Sunday, September 29, 2019

words I have formerly used for a squirrel

  • Moco Parks built a great new trail in Little Bennett, runs from Dark Branch Trail to Hyattstown Mill Rd, shortest loop is four miles, could be stretched out any number of miles.
  • Near Hyattstown Mill it twice crosses an old farm road to meadows, there are no signs the road is no trespass if there are no signs there tomorrow we are going to trespass
  • On ride there story on WTOP, the drought ending chances for what had been predicted early Summer to be a peak foliage year
  • and yes, it won't be peak tourist brochure color but drought has unique Fall colors all its own











               
VOW OF EXTINCTION

Mary Ruefle

From this day forward all plants
except the lemon tree
will be banished from my poems

From this day forward I am wedded to the sky

All clouds shall be banished
and my memory of them vanish
like memory itself

Not even a lime shall sneak in

Animals shall exit my poems
including those that cross the sky
in herds or as stragglers

Without plants, without animals
people cannot survive in my poems

so they too shall be sent,
those with shoes and those without
in a long line leaving

Leaving myself under the lemon tree
wedded to the sky
that is light then dark then light

Candles are forbidden

I will feel the terrible weight of twilight
as it falls over the land like a despondent minx
words I might formerly have used for a squirrel

From this cretinous proposition
I shall write my poems
and try to reach those
who no longer exist

They are not in this poem or any other

From this day forward
I eat lemons in my park

Their complete similarity to me
can now be distinguished

To speak of my promise,
my offering to the sky,
puts a sprig in my mouth

Would this not then be my entrance into society?

2 comments:

  1. 0) that's a good-looking forest

    1)speaking of squirrels, i am reminded of idries shah's parable of the wild squirrel, which was compared and contrasted with james tate's parable of the wild cheese, in these comments

    https://tinyurl.com/wildsquirrel

    2)a despondent minx is a striking phrase, as the adjective contrasts with the "pert, saucy, and flirtatious" meaning of the noun

    2a)there is apparently no etymological relation between minx and mink, despite the sonic similarity

    2b)my uncle's fox and mink farm is mentioned in a historical account of my father's ancestral village, written by linda letcher

    https://ncumbhistorical.wixsite.com/genealogyhistory/northport


    3)ruefle's poem mentions lemon and lime - synchronistically enough, yesterday morning spouse and self were at the end of a several-cart-long line at a supermarket, and a young male person of color, about age ten, came up behind us carrying a single 2-liter bottle of the lemon and lime soda sprite - i asked him 'just the one?' and let him go ahead of us - he thanked us - i was a bit surprised to see the sprite bottle because this store mostly carries its own private label goods [it's a four-letter name with 'd' and 'l' in it]

    4)reading about emily tisch sussman at her father's wikipedia bio, i was a bit surprised to find that the organization which sold cory booker a mail-order ordination to preside at her wedding does NOT have a wikipedia article

    4a)ms sussman seems to believe people support bernie sanders instead of elizabeth warren because they are misogynist

    https://www.redstate.com/alexparker/2019/09/29/msnbc-political-strategist-explains-people-support-macho-man-bernie-sexism/

    4b)i believe that bernie will not be nominated because clintonistas like ms sussman hate him - on talk tv it is fairly common to see pundits like sussman sneer at him with impunity

    4c)as wavy gravy told his mirror one morning, it's all done with people

    4d)the sempiternal quest for truth, justice, and the potentially sentient way of promoting the good of all and/or minimizing unnecessary suffering must be pursued within current limitations of time and available resources - who knows if it's good or bad?

    5)and speaking of a sprig in one's mouth - it has been 50 years i witnessed a roast piglet with such a sprig (of parsley, in that case) being brought to the table - the uncooked carcass was obtained from julia child's grocers in cambridge -

    time flies like an arrow
    fruit flies like a banana





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    Replies
    1. Time Flies Like an Arrow

      An Ode to Oettinger

      Now, thin fruit flies like thunderstorms,
      And thin farm boys like farm girls narrow;
      And tax firm men like fat tax forms –
      But time flies like an arrow.

      When tax forms tax all firm men's souls,
      While farm girls slim their boyfriends' flanks;
      That's when the murd'rous thunder rolls –
      And thins the fruit flies ranks.

      Like tossed bananas in the skies,
      The thin fruit flies like common yarrow;
      Then's the time to time the time flies –
      Like the time flies like an arrow.

      Edison B. Schroeder 1966

      letters column of Scientific American

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_flies_like_an_arrow;_fruit_flies_like_a_banana

      see also

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Oettinger

      Delete