give an instruction, they obey it implicitly, for as long as they remember it.

And this is for a considerable amount of time.

Especially if the Severity of Penalty is Made Apparent on a Particular Instruction.

6.4.1.2Parakeet Memory

When severe enough, the memory of a parakeet will last up to about four hours or so.

So, for this particular instruction^⁴⁶, Pete was safe up to about four hours out of the cage, with no one around.

6.4.1.3Parakeet Obeisance

Provided, of course, that No One Was Around, the Looming Specter in memory would act quite effectively to check Parakeet Nibble.

However, if Someone Was Around, it was permitted to ask permission to Void Said Instruction.

Which, by parakeet logic^⁴⁷, was attempted.

Over and over again.

6.4.1.4Alternative Methods

Via various variant routines, all on the same theme:

6.4.1.4.1Ate

First, try to take a sample, directly, to see if the old prohibition is still in effect.

Dad would reply from the chair: “Harrumph”.

Whereupon Obnoxious Green Thing, would back down the lamp wire, cackle quietly, gleefully, and issue riposte the second:

6.4.1.4.2Bypass

Perhaps the next time, The Sovereign could be fooled.

So, run up to mirror, animatedly Talk To Oneself Golden in the Mirror for a few moments to minutes, sneak an eyeball at the sovereign, and then, lightning quick:

Rotate the head and try to sneak a peck.

Whereupon, The Sovereign would (shake the newspaper).

6.4.1.4.3Comedy

Vast enthusiasm, a reaction!

Next routine would be The Comedy Act.

This comprised anything from “The Yortling Run” to “The Yack Bounce” to “The Cackle Dance”, all presaged by certain preliminary bowing and scraping, all preparatory for a headlong frantic rush up the lamp wire, with one sideways swipe towards the ceiling & stucco.

The standard reply was a cough and “Uh-uh”.

Doubly exciting success!

Actual interaction with The Sovereign!!

Maybe the next act would actually work!!!

6.4.1.4.4Distractions

Normally this would consist of a series of fly-byes and distractions, such as landing on the newspaper and performing headstands or bobbing yurkles or yoricks^⁴⁸.

These two would fail with various themes, from being ignored deliberately to silent tolerance.

Which would excite Parakeet Pete even further.

Perhaps a little concerted sucking up to the Boss would work.

6.4.1.4.5Excited inciting

And Pete would assume The Collar Position, and croon a lullaby love song into The Boss’s Ear:

“Pleeease, please, can I have a bite of the beautiful, delicious blown stucco ceiling?”

To which the answer was, invariably, “No.”.

Thus inciting further passionate activity from Keet Engaged In Passionate Activity^⁴⁹.

Next would come excited animated discussion, always with the same result: “Not tonight”.

Leading to Grooming of Short Neck Hair^⁵⁰, with the comment from Sovereign: “That tickles”.

6.4.1.4.6Farrago Filliping

Finally penultimately culminating (daily) in engaged enragement on the Part of Parakeet.

Plus the start of physical abuse (pecking) and other more dangerous forms of argument.

This lead (inevitably) to shoulder warfare^⁵¹.

Which, after a magnitude Richter 9 event or two, would be ended by said Sovereign, who would turn Head Sideways, inhale and (whoosh)^⁵²: Blow Off The Bird.

6.4.1.4.7Genuine Gyration

This would achieve a genuine full-scale powered launch event, resulting in a back flip or two, and a few bombing runs, or other gyrations.

All permitted, provided no plipping occurred over target: ammunition and bombs not allowed^⁵³.

6.4.1.4.8Huffing Hiatus

Which, in turn, would fail.

Whereupon, Parakeet would retreat back to the lamp wire, sulk in Hiatus a minute or two.

And start all over again.

6.4.2Nightly

This would repeat nightly for 45 minutes to two hours, until Bedtime occurred, or Sovereign Exhaustion terminated the warfare.

This would result in The Approach of the Cagetop, followed by animated discussion from dining room table lamp to cage, and sliding down inside, disagreeing all the way in.

Ending the battle for that 24-hour period.

6.4.3Ongoing Skirmishes

But only until the next evening. Or some time in between; such as getting out of the cage while having #2 Son blamed for it.

6.4.3.1The Front Cage Door

At first, this was through a built in escape hatch called the front cage door.

6.4.3.1.1One #2 Son

This was the accepted mode of exit for playtime, which #2 Son would open for Parakeet Pete to come out through; and on rarer occasions, to go back in through, though seldom willingly.

6.4.3.1.2The Latch

This was secured by a latch, which seldom worked or held in place for very long, and hence was not used very frequently.

Besides, what four-ounce parakeet can lift a two-pound cage door?

No, rather, Sovereign reasoning concluded that it must be #2 Son leaving pesky pest Out^⁵⁴ that would be the seminal Cause At Fault.

In All Cases.

6.4.3.1.3Superior Logic

And thus, The Sovereign would Confront #2 Son^⁵⁵ with impeccable precision: “You left Pete out again”.

And #2 Son^⁵⁶ would reply: “No, I didn’t”^⁵⁷.

From which arose my first practiced attempts at logic, to wit:

“Yes you did”. “No, I didn’t”

“Yes, you did.” “No, I didn’t.”

For a few roundelays, punctuated finally by Superior Sovereign login: “Shut up”.

After a suitably number of repetitions, Sovereign Himself decided to inspect the possibility of #2 Son Being Truthful, and finally caught parakeet Pete sneaking down the side of the cage, loosening the latch if needed, and lifting the door with his beak, sliding out, and quietly lowering it^⁵⁸. Though how he ever figured out how to let go the latch quietly I never did figure out.

6.4.3.1.4Clothespins

This led The Sovereign to Stop That, once and for all.

He went out to the back yard and got a 1966-style steel spring clothespin, and put it on the cage door.

Being the engineering type, he solved two problems at one throw by putting the clothespin on the sidewire of the cage door. You could then slide the door up, and it would stay open (parakeet could come and go as he pleased. Or slide the door down, and it would be locked in place against Parakeet Pressure.

Or so It Was Thought.

Until, a day or two later, Sovereign Noted Bird Out of Cage Unescorted again.

And looked at #2 Son^⁵⁹, without disclaiming, whereupon #2 Son answered Unasked Question: “Yes, he can”.

Dad looked enraged at the obvious prevarication: “You don’t mean to tell me that a four ounce parakeet can slide open a cage door?” I said “yes”.

And Sovereign Power indicated that he did not think a parakeet could then close the cage door.

I turned, and started to reply, but encountered the more advanced form of logic known as The Molten Steel look^⁶⁰.

However, I was granted temporary reprieve from corporal chastisement for prevarication or dissimulation or attempted Avian Confabulation, by the fact that The Sovereign had Momentarily Erred the last time.

So, for the next day or so, Dad attempted to catch the parakeet in the act.

He found that he had to have someone hide behind the furnace block by the front door, go over to it, open the door, have that Someone Else close the door, walk n the walkway away from the house, and wait about 3 minutes, before Parakeet would become convinced The Coast was clear.

Whereupon Pete would slide down to the cage door, hook his right main foot main claw over the cage door cage side bottom wire, pull up with a mighty heave, swivel out, put his clawed foot under that bottom wire, and pull down to close it again.

Apparently, he figured out that an open door was ample evidence of jailbreak, and freedom time would be improved if closed when the warden came by.

6.4.3.1.5You don’t mean to tell me …

The Sovereign determined^⁶¹ thus that one clothespin as Insufficient.

And placed the second one on the other side wire.

That one lasted for about eight hours.

The Sovereign, on returning from a trip to the hardware store, noted Green Thing loose, and Cage Door Down.

On looking at #2 Son, who Answered By Not Answering^⁶², decided to run another observation test.

And found that the front cage door was very slightly elevated from being fully down.

After another day of watching, finally caught Pete sliding down, heaving mightily up, exiting and heaving mightily down, cackling insanely the whole time. But not quite closing the door all the way. Leverage was difficult for that last millimeter or so.

Leading to the third clothespin.

And Parakeet Pete found outside the jail once again.

This time, however, the door was up about a quarter of an inch; which no parakeet^⁶³ could possibly squeeze through. “He could not get out.” “Yes, he did^⁶⁴.”

Followed by the Incandescent Steel Look.

Again, watching for demonstration of this event took another six hours, whereupon Pete slid down, opened the door about one half inch, barely slid out, and then lightly, yurking the whole time, tried, and failed to close it.

And left it open about a quarter of an inch.

This lead to the Ultimate Stopper: a 4^th clothespin.

This lasted half a day; with the event ending with Sovereign entering to find the front cage door about halfway up^⁶⁵

And one insanely cackling joyous green and yellow-feathered thing, swinging, upside-down from the underside of the door.

#2 Son remained silent and survived.

Sovereign maintained Obeisance to Principle of Mother previously stated^⁶⁶, and reconsidered the engineering problem thus presented.

And solved the problem at one stroke.

6.4.3.1.6Pete Over the Top

He removed all four Ineffectively Placed clothespins, and replaced one, and one only, in the Only Effective Place left.

That being across the top bar of the cage door and cage side.

Surely, no mere four ounce parakeet could possibly push off a 30 pound spring with a 60 pound push force nose first…??!?

Until about 2 hours later, The Sovereign discovered Obnoxious Green Thing out, cage door closed and clothespin on the floor.

And looked the ultimate form of Mature Logic at #2 Son: “Don’t Answer What I Did Not Ask”.

The hidden observation time was vastly reduced, as apparently, Pete did not care if he was discovered^⁶⁷.

Pete would slide down to the top of the door, find one corner of the front end of the clothespin, and gaily engage it in discussion for about 5 minutes.

Ever so gradually, the clothespin would tilt sideways, reach the balance point, and Sproing! launch itself halfway across the room.

This so Impressed The Sovereign that he thereupon decided on an empirical experiment.

6.4.3.1.7How High Can a Parakeet Count?

The prevailing opinion was that Parakeets Cannot Count At All. #2 Son demurred, quietly, by saying nothing in positive agreement with Sovereign’s Assertion.

And thusly, didst survive to tell this tall tale^⁶⁸.

The Sovereign placed a second clothespin at the other top corner, and hid and waited.

It took about 15 minutes before Bird In Cage^⁶⁹ wanted Out^⁷⁰.

From that point, it took about 90 seconds to dispose of the first clothespin^⁷¹, two steps across, and about 30 seconds to launch the second one.

The Sovereign rapidly repeated the experiment to confirm this was not that horror of horrors, The Random Event.

And gave an ample rest period to The Reigning Champion to prepare for the Next Title Fight.

The next day, the third clothespin was placed on the lower right corner of the cage door, and the results observed.

Sproing! Went the first one; 60 seconds later Sproing! Went the second one.

Finally, 30 seconds later, Sproing! Went the third one.

Another day’s rest, followed by the fourth clothespin.

Which never came off.

The Sovereign concluded Parakeets can only count to three^⁷².

#2 Son^⁷³ was not so sure: the fourth one was at times half pushed off, on the balance point. It seemed possible to probable that Parakeets do not want Sovereigns to known exactly how high they can count^⁷⁴.

6.4.3.2The Cage Top

So, four clothespins finally succeeding in stemming the flow from one small hole in the dike.

For a day or so.

There was an alternate way of allowing Parakeet Freedom of Access to Cage Interior. This was by way of removing for the nonce the top of the cage, an short conical (about an inch high) of metal that weighed about ten pounds^⁷⁵, and fit fairly snugly^⁷⁶ on top of the cylinder of the cage.

The top would be left by the side of the cage, and Pete^⁷⁷ the Keet would be able to come and go as he pleased. Which he pleased very much.

Again, with the proviso of continuous escort for Bird Of House on pain of Death to He Who Le(f)t Him Out^⁷⁸, otherwise.

6.4.3.2.1A Weighty Choice

Surely no four ounce Parakeet can possibly move a ten pound cage top?

Well, not until he does, at least.

6.4.3.2.2Additional Weight to the Argument.

Observed by The Sovereign, one Cage Top on Carpet, One Bird Out^⁷⁹, #2 Son Not In Sight.

Dad: “You left the cage top off”. “No, I did not”.

6.4.3.2.3Parakeet Catapult

Observation over the next few days finally yielded the secret.

Pete V would curry up to the top of the cage, and invert, somehow getting one or both of his main claws into the cage wire just under the cage top.

And would gaily discuss the Tao of Physics for however long with his head and neck, until, just barely, said cage top would slip a fraction of a millimeter.

Thus passionately exciting said parakeet, who would croon love songs, sing songs and yortle dance, and gradually, surely, inexorably, that D----d Cage Top would move a leetle bit more.

Until, magically, inexplicably, a small crack would appear between the cage rim and the cage top^⁸⁰.

Whereupon Keet would demonstrate Flexibility of Neck, and get his beak on the edge of That D----d Cage Top, and proceed to worry it to death.

Eventually, as it needs must, the cage top would start to slip a little, then slide, and one vigorous head yank would cause it to slip sideways at increasing speed, completely off, and achieve the net effect of Catapulting the Keet into Full Flight.

We were never sure if Pete liked being launched toward the windows, so as to engage curvilinear fight, or if he figured he had to keep an eye out for The Sovereign while engaged in such activity, and as such, could not work properly on the opposite underside of That D----d Cage Top.

For some reason, Keets like to eyeball the opposition at all times.

6.4.3.2.4Denial Of Fact

The Sovereign was canny enough to realize another sojourn into Teenage logic was offing, and elected to Win By Default.

He marched Out^⁸¹ to the Back Yard, and grabbed a pair of red bricks, about four pounds each.

And placed them squarely on the cage’s top. The implied weight was thus around 18 (eighteen, age of adulthood) pounds.

Surely, no D----d four ounce Parakeet could possibly move that much weight. And Said Sovereign neglected to glue those bricks to the cage top.

#2 Son^⁸² said nothing, answering thereby in Full, and encountered the Ultimate Steel Look. Surviving somehow.

Pete didn’t worry, stayed happy. Not so #2 Son and Sovereign.

6.4.4Final Warfare

A day or so later, we were scheduled that Friday to visit the local park (an hour away) for the weekend, with collie and kids in tow.

On leaving the house, The Sovereign made sure to check the location and enclosure of Said D----d Parakeet and top of Said D----d Cage before leaving.

This ensured a careful temperate discussion on the way to the park.

6.4.4.1The Trip Out

“That will keep him”. “He’ll get out”.

“No, he won’t”. “Yes, he will”.

Followed by the firmest Steel Look the rear view mirror could take without cracking. #2 Son assumed silence as Best Compromise Answer.

6.4.4.2The Park Weekend

Come Saturday morning, the discussion resumed.

The Sovereign said nothing, thus engaging the discussion.

#2 Son^⁸³ riposted, gaily, by also saying nothing and squirming gently on the seat occasionally^⁸⁴ for a few minutes^⁸⁵, until The Sovereign denoted abject obedience with a Look That Shall Remain Nameless^⁸⁶.

The rest of the weekend passed fairly uneventfully.

At least, no deaths were recorded.

6.4.4.3The Trip Back

And, on the way back, a growing silence came to occupy the atmosphere of the station wagon.

All the way back, no one said anything; no one riposted, and there were no wriggles or other obvious signs of Impending Doom Coming Without Fail.

Pele smiled quietly the whole time. (Quiet volcanism was evident).

And, on arrival in The Driveway, The Sovereign announced that He was going to Open The D----d Door, the Parakeet would be In^⁸⁷, and #2 Son^⁸⁸ would apologize.

There was no need to state anything as mundane as “or else”. Visible inspection showed #1 Son and #3 Son using as Advanced Shield the bulk of Force of Mother, who had assumed the pose that denoted she was not going to clean up any dead bodies of any large or small winged or footed creatures in Her Living^⁸⁹ Room.

6.4.4.4Entering The House

Whereupon, The Sovereign entered the house, quietly opening the door^⁹⁰.

#2 Son was directly behind, it having been previously impressed that any attempt to Run Away was D----d to failure.

And so, both rounded the corner of the furnace area, hearing some form of music, and poked heads quietly around the corner, to see:

6.4.4.5Parakeet Symphony

… one joyously singing, happy Parakeet.

A Parakeet has two vocal chords, which are fully independent of each other. When in full use, each vocal chord can carry four voices all at the same time.

So, witness to the event:

One deliriously happy green and yellow obnoxious feather thing, singing an eight part choral symphony to itself (with accompaniment, and we had no tape recorder), as he danced, yurked, and yortled up and down the lamp wires, all the while nibbling another piece of …

6.4.4.6The Beautiful Delicious Blown Stucco Ceiling

Yummy. Imagine, if you will, a four inch Parakeet named Pete, stretch to six inches, add a quarter, and leetle bit more; then take a string just that long, and run it around each of the three hanging lamp wires in a circular arc.

Clean out two of those arcs ( a trilobed affair) of All Possible Stucco^⁹¹, with some small minor amount of table dust below, and have the third trilobe half cleaned out.

As Pete the Keet heard he had company, turned and went from fluffed to de-stuffed in one instant.

6.5Victory and Defeat

Mom and The Other Sons were close in behind, just in time to see a Unique Event in the Annals of the Crabtree Family History

6.6Capitulation

Such was the measure of the man, my Father, that at that moment in time, having Won the argument with a Jesuit, and Lost the argument with a Parakeet, that he turned, faced me squarely, and said, simply:

“You’re right”.

And #2 Son got the chance to talk back to his Father, once only, quietly, via “Told’ja”.

And thus never, never, never had to ever admit that he had ever left That D----d Bird Out^⁹².

Unless witnessed. Under duress. Obdurate duress.

6.7Final Surrender

Pete V, in the mean time, had gone from fluffed feathers to slick and thin as a whistle, looking for al the worlds like a thief caught in the act.

He looked around desperately for a Hole in the Wall, found none^⁹³, and espied That D-----d Cage, with newspaper on the floor of it.

He flew over, slid down, and slipped quiet as a church mouse underneath That D----d Plipped^⁹⁴ newspaper.

The Sovereign went quietly over to inspect the ceiling over the dining room table. Glancing sideways he espied The Force of Mother reiterating Her refusal to clean up dead bodies of either sons or green things.

Left with little choice, he went over to the age stuck his finger perch out at lid level, and silently waited.

After about three minutes, a virtual infinity in Parakeet time, a small yellow head cautiously essayed out from underneath that newspaper.

On espying the Hand Held Ready With Finger Out, panic flared briefly, as the ruff fluffed and deluffed^⁹⁵ n the same instant the only visible eyeball also flared and contracted rapidly.

Said head was observed to crinkle eyelid in deep concentration, while said beak on said head was observed to nibble the edge of said newspaper covering said vulnerable green body, as said brain cogitated for Any Way Out?

Concluding there was none, a very quiet, meek, docile, obedient Obnoxious green and Yellow feathered Thing silently stepped to the side of the cage, climbed oh so decorously to the top of the cage.

On arrival, a grief flare of panic repeated itself, and a complete 400 degree search was made looking for Any Way Out was repeated.

Finding none, submission occurred, and stopping down as low as possible, feathers sleek, silence abject, Pete stepped onto the outstretched finger, saying without a single sound:
“I’m a goooood little parakeet, I will never, never, never touch that beautiful delicious blown stucco ceiling again”.

Whereupon The Sovereign took him over to the lamp wire of the third incomplete trilobe, and sat Pete on it.

The Force of Mother leaned forward to underscore that absence of trauma was required^⁹⁶, and The Sovereign, defeated, looked at the ceiling, then at the Parakeet, raised his arm, pointed to the ceiling^⁹⁷, and said, simply:

“Finish it”.

Instant shout of joy from parakeet, whoosh of relief from all three Sons^⁹⁸, followed by, over the next six hours, more dust on the table, and further taunting of Qat with White Stuff^⁹⁹.

So, over the next six months or so, until the ultimate limit of Stretched Parakeet could be reached, take a four inch Parakeet, stretch him to six inches, add a quarter, plus a little more than a little more the last time, and run that string around those triple trilobes on the ceiling.

Now, rotate the head of that Keet, and nibble with the barest of the forward tip of the beak, and you can imagine a beautifully precise, small to tall crenellated finish on a beveled edge for each of those trilobes.

Until one day about 18 months later, Pete V, at the age of about ten years, passed away in his sleep. God Rest His Soul.

6.8And Retribution

That, however, was not the final finale.

My Father had proven the measure of the man immediately, by admitting he had Blown It in trying to win the argument with a Parakeet.

That was not what got his goat.

What got his goat was that all of his sons friends, all of his wife’s interior decorators, and all of his engineering, architectural, and carpentry friends; all of them, would come in, observe this beautifully precise, carefully calculated mathematical pattern on said ceiling, with this exacting beveled crenellated edge, and turn to the only being who could possibly have though up such a gorgeous design (my father, The Sovereign), and exclaim:

“Oh, that’s so beautiful. How did you ever think of it?”

As far as I ever observed, the only net reaction was a certain red flush on the anatomy. To my witnessing, he never, never, ever admitted or explained how he lost the argument to a Parakeet named Pete^¹⁰⁰.

7Summary

My father had the mental acuity to win the argument with a Jesuit. A Jesuit who, in trying the normal dialectical maneuver of attempting to engage the other side in the attempt to win, lost the argument by reason of the failure of the other side to so engage in the attempt to win.. And thereupon, within the next two months, lost the argument with a parakeet^¹⁰¹.

Yet, such was the measure of the man, that in the same moment as doing so, he turned and told his middle son, in full presence of his family, "You're right!” Thus allowing^¹⁰² the only time^¹⁰³ I^¹⁰⁴ got to^¹⁰⁵ both talk back and win the argument with my father, saying two words: "Told'ja"^¹⁰⁶.

8Conclusion

To be fair to this unknown^¹⁰⁷ man of faith who had the faith to let my father’s faith bring me faith^¹⁰⁸, although I do not know this is the case, I suspect the following to be so:

It is likely that the Jesuit had no intention of creating such a discussion, or may have been mistaken in the attempt to demonstrate the futility of reason in many situations in Life.

As well, my Father may have been mistaken, in that he may have misread the intent of the young priest on the basis of the non-stop battail he had to engage in every day with military, civilian, and governmental^¹⁰⁹ officials, all defending their own turf.

And I also suspect that had this man of faith simply listened with all his heart to my Father first, he might have heard the pain and the plea there.

As well, had my Father had the faith to listen with all his own heart to his own heart,, he might have seen a way to have faith in his own faith in a way that might have lead him past his own pain again; perhaps^¹¹⁰ into concordance with some formalized form of faith, much as his children had been, were then and would ever after be^¹¹¹

Instead, what likely happened was a Barry Manilow song, with two ships passing in the night. It would have been fun to stop and have a party there as those ships sailed^¹¹² across their own internal oceans.

In review of the current dialectical and rhetorical schism present within our local, provincial, continental, and world society, I will note this seems to be the current basis of most “rational” and “faith based” arguments about said topics.

Neither side is willing to come together with the other.

Perhaps in good time each side will.

9Closing

If in all good time this does come to pass, then each “right” side will gather its own converts, and address its concerns to the other side^¹¹³.

Thus a group from the secular side will gather to discuss with a group from the ecclesiastical side to find a common ground among their self evident truths of the universe, something like a symposium, in some resort’s meeting rooms.

Each would gather together in their own meeting room; the “right” side on the right, and whoever is left, on the left.

On the “right” side, looking in, we would see the “right” group animated, passionately discussing their self-evident truths, in order to come to a common^¹¹⁴ basis of agreement. And all the while these discoursants are oh so calmly discussing^¹¹⁵ these self evident truths, on the shoulders of each, one small green and yellow^¹¹⁶, brightly feathered companion; also discussing just as animatedly with his/her counterpart, completely absorbed in the task.

And on the side that’s left, similar conversation and dialectic. All participants quietly, dispassionately, with calm fervor, again coming to a common basis about all those self-evident truths. And on each of their shoulders, once again, brightly colored feathered companions, also partaking just as calmly and earnestly.

On one side, clothed in business suits and formal apparel; on the other, clothed in all forms of formal habit.

And as we would again scan to the “right’ room, we would see a certain popular pop star, a (fe)male singer leaning forward, against the wind, moon walking with complete concentration, concern and worry etched on the visage of same, struggling to reach the edge of the “right” room, but inexorably being pulled backwards to the other side.

And, as we look as a result of this apparition across towards the room that is left, we again see that same pop star, leaning backwards, klaw nooming in complete concentration, abject and utter horror etched on that same visage, still attempting to reach the apostate^¹¹⁷ side of the room, still being inexorably pulled, but this time forwards towards the other edge.

There to either meet or miss, or both, him/her/own self, as s/he fails to proceed or succeed in failing, and meets the middle inside, or meets in the outside in the middle.

Parakeets winning the arguments all the while.

And if all this seems so clear as to be absolutely apparent to you which side is in the right, and which side left out, then I ask you:

Which side is which? Are you sure? Are they?

When you figure it all out, please let me know.

Free will. In the end, all I have learned is:

Never try to win the argument with a parakeet.

Rather than an either/or approach, perhaps a both/and basis might yield more constructive^¹¹⁸ results.

Or Either/or. Or neither, or not. Or all of the above.

10Postscript

Now, just in case you all think you have this all figured out, I must ask you a question that my sense of justice and paranoia has been worrying over for many minutes now, finishing up the writing of the tale told truthfully tall.

Who won? And who lost?

Was it Pete the Parakeet? Toppling the top after The Sovereign Placed It oh so carefully? Or was it #2 Son, truthfully telling all the times that He Had Not let The Parakeet Out^¹¹⁹.

Or did the Sovereign arrange to have #2 Son^¹²⁰ win once against The Sovereign, to instill Awe and Terror into Other Sons, to re-establish balance in the Household?

Remember, #2 Son was visibly present on initial re-entry into House; so The Sovereign would have had to Set the Stage two days earlier to create the net effect reached.

Or did The Force of Mother gently persuade The Sovereign to do so?

? … ?!?

When you finally figure it out, let me know, I would surely be happy to be firmly apprised.

11Dilemmas of the Day

Is it ridiculous to ridicule us? Or is the ridiculousness the ridiculous way we ridicule, less us, more others?
{to “That’s Amore”, homage to Callahan’s Place and Spider Robinson}:

Kepler’s orbs left the Church-

Ologists in a lurch,

That’s some orrery …

Homage to Francisco J. Varela:

Is any anatomy automatically autonomous?

Cheers, royc

1 In short, in nearly all families, nearly all the time.

2 And a still born sister, God Rest Her Soul.

3 I am told that Granny Bazemore had a Jack parrot with a blue and white parakeet; although I remember the parrot, I do not so the parakeet, even though we have a photo of both sharing a perch. The parrot eventually won all arguments with the parakeet, by means of a broken neck. Which, in the sequel, does not count. “Borken” necks do not count, as this is parrot logic, and no human may validly win any argument with such. Terrorists use this logic and no civilized being should. The Swedish chef would surely disapprove.

4 Parakeets re-pete themselves in many ways.

5 The other I-IV I also have vague remembrances of, as well as specific ones of Pete VI, at home in Greensboro, North Carolina.

6 Aptly named Pete VI. Similar forms of logic and Love as well: one $269 parakeet from K-mart taking $69 in cage and setup costs and $26.90 in Food And Sundries per (year, quarter, month, week, depending). This includes using your Osterizer to make de-shelled millet seeds first, when Beak of Pete is Injured In Frame of Door; and then afterwards making Martini For Guests, so as (proper engineering requiring minimal cleaning effort) to only have to blow out dry seed husks. No one will notice a few minor dry pieces of millet husk in said martini (on pain of death). This practice continued across two occurrences of (likely) strokes resulting in (temporary to two month long) paralysis, with Heating Wire and Cover plus Cat (Bama) Always Outdoors During Convalescence), so as to avoid Loss of Bird.

Minor expenses, in deed, indeed, to gain benefit of Argument With Parakeet. All In Honor of Pete V.

7 Always have a companion for your parakeet when you go off to college. Or take him/her with you. Sadness: they mate for life with Those They Love.

8 That number may be in error.

9 That number is not in error.

10 Four white paws and a white teardrop on her chest. She loved playing catch and keep with a baseball.

11 This involved qattish fabrication of same. Use your imagination if you will.

12 This being permissible in the wisdom of my Father, only that two areas were of bounds. Those were the parakeet cage (Home IS Inviolate) and the dining room tabletop (I Will Not Eat Cat Fur). Carpet, bed tops, Landing Zones on Shelf and Curtain, were all Fair Game(s). Which Pete V never lost. Much to Blackie’s disgust. (Tail: swish, swish; chest meoorr rrrrowl whine)

13 Green and Yellow.

14 The mantle is a different color. Brown and blue.

15 Be Thou Warned: If you feed green things to a green thing, what you get in return are (suitably reprocessed) green things.

The same things hold true for businessmen and Congressmen, some would say. I love spell checker: businessmen becomes businesspersons. Though why a woman would want to be included in such a cast, er, class, I am not sure. Although it is both factually, and now politically, correct. Though perhaps in the latter case the green thing comes in the form of a facial cream or other protective coloration (much as the parakeet’s).

16 And some.

17 Spell check once again suggests cacao, missing only in this case by a mile

18 Spell check again: “Lady” becomes woman or person, but “Lady” is all right. Go figure.

19 A complete one, if you understand what that means. Usually when husband was away so that Death of Neighbor’s Children would not occur and thus not Greatly Upset Father Next Door, as well as Sow Disrepute On Neighborhood.

It was a complete set, you understand. One third of a garage full, plus what was Actually In Use.

20 APT, one might say.

21 Occupied by a foreign army also known as The Nylons.

22 Not by chance, either, you understand.

23 Only the British spell this right.

24 Three separate Armies, named Ronald Lee, my younger brother; Roy Andrew, that’s me; and Richard Douglas, the Elder Son.

25 Putatively. Putatedly. Undisputedly, in our household. Head of Household Never Lost. Much.

26 History again plays a part here, in learning from past experience of Lost Wars and Other Warfare. He had previously (or soon thereafter, memory blurs) lost the war against Elder Son in the Battail of Old Damp Fire Crystals and Sulfur, SaltPeter, and Hereford Bricks in a Sincere Experiment In Chemistry. The combination makes a beautiful (white-hot) combination in a green bake lite bowl. (BakeLite really is completely fire proof; though it does smoke some). And the beautiful spectrum of red, white, yellow, blue, and green (no real orange, a few gold speckles, and a lot of copperish) colors from calcium chloride crystals mixed with potassium, zinc, and a few other Things Left Unmentioned, is quite rapturous. Especially when the flames reach the ceiling (naked pine) white hot, and the moist crystals start to pop like small hand grenades. But not really: more like miniature rockets (we did think of the Star Spangled Banner, and the rockets red glare; though these were green; it was quite patriotic, as all three of us were scrambling to save our behinds from the immediate conflagration, as well as the further future warfare anticipated with The Sovereign on discovery of same). The national anthem was not quite what we were singing as the rockets became multiple. And when one or more landed in the sawdust and woodchip piles (separate, for all you carpenters), we were having vivid images of future scenes that did not quite come to pass. Though Father was immensely curious as to how he came to have scorched sawdust and charcoaled wood chips. Spotty, sooty. In places. Wet, in others. Imagine panic stricken #1 Son in Full FireFighting Effort.

#2 and #3 Sons looking on in Awe.

This is how Dad came to decide that #2 Son would have His Own Chemistry Set, to prevent future recurrences.

I will not mention what I managed to do with such an innocuous thing as a Chemistry Set to his Shiny Aluminum Ladder.

Suffice it to say it would not come off, and the science teacher at Dunlop Elementary swore there was No Way Those Chemicals Could Possibly Bond To Aluminum.

It did look a little like a long parakeet even down the side of it, though. Permanganate and a few other things. Foaming.

I never could do it again, though; always take notes.

But, I digress.

27 Next time you are in mid Southern California, around Lompoc, Santa Barbara, Bakersfield, and you visit the Local Train Club, that Lionel #4 (or was it #2?) set came from our next door neighbor’s garage.

28 And, it is.

29 Clean ones only, cage bottoms are exempt. The same is true of mewspaper (kitty litter that Has Been Used).

30 It also Prevents Reading of Newspaper, much tot he Disgust of The Sovereign.

31 …. Silk, too, actually. Usually only once.

32 The Sovereign indicated Detestation of Pin Feathers, similar to Qat Hair. For nought.

33 A side comment on colored food: if you see things that come out white, you might accurately surmise that if you put more white in, more white will come out.

This is eversomuchmoreso true with fluid white rather than solid white.

34 Never play Russian Bank with a parakeet, especially your own: he really does not care who wins, as long as he gets to move the cards all night. Dangerous!.

35 Three of them, in a beautiful trisection of a circle.

And, in the ceiling, a beautiful Gold Plated base that formed a Perfect Mirror with a Golden Green And Yellow Companion to talk to.

36 Roughly, Yum; alternatively Chomp, or Swat. Occasionally expanded to You Would Taste That Much Better At The Bottom of My Gullet. These are (primitive, more atavistic) variations on Chocolate, Dragon, and Kobold Logic #1.

37 Darned, Durned, Dunned, Danged, Dinged, Dented, Donged, Dunged (always), Dogged, Dunked, Dunned, or other; and thus completely Doomed.

38 We did observe from time to time expeditions down to the wild area around Qat Bowl in search of Lost Bone. As well as wistful peeking through the sliding glass door at dog bone pile at Dog Bowl Place.

39 If otherwise, all was for naught in any event. Parakeets cannot lose an argument. You can only delay the result for a time. Boots, our toy collie, proved conclusively that “Nature Will Not Be Denied”. But that is another tale told tall.

40 How much is enough? Well, if you got those really expensive high hat valises (over 8 inches), probably not at all. But if you take a four inch tall parakeet, stretch him (or her) out to 6 inches, add a quarter, and then just a leetle bit more, you have the measure about right: more than a half foot away.

41 All for naught, if not.

42 All closet doors closed at all times (where rough wallpaper abounds), and certain bedrooms Strictly Off Limits (unless carried in on shoulder).

43 And, with any biological limit, exercise improves the use thereof. As such, a moving, not static, target. In all ways conceivable. And one or two more.

44 There is a sound to an indignant parakeet hitting the carpet at the bottom that is best heard, and not described.

45 The immovable Force of Mother had decreed neither Dead Sons nor Dead Birds would she tolerate, usually, she was the one who had to Righteously Clean Up Righteous Mess right after Righteous Blast of Righteousness from Righteous Sovereign.

46 Object: Stucco Ceiling. Imperative: “No.”. Instructional equivalent: “Thou Shalt Not Eat The Beautiful Delicious Blown Stucco Ceiling, nor Nibble, chip, peck, sample, taste, tongue, frazzle, fold, spindle, mutilate nor Other Biological Activity.”

47 Roughly, parakeet logic is: If at first you don’t succeed, don’t worry, be happy, and mess around some more until you do.

If this means messing around forever, great!

48 Alas, it is only rumored, not confirmed, that Shakspeare had a parakeet as co-author. Much more reliable the million monkey rumor. No self-respecting parakeet would waste time rhyming rather than eating the wood seats of the theatre.

49 An associational loop was re-curse-ively continuous.

50 Please note the progressive care to attempt all tricks possible in the vocabulary of entertaining discussion possible.

51 It is Not Possible to dislodge a parakeet at rest In Full Anchor.

52 Wings lifted slightly in anticipation, you understand.

53 To reiterate: never feed green things to a green thing.

54 ... Of the D----d Cage…

55 Me.

56 Me.

57 Though partially indicative, bold italic underline only manages to convey the merest hint of the true depth of the emotional context involved. I was miffed.

58 This was confirmed by our next door neighbor, the original owner, who came over to say Hi from time to time. Pete had apparently developed that trick because her husband could here the dropping clang of the cage door. Thus, silent exit.

59 Me.

60 Also known as “Shut Up Or Else”.

61 With some help from #2 Son, Parakeet, and Observation.

62 And receiving in return The White Hot Steel Look, wisely collected up Green Thing and Returned To Cage with it.

63 Empirically denied at a later date. Only emphatically at the then current time.

64 The logical principle of Contradiction By Observation Of Accomplished Fact works very well. With everyone but Sovereigns.

65 This required pulling up mightily for a long time, followed by standing in the door and pushing it up for a while.

66 In brief, neither Dead Sons nor Dead Birds would she tolerate.

67 He had succeeded in founding an new game, called Foil The Sovereign.

68 Truly, truthfully.

69 Relocation of a dining room table chair provided some evidence that Parakeets can only count one type of object at a time, which must be in plain sight at all times.

70 … Of The D-----d Cage.

71 Leading to the depressing conclusion that the Parakeet Learning Curve was steeper than appreciated at first. Possibly exceeding the Engineer Learning Curve.

72 Or are easily bored confounding Sovereigns.

73 Me.

74 That is the case with Kobolds, qats, collies, and Quiet Kids engaging in Filial (Feasible Inspection of Legally Indefensible Abstract Limits of) Conduct.

75 Three, Five, Seven, Nine, Ten pounds: it’s my story and my Parakeet. So there.

76 Ahhh, Spell check again: snugly to snuggly, what a warm feeling change of words.

77 There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that Pete V’s nickname was Harry. No matter how man walls were breached.

78 …Of The D----d Cage.

79 … Of The you know what.

80 Recall that this cage top is a conical one. And shortly, a comical one.

81 …Of The D----d House…

82 Guess who?

83 Still me, somehow.

84 Non-stop.

85 All breakfast long.

86 We used to live in Hawaii, and on visiting the Hale Mau Mau fire pit in Kilauea crater, I came to understand that Pele uses the same technique. If I had had any idea Dad knew of it, I would not have risked the consequences. At least, for a while.

87 … The D----d Cage …

88 I was stil me, and trying to figure out how not to be, just in case Pete the Keet failed me for once.

89 In short, no dying allowed.

90 This told #2 Son that there was some possibility that The Sovereign knew he was about to lose.

91 Save for that stippled pattern that says clearly Once There Was Stucco here.

92 … Of The D----d Cage.

93 Butch and Sundance having deserted him at that moment.

94 Spell check says plopped. Half right.

95 Find a wind sailor.

96 Keets seldom saw this, as it was an ultimate form of force only rarely engaged.

97 Look on parakeet: “ohgod iamgoing to Die”.

98 And Force of Mother, it was a near thing.

99 Dropped with a look down, flicked sideways so as to miss the table, and an accompanying “Ackh!Ackh!Ackh!” to punctuate the Bronx cheer involved.

100 Though he might have drawn a few backfires. He was wont to discuss his family affairs away from other witnesses, which may explain why these encounters were so few and far between, with a few knowing smiles instead.

101 All for the taste of that beautiful, delicious blown stucco ceiling.

102 Creating, engendering, permitting, realizing; it’s all the same thing.

103 It’s true!

104 Truly!

105 Truthfully, anyway.

106 Once only. Quietly. Without emphasis. Which I did survive. Although at a later date (during the Great English Toffee Incident, certainty was not assured; but that is another tale told tall).

107 Now, in my and my family’s remembrances.

108 At least, in faith, I have faith this is so.

109 A “v” to an “f” leads spell check to suggest “gopher mental”. Indeed. And military could be/come my/male ill littery/literary, and civilian could be/come “see evil in” or something else again.

110 Or not; in this regard, it is, all the same, all the same.

111 Either in or out of such a formalized form, or not; again, all the same, it’s all the same. As it was, is, and ever shall be.

112 Spell check strikes again, misspelled, correction suggested as “sallied”, as in Battail.

113 The sinister one, the one left after every one else is “right”. Democrat or Republican, flip the names and go again.

114 Spell check strikes again: the suggested alternate to a missed spelling is “come on”

115 Spell check again: dissecting or disgusting, depending.

116 Here and there blue and white, or combinations.

117 Or is it opposite, opposed to it, or apposite, or something else?

118 Insert your favorite word her: correct, logical, functional, positive, right, righteous, or other. Me, I would rather feed a hungry child than argue about it. Unless with a parakeet. Read on for further clarification (if this is in and of itself not an oxymoron).

119 … Of The D----d Cage. And none of those he had.

120 Who was at that very moment of Life battling the #2 Son Syndrome with Other Sons, and Losing Mightily.

After Kublai

2009-06-28T14:40:00.001-07:00

After Kublai
----
it really is no mystery
    you are really gonna like this
        that his personal khanate
            of the golden new million man horde

for the first time in history
    under that little tyke genghis
         they intend to emanate
pogroms to hold you only villains can afford

so you might should get ready to pay, guess who?
while they would fight steadily to play with you ...
====
2009/06/28 12:30 at LWF in a sardonic moment at the end of the session chatting with David G about history.

To a degree

2009-06-08T10:02:00.001-07:00

To a tolerable degree
----
A Degree conferred in Divinity
Does not in any degree
Confirm any divinity
Beyond the degree of divinity
Conferred by Decree of Divinity

Don't you see?
====
2009/06/04 home
   People's attitudes that their qualifications subsume others
   usually get inverted as posturing against others who disagree
   or attempting to confer on their own opinions another source

      altogether inappropriate, or worse, incorrect, to claim

Taken to the mat

2009-06-08T09:57:00.001-07:00

Taken to the mat
----
Don't use slang
with a tang
to harangue,
nor to hang
in a gang

   with a mock
   bunch of crock

verbal fang

Whether you're called a gold digger
or called a honky
or called a cracker
by one who's crass

It's easy to figure
He's acting the donkey
He's just a slacker
She's got no class

When the laugh is a snigger
And the actions are wonky
Full of vitriole and sass

   Or a hopped up lip
   Who play pretends hip

   Just another slick
   Dick with a schtick

A verbal rhyme ad hacker
A verbile slime attacker
====
2009/06/06 lauinger/3

No matter how deep you try to hide it:

    That which is done shall be known

Drives folks near crazy at times

Who you foolin?

2009-06-08T09:41:00.001-07:00

Who you foolin?
----
An exception to the rules
Is a conception for those fools
When deception's in the tools
Used in inception of new duels

    The exception is quite factuate
    Though the conception ain't immaculate
    And the deception is absquatulate
    ...once inception has been jaculate

====
2008/06/04 home
When someone deceives you to take advantage of a resource intended or other purposes ... or hides behind a lee (grant in authority)
   for that purpose; or hides behind those conning a claim to cloak a con conniving as crooks, cripples, or crazies:

   this makes it worse, not better

Labiles

2009-05-29T13:49:00.001-07:00

Labiles
WIP
----
If you label a loss as a victory
     And name any victory, loss

Well, just what would such laurels there crown
    Or cut deep, with a garland of thorns

What will be the last verdict of history
   On whose head such false laurels emboss

As you rut in that false-won renown
    You'll receive what a true champion scorns

All you''ve done is invict derelictory
    With a life full of crowns made of dross

Do you know what it is you have lost?
    Fully, what such a victory cost?

Some may think principles such as these, are relictory
    'Round their neck lies their own form of dead albatross

At the end, what will their life long actions accost?
    Soul of faith, full prostrate; apostate; or an agnost?

=====
2009/05/25 on the #32 bus on the way in town 0855 AM

thorn scorn born corn adorn torn worn horn mourn aborn suborn shorn

2009/05/29 16:27 Further elaborations

Avoiding Buridan's Ass

2009-05-20T08:54:00.001-07:00

Avoiding Buridan's Ass
As Easy As
1-2-1
----
To avoid Buridan's Ass
    Do Not Make A Decision
To avoid An irrevocable Decision
    Do Not Call It Forth
If you want to be an Emperor
    Imperate
If you want to be a deferrer
    Deferate

To avoid Buridan's Ass

'Tis beyond all dispute

And avoids all recisions

It's really quite crass

But beyond all refute

You'll make no revisions

It is truly a gas

Yet you CAN still compute:

Just make no decisions!

(That's not the joke:

the joke is:

it ain't no friggin' joke!)
====
A decision is classically modeled as a unitary discrete soliton event.

In the actual real world, it is usually implemented or carried out by a series of actions, taken largely sequential in nature, with many degrees of freedom that have inherent possibilities of parallelism, lack of irrevocability, untaken alternatives' pre-requisite steps, and common root causal actions of all subsequent final causal results.

Buridan's Ass specifies that, in any scenario involving the reduction of a continuous domain to a discrete range, there will be at least one point of uncertainty where the decision to do so cannot be made instantaneously: the Ass will fail to choose immediately, or will have to choose randomly. There are more general statements of it than this.

If you modally model the overall paradigm as completely as possible (including as many degrees of freedom as possible against the actual implementational reality), you will include as many sub-precursors as possible for alternative positioning within the actual manifold space of that trope set.

Additionally, asserted:

F Varela notes the distinction between states internal to the living system (decisions, distinctions) from the states present in the external world (the living system under study). Categories do NOT exist in the real world OUTSIDE the mind: "two" is in concept space, not the real world.

Similarly, in the world of prions, protids, prolids, and subvirals, there MAY be (almost certainly are) larger cooperating sets across semiotic boundaries AS WE RECOGNIZE THEM that "implement" "more complex" "imperatives"

Drawing an ana analogy: same thing here for a "different" "theory" of "decisions": it is highly likely things can be done better/faster/more flexibly than current ultimate bounds of decision theory allow for, BY HAVING A THEORY TO REPLACE DECISION THEORY AT IT'S BASIS or even entirely outside of any form of modeling at all.

Example, in re NNP traduction of living semiotic cognitive systems: if you do not distinguish between

cause and effect

goal and result

input and output

you CAN achieve a result without denoting it as such ...

because effectuallyand operationally, no distinction between cause & effect (OR affect) has been made.

If you can avoid making a decision,

you will not have the delays associated with such

in asynchronous computer hardware:

or other forms of 'puters.

But beware:

do not disturb sleeping dragons where they lie at rest.

You may not be able to get them back to sleep again.

The "23 mathematical Challenges" of DARPA (at URL http://www.darpa.mil/dso/personnel/23_math_chall_b_mann.pdf )
are unlike Hilbert's list (at "Wikipedia" URL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbert%27s_problems );
there is an agenda in the later not present in the earlier. Especially Hilbert's 24th problem.

One, two, three: Shards

2009-05-18T14:31:00.001-07:00

One, two, three: Shards
WIP
----
If we should reach
    Deep from in our soul
Rift 'cross the breach
    Keeping heaven's goal

Of finding who
    I would dare impart
Love faring through
    My soul, only heart

Let me/thee beseech
    Lifting hands, extole
Yet bind anew
   A new path, chart
...
====
2009/05/18 24:30 AM at home: What makes a family, or marriage?
fore and aft rhyme scheme
----
The who has won
When two as one

Nor one or two, more three, four we

say one, two, three
May none who see

netting bind a crew

shifting sands, we chart

our own new path home:
   and that become our home

our own homely band

Bus Stop

2009-04-22T14:50:00.001-07:00

Bus Stop
WIP - work in progress
----
A sodden shape
    Under cold wet bags
Whose form they drape
    As the cold wet rain
Sundered folds and sags
    Drown where he's lain

Who lives beneath
    Across her face
These bags bequeath
    So still her arm's
Last resting place
    Now safe from harm

A hidden form
    There in outlined
An arm, a thigh
    Could be: divined
As nature stormed
    In part kept dry

Perhaps as well kept warm

The bus came by
    Not one would look
No one, not I
    On that cold dawn
One life forsook
    And then: rolled on
----
No shame, no why

To that bus stop
   One more cold drop

bench clenched drenched wrench
Life's Quest a thirst
   As yet unquenched
The last outrush
A final hush
spasm/breath, chasm/death
sister's mother, assist a brother
====
2009/04/22 @ DC General during ICF meeting
Three days ago early AM at Pn/7 NW on the bench in the rain ... still, and the face blanketed by the sagging black plastic bags ...

Aloha, Oahu

2009-04-14T07:54:00.003-07:00

Aloha, Oahu
----
Small sand crabs furies
   Bestirs the grains
While beetles' scurries
   Avoid the rains

Below the palms
    Leaves softly playing
The Hula calms
     Leis gently swaying

As breakers crash
    Amid these tunes
There comes a splash
    Between the dunes

As on these grounds
    I stroll & roam
And I hear the sounds
    Of my island home
====
2009/03/11 Miriam's Kitchen Bob Blair held for the DC writing competition
"For Anne Gregory" William Butler Yeats
"What I Believe" Michael Blumenthal
"Union Station Saturday Morning" David Harris
2009/06/28 18:11 plural first stanza

Charity

2009-04-14T07:54:00.001-07:00

Charity
----
First Lady came by
Here served a meal
And left on the fly

The full Common Weal
For those in need:

Lay aside your fare
And then act in deed
To enact your care
====
2009/03/09 Weatherboard poem... held for the DC Writing competition...
14:15 edits

Yes, really

2009-04-14T07:53:00.001-07:00

Yes, really
----
Some folks might perhaps say
On Awakening from sleep
From the night to the day
Half awake, as they leap

From the bed to the table
Breaking fast, to the meal
Take bread, fast as you're able
Making way towards the real

When you sleep Dreams Are For Real
And Reality Is Wrong
As they keep all that you feel
In your whole heart full and strong

But the real full true challenge
That in all, we all face
In our deepest mentality
As from our bed we do rise

Could our feelings impinge
What we call in to place
Should our sleep, in reality
Be, instead, here reprised?

From your head and your soul
And thence into reality
Leap from bed with your goal
Bring hence forth, with finality

Then, no longer your Dreams
They expand on their Own
Growing Stronger, it seems
   When They Stand Up, full grown
====
2009/03/09 Miriam's Kitchen Matt Lang held for DC writing competition
Writing prompt: Dreams are real, Reality is Wrong" (source citation: Tupac Shakur from his book ", The Rose That Grew From Concrete")
Though his actual citation is "Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real". Though perhaps this too was a mis-quote (not).

   An actual citation of "Dreams are real" (Ellis Havelock) is one of many: at URL http://quotationsbook.com/quote/11440/
    Likely the other forms are out there: the sentiment and attitude expressed is a common one among sophonts.

badboys

2009-04-11T10:55:00.001-07:00

badboys
----
that olde Bigot Brigade
here in Washington DC

has it made in the shade
    has it lazy and easy

take their fill of the sweets
as they hide and go cloaked

then, ... they kill in the streets
undenied: it's no joke

as they live by the gun
they can kill with their feet

when you sleep you can't run
when it's done theirs are fleet

playing crazy they con
    behind cripples with canes

    where the psychophants spawn
        as a foul mouth profanes

so they ride on the grapevine
as they gold dig their goodies

drape a cold yellow tapeline
     as they hide in their hoodies

cuz they can't show their face
out in public to view

    and they hide behind race
      with the hate that they spew

or perhaps they now wear

    a silk suit shirt and tie

    as they cheat on bus fare
         as they try to get by

as the net hunts them down
    they may take the next plunge

    and perhaps they will drown
with their record expunged


slide away to go fleece
laugh and spout, as they snigger

lie 'n con the police
    do you doubt? you go figger

any way that they can
since they have no real joy

    never was a real man
       what's no longer a boy

all you need do is look
    at the patterns, you'll see

    those with greed will go crook
        and their slatterns will flee

as they hunt through the streets
    will they find what they seek?

    will the brunt of their feats
       fill their soul with foul reek?

In the end they're not bad as
the ones that they bury

for whatever that lad has
     he ain't heavy, not very

when they're joined in their games
    by the ones who should guard

    they've purloined, and it maims
        think they've won: such retards

but the end is in sight
all along just the same

    as their souls die of spite
        and their lives say ... the same

all the rest of their days
striding forth to go spew

    as their soul inside pays
      ... their whole life: will so, too.
====
2009/03/15 Gelardin held for the DC writing competition

Those who reincite the cycle of violence doom those they seduce back into it.

They usually hide behind physical and mental cripples who cannot track what is being done.

All they accomplish in the end is to wound the people they abuse,
and many of those who try to help them.

And themselves as well. But not the rest of us.

Bigotry has no gender, race, or economic class. Individual bigots do.

2009/04/03 16:09 more edits
For the Yoshio Nakada's of the world
I almost submitted this to the DC writing competition. maybe i should have.

2009/04/11 15:00 a few more stanzas

It will take more work to do justice for those on the side who have lost
   to those on the side of the line that they crossed.

Whither now?

2009-03-28T11:56:00.001-07:00

Whither now?
Work in progress working title
----
What once I was
   And now am not
When what I had
   Was what I sought
Of all these things
   Once, gone, now lost
My heart still sings
   And pays the cost
====
2009/03/28 on the way in on the 36/Friendship 14:55

Fealty

2009-03-23T08:18:00.001-07:00

Fealty
----
The death of princes
   Call forth from the crowd
Those few with the need
   And so some will go

Their last breath, knifed, winces
    Head held high, proud
For then, there, in deed
    They come to know

Few citizens will care
    Whether you are gone, or still there
But with those few you will share
    All your love, and your passion, when you dare
====
2009/03/23 Miriam's Kitchen Matt Lang
Writing prompt: "The death of princes"

No cover: charge

2009-03-23T08:10:00.001-07:00

No cover: charge
----
The big bank rescue
   Is lacking in green
        And that is just it:

In Kentucky it's fescue
    That makes people mean
        And chomp at the bit
            When none is on scene
                And full of horse spit
====
2009/03/23 Miram's Kitchen weather board poem
2009/04/14 10:50 typo

At the end

2009-03-20T07:32:00.001-07:00

At the end
----
What personal things
do people hold dear
The memory that brings
springing forth untold tears

Through thick and thin
to the end of their lives
As remembrance begins
When Peace & Death both arrive

And so we keep
In the depths of our hearts
    And the depths of our souls

To dream of in sleep
   What has kept us, in parts
     On the road towards our goals
====
2009/03/20 Miriam's Kitchen Kierstan

Bonuses

2009-03-20T07:18:00.001-07:00

Bonuses
----
AIG's last big bonus
Was way too much
Of a tax payer onus
So Congress, as such

Decided to tax
Away from the raiders
And gave their bonus the ax
And gav eit back to the "crusaders"
====
2009/03/20 weatherboard poem

Bball

2009-03-18T13:00:00.001-07:00

Bball
----
March: such madness
And should you lose
Out on the court

Brings such sadness
Which spring renews
And gives retort
====
2009/03/18 Mriam's Kitchen weatherboard poem

Specie

2009-03-05T13:48:00.001-08:00

Specie
----
The money is gone
And Wall Street is bust

But business goes on
As all our needs must
====
2009/03/05 weatherboard poem

2009-03-04T14:12:00.001-08:00

Next
----
So what makes it bravery
In the face of full force
Instead of being craven

And practicing knavery
As a matter of recourse
As a foul souled maven

The distinction is subtle
Sometimes not visible to others
Fear physical or mental

But when there, no rebuttal
To treat all men as brothers
And simply:

be gentle
====
2009/03/04 Miriam's Kitchen Cafe Adam#2
Write about courage

Joys and Likes

2009-03-04T14:01:00.001-08:00

Joys and Likes
----
Cat's fur
Cat's purr

Burgundy beef tips
Hot chocolate sips

Someone to talk to
A garden to walk through

An open sky blue
And an eagle to fly through

A shy quiet smile
A soul without guile
====
Miriam's Kitchen Cafe, Adam#2: List ten things that you like

2009-03-02T08:32:00.001-08:00

More
----
AIG got more money
      From the Fed on their loan
To their billions just add 30

We can see it ain't funny
      Black to red made U.S. groan
   So vaudevillian, it's camp dirty

The currency way
    That we now handle
          Big business scandals

In urgency pay
     (This won't hold a candle)
           More funds to the vandals...
====
2009/03/02 weatherboard poem...

What's a few more trillion?

2009-02-27T08:29:00.001-08:00

What's a few more trillion?
----
The bill: 7 trillion
(And that's down 1 gazillion)
"It could have been much bigger!"
Said Wall Street "(chuckle snigger)"
but the debt should be paid down
You bet; before maybe we all drown

And meanwhile GM
Is still on per diem

While over in Detroit City
They've all gone Walter Mitty

As the former mayor goes pale
Saying more prayers in jail
====
2009/02/27 Miriam's Kitchen weatherboard poem

take it or give it?

2009-02-23T09:39:00.001-08:00

take it or give it?
Work In progress
----
As a matter of ordinary fact
When given advice by a drunken cynic
Especially after long deep drinking
Who declaimed to the world in Depression

If you choose then thereafter to act
You may need to visit a psych clinic
If you do it without careful thinking
And act out your deepest aggression

You may learn the art of the shark
And in turn turn to someone while pleading
The truth of it as a sly notion

It's somewhat unpleasant and stark
That the one way the shark can stay feeding
Is to keep someone else in full motion

   away from thinking, regression
   away from the light, fully sinking
   or any path line isoclinic
   (and as such this may seem to lack tact)

   way down in the depths of the ocean
   where deep in the waters it's dark

   ... so the shark can keep biting their bleeding

    ... and the victim, forced into acceding
====

regresion/repression

   shark/feeding/motion
   stark/bleeding/notion
   dark remark embark
   pleading acceding
   ocean potion lotion

2009/02/23 Miriam's Kitchen Mat Lang
Dare to disturb the universe: take action! or not?
TS Elliot "Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock"
We have the result of others taking action; it's called the trillion dollar bank bailout.

    maybe we should quit taking it from those who take it in the first place...

Uh-oh

2009-02-23T09:00:00.001-08:00

Uh-oh
----
Do I dare disturb
    the real universe
Or while there perturb
    with a puny curse

The daemon dragon
    at rest and asleep
Or circle the wagons
    as best there to keep

Out warring Indians
     who raid and pillage
And scalp and hostage
    our maiden village

I reach out and touch
    a sleeping banshee
Wake my wife, as such
    wondering can she

Do again, this time,
   as she wakes, to me

As a lass sublime
    makes me feel gloomy
====
2009/02/23 Miriam's Kitchen Matt Lang
Writing prompt from TS Elliot "Love Song of J. Alfred Profrock"

Theobromine

2009-02-21T11:40:00.001-08:00

Theobromine
----
When the chocolate is hot
And covered in froth
Of mounded whipped cream
While the weather is cool

Well, maybe you're dreaming
Of a cup of sweet broth
Whose aroma and steam
Are of a favorite of Yule

So don't be a fool
Pour it out in a stream
On a table, white cloth
With silverware gleaming
====
2009/02/20 at home

A time of triumph

2009-02-19T08:24:00.001-08:00

A time of triumph
Work In progress
----
In a time of triumph, whence came defeat
Having given all, in transcendent zealousy
A lesser mortal in falling shy

Vindictively in actions sly
To vent a spleen of bile and jealousy
Despoiled the game, a lame repeat

     Your toils of fame, hence shamed deceit

The wreaths of triumph, imposters all
Which, like defeat, fosters thrall

     You shed them both, heed roster's call ..

And, in that moment, you'll be a man
When you turn to finish what we began ...
====
2009/02/19 Miriam's Kitchen Dialog Ginny, jeanine, Laura
Writing prompt: Use one of the lines from "The Fish" Elizabeth Bishop
   A time of triumph ...
"Any fool can get into an ocean" Jack Spicer
"About the Teeth of Sharks" John Ciardi
11:15 additional lines under development
   fosters/?
imposters/all
rosters/call

Which ocean?

2009-02-19T08:07:00.001-08:00

Which ocean?
----
Do not abide
Where over your head
Or in too deep water
Restrict your stride
To where you can tread
Or drown in the splutter
====
2009/02/19 Miriam's Kitchen Dialog Ginny Jeanine Laura
"Any fool can get into an ocean" jack Spicer

Behold

2009-02-18T15:13:00.001-08:00

Behold
----
When judging any new art
     As it comes to your eye
         Or your finger or ear

Begrudgingly, you should start
    Use your thumbs, asking why
          Let it linger and hear

The solo song that it sings
    As it hangs on the wall
        Or as it plays on your skin

Picolo, along with the strings
    In the slangs that they call
        Yore to sing praise, from within
====
2009/02/18 16:30 For 2/24 get together

Not there

2009-02-18T14:00:00.001-08:00

Not there
----
When you're standing in snow
    And you think of the summer
the next thing you know
    All that sleet is a bummer

When you're drenched in the rains
    That come in the springs
It's of fall on the plains
    That your heart wistfully sings

And when desert's dry heat
     In the depths of the summer
Bakes your skin like a beet
    You might feel somewhat glummer

When you sneeze mold & pollen
    You might wish for cold winter
Until spring's dwell has fallen
    icicles crack, boldly splinter

But whatever the weather
    In whatever the Season
You will still hang together
    At least, within reason ..
====
2009/02/18 Miriam's Kitchen Cafe Adam#2
Writing prompt: write about summer time ... ( wrote of winter too because I missed session one).

Lazy daze

2009-02-18T13:29:00.001-08:00

Lazy daze
----
A blackbird's sly trills
    At the nits that it picks
And those squirrels' leap-thrills
    From green branch to brown trunks
Add to Life's Living mix
    As a frog's dive spelunks

Then a cat hackles up
    As the dog's tail goes wag
And the frog says "kerBlup"
    While Mom & Dad nag

In the midst of the langor
    Comes a loud strident swell
Wakes you up with a clangor

     School lunch ends on a bell ...
====
2009/02/18 13:00 Miriam's Kitchen Cafe Adam#2
Prompt: Write about something humorous, or that makes you happy

Just: Enough

2009-02-18T08:19:00.001-08:00

Just: Enough

----

Often a sweetness

    When it comes

In the light

    Of dawning day

Has in it's fleetness

    As it thrums

In it's flight

    Some might, yawning, say

All that you may need

    In your heart

To be whole

    If that is your desire

To aid you in deed

    To impart

Toward your goal

    The will to win entire

So take the taste

    As you make haste

And let it baste your cake

    But don't let it go to waste at your wake ...

====

2009/02/18 Miriam's Kitchen Bob Blair

"Ace Handles" Gary Snyder

"The Promise" Sharon Olds

"Sweetness" Stephen Dunn

Writing prompt: "Often a sweetness comes" use it as an anchor ...
11:20 when/as

Beau geste, no jest, knows best

2009-02-11T12:38:00.001-08:00

Beau geste, no jest, knows best
----
For striving for what words you might
     Use to guide a bird in flight

For if you choose to carpe diem
    And striding forth go seize the day
        To find the only fate you'd make
        When speaking to the mate who'd take
    All your bold words to please her, may
In turn then choose to carp, nay heed them

And stay wit's sharp, weigh her Freedom

Perhaps this may work best: let be
     And pray Life may let you yet see

   Before such actions, yours, molest
         And your loved ones, aggrieved, protest

              You should inside your soul attest
              What you yourself would have at rest

Or, mourning, lose it all, at best
====
2009/02/11 Miriam's Kitchen Bob Blair
"Theme for English B", Langston Hughes
"To the Virgin ..." Robert herrick
"To Rosa", Abraham Lincoln
"To Tanya On my Sixtieth Birthday", Wendell Berry
"Lightning", David Ignatow

What's this at all?

2009-02-09T10:34:00.001-08:00

What's this at all?
----
The only thing I know about justice
     As opposed to the concepts of law
Is quite simple and comprises just this:
    When you get it, it may stick in your craw

In a quote from the mage William Shakespeare
    Quoth the Bard, wrote of heaven and Hell
For his writing often quoted tried to make clear
    On a topic that few wish to dwell

In an age Elizabethan in Season
    Where injustice, treason succeedeth so well
That none dare call such action foul treason
    Lest the banshees and the Hounds run Pell Mell

So beware what you wish for in speaking
    Lest all history thence take note this you did do
For you may then find what you are seeking
    In your wishing in Life coming full true

And, after that, all the consequence, falling on you....
====
2009/02/09 Miriam's Kitchen Matt Lang
Writing prompt: what is justice? give examples

Selene Serene

2009-02-04T15:42:00.001-08:00

Selene Serene
----
Silver sand
    Dust dancing, floating falling, settles slowly

A mottled mare inert over
    tunnels trembling whose humanity hustles, hurries

Noisy motionless inside sussurrs
     Quiet stillness outside stirs

         ... you outside inside

Brilliant light swallows blackest shadow in stark relief

    chiaroscuro

overhead orbs: a turquoise diadem, lolling & strolling,
    silently still beside
        a flaring yellow diamond ...

Home is a rocket away ...
====
2009/02/04 Miriam's Kitchen Cafe, anew Adam
write about a place you have NOT been.

See Arthur C. Clark's "A Fall of Moondust" or Heinlein's moon series of shorts.

Kailua

2009-02-04T15:36:00.001-08:00

Kailua
----
The beach in the sun
    Rabbit Island, crouching in the bay
        Snorkel, surf, sand, sun, and ... stay

Warm sand, verdant grass, lush greenery
    turquoise water
Plumera trees and fragrant blossoms
     no rip, no rocks, no reef

Did it storm last weeK?
      ...watch for Man o' Wars

Sun bath until sun down or sun burn

father flips filial in the bay

Sinus snorts, salt stings

See the sand crabs burrow below

Feel the fiddling fumbling fingers flail, gone

Home, Hawaiian punch, aloha ...

      heaven.
====
2009/02/04 Miriam's kitchen Cafe (a new) Adam, writing group
   write a sketch about a place you have been...

Beauty and the least

2009-02-04T14:48:00.001-08:00

Beauty and the least

----

if you try hard to catch

     All the heart in a city

In a small verbal sketch

     It may in part fully match

Cooking odors, wafting herbal

    And impart sounding witty

A small piece of kitsch

     As well, of the noisome foul retch

of the leftover stew

that the cook's gone to fetch

     For the dogs to slop through

          oh so deliciously

And when you ask which is which

     Well, the answer's as simple

          As a sorcerer's spell

That in all, all the while

     Both the smooth skin and pimple

They are all, all the while, strop true:

           oh so capriciously

      It's just how you get the smell

====

2009/02/04 Bob Blair

"John Chapman", mary Oliver (Johny Appleseed)

    do what you can

"Still, Citizen Sparrow" Richard Wilbur (unclear notes)

"Preliminary Sketch: Philadelphia", Elizabeth Alexander

writing prompt: do a sketch of a city

17:46 added a couple of lines
18:45 delicous capricous slop

Carpenter's Tacks

2009-02-04T14:34:00.001-08:00

Carpenter's Tacks
----
When a nominee's
     own tax errors
          baked in lye
Like corn flakes hominies
     grind to corn flakes
Then those facts terrors
     are all that it takes
To make them say "Good bye"
====
2009/02/04 Miriam's Kitchen weather board poem; untitled there
Daschle down, and another to go...

What you wish upon

2009-02-02T08:44:00.001-08:00

What you wish upon
----
Should you choose not to try
    To leap high in the air
You may well never fly
    Tho if you do not dare
To exalt to the sky
    And if you do not care

To risk all that you are
    You may not crash and burn
And perchance you'll go far
    But before you do turn
From the path you would bar
    If you would like to learn

Why to wish on a star
    Make sure then not to spurn
The next path above or below par
====
2009/02/02 Miriam's Kitchen Nicole
Writing topic: "If you don't risk anything you risk more" from Erica Jong

Heed: How to be a ware

2009-01-30T14:26:00.000-08:00

Heed: How to be a ware
-----
Live; perhaps a small look: see what others have learned
Give, unlapsed & unbrooked drive, inside, fully yearned

    From there overlook
        And just stand witness,
                try to see
                what is right there
                day and night
                    seek the worth
                        and the truth
                       of the function
    What others forsook
        The unplanned fitness
                 of debris
                 lost in deep glare
                 in plain sight
                      fill the dearth
                           be a sleuth
                                use compunction

Find those scraps, that when cooked, less rapt diners have spurned

     Don't stay rooked
          or age witless:
               strive to be
               one who still cares
               what is right
                    all the Earth
                         in full youth
                               in conjunction
=====
2009/01/30 At Gelardin: it may be that it is always this simple, and always this hard
       And always nearly impossible, whether alone, supported, in group, or under fire ...
       Fear to exaltation, sometimes profound isolation,
              and trepidation when others become beware that you are aware...

Seemingly

2009-01-29T11:40:00.001-08:00

Seemingly
----
Just: What could I want to be?
And: Where should I jaunt to see?

Or shall I sit and show
Impatient wit to know

That each and every palace and hall
In body and mind, both any and all

Ye reach inside or without the soul
Will teach and guide, for no doubt, Thy goal

Should be a simple one, a heart's felt Plea
That in every case, where ever Thou go

From spring through summer, into winter's Fall
The end result must be Thee, made Whole
====
2009/01/29 Miriam's Kitchen's Dialog Ginny, Jeanine
"Anecdote of the jar" Wallace Stevens
"I Sit and Sew" Alice Dunbar-nelson

Relatives

2009-01-27T14:30:00.001-08:00

Relatives
-----
the Male & the female
    are two separate races
We rail, stand and bewail
    from disparate places

Related by sexing
   and usually genetics,
Prelated annexing
   with rhythmic kinetics

Has crossed chromosomes
     both the X and the Y
          and sometimes the W and the Z

From lost autonomes***,
      growth perplexed with no why,
           become primed for trouble, the new hands we see
====
2009/01/27 17:25 At Gelardin
18:19 genes for chromosomes below, long day...

*** autosomes also works ...

Do not monkey with free will, or we will see ferality in reality.
Currently the Y chromosome has apparently lost most of it's thousand genes and is down to about 80, or
so says a web article I cannot find at the moment, ... over merely the last 500,000 years or so.

IF so, perhaps the equation will find a new balance somewhere else ...
... let's not rush into this.

Same comment about global warming: perhaps it is not warming we have to worry about.

You see, if the weather IS naturally UNstable, and we HAVE had UNnaturally STABLE weather:

   which do you want:

A stable summer

   or snow in spring without warning?

think on it. then go do the right things.

Can we all just try to get along, ... with Gaia, Mother Nature?

WMATA makes U.S. go DC, non-stop

2009-01-27T08:11:00.001-08:00

WMATA makes U.S. go EZ in DC, non-stop
----
Don't stop. Keep going.

But some of you play stop-and-go with WMATA.

Please stop that; don't go do that again.

Otherwise WMATA will go stop you, and stop you from going.

And they won't stop going to stop you from going stop and go.

Please: let the bus go to the stop and the rail go from the stop.

Please: Don't play tag;
    DC transit will lag;
and you will get bagged
    and your license will get flagged.

And you will get slagged,
     'cuz the judge will be ragged.
====
2009/01/23 gelardin. One of two in head.
It is a real pain to have two good ideas and lose one writing the other down. gone. it may not come back.
16:38 it came back. See "war at peace" (not published yet)
2009/01/27 gelardin: this particular poem came out of watching some of the taxis, livery/limos, and delivery service vehicles
    and on a few occassions, (gee, who could beleive it) ordinary drivers cutting off the buses systematically.

Once Again

2009-01-26T09:26:00.001-08:00

Once Again
---
Your newest sci-fi novel
     Co-authored with the Mage Lerner
I encountered when outside my hovel
     It's really good, a true page turner
As at once I speed read, beg, and and high-five gtovel

Oh would that I were a wage earner
And as such an active sage yearner

      But what can I do?
      Bid the library Adieu?

Elst reading it's blocked, a royal rage burner ...

      It is, yes, an e-laboration
     And as scifi, a confabulation

    But in equal parts doled out in ration
     It makes one feel such elation

Mixed up with a stomach, at this stage, churner

When the writer causes readers to block
The emotions are somewhat a crock

     And why should I belie it?
     I wot I could pre-buy-it

     And avoid deprivation
     Of that beautiful sensation

And avoid sci-fi Loss of ¢ents shock...
====
2009/01/24-6 on encountering Larry Niven's "Juggler of Planets"
12:28 small change (sic) ...

How to find "why"

2009-01-22T09:43:00.001-08:00

How to find "why"
----
A oneday morning
    Evening walk
A someday warming
    Soulful stalk

Where leaves in trees
    And winds in blow
In sheaves, in breezes
    First fast, then slow

The world. there, full, before
    You were born,
          And thence universed
Receives you, prayerful, in your
    Soul, fair torn,
           And whence immersed

They all welcome a quiet talk
Quiescently, in speech held terse
     To aid your search for what to know
     And have your own storm's clouds disperse
====
2009/01/22 Miriam's Kitchen Dialog Ginny, Laura, Jeanine
12:55 some changes
"An Afternoon in the Stacks" William Statford
"Good hours" Robert Forst
Writing prompt: write your experience about a walk ...
2009/01/30 17:30 some changes

thorn & din

2009-01-21T13:41:00.001-08:00

thorn & din
----
torn and then
    mourn, begin
        reborn again
reach inside
    beseech your guide
        your role implied
in other words
    we have preferred
         and not absurd
             needs let be heard
fulfillment when
        with love allied
help others win
        their goals espied
====
2009/01/21 Miriam's Kitchen Bob Blair
"since feeling is first" e.e. cummings
"Praise song for the day" Elizabeth Alexander
Pick a line and use it as a kickoff from "Praise"

Sincerely

2009-01-19T11:47:00.001-08:00

Sincerely
----
In every speech
    Mankind's Affection
The life there, of each
    And resurrection
The goal for, to reach
    For best direction
And morals to preach
    With full reflection
Each soul we beseech
    With introspection
Kept whole, and unbreeched
     We hope, in protection

A paraqeet's screech:
    Then, genuflection
====
2009/01/19 Miriam's Kitchen Amanda
"I Have a Dream" speech, MLK
Writing prompt: Write a speech about your own topic similarly

Source: Sometimes people know exactly what to do, preach it, and then:

     don't do it.

I plead

2009-01-16T09:31:00.001-08:00

I plead
----
Dear mr. President
    my name is Roy
         I'm a DC rezident
Let me expres my joy
    may i call you barack?
       Or should i say President Obama?
    I dont want to cmmit
    A faux pas or an error, thus
I would rather help you
    stop the next attack
And all that you do
    to stop the next terrorist
So I dont want to omitt
A curteous greeting
    or seem too forwards
Or have too much more drama
    Perhaps you could attend
        just one private meeting
& may be drop by
   so i can say hi

Or should i write more words
that i should amend
    or write another letter

making this somewhat better

   which i will now end

As Always, Your friend

in thought and in deed

roy
====
2009/01/16 Miriam's Kitchen Nicole
Write a letter to President Obama

The Price of Ad Mission

2009-01-15T11:21:00.001-08:00

The Price of Ad Mission
----
Barack's Cabinet is in search of new staff
As they try to separate wheat from chaff

   They will try to thresh trash
       And do it with panache
   Out from newly fresh dash
       And without posh pish tosh

   But however they check
       From within the White House
   They won't find all the dreck
       And perforce, they might grouse

As that scene brings about the next laugh

Staff posts reap Gold and Corn on the cob:
Join the team, with the Rich, you hob nob

     But pay all your back taxes
         Before journalists's faxes

     Listing some of the facts
         Maybe all of your acts

     Taking Congress to task
         With the kvetch-ions they ask

Or then Congress may axe your next job

Obama's staff has a new inner circle
Though as yet it has no real new Studs Terkel

    But the next one we meet
        May be the next paraqeet

On his staff to go homocercal***

So we'll see someone else get the shaft
And feel good as to who at the last laughed

    But then as we all bray
        We should all inside pray

    As we make our next gaffe
On anyone's behalf

    We might then have to pay
        For someone else's dumb play

    Where then we take the gaff
        As it cuts us in half

Where the damage is rammed up our aft

   Or else worse: backstabbed there

          ... by the haft
====
2009/01/15 Miriam's Kitchen Dialog Ginny Laura
11:00-15:30 lotta add-editions
"The Day Millicent Found the World", William Stafford
"The origin of Country", ibid
Writing prompt: Write about an occurence whee you got an "ah Ha!" reaction or realization or "Eureka!" response
The new member of President Obama's staff that had an unpaid tax debt was of course, caught by the press with it.
*** At URL http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=yurk three definitions, thus "yurkle" for repeated yurking
            (do NOT look up yerking)
       At URL http://www.myspace.com/buttseckslyrix yurkel cat, cold, heartless beings
       or Eeyore-ical, or re-oracle, or Yorick-al or your Urkel, or yurkle (paraqeets do this; chortle and yurkle; or chuckle and yortle)
       Seems like there oughta be a jewish phrase for yurkl ...
        or chortle rhetorical
      And last but not least, homo/hetero/ cercal is talking about monkeys's tails ....

1, 2, ... 3?

2009-01-14T12:39:00.001-08:00

1, 2, ... 3?
wip
----
Should'st Thou actively seek free a second birth
    After grant herein to Ye of the first one
         Perhaps before Thou seek to be born again
             And seek Thee Thy Soul to be re-immersed
             Well before Ye Abandon Then the First
         And all therein that Ye well could have been
But now Thereafter gone, ever, durst, done

Just in all, what would each one be reckoned worth?
    Hast Thou yet or will it then be Thy Worst done?
         For would'st Thou Ever After be scorn-ed then?
            When Thy Progeny finds all Thy Acts were re-Hearsed?
          And all Thy Statements and Words, practiced, well Versed?
Or could'st Thou Never what hath Gone deeply yearn and yen?
    Past, all gone, never Were, now Forever, be cursed, shunned?
Yea, chance that God deeply mourned as She beckoned ... mirth?

Nay perchance, ManKind there, has near all of His dreck on Earth

Do not Heister
On a Cross
Upon Christ, sir
    All the gloss
Of a shyster
    It's all dross

Perhaps one should pray
The firstborn would stay
    At least one more day
   For love and for play

For that last second one
   Might not be reckoned fun
     When Death beckons: done
====
2009/01/14 On the way in to Miriam's Kitchen: the basic idea (first one, worst done, second birth, reckoned worth).
using the idea of being born again to rid yourself of needless burdens is a valuable palliative
using it to forego the burden of the consequences of your next act, is not.
15:00 filled in

Down's Syndrome

2009-01-14T08:23:00.001-08:00

Down's Syndrome
----
In black despair
   From cold divorce
Hope lacking there
    A downward course

A quiet touch
    Upon my shoulder
Brought forth so much
    From my soul's polder*

And thus as such
    As my soul's holder
From my remorse
    My grief, to share
====
2009/01/14 Miriam's Kitchen Bob Blair
"Face It", Yusef Komunyakaa
"Frederic Douglas", Robert E. Hayden
Writing prompt: pick a person in your life, public or unknown, and reflect on him/her.
* polder: the Dutch have them, reclaimed from the sea; also at URL http://phrontistery.info/p.html
   As used in my household, as I recall, a below ground enclosed disused utility space with mold and damp;
   perhaps from my father's WW II experiences in Europe.

Also "poulder", where a soul's integrity fractures and crumbles to powder.

I thought I had another poem up with this story in it:

In 1998, about a decade after my divorce, I was
circling the drain, in the dark place where your are
in the whirlpool and finding no way out.

(many other factors combined as well).

I would get up, triple s, have a McDonald's breakfast,
go to the mall, and see a movie, to keep moving.

You see, if you stop, you just ... stop.

I was going round the whirlpool one morning
while at a McDonald's.   And there was a young
14-5 year old Down's Syndrome child, working,
cleaning tables, and greeting customers.

Friends weren't, family wasn't, peers at work didn't.

But she did:

She saw me. And did what was needed:

She walked over,
stood there at my shoulder
until I came back enough
to be there.

And then gently stroked my shoulder
with her thumb & forefinger
for about 5 seconds with a small smile.

Brought me back from Hell.

Everyone has a purpose and a place. Everyone.

We Swiftly run the D51

2009-01-12T09:20:00.001-08:00

We Swiftly Run the D51
----
The D51 today
Had a 2+ hour run
And quite a traffic jam delay
gave the kids a lotta fun

Since on the loop I395
Had construction traffic arrive
Which stalled, dead, not alive
'Tween 4th and 6th SW, no jive

Just to get to Duke "Easy" Ellington
The School of the Arts
At 35th NW and Q
For students dwelling in SE DC Washington
Before the school day starts
Well, just what should you do?

...

And the central dispatcher
Would not let the driver
At least on this particular run
On this particular day

Turn earlier to catch, sir
A better route to arrive, sir
And now that I am done:
Just what do you say?
====
2008/01/12 Miriam's Kitchen weather board poem, right slate space
The D51 bus was late today, 0653-0855 to get from Congress Heights Metro to Wisc/M NW
Stanzas 2 & 4 after MK

The driver was outstanding, on top of things immediately and 2+ minutes ahead of need.
But:

(a)the dispatcher would not let him take the first 2 alternates when the I395 loop stalled, and the mile to 6th street
took over an hour to complete; if he had not inverted onto Whitehall instead of doing Penn directly, it would have been
another hour. The dispatcher may have had a local block, construction, or a non-bus-cleared route, or just been swamped;
possibly s/he missed it.

(b) traffic staled 75 minutes or so for half a mile; and the driver could have trimmed an hour off the run.
Kids late to school again;
and I missed breakfast.

But the driver deserves a commendation. (Filed WMATA thread case)
And perhaps giving a look once again at
(a) rail access
(b) with a limited Smartcard
(c) for student transit
(d) to reduce costs (cheaper than a whole bus, undoubtedly)
(e) which will not stall in traffic
Going to Dupont or Tenleytown Metro and then taking either a 31/32/36 down
or a local shuttle loop would work much better.

The major questions would be:
(a) Is Metrorail safe enough for school kids to travel during prime rush?
(b) Is access to Metro from bus on SE side good enough with delimited Smartcard?
(It should be if a fixed set of bus stops on a route is)
(c) Would the savings be big enough to cover the costs of a local van to shuttle say 2-3 loops
across the Georgetown side stops?

If WMATA, the Georgetown transit companies, Georgetown University, and the DC Taxi Commission would get
it all together, they might find that a local loop shuttle pushing the G2 down to Wi/NW using a small vehicle
could run a hilltop 5 minute loop or a 15-20 minute loop across the existing points day long, say the following
to include all of the closest Metro approaches to Georgetown and University:

have Georgetown/University/Duke Ellington/Wisconsin/Tenleytown/Dupont/Foggybottom/M
as a full loop with a smaller vehicle.

Personally I think two loops would be useful:

i) Georgetown/University/Duke Ellington/(Tenleytown/)Dupont and
ii) M/University/Wisconsin/(Tenleytown/)FoggyBottom

or flip Foggy Bottom and Tenleytown...

Add a school proctor for the kids, if needed, and you might resolve a number of problems at one throw.
Let one of the local transit companies provide the service, and you offload costs and increase service.
And the university gets a 5-20 minute service all day long for free.

I wonder of the taxi companies would go for it ...
It would cut 10+ minutes off the G2 run, and in rush hour, 15 or more...

Of course, a Georgetown Metro station
at Wi/M underneath the mall
or the car barn or anywhere
in that 2 square block area N/W of the mall
would be a better solution yet ...

And get the traffic jams off of Wisconsin ...

Sooner or later someone is going to think of using zip, smart and pocket cars for such things ...

The Next Monkey's Progeny

2009-01-12T08:40:00.001-08:00

The Next Monkey's Progeny
----
A gorilla gave birth
At the National Zoo
A topic of mirth?
... well, maybe to you ..

For without that new baby
We might indeed lose
What we hold dear, maybe
Our own kids, if we choose
====
2008/01/12 Miriam's Kitchen weather board left slate space poem
In late, missed the writing with Amanda

What of U.S.?

2008-12-31T10:05:00.001-08:00

What of U.S.?

----

When the second space shuttle

Columbia came to and end

That end wasn't subtle

Left us all a message to tend...

Now next as to D.C.

And all the rest of the you-ess

What next will we see

...or will you be clueless?

To endure this bold and fine new weather

We all must hold the line together...

====

2008/12/31 Miriam's Kitchen weatherboard poem\2008/12/31

2008/12/31 Miriam's Kitchen Bob Blair (no time to write: poetry & discussion only)

"Your luck is about to change", Susan Elizabeth Howe
"Burning the Old Year", Naomi Shihab Nye
3 classic Japanese Tanka:
"On Iwasu Pond" Prince Otsu
"Born empty handed" Kozen Ishikyo
"A turning wheel" Mumon Gensen

Prolix frolics

2008-12-29T12:18:00.001-08:00

Prolix frolics
----
Eat corn on the cob
   With a fixed #9 incisor
Maybe start a new job
    Be a U.S./Obama advisor?

Help the next hungry one in need
    Feed them full to the marrow
FInd a bowl of bird seed
    For the next hungry sparrow

Perhaps try to play a new role
    Make that the best of a new part
Then re-find my true soul
    And complete the next new start
===
2008/12/29 Miriam's Kitchen Matt Lang
Writing prompt #2: what do you want to have happen to you, positive, during the year?
slight misuse of prolix ... my misunderstanding
On 6/4/2008 I was attacked at the shelter bus line; after tossing the guy off, fight over,
as I bent down to pick up my bags (the one s on my shoulders when he attacked),
he threw a blind side flea flicker sucker punch, .. and broke his hand.
   Plus chipped my tooth. That is what some people call being a man.

We All Recall

2008-12-29T12:05:00.001-08:00

We All Recall
----
In history's emporium
     With time tasking by

What will we dare remember
    In the halls of our minds?

A mystery's memoriam
    No crime asking why

As each year ends in December
    Only what our soul binds
====
2008/12/29 Miriam's Kitchen Matt Lang
writing prompt #1: In memoriam ...
2009/02/28 12:05 number

The bigots, in a minority, in a majority

2008-12-26T09:37:00.001-08:00

The bigots, in a minority, in a majority
----
Say what?
----
If the minority in the majority
Stands with the minority in the minority
----
It makes no difference
----
Say again?
----
The just fair in a majority, in a minority
----
When the majority of the minority
Stands with the majority of the majority
----
That makes a difference
----
It does not matter
Which one's thinner or fatter
The former or the latter
====
2008/12/24 at home and Leavey Center

Something to eat

2008-12-24T09:15:00.001-08:00

Something to eat
----
If you take in to eat or imbibe
What then turns out to be quite inedible
It might be that your faith is misplaced
And you should probably choose again

Or you might curse and flare diatribe
For it seems more than most so incredible
That you would try to down in distaste
What your stomach up chuck spews again
====
2008/12/24 Miriam's Kitchen Bob Blair
"The Orange" Wendy Cope
"This is Just to Say" William Carlos Williams (Serendipitous synchronicity: second reading)
"Journey of the Mahi" TS Eliot
"Peccant" Elizabeth Alexander
Writing prompt: Write about something to eat, or inedible

Going looking

2008-12-22T09:38:00.001-08:00

Going looking

----

Going forward

    While looking back

Slowing, ordered

    We forsook each lack

Of ages past

    As toward the future

We rage and blast

    And try to suture

Each ancient wound

    With healing balm

In pain festooned

    With loving calm

To heal, full, whole

    Each aching soul

Pre-pay that toll

    To reach that goal

Each soul, made whole

While going back

    To looking forward

Smile: knowing, act

    Brook no soul ordured

====

2008/12/21 MK Matt Lang: second writing prompt: going forward from here, what next?
12:45 ignored to ordured

Cheerful Sheer Yule

2008-12-22T09:32:00.001-08:00

Cheerful Sheer Yule
(Season's Reasons)
----
A quiet night
    In peace sublime
A shy insight
    Within the soul
When ice is rime
    Our thoughts extol
Our minds abound
    In quiescence, striving
On things profound
    Love unalloyed
And thus arriving
    Full, overjoyed
At end of year
    Towards peace on Earth
We send good cheer
    With full respect
Each sacred birth
    We bow our head
And then: to sleep
    We lay abed
Our word to keep
    That's it: 'nuf said
====
2008/12/22 Miriam's Kitchen Matt Lang
Writing prompt #1: It is the end of the year. What is the season really about to you?
12:55 sere does not mean peaceful/calm?
13:00 last 4 lines

Bank Exec's Blank Checks

2008-12-22T09:05:00.001-08:00

Bank Exec's Blank Checks
----
All the big bank execs
Are acting real funny

It's the taxpayer they vex
As the get the Feds money

And the bank vaults get scoured
At much more than we can afford

As this too gets devoured
For those ex-execs next paycheck reward
====
2008/12/22 Miriam's Kitchen weather board poem

What's up lucky?

2008-12-19T11:09:00.001-08:00

What's up lucky?

----

Up to, or down from

    Lucky Strike or home run

What if, or else perhaps not

    No Strike Back, mayhap may not find peace

Fears you, frown some

    Stuck, like your own one

But what if, that perhaps got

    You to hike back,

          to childhood

                to find release

====

2008/12/11 Miriam's Kitchen Dialg Bob blair

"Lucky Strike No Strike back", Marc (So What?) Smith ("Slampappy")

"Up to" Joan Aleshire

"What If" Joel Silverstein

Writing prompt: use a childhood theme or the titles of the three poems

Detroit's Dacoits

2008-12-19T09:22:00.001-08:00

Detroit's Dacoits

----

Of Detroit's automakers

All those givers and takers

Only one of the three

Has some small honesty

As they shut down their plants

Awaiting USG grants

For the new holiday season

Only Chrysler gave true reason

As to why they will halt

All their auto production

For they have found fault

In auto sales reduction

During the month of November

So for 30 days more

Thru the month of December

Stay home, sleep late, snore

Then come back on in

And let work re-begin.

====

2008/12/18 Miriam's Kitchen weatherboard poem

Chiquita fruit

2008-12-19T09:06:00.001-08:00

Chiquita fruit
----
Smooth & creamy
    When slightly green
         The flavor is tart
              A mellow sweet
                   A long curved blade
                       You peel back the husk
Soothing, dreamy
    With a quiet paean
        A savory start
            A yellow treat
                 A strong verdant glade
                      Sweet banana's musk
====
2008/12/19 Miriam's Kitchen Ginny
"Dreams' langstom Hughes
"The Fool's Song" WIlliam Carlos Williams"Hope is a thing with feathers" E. Dickensen
"This is just to say" "William Carlos Williams"
"The Pasture" Robert Frost
Writing prompt: write one like "This is just to say"
2008/12/19 12:05 vervant to verdant; could use bon vivant

Roog

2008-12-19T08:31:00.001-08:00

Roog
----
On some days you soar, with the cry of an eagle
On others eyes glazed sadly, you bay like a beagle

So the next time you're down and feel like a fugue
Just sad eyed droop eared, bound and bay out a "roog"
====
2008/12/19 Miriam's Kitchen Amanda
From the Philip K. Dick story of the same title.

Flare

2008-12-10T11:24:00.001-08:00

Flare
----
The horn and the bell of the trumpet
Have born the fell noise it can strumpet

As the player raises mouthpiece to lips
And in prayer she praises the tone that then slips

From the bowl into which she has blown
North to South all of that she has known

As she fingers the valves and the slides
As they linger they salve wounds that she hides

Like my own Silver Schilke I pursed
Lips I've blown silky notes my soul nursed

Or my first horn, a Brass horn from Blessing
   Just a student horn, model "Scholastic"
      The Serial 262140 ["two six two one four zero"]
            A gift given to me

                     just the lad

As notes burst, torn, at last, born, compressing
    Inoccludent, shorn caudal, fantastic
         Ethereal, transfixed you, on your hero
              Who lifts, driven, you, free:

                      must be Dad

Who then gives you to show his deep adulation
His next gift, two years hence graduation

Reflective and gleaming silver Schilke
With tones dulcet, quicksilver, and milky

My blest horn, shining mouthpiece I pursed
Into which blew my soul full immersed

Model M-1, serial number 20740 ["two oh seven four aught"]
My soul named her "To owe heaven for naught"
====
2008/12/10 Miriam's Kitchen Bob Blair
"Prized Possession", David Harris while at Miriam's Kitchen
This muse is subtle: the italics are mine to highlight a flow within the a flow:

(c) June 29, 20005 David harris:

It travels
with me everywhere
    soup kitchens, sterile
    waiting rooms, sweaty
    summer streets
      and on thee cool solitary nights
      I take it home and speak to it
        filing it with ashes
        and with roses

When my muse grows wings
      I take it to Paris or to Prague
      I sit with it in cafe and cathedrals
      dreaming between
      the blue lines of its pages
      thoughts in chaos regimented
      marching into the eyes and ears
      of an invisible, adoring throng

It is a keepsake and a hand-me-down
someday it will be an heirloom,
a tarnished gem, gathering
                dust and devotion

It has pockets
      where I hold
      pages of paper
      I use as building blocks
      for my new life
      scribbled and printed
      by a tribe of social workers and doctors.

Last night,
I sat with it in intimate silence
recording the dreams which haunted me
yesterday, this morning
I write it a love note,
it's blue lines filled
with a few more roses.


"Men at Forty", Donald Justice
"Next Day", Randall Jarrett
Writing Prompt: choose a possession and write about it
2008/12/17 12:24 tome to tone

An angry old man

2008-12-09T10:28:00.001-08:00

An angry old man
----
With a life full of pain
   At the bus stop one mourning evening

Sang a bilious refrain
   Of his Life, pain unshorn, aggrievening

I was sharp with my tongue
    And stood there, intolerant

Of the vitriole flung
    Used my wit as a cauterant

And the song he had sung
    Of it's grief, deep, unshared

Left him drained, empty, wrung
     His soul stripped, and laid bare

At the end, looked his contrition
At the door to the next come bus

And he would not board there
    Without being full forgiven

For my words, though sage, stung
    And left him shivering, shriven

The next stride left unstepped
    On that morning, bare, cold

Healing tears, left unwept
     Angry man, growing old

Near to the bench he had kept
    In that same wounded condition

Leaving him hurting, hard driven
    Perhaps, later, trapped there, he slept ...

And, without my submission
    He just stood there, struck dumb, thus...
=====
2008/12/05 At Gelardin: WMATA 7th/Penn NW,
     got tongue whipped for 10 minutes by an angry old man.
     I did not reach out; no excuses on my part.
2008/12/09 13:30 diversionpress.com poetry contest
Roy A. Crabtree roy.crabtree@gmail.com
2009/01/16 18:30 I managed to lose or miss a couple, first thee of the last five lines.

Lady with a scarf

2008-12-09T10:25:00.001-08:00

Lady with a scarf
----
Lady frail, head enscarft
    walked alone, up The Hill

Her countenance was bleak
and the evening was chill

From the pain in her face
    her soul's body was ill

Her emotions then starft
    of the love she did seek

There was nary a trace
    ...and I lacked the will

So I left her, and walked on
   ... with nary a try

If you don't will, your will won't
   in each moment of Life

You will do, or you don't
   and each moment is rife

With the next gift of time
    singing soft, shyly lyrical

Lets each moment sublime
    bring the next verdant miracle

I looked back, she was gone
... had I left her to die

All alone, dusk to dawn
     in torment to languish

Muted moan, silenced sigh
     burdened silence, in anguish?

Who will hear stillness' cry?
====
2008/12/05 At Georgetown Gelardin:
from an encounter at the 37th/O NW DC G2 bus stop.

    ... in August, ... I think...

   When you have been pushed past your limits for a year or two, ...
   you make more mistakes ... you fail more in reaching out ...
   but it hurts no less, and memory is long ...

    and she ... walked on ... alone ... that night ...

New friends from afar

2008-12-05T12:01:00.001-08:00

New friends from afar
-----
Came to Miriam's today
    In the ThanksGiving Way
And this Thanksgiving meal
    Was a miracle revealed
Served and eaten with zeal
    Such Grace and Caring Concealed
Under signet of commonweal ...

Served with care and aplomb
    And with smiles of full grace
From a stately Court's Kingdom
    Where the Faithful embrace

Our new friends from afar
   Country's name we now know
Does not rhyme with Jafar
   Although once we thought so

The food served, in full flavor
    Finely balanced, seasoned saucing
Had new spices to savor
   Though the names may need glossing

Wafting gently, aromatic
    Like sweet melted butter
Eating, dining, ecstatic
    Of the viands of Qatar

From the flavor of a cup
    Of sweet garlic hummus
    Of such a savor to sup
And partake and succumb, thus

To a serving of fatoush
    (Went down in a swoosh)

Along with the musbouss
    Came a chicken briani
        Which was delicious and scrumptious
        With the flavor of fruit nia

And the main course, of roast lamb
   Sliced, from the ewe or the ram?

With such delicate seasoning
   Pleased the palate beyond reasoning

Blended well with tomato
    And balanced garden potato

And along with the onion
    Left no flavor there undone

From the bread of the desert
    Flat salt pita, unleavened
Crossed the bled of Man's Strangeness
    With hot tea and a yoghurt

And were fed there, in concert
From such Hearts, come from Heaven
Seated dined, as we ranged less
May have become the next convert

To the finale of busbouss
       Eaten at end or perhaps ante
            It was all the more sumptuous
                The meal was a beauty, ... ahhh ....

We partook of this meal,
     From the Peace of the Lamb
And our souls in full zeal
    Felt the warmth of: سلام [Salaam]

Breaking bread with new friends
    Sacred texts, ancient mysteries
         From the depths of our souls,
              From a true kitchen wallah

As we travel, and Life wends
    Through both lands sacred histories
          Moving on towards sacred goals
               May we again find such peace ... إن شاء الله [insh'allah]
====
2008/11/27 after breakfast at Miriam's Kitchen, on Thanksgiving Day; quite a gift from the folks at the Embassy of Qatar...

   I was so tempted to use "in Challah" ...
2008/12/06 16:29 minor edits...

And Beyond

2008-12-04T09:05:00.001-08:00

And Beyond

----

A present moment looms at last

    With portents pondering, looming, vast

A present Christmas coming fast

   With sweet memories, just from the past

My father knows just what I'd like
    His middle sons a type of a tyke

Knowing just what tune he needs to strike
     Assembling for me my new bike

I ask him may I help him there
    To show him just how much I care

In loving smiles I may openly share
    But fatigue and tempers finally flare

I want to help my Santa Klaus
    And show that I know he is the cause

But as the daylight wanes and draws
     ... we as a family learn we all have flaws ...

It's also then my day of of birth
     Where parents feel and find their worth

Through sadness & joy, in love and mirth
    Until the end of my Life on Earth

Everywhere, or else in some such vicinity
    Remembrance divine of childhood's virginity

In the eyes of ManKind and perhaps of Divinity:
    From now on and thence to infinity

====

2008/12/04 Miriam's Kitchen Dialog Ginny, Laura, Jeanine

"Dias Habiles" "Madrugada" (Days & Occasions; Dawn)

"Driving Into Our New Lives", Maria Mazziotti Gillan

"We Are Seven", William Wordsworth

Writing prompt: write about a moment in the past, but in the present tense
12:35 last stanza ..

How to win

2008-12-03T08:18:00.001-08:00

How to win
----
Refuse
    to lose?

I don't really know
    But perhaps not so

The steeper the slope
    The more you must cope

Keep your eyes
   On the prize

Just keep on driving
    And keep on striving

Until you realize
     You are a bit more wise

Perhaps when you've lost
     And then pay that cost

But then at that when
    Just you once again

        Re-start to begin
            It's then that you win
====
2008/12/03 Miriam's Kitchen Bob Blair
"One Art", Elizabeth Bishop
Write on the topic of this (losing)
"The Secte of the Machine", Rudyard Kipling
"Over a cup of Coffee", Stephen Dobyns

Detroit Exploit

2008-12-03T08:07:00.001-08:00

Detroit Exploit
----
Well it looks like old GM
    Will get a per diem

A loan from the Feds
    A groan from the heads

Of the biggest of banks
    $25 billion, yo! THANKS

Which creates some discord
    As too much to a Ford

But this pudding's not Tapioca
    Since we lost that old shyster

Name of Lee Iacocca
    The old head of old Chrysler

After Daimler had the Benz
   Cut them loose on the Glenns
====
2008/12/03 Miriam's Kitchen weather board poem

The light or the night?

2008-12-01T08:53:00.001-08:00

The light or the night?
----
When seeking the truth in my soul
And searching for it deep in augury
I wonder which way I could go
In the presence of my Self, a strange land
All I know is I had to try
To step out from my Safe Haven's Womb
With courage (I groaned), no fear, no faux Bonhomie
As I seek for new glimmers of Light

To find what should be my true goal
While not being lost to the false demagoguery
Of the prophets of the cards of Tarot
Or encountering while there The Hanged Man
And, in turn becoming the next NOT to die
Buried, alive, in Baron Samdi's known tomb
Or asleep while awake as his own zombie
While entrapped by the shimmers of Night
====
2008/12/01 Miriam's Kitchen Matt Lang
"The Devil & Daniel Webster", Stephen Vincent Benet
"The Emperor of Ice Cream",
Writing prompt: use of the following phrases:
"The hanged man" (tarol cards)
"The emperor of ice cream"

Bird overload

2008-12-01T08:43:00.001-08:00

Bird overload
----
This year I get a whole turkey
    Fully cooked wrapped in plastic
It feels a little bit quirky
    And I may need to do something drastic

I ate dressing and sauce and potatoes and rolls
    Until stuffed, and it seems quite absurd
Though it was one of my dinner eating goals
    I didn't touch or taste the whole dang bird...
=====
2008/12/01 Miriam's Kitchen weather board poem

Giving

2008-11-27T11:12:00.001-08:00

Giving
----
In the land of the brave
    And the home of the free

What our ancestors gave
    You can easily see

Why each should give thanks
    For the things that we share

We're still half Rebs and half Yanks
    Instead of all one kind there

You can see when you look
    Out from home toward a broad

Where at times they forsook
    Peaceful ways and war trod

Let the saints your soul lave
    Let the peaceful ways be
Standing firm in Man's ranks
    As in journey we fare
Down the paths that we took
    Hand in hand, and near God.
====
2008/11/27 Miriam's Kitchen Amanda for RishiWrite about Thanksgiving

Bound Better

2008-11-26T14:25:00.001-08:00

Bound Better

WIP
----
From a freely given gift
    Comes dear the soul's uplift

With clearly found affection
    Which mirrors love's reflection

Whose warmth, keeps our pipes unfrozen
    And windows screens things we've chosen

To Court all consequences
    In Life's Grandiloquences

To find in living quiet
    The mind's most fertile diet

To keep the body strong
    Thru hours short and long

While keeping friends so close
    Til parting adios
And join them in the truth
    Til age takes all our youth

With viands simply cooked


====
2008/11/26 Miriams Kitchen Bob Blair
"The Road Not Taken" Robert Frost
"Found Letter" Joshua Weiner
"Fire and Ice" Robert Frost
Writing prompt: take a couple of topics from "Found Letter" and write a short essay or poem on them.
17:11 some changes

"Found Letter" Joshua Weiner

What makes for a happier life, Josh, comes to this:

Gifts freely given, that you never earned;

Open affection with your wife and kids;

Clear pipes in winter, in summer screens that fit;

Few days in court, with little consequence;

A quiet mind, a strong body, short hours

In the office; close friends who speak the truth;

Good food, cooked simply; a memory that’s rich

Enough to build the future with; a bed

In which to love, read, dream, and re-imagine love;

A warm, dry field for laying down in sleep,

And sleep to trim the long night coming;

Knowledge of who you are, the wish to be

None other; freedom to forget the time;

To know the soul exceeds where it’s confined

Yet does not seek the terms of its release,

Like a child’s kite catching at the wind

That flies because the hand holds tight the line.

Sic transit, study, I'm hungry

2008-11-24T15:19:00.001-08:00

Sic transit, story a study, I'm hungry
----
When going down to Gelardin
To use their services multimedial
On the first floor of Lauinger
The primary university library
On the campus of Georgetown (the U.)

You may hope fate grants you a pardon
And gives you a journey remedial
For study intent on a brow binger
For those of you somewhat rhyme-wary
That the elevator should disgorge down just you

On the level that you had been bound for
Which should be the first one, the ground floor

But if it should go up and not down
To the fifth floor, not down to the first
If instead at the end of that journey
Perhaps it would be somewhat clearer

If your face kept a smile, not a frown
Since this is not close to the worst
It should not take a Court or attorney
To conclude it at least a floor nearer

To the place to repair your deep lack
Of hot food or perhaps a sweet snack

You could have aimed for two and got four
And had nothing to do but snooze snore
From the loss of your favorite brown drug
At the end of your current hot mug
Or else lost all of your builtin aplomb on
The loss of all Grounds More Uncommon

And gone on from there to feel cruddy
Sans coffee or snack, needed for study
====
2008/11/24 In Geladin in Lauinger on Georgetown campus

Paraqeets

2008-11-17T11:26:00.001-08:00

Paraqeets

----

They don't bite, they just nibble

They don't write, they just scribble

they don't fight, they just quibble

... but they might burble dribble ...

And quite right,they do fibble...
While in flight, they cause tribble ...

But one might be your Sibyl...
Though their logic is Przybyl...

====

2008/11/17 at Miriam's Kitchen for the first two lines... stimulated by one of the men there
2008/12/09 13:30 diversionpress.com poetry contest
Roy A. Crabtree roy.crabtree@gmail.com

In come, out go

2008-11-17T11:21:00.001-08:00

In come, out go
----
get a job
   make some money

a whole gob
   it ain't funny

it has been
   3 full years

from the last when
   a paycheck clears

funds into my
   deep bank account

not just a shy
   puny amount

which, with an axe
   got chopped in two
by those cash folks
    the IRS
who took a look

    just for the tax
       for you know who
           as a matter of fact
                He would take, Uncle Sam

(And it's no joke)
I forsook and took far less
Than they overlooked and took

           (With fair to great tact

                ... as if I gave a dram ...)
====
Miriam's Kitchen Kiersten
Writing prompt from David:   Jobs.

Destination

2008-11-17T11:08:00.001-08:00

Destination
----
I am not sure just where
   It is I should journey
When it's on winter's clock

   Am I already there?
Or should I put my turn-key
   On that door, in that lock?

Should I stay where I am
   On the run from the cold?
Close that door with a slam
    And have done, just grow old

Or stride thru to a place
With a sure steady pace
Feeling full, feeling glee-some
    To a new well earned freedom...
====
2008/11/17 Miriam's Kitchen, Kiersten
Writing prompt: Where would you like ot go for the winter?

Innocence

2008-11-17T11:02:00.001-08:00

Innocence
----
What would I like to learn?
    How to make the world turn

And turn over a new leaf
    Without so much grief

In the way of the child
    When engaged and beguiled

In their favorite task
    All attention in focus

Their emotions en masque
    On one space and time locus

Get it done, not by half
    ... And have it end on a laugh ...
====
2008/11/17 Miriam's Kitchen Kiersten
Writing prompt: What would you like to learn?

Yep, Reps Love to Hate Them Dems

2008-11-17T10:44:00.001-08:00

Yep, Reps Love to Hate Them Dems
----
All those conservative Republicans
Love to Hate and Love their Dems
Like sailors feel about Albatrosses
Because of their high maintenance cost

And like sailors who love their pelicans
For Reps it's now U.S. or thems
That must bear those old crosses
Or else in the end all of us may be lost
====
2008/11/17 Miriam's Kitchen weatherboard poem

What not to be

2008-11-13T07:50:00.001-08:00

What not to be
----
Garbage piled upon the street
    Next to an empty receptacle

Sick and tired upon my feet
    A sorry public spectacle

Running from what is not there
    While thinking of what ought to be

Shunning what I would not dare
    And thinking of what not to be
====
2008/11/13 Miriam's Kitchen Ginny, Laura, Rishi
"On the Days I am Not My Father", Scott Owens
"Identidad", Dias Habiles
"Nin~a"
"Song of the Open Road" 9, Walt Whitman
Writing prompt: Write what you are not or do not want to be

Contrapunctal: Cursing Prayer

2008-11-12T08:49:00.001-08:00

Contrapunctal: Cursing Prayer
----
Why bother, Old Fart in Heaven
Callowed be Thy Game
Why sing of some
Sly, ill , and dumb

...
And I could go on further from there
    But it wouldn't really truly be fair
Since it's more of a curse than a prayer
    Because if, at all, you truly care
It's really your heart you lay bare
    And only your soul that you share ...
====
2008/11/12 Miriam's Kitchen Bob Blair
"Different Ways to Pray", Naomi Shihab Nye
"Those Winter Sundays", Robert E. Hayden
"Shema", Primo Levy
Writing prompt: These were based on previous prayer; try to do one of similar style:
   Take an existing poem and modify/extend it
----
From the Rosary:
----
Lord's Prayer (1928)

Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy Name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

[For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever.

Amen.]

Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Apostle's Creed

1. I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

2. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

3. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.

4. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.

5. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again.

6. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

7. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

8. I believe in the Holy Spirit,

9. the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints,

10. the forgiveness of sins,

11. the resurrection of the body,

12. and the life everlasting.

Glory be to the Father

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost/Spirit,

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Make this story your story

2008-11-10T08:53:00.001-08:00

Make this story your story
----
Just when I would like to be
    Across all of Human History
And what I would like to see
    Is not much of a mystery

Out of all of the things of the past
    I recall only a few that did last
But perhaps, more important, the future
    May need surgery, a nip, tuck, and suture

If that future whole comes all apart
    From lack of soul or lack of heart
There won't be new generations
    For old folks venerations

Keep it whole and impart
   From your soul, from your heart
From the depths of ManKind
   The next Dream you can find

May our spirits release
   The true spirit of peace
For Terra, planet we call Earth
    Give ManKind's future rebirth

Just reach out with your hand
   Make a choice, take a stand
Hear Gaia's Covenant Plea
   .. That's what I'd like to see

    ... And where I'd like to be ...

But the question is when?

    Should we start or begin?
    When we lose all our innocence in?

Better start now, and not then...
====
2008/11/10 Miriam's Kitchen Matt Lang
Warmup: What event from all history would you like to see?
"Birches", Robert Frost
"The Creation", James Wheldon Johnson

Sic Transit

2008-11-09T12:14:00.001-08:00

Sic Transit

----

In each election year

    We choose whom we elect

The Nation's choices, clear

    And now, we should reflect

    On the next hard choice, select

What thing we next should do

    The world is on the brink

To keep each promise true

    It's harder than we think

      Time passes in a blink

Remember all the poor

    And others hard in need

All nations torn by war

    The children we should feed

        This must be done with speed

With money in the bank

    Our future made secure

Remain allied, in rank

    Inside, from fear, immure

        There is no sinecure

All these are not yet done

    Although we need them all

And are not begun

    Before this twilight's fall

        But will we heed the call?

As now we fall asleep

    Perchance we may then dream

Of promises to keep

    That freely there may deem

        What fountains from this stream?

The future of ManKind

    Where all our Dreams reside

We hope that we can find

    A place to make the stand

        To keep each dream alive

    We push, and shove, and strive

        That, in order to arrive

            We must live,

                in work and play,

                    allied

And that could change this story

    With each act we choose unfurled

From loss in pain to glory

    In the future of our world

====

2008/11/09 At Love the World Fellowship at International Christian Ministries at 10523 Main St, Fairfax, VA

Missing Congress, Missing Progress

2008-11-09T12:01:00.001-08:00

Missing Congress, Missing Progress
----
This presidential procession
    Some say, in frank confession
Bracing their own Constitution
    Before the next big recession
Creates a bigger sensation

Is actually just a concession
    To his actual profession
A form of restitution
    To the Nation's institution
At least, when next in session
   ... perhaps without cessation ...
====
2008/11/09 At Love the World Fellowship at International Christian Ministries at 10523 Main St, Fairfax, VA
   A relatively dark humorous view of the residency.

The National Job

2008-11-06T10:34:00.001-08:00

The National Job
----
The nation's decision
   Came out fairly plain

And now comes transition
    Perhaps after, some pain

    Undertaking the mission
        That this was not in vain
    Get it done, with concision
        Keep it nice, keep it sane
====
2008/11/06 Miriam's Kitchen Weather board poem

Let Any

2008-11-05T10:25:00.001-08:00

Let Any
----
I am the sweat on my brow
   And what I get from it, now

I was the mud on my shoes
    And the crud in that ooze

I will be all that I do
    And part of all you do too
--
I am not now, and never will be
    The what or how that ever let me

Living, stand, on my own feet
    Nor the sand, stars or wind-sleet

That holds my gaze locked on one place
     As there sun rays baste on my face
--
But I am what I will be
    All the things that I let fill me
====
2008/11/05 Miriam's Kitchen Bob Blair
'I Went Into A Maverick bar", Gary Snyder
"Litany", Billy Collins
"Beyond Harm", Sharon Olds
Writing prompt: mimic Bill Collins I am, I am not, But I am ...

Did you? Did they?

2008-11-05T10:16:00.001-08:00

Did you? Did they?
----
Did you vote, make it count?
    Did you cast your own poll?

Not by rote, that won't last
    No amount from the past

From deep down in your soul
    Have you found the next goal?

And when on the next team
    Did you dare keep that dream?

You should note and then ask
    As a part of your task

Was it right, was it fair?
    Were all candidates there?
====
2008/11/05 Miriam's Kitchen Weatherboard poem;
Miriam's Dialog, Ginny, Laura, Jeanine
"Burlap Sack", Jane Hirschfield
"Dead Moth in a Bottle of Mineral Water", Maura Stanton
"How Many, How Much", Shel Silverstein
2008/11/06 13:35 A couple of changes

Two for one, too

2008-11-03T09:43:00.001-08:00

Two for one, too
----
Used to be

I would see

Only one

of them there

name of Kate

and then, too:

(there is Cath-

erine, aisle two)

Now it's fun

I must dare

to relate:

There are two

(And the Math:)
Two win thru

There once was only one Kate

At Miriam's to make me, eerrr, wait

But now with those smiles...

And their feminine wiles...

There are two of them to contemplate

(And I don't dare to get too irate!)

(Since that would sorely risk my own Fate!)

====
2008/11/03 Miriam's Kitchen Kate scans art, Catherine sends email, and I reply...

Elect, Or All, Vote

2008-11-03T08:54:00.001-08:00

Elect, Or All, Vote
----
All the pundits are thru
Playing fun-wits with you

On the morning tomorrow
They would like to borrow

Your best smiling face
At your own polling place

So that they may take note, or
Maybe miscount who you vote for
====
2008/11/03 Miriam's Kitchen weather board poem right slate space
See the artwork under "DC..." at http://musings-roy-crabtree.blogspot.com/search?q=SUQC
The color scheme is universal...
2008/11/05 left the date off