tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-883423663975046602024-03-17T20:03:01.918-07:00PoetEconomist: Poetry of Jason LeclercJason Leclerchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00588569576524014548noreply@blogger.comBlogger308125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-92227204976555414652024-02-11T11:14:00.000-08:002024-02-11T13:33:56.024-08:00The Body in the Other Room<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Body in the Other Room<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkWb2PL9cCG0vG2L6n4vEg_2MaqY0shVuP4a8iAWhmuf5JGw3GSoHilWYdY30dBSjRxNFQptBgP5EkAL9NovzgvgD8jRLuzbO05tx2eyPO4_wT6qH24UVJvxsnm_8y3qDnRV_XZp2B2EICNHl0FF_-t06QGZz7yn981FRdzLzrZHsb4lDRWXs2bErKzMcy/s933/Bodies%20Breathing%20021424.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="933" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkWb2PL9cCG0vG2L6n4vEg_2MaqY0shVuP4a8iAWhmuf5JGw3GSoHilWYdY30dBSjRxNFQptBgP5EkAL9NovzgvgD8jRLuzbO05tx2eyPO4_wT6qH24UVJvxsnm_8y3qDnRV_XZp2B2EICNHl0FF_-t06QGZz7yn981FRdzLzrZHsb4lDRWXs2bErKzMcy/s320/Bodies%20Breathing%20021424.png" width="320" /></a></span></b></div><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We’d
arrived too late to bid adieu to—to close <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">his
eyes—my father, who had just gasped his last, rattled <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Breath
even as we shlepped along the interstate, one<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Hundred
twenty-nine miles, to the transient hospice: <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">To meet
his passing: twelve minutes past the nick of time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
he lay in his recently transformed state, surrounded by <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Some
family and a gaggle of others who’d usurped my <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Breath
and presence in that same room, <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You remained
with me:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">His past-presence,
but a body of unfinished works, in another room.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You
were with me when I didn’t have the courage<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">To
face his breathless shell in that one-less-living space:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You
were with me, in the ante-room, in the sterile <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Lobby--the
magazine-strewn waiting place—where others,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Surely,
had <i>People</i>’d alone for their own others in the other room<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">To exhale
alas: to take their own last labored breaths.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
the same room, breathing our concomitant air, you <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Comforted
me: you validated my wan bravado, <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You
persevered with me:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Amidst other bodies, those interrupted texts, in those other rooms.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And
every day hence, and for the decade before, <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You’ve
been with me, passing in the same room, <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Sharing
our short-pants and our pulses: <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Our
ecstatic insufflations,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Our stressed
heart palpitations,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Our
inter-spatial dedications,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Occasional, unexpected constipations<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>—under-watered dehydrations—<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Our (eventually,
instantly) disregarded aggravations.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
the kitchen,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Cleaning up behind me,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
the TV den,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Re-watching favorited shows,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">On
the back porch,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
the spare bedroom <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s become a mausoleum,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Full of ashes and photos<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And morbose remembrances—a gathering—<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">of those present,
dusty spirits,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Whose last breaths were breathed<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elsewhere, in other rooms with
others<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Waiting outside, heartbroken by the<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reality that life goes on for some,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
the laundry,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Matching un-darned<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Holey socks and rolling towels,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
the bathroom<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Each at our own sink and mirror,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Primping for the other,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
the bedroom,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Deep inside each others’<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Commingled spiraling sighs,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>And whorling snores,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
the man-cave,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Tapping fruity IPAs,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Surrounded by the totems of <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Our shared affinities,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">On
the roof and in the garden,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Walled only by the sky—the heavens—<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Blowing leaves and clearing gutters,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Prepping for the next big windstorm,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Picking dead heads from the mums,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And cultivating your thronging knockouts<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And harvesting the <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sweet
basil and mint,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And over-doting the hydrangea,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That
over-challenge and underperform,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And marveling at butterflies and bees and:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Fleeting
beauty: Flitting life-circlers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Here,
we’ve arrived, as we’ve grown from our <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Relational
infancy to broom-jumpers, <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">To honeymooners
to life-companions, here:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
need for constant togetherness, having <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Given
way to being each others’ other bodies<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
each others’ other rooms and all the spatial<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Permutations
that include the lively luxury of <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Beingness
in the same place at the same time:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We’ll
be together still:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Alive
and living each others’ places and self-sovereignty.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I’ll
be with you, and you with me: our strengths:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When
our bodies of work have given way to rattles:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Strong—despite
our breathlessness—for each other: <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Loving:
In the libraries and lobbies—tethered—bodies<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Haunting
rooms and dusty spaces: popping up here and <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There:
exhaling alas, recalling our ecstatic insufflations<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And disregarded
aggravations: from this room and <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">That,
flitting like bees and butterflies, life-circling:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Wan corpuses
prevailing:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Eventually
and still, interrupted: bodies in each others’ other
rooms.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>poeteconomisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15473052074640896191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-9909072345943696562023-12-22T10:54:00.000-08:002023-12-22T10:54:45.224-08:00Going Home<p><b> <span style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Going Home</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj9Bx2uRrzrluAagiaa3YQ1S7fheVrGKYoATfNaTIrZrm-bWNpQBEEcX_GqOzCzi5IfNVB3HTwmHvLoQ8Xk7LnLhzYzhn1JGiWFka1ut0VkvS6rsZiLmgN1rAOAxgBCC70YSLG78eW4Z_beOwMlSQmute3RcUouRRC7n1p5kNDm9sVCBWhtMmh0aeD_LGof" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="830" data-original-width="1157" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj9Bx2uRrzrluAagiaa3YQ1S7fheVrGKYoATfNaTIrZrm-bWNpQBEEcX_GqOzCzi5IfNVB3HTwmHvLoQ8Xk7LnLhzYzhn1JGiWFka1ut0VkvS6rsZiLmgN1rAOAxgBCC70YSLG78eW4Z_beOwMlSQmute3RcUouRRC7n1p5kNDm9sVCBWhtMmh0aeD_LGof" width="320" /></a></div><a href="https://watermarkonline.com/2023/12/21/the-other-side-of-life-going-home/?fbclid=IwAR0Sy9x8Bj0Dsmqlm8tQio8P1wi9Vfs5kov3V7oNWYcctOQ5BvueuZoquNo" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;">Read this essay as originally published at Watermark.com</span></a><br /><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Joseph and Mary were returning to
Joseph’s homeland, to Judea, to the city of David
called Bethlehem where they were to be counted for a census. With their
swaddling Christ-child in tow, and after a visit by the Magi, Joseph was warned
by an angel to flee to Egypt. The corrupt King Herod, in a desperate and evil
attempt to hold onto power in the face of prophecy, was intent on slaughtering
all male children under the age of two. Thus began the greatest story ever told:
a story of genocide and escape: a story of disappointment and hope: a story of resilience
and salvation: a story of statelessness and the piecing together of a community
from the diaspora: a timeless love story.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Half a world and two
millennia removed, the winter holidays in America continue calling us home to
be counted. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">That homecalling takes on a
different tenor, depending upon the particular cantors, carols, and cabals that
may be doing the calling. That homegoing changes, sometimes miraculously and
sometimes without fanfare, depending upon to whom and to what we are responding.
As families disperse or fade away through attrition, as they are splintered by geography
or by steps, we have learned to create new homes and new families—new connections—to
build communities from scratch out of the rubble of our state-deprived
diaspora.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /> <o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Across the multidimensional
intersections of gender and sexuality and social constructions, we have claimed
our identities. No longer passive victims, we assert our humanity, we claim our
love, we are freed to accept the affection of our respective gods even as ideologies
and demagogues have proven to be multidimensional obstacles. We have, in the broader
discourse around who we are in America, claimed our stake in our homeland.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Strengthened by love, our
community tarries. We have not overstayed, rather we have enriched the broader
culture with our gifts. We have invested in America, a nation with the notion
that we are all created equal. We continue to make political, social, and
cultural gains. Our relevance extends beyond identity as we continue to pride
ourselves toward critical mass. We are winning. Love, the reason for this
season, wins.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">There are those, this holiday
season, for whom love alone will not create a hearth to gather round. There are
those, this holiday season, who are internally displaced and in fights for
their lives. There are those in a fraught and growing diaspora, in the holy
land, whose fight for love and pride and equality is subordinated to a fight
for survival: for food and medicine and clean water and safety from bullets and
bombs and hostage-takers. In the holiest of lands in the holiest of seasons, we
witness dual-genocide, we witness shattered families and human pawns in a game
of brinksmanship between terror and callousness. We witness families fleeing to
Egypt from Palestine, we witness the heartbreaking slaughter of children and
women. We witness the gruesome deaths of young people—an entire generation of
Israelis and Palestinians fighting, facing an unwinnable war—based on the intransigence
of generations past.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">Kibbutzim and ghettoes are
mortared, hospitals and schools are destroyed, militants are hiding behind
innocents; militants and strongmen are fighting not just for their own
homelands but also for the obliteration of their enemies’ right to even exist. Until
the competing, equally repugnant causes—apartheid (as Amnesty International
describes it) and terrorism --are dismantled in Gaza, Israelis and Palestinians
will remain locked in this dreadful, violent churn.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">As we, here in America, reform and
progress, as we reconstitute communities, as we celebrate our political and
social wins, as we resist authoritarianism and as we return home, let us not
treat that as a prodigality. Our progress is directionally sound and it is the
further realization of the love story that started in that manger in Bethlehem
two thousand years ago.<br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">But with our safety and security,
with our gains, and with our rights come responsibilities. We must advocate for
peace in Palestine because where callous authoritarians and feckless terrorists
endanger the dignity of human life anywhere, it is an affront to dignity and
human life everywhere. If we do not stand up for the innocent people of Gaza:
If we do not stand up for the innocent people of Israel: If, in our silence, we
tacitly endorse the warring factions
that are perpetuating and advocating genocide, we endanger ourselves. If we do
not fight callous authoritarianism and feckless terrorism abroad, it will come
to our shores and these forces will endanger all of us. We must disempower
terrorists. We must neutralize authoritarians.<br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">We can pray. We must also act and
advocate. If we are to claim the greatest love story as our own, we must rally with
all of our vicissitude for what’s right here and abroad.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">If the terrorists and
authoritarians prevail there, we will be fighting a much more consequential,
far more deadly fight here. Authoritarianism and Terrorism are already
manifesting and proliferating in America. When that war comes here full bore,
when the terrorists face off against the authoritarians here, it won’t be for the right to love who we want,
it will be for the right to exist at all. If we don’t insist on peace, if we ignore
the slaughter of innocents, then we have not only proven that we are not heirs
to the greatest love story ever told, but that we are not deserving of love or
a state or even a home at all.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Now! Now is the time to be
counted.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: white; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">What, after all, would Jesus do?</span></span></p><p>
<br /></p>poeteconomisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15473052074640896191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-63561804393584129542023-11-07T04:41:00.001-08:002023-11-07T04:41:58.802-08:00First to Last<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">First to Last<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh2iu_oEAendYsBpaUP9Oe4vcXGPjhcUFmukQoUaF6j5qLRGTPotwpnHnRSpMVLuc66Lxy6bz6y4yfI3jptyJl4krVdJt-j5FufRbrTZVQJ6cGmKJR2TbUFZE2bO3xNkEoNgCd2rEEXuKM7P9vUhd_LoNOcDn90oiWloSnbRkXjlzPq9By5G9KUb1LTle85" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="553" data-original-width="371" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh2iu_oEAendYsBpaUP9Oe4vcXGPjhcUFmukQoUaF6j5qLRGTPotwpnHnRSpMVLuc66Lxy6bz6y4yfI3jptyJl4krVdJt-j5FufRbrTZVQJ6cGmKJR2TbUFZE2bO3xNkEoNgCd2rEEXuKM7P9vUhd_LoNOcDn90oiWloSnbRkXjlzPq9By5G9KUb1LTle85" width="161" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I’ve let you be first:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First to say I love you,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First to forgive me when I’m an asshole,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First to let me know when I’m ridiculous<span class="msoDel"><del cite="mailto:Jason%20Leclerc" datetime="2023-11-07T06:24">,</del></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>-often-<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>And first to overlook my ridiculousness.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">First to let me know how to
be better<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>In your sweet, nudging way. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First to get the last word<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In our spats,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
last word you’ve always earned<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>That you still leave unsaid. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I’ve needed you to be first:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First to console my hurting heart,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First to ease my insecurities,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First to give without requests<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>-often-<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>The things I didn’t know I even wanted.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">First to let me know when I’m
better<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>In your sweet, nudging way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First to give the best hug,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>And cheek peck,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>When tucking me into bed<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>Earlier, it seems, each year. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">As we close in and cross
another milestone, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Marked by fewer and fewer firsts,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But also by more seconds, thirteenths,<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>And thousandths,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">As we approach and surpass
our mid-lives,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Together,
in our new set of firsts,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Fewer
but all the more poignant,<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And first new lasts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">First
time to do that this way,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">First
time doing this like that,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And the last like this<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And the last like that. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I wish that I could steal
some of these<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Firsts from you,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">But alas, they are yours:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well-earned with fortitude <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And a strength that awes me,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Overwhelms me from the first to last. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I need you to let me be first:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First to say I love you for the millionth time<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Today,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First to tell you how you make me better<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Today,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First to bridge your slumber and your dreams<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Today. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First to console your hurting heart<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>When you need me,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to ease your
insecurities, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>To fulfill without request,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Some days, when you need me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First to slip the surly bonds of this realm<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Someday, because I couldn’t last.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>I couldn’t live without you. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">You are my first and last,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">My alpha and omega, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">My today and my tomorrow<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There in my first breath of love<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And in my last breath of love<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>-Of life-<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Someday.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">When we go I want to be
first.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I can’t imagine being here
without you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I don’t want to be here
without you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I can’t imagine wanting <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>To be here without you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I need you to let me be first:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I
need to be first in this, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In this one last thing,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Whenever that first last day may be,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You need to be the first to last:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The first to carry us on your shoulders<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>I would be shoulderless. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>I cannot imagine a realm without
you in it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">That day<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When I am first to leave,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Your lips on my cheek, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>tucking me in,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Forever.
You must persist:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Like that day when we first
kissed, husbanded,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>You must be last.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Please, God,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Please,
Pally, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">let me be first.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I’ll wait for you. <o:p></o:p></span></p>poeteconomisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15473052074640896191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-36496150085074505352023-07-23T06:49:00.004-07:002023-07-23T08:31:15.490-07:00Most Fortily<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Most Fortily<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigDQKP9rRI3vLYdSjzaM5QQavhBaBPKlydicm10hH067tonijAK9j3_X8kRZkwBve7hQQcN2Pg6Bynhpd47AzWRUuqzMC-YS2c7JdiWyANuOw7QJH6Zlf4zTYBE7f25VOVSHkpftexKz2MHOJaViXt_NoYRzl-81c1ZoL-K0EBzVLOvnq_Bzf0KnGQ4vht" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="212" data-original-width="210" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigDQKP9rRI3vLYdSjzaM5QQavhBaBPKlydicm10hH067tonijAK9j3_X8kRZkwBve7hQQcN2Pg6Bynhpd47AzWRUuqzMC-YS2c7JdiWyANuOw7QJH6Zlf4zTYBE7f25VOVSHkpftexKz2MHOJaViXt_NoYRzl-81c1ZoL-K0EBzVLOvnq_Bzf0KnGQ4vht" width="238" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Ticking through another year,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Softly pausing
here<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">To recollect, to pause again,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Nestling
bravely near<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">What’s next.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">My life as text, thusly written,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Lucky,
love-bitten,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Reading back from my first fifty,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Nipped:
kitten smitten:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Sex
vexed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Bouts-abouting sweet-nostalgia,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Cursed-melancholia,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Re-what-abouting history:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Selecting
amnesia:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Hex-flexed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://poeteconomist.blogspot.com/2014/07/fortily.html">Fortily.</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://poeteconomist.blogspot.com/2014/07/more-fortily.html" target="_blank">More fortily.</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Most fortily.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Pausing: Letting go of ghosts: parents, siblings<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Traded
for spirits:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Butterflies and cardinals and dragonflies:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No
longer haunted; visited instead.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Pausing: Letting go of self-hurt: wrongs and slights<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Traded
for re-do’s:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Penance, forgivenesses and charities. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No
longer hunted: sought again instead.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Pausing: Letting go of forties: Not. Quite. Yet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yet-traded,
tax free:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Deferring and Accruing and Investing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No
longer burdened: annuitized. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Recording over cassettes taped.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Reburning CDs:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Replacing analog with digital, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">An all persistent memory that<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Never
dies,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Often
cries,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Will
undoubtedly outsize<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>The
stuck-in-earning perfect prize.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Pausing here, lingering,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Mashed
up: tinkering<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Reconstructing stories: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Pre-fictioneering<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Pressing
play<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Pressing
record—the red button—<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Together<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Tech-spec’d.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Most fortily<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Near, hyphened, fiftily</span><o:p></o:p></p>poeteconomisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15473052074640896191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-37164593510033962372023-07-21T07:28:00.001-07:002023-08-05T09:55:59.685-07:00The Special Seventh<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Special Seventh</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsjJoVs34Z802bgOOqTHV2Pr-8fScCxRksjko-1Z95756Ly-FnA7OXs8lZRrxwTmUbLnCNdMToHzGYmSY_oND0jcpDDQPY8QgJtgWDDlSyeNa8zRcKUk59WADPa_zzaPAL_bTdnc7xTW65ikPz44hlHjY0oFQLm_bhHpjBlhUIaNKY-yVh4ACvmfM7wPBK/s987/Special%20seventh%20watermark%20pic.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="987" data-original-width="947" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsjJoVs34Z802bgOOqTHV2Pr-8fScCxRksjko-1Z95756Ly-FnA7OXs8lZRrxwTmUbLnCNdMToHzGYmSY_oND0jcpDDQPY8QgJtgWDDlSyeNa8zRcKUk59WADPa_zzaPAL_bTdnc7xTW65ikPz44hlHjY0oFQLm_bhHpjBlhUIaNKY-yVh4ACvmfM7wPBK/w288-h300/Special%20seventh%20watermark%20pic.gif" width="288" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://watermarkonline.com/page/4/?s=jason+leclerc" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read this essay as originally published at Watermark Online </a><br /></span><p></p>
<span style="font-size: large;">Let’s not deluge ourselves (*wink). The source of the controversy about what kids can and can’t learn about in schools these days is as old as the story of Noah’s Ark, the flood, and the rainbow. Many of us probably remember the childhood illustrations with “two of every animal, a male and a female,” inspired by Genesis 6. Possibly because of different authorship or maybe due to competing translations (KJV, NIV, NAS, WBT), it seems that God wanted to clarify (or maybe he just changed his mind) and thus Genesis 7 reads a little differently: “Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal (KJV), a male and its mate (NIV), and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate,” and birds and the other stuff, blah blah.</span>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Wait, what? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">What we misremember as the first, most gender-norm-affirming
story in the Bible raises questions as a forty-nine year-old poet that I would
never have thought to ask as a ten year old in Sunday School. Why an odd number,
seven? Why a male and it’s “<i>mate</i>,” instead of, “and a female?” What was
that seventh of each species for? Does the Pentateuch give a wink and a nod to
a “plus one?” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Why did God change his mind from one chapter to the next and
what does it tell us about the predictability of God’s temperaments? Or about
the Jahwist, or the translators…or the truth?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Let’s leave this deluge of questions here for a forty-day minute;
let’s pan out. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Without the story of The Flood, we wouldn’t have rainbows
and without rainbows we wouldn’t have those metaphors for inclusiveness, and
without those metaphors for inclusiveness, we wouldn’t have a reason to take
exception with those who put literal meaning into the story of the flood. We
wouldn’t have a reason to dwell on the fourth half-pair of each species and its
significance. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Speaking of pairs, lets talk about X and Y: Y=mX+b where
m is the (slipperiest) slope.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Speaking of mates, let’s talk about m: where the change
in Y is related to the change in X and the interspaces therein.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Speaking of Y=mX+b, let’s talk about b: where a line
crosses a set of culturally constructed axes.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Speaking of rainbows: isn’t a rainbow just a curved
slope?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8KhKCalCEC03-Vb9cF_1MY_1hwBirO4aIyrf8K6POT2ZJsGUkCNmASyBMUM_NU5R_h1WABOH9idDVJQi6cO9T7PjoC8d4J2l7ygt9hAAF1Zedol7cjTAr-9f7CXZ2lY44jKBNCeBPvmJX-VZGD99yq4yRSgdTUVQje3d7xnnjNqc4y6P4nalJK_yPQPMm/s292/slope.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="220" data-original-width="292" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8KhKCalCEC03-Vb9cF_1MY_1hwBirO4aIyrf8K6POT2ZJsGUkCNmASyBMUM_NU5R_h1WABOH9idDVJQi6cO9T7PjoC8d4J2l7ygt9hAAF1Zedol7cjTAr-9f7CXZ2lY44jKBNCeBPvmJX-VZGD99yq4yRSgdTUVQje3d7xnnjNqc4y6P4nalJK_yPQPMm/s1600/slope.gif" width="292" /></a></i></div><i><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Science is science. Except when it’s what we remember
science to be instead of what it actually is. If we can misremember the popular
story of the Ark as “two by two” when it says quite obliquely, three-by-three-plus-one,
then what else have we based our entire post-deluvian world-views on that is basely
less-than correct? Because a scientist theorizes, “it’s so” doesn’t mean it’s
science any more than a pronoun-pontificating poet can make rainbows out of
molehills.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">The art of science evolves along disprovals, not affirmations.
The facts of science stand on repeated affirmations of disprovals. Thus, there
is little that science has proven, but much that science has theorized that
stands, yet ready, to be disproven (X and Y chromosome combinations withstanding).
This, of course, is the high ground that <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fundamentalists stand on: there are males and
there are females with different kinds of love to link them, none of which are
intimate or procreant. But the poets refute: there are different kinds of males
and different kinds of females with different kinds of love to link them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Unaffected by political agendas, geneticists will continue
to dig deeper into the dY/dX of the chromosomes of those creatures that
survived, two-by-two-by-two-plus one on Noah’s Ark. They haven’t yet affirmed
the disproval of that <i>special seventh</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">And that <i>special seventh</i> is what we should all be
obsessed with understanding. It’s that <i>special seventh</i> that
fundamentalists are obsessed with not talking to kids about. Six-hundred
year-old Noah and his wife, together, constituted their own <i>special seventh</i>
that, also would not procreate when the doves returned. Let’s have this
conversation with our kids and with each other. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">If the same God can hate the world so much that he rains his
revenge upon humanity over and over again and just a few years later can “love
the world” so much that he gives his “only begotten Son,” then isn’t it
possible that the same God could create genetic and cultural genders along the
slope between male and female? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>m</i>, we learn, can stand for misappropriation: a
scattering of plots that build a narrative that purports to know the Mind of
the Almighty. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>m</i>, we learn throughout our lives, can stand for misconstruction:
a series of reimagined meanings along a continuum of linguistic accidents,
translations, and games.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>m</i>, we learn in elementary school algebra, can stand
for slope: a straight and narrow line or curve of heretofore non-disproven theories.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>A mathematician (in drag, for effect) walks into a bar:</i>
“Hold my beer. <i>m</i> is none and all of these. <i>m</i> is a <i>function</i>
of all of the possible x’s, y’s, and a(natomy)’s<span style="color: #2a2a2a; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">, e(xpression)’s, i(dentity)’s,
o(rientation)’s and u(niversal)’s *(‘yous’) </span>which create a multiverse of
possibilities, some of which are males and some of which are females, some of
which are both, and some of which are neither.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>m</i> is a confirmation of God’s special design. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>m</i> graphs that the same God can love and hate the
world over time. That God can change his mind. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>m</i>, most importantly to me, graphs that a rainbow is a
promise and a solution and that the mind of a ten year old Sunday school
student is potentially as pure as the heart of a forty-nine year-old poet and a
six-hundred year-old boatbuilder. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" rel="nofollow" style="font-size: medium;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Read more essays, poetry, and short stories at Momentitiousness.com</span></a></span></p>poeteconomisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15473052074640896191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-79974305065191235712023-04-15T07:52:00.003-07:002023-04-15T07:53:37.018-07:00Weeds and Wildflowers<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Weeds and Wildflowers</strong> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjkVcouHr9V9d81lpqCXvWsnzuA0yHIXduo3jINso4iMk4DmEiKMwtRlcH1Lpp4SP8X1UjLQdEMbbnh422h4qMk9lOEEwfyOtRbjStEDXIblDO1FwnW0WskmF6VkGHop02-iDyUDrqx2XimALnblRcPTJEBktlXKjQ_rBs4D9CQlGgcsIbbOD07srjwSQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="1083" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjkVcouHr9V9d81lpqCXvWsnzuA0yHIXduo3jINso4iMk4DmEiKMwtRlcH1Lpp4SP8X1UjLQdEMbbnh422h4qMk9lOEEwfyOtRbjStEDXIblDO1FwnW0WskmF6VkGHop02-iDyUDrqx2XimALnblRcPTJEBktlXKjQ_rBs4D9CQlGgcsIbbOD07srjwSQ" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">When weeds become wildflowers </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> And wildflowers weeds, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">We vary cultivation </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> According to their needs. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Whether hand-transplanted, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> Or raised from suckled seeds </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Or broadcast cross’d a lawn, at last, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> Or cared for, for our needs: </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">They all began as weeds. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Lily of the Valley, Mint, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> Chic’ry, Aster, Cress, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">On mountain path, by </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> Sandy-soiled bluffs, they’re best, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Fertilized by vis’tors by, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> Cold creek-watered or by the sky, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Arbor-shaded place of rest, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> Adorning critter’s nests: </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">They all began as weeds. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">When, at last, they propagate, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> Each spring with surly dew, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">And spread along the moistish ground, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> With blazing colors new </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">And present against the richly soiled</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> Black and heaven’s blue, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">To welcome guests and passers-through, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> Exclaiming, “I am true!”: </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">They all began as weeds. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Adamites, we gave them names, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> And like Linnaeus, classified. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Genus, species, plots, and rows, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> Gardened, stocked, and stratified. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Country square or city park, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> On alters, testified, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Aesthetically, they ratified, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> With blooms, satisfied: </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">They all began as weeds. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Some wildflowers find homes at hearth, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> Others to weed return. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Others still invade our lawns, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> A former love, we spurn. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">On hills, some petals, still we cherish, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> Others, still, allowed to perish, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Some loved, before they’re born, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> Like our flowers fraught, forlorn: </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">They all began as weeds. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Style, science, truth and knowledge </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> Cull, separate and thin. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Garden accent or center star, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> Assign their place therein. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Now sublime or now invasive, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> We’d rather pull than trim </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span> </span><span> (</span>Once in vogue, we’d sing in praise of, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span> </span><span> </span>The named and loved ones win. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> <span> </span><span> </span>Nigh weeds, nor wild, nor garden star)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">We’re left with memories afar, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> Exchanging known for what might come, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Or raise our sense of beauty’s bar. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Not every species wins. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">We all began as weeds.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" rel="nofollow" style="font-size: medium;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Read more essays, poetry, and short stories at Momentitiousness.com</span></a></span></div>Jason Leclerchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00588569576524014548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-91307556186485171422023-03-19T08:42:00.002-07:002023-03-19T08:47:38.471-07:00The Luck of the Irish Curse<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Luck of the Irish Curse<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: large;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjg-_T6PG36nQJW7zo6mFg1NfQo14SNdBN77UeXiYZGyqUJaN7-ZuqFgTgq1oARyQ2vI40oAuU6FEZzazIrGchQ4qBWAzJ61YSF2iUeZxSJ_iojaITbpV1Nm4bh8o-zGv-dTxeyjTV9NUP0tC5olVg4RELxo0NiXCP30Bz0l5cqrnrRx9ibzQDYk_QVcQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="857" data-original-width="802" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjg-_T6PG36nQJW7zo6mFg1NfQo14SNdBN77UeXiYZGyqUJaN7-ZuqFgTgq1oARyQ2vI40oAuU6FEZzazIrGchQ4qBWAzJ61YSF2iUeZxSJ_iojaITbpV1Nm4bh8o-zGv-dTxeyjTV9NUP0tC5olVg4RELxo0NiXCP30Bz0l5cqrnrRx9ibzQDYk_QVcQ" width="225" /></a></div><br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://watermarkonline.com/2023/03/15/the-other-side-of-life-the-luck-of-the-irish-curse/?fbclid=IwAR18xxeNrBnNyNx2l9N7GEAPlTgTvJIGT-9B5sdlTvW3mEfdwJpPb4va3Co" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><br />Read this essay as it appears in Watermark </a></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">The post-deluvian mist hovered over the asphalt blacktop after
that early-spring-in-Florida, four o’ clock sun shower. There, in front of me,
arching out from the steambath and back over me, was the end of a rainbow: I
sped toward it. And just like that, it was in the rear view mirror. And then it
wasn’t there at all. I wasn’t washed in the prism, and didn’t run over a pot of
gold, it just wasn’t there anymore: not behind me or stretched out further in
front of me. It was, perhaps, the most anticlimactic event of my life. I often
think about it and its non-eventness and try to put meaning into it, but can’t.
There’s nothing to sink my pen into or wrap my mind around: no profundity, not
even a picture for proof. Recollecting this Sunday drive leaves me emptier and
emptier each time I recollect it: a piling up of nihilist meaninglessness that,
over the years, scoops out the lessons of a lifetime like dung-clumps out of an
unfinished collection. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">As an essayist, I am called to piece meanings together,
connecting causes and effects: pulling the universal out of the specific. As a
modernist, I am called to build that meaning upon the result, the “what
follows” of an event. As a social scientist, I don’t start at the beginning to
build a narrative, but rather start from the meaningful result and work
backwards in space-time toward the cause: identify the result, imbue the result
with meaning, determine the cause and use it to reify the meaning of the result.
Rinse. Repeat. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">This is how history is built, an accretion of events
projecting the present onto the past. By using this same approach, alternate
myths and narratives live side by side. It starts with a meaningful now, interpreting
causal antecedents along the way. It’s how Cold Warriors trace American history
to the genius of the founding fathers, Lost Causers trace it back to the genius
of the Confederacy, and Anti-Racists trace it back to 1619. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">If this is the philosophical paradigm in which we operate,
then driving through the end of a rainbow—an event which should be engorged
with metaphorical and spiritual meaning—but finding no meaning to derive is
like an <i>Irish curse</i>: having all the parts necessary, but somehow lacking
in girth or stature to bring the mutual satisfaction needed to connect the top
and the bottom of the page. Without a meaningful <i>now</i>, there can be no
meaningful <i>then</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Call me old-fashioned.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Some of us have lived this existential nightmare, creating
stand-in causes: “I’m lucky”, “I’m blessed”, “I earned it.” What is the <i>luck
of the Irish, </i>then, if it isn’t also a <i>curse</i>? Luck, good or bad, is
a useless identifier of a cause; it rips a hole in the science of history.
There is neither agency nor responsibility. There is no “what follows.”: Hey,
I’m lucky I was born gay, right?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Call me old-fashioned.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Blessed</i> is more than a trampstamp, pelvic girdle,
skank flank or a faithful Sunday morning assertion—“I have more than I need or
than you can handle.” I’m no fundamentalist. Claiming to be blessed by some
higher power is well and good until you’re un-blessed: scapegoating the Almighty.
Maybe I’m trying too hard, but can somebody be blessed and unblessed simultaneously:
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>financially, anatomically, culturally
undeserving but the recipient of a cosmic gift from a giver and a taker away. “Blessed”
isn’t a cause, it's a copout. But, hey, I’m blessed to have been born gay,
right?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Call me old-fashioned.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Then, there is the third way along the path from cause to
meaninglessness: <i>Earned</i>. This is the most sinister of the reproducible postmodern
constructions. This cause is a self-reflexive fallacy. “I am successful because
I work hard, you conversely, are unsuccessful because you don’t.” Claiming hard
work as a cause claims too much responsibility without enough meaning. It’s
shallow and callous. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Hey, hey, I’ve worked hard to be all this kind of gay,
right?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">I’m not Irish. Well, not genetically anyhow (noticeably free
of <i>that</i> particular curse). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe
if I were of that lineage, I’d have something more to give to this self-indulgent
discourse than a lamentation on the postmodern condition. Maybe I could derive
a meaningful event out of seeing something in front of me and that same
something behind me but never having crossed through it—an anti-limit, a
space-time divergence. Maybe If I had the luck of the Irish, or had been
blessed by a power outside of me or just worked harder at my craft, I could let
a non-event be an event and could give it meaning and a history. Maybe there
are just some things in life that don’t mean anything, and maybe it’s really
all the things in life, and maybe accepting that makes luck the result instead
of the cause. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Call me old-fashioned.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">If I have to choose a manufactured cause, I’d rather give
God and myself a pass when things don’t go my way—when they need a meaning—and
choose luck: Neither blessed nor hard-earned, neither unblessed nor lazy, neither
responsible nor irresponsible. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">I’ll meander through my remaining years looking for another
rainbow’s-end and its technicolor meaning. I’ll count on luck, I suppose, until
I don’t have to anymore. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">And here I am, having pulled meaning out of a non-event, a
lucky, postmodernist hypocrite after all. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">#Blessed #HardWorkPaysOff</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read More of my poetry, essays, and short stories at Momentitiousness.com</a></span></p>poeteconomisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15473052074640896191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-14130812229136113222022-12-22T14:10:00.000-08:002022-12-22T14:10:22.775-08:00Holiday Cheers<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Holiday Cheers<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjmur1fCJTDkJsHXU4-BPxKsonVLCfbsMi8Y3BG7nX3zAoXRfwyzXmJUgqsUjHcnj7D1IXj7X-9kcY06fWXT1YAwDy1dZq4W7MX2mf7ECM1JghJxbfidKXIfXE8sx1YiPYXNv_FPf1nKoce2XGvkpYIkDrlPUugp2EO0OGkRZc_-Sn-8sWlN5UjqqdWHA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="917" data-original-width="870" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjmur1fCJTDkJsHXU4-BPxKsonVLCfbsMi8Y3BG7nX3zAoXRfwyzXmJUgqsUjHcnj7D1IXj7X-9kcY06fWXT1YAwDy1dZq4W7MX2mf7ECM1JghJxbfidKXIfXE8sx1YiPYXNv_FPf1nKoce2XGvkpYIkDrlPUugp2EO0OGkRZc_-Sn-8sWlN5UjqqdWHA" width="228" /></a></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://watermarkonline.com/?s=Jason+Leclerc" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read this essay as published in the 12/22/22 edition of Watermark.</a><br /></b></div><b><br /></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Signing off of Zoom meetings
with Canadian or British clients is always fun. “Cheers,” they dryly accent
with their version of <i>salaam </i>or its cognate <i>shalom</i> or their chill
cousin <i>aloha—</i>all words for all seasons. At first this was jarring, but lately
the idea of finishing every interaction with a feigned champagne toast or swirl
of gin—or a nip of eggnog, as the calendar may dictate—has become a fantastic
midday, any day fantasy. Jarring has evolved into shaken-not-stirred. Cheers to
virtual shots with people I’ve never met in person.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Tonight, the night that Joe
Biden signs the Respect for Marriage Act, I received a random text from my Christian
fundamentalist godmother. “Maybe after forty eight years,” I thought, “she’s
calling to acknowledge my gayness in light of the legislative coup, or maybe,”
even more incredibly (I posited to my handsome spouse), “she’s calling for advice
on how to acknowledge the humanity of her own grandchildren who,” through
closed-eyed sleuthing, “she has discovered may also live on the LGBTQ prism.” Wrong
twice, I accepted that she’s from another generation where simply reaching out
to acknowledge my uncomfortable-to-her existence during the holidays is
tantamount to acceptance. Cheers to cross-generational, calling to, “ just let
you know I love you,” and accepting it for the reaching-out that it is. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">2022, when even Mitt Romney
voted to acknowledge the universality of love, is a special time in the
immediacy of culture change. Timing is everything. Do Mormons have Godparents?
Cheers to RINOs, endangered as they may be. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I watched the vintage 1964
episode, “How the Flintstones Saved Christmas,” this morning on MeTV onDemand with
a smile on my face and sense that, even for a <i>modern Stone Age family</i>,
there was something to look forward to: even before mid-Century TV censors
forced us to believe in an immaculately conceived Pebbles. Not many things scream
anachronistic (Yabba-dabba-doo!) more loudly than a Flintstone’s Christmas
episode: ptalking pterodactyls flying over shopping malls and gaudily lit,
sugar-cookie-shaped evergreens highlighting a pre-historic cheer that seems
right at home in the glow of cathode rays turned LED pixels. Hinting at parochialism,
such imagined vistas are still, somehow, wholly secular. Such an invoking-and-saving-of
Christmas as if it were just another battle for democracy’s soul in the Cold
War, this “phase right out of (imaginary) history” reminds us that the spirit
of the season isn’t so much Christian as it is American: a stony mix of
optimism, archeology, and myth. If you’re looking, in 2022, for a bedrock of sixties
culture to hold strong against hippies and commies while still upholding
traditional values, look no further than MacyRock’s and an ill-Santa trope. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, that was something to cheer about. So,
cheers to and Fred and Wilma and Lucy and Desi and Mary and Joseph. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">It’s wintertime in America
and for many of us it means we have something to cheer about: even if (for my BabyBoomer
and GenX cohorts) it’s simply that it’s not a Nuclear Winter; the Doomsday
Clock has been static for a couple of years. Cheers to another year, <i>one
hundred seconds til midnight</i>, with fingers a little further away from the red
buttons on the <i>football</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Even the Scroogey-est among
us can find something to cheer for in December of 2022. FSU and UCF football
fans have found ways to cheer out loud and with much gusto—bouncing houses and
war-chanting their ways into the post-season—not every cheer needs to be ground
shaking. But there ain’t nothing wrong with some good ol’ sports cheers. Cheers
to college kids living their dreams and working toward something bigger than
themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">It may not be the white
Christmas Nick Fuentes and Holocaust deniers have been looking forward to, but we
in Florida can cheer for lower humidity and fifties-at-night. Cheers to cool
weather and for bipartisan condemnation of former presidents who break bread
with white supremacists.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Cheers to rebuilding in the
wake of Ian and Nicole. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Cheers to “Respect for”
displacing “Defense of.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Cheers to spunky and
irascible Ukraine for staving off World War III so far. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Cheers to Elon Musk for
SpaceX and Tesla and batteries and StarLink. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Cheers <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to reducing carbon emissions. Cheers to dunes
and sea walls and mangroves and building codes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Cheers to friends around the
world. Cheers to a moonshot and beyond.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Cheers to 1776 and 1787 and
the Declarations and Constitutions that created us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Cheers to <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1865 and 1954 and 1968 and the Amendments and
overturnings and Acts that righted our trajectory. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Cheers to 1969 and 2013 and
2022 (today!) and the Riots and Decisions and Laws that codified love as a
right. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Cheers to our founding generations,
our grandparents, our godparents, our siblings and all of their kids and
progeny.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Cheers to getting this all
jumbled together in a single shot of future-looking nostalgic positivism tied
together by nine hundred words that spanned from prehistory to the brink of
2023 in the Common Era. There will be plenty of cynics who’d rather dwell on war
and inflation and culture conflicts and I’ll let them have their spaces (cheers
to the multiverse of ideas). As for me (and you): Rest up, take an Aleve, and
drink a gallon of water before bed because we have 365 days of 2023 to start
cheers-ing to. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Cheers: Salaam: Shalom: Aloha:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">God Bless us, every one. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Read more essays, poetry, and short stories at Momentitiousness.com</span></a><br /></p>poeteconomisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15473052074640896191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-84648070351142917952022-07-21T16:45:00.000-07:002022-07-21T16:45:11.668-07:00Catch-2022<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Catch-2022</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR335jHdEm3pFINb2Fstjvp_dbynihxJfGagXF4JH59Z6d-EqO612P0U5QfPSTd5MiD6ioRrhVjmcrcpm7iog6k2Xe3PBkAJh74dWEtMgGcxlX3gxdlHKdSlAaYp23i_V9wK7G9MQHx3pw7jrx_rXzAvgB9L1sooQxGxZUkrI3FjsnJ_unjM0cr61_6g/s915/Catch%202022%20072122.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="915" data-original-width="868" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR335jHdEm3pFINb2Fstjvp_dbynihxJfGagXF4JH59Z6d-EqO612P0U5QfPSTd5MiD6ioRrhVjmcrcpm7iog6k2Xe3PBkAJh74dWEtMgGcxlX3gxdlHKdSlAaYp23i_V9wK7G9MQHx3pw7jrx_rXzAvgB9L1sooQxGxZUkrI3FjsnJ_unjM0cr61_6g/s320/Catch%202022%20072122.png" width="304" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">Read this essay as originally published at <a href="https://watermarkonline.com/?s=Jason+Leclerc" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Watermark </a></span></div><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">In Joseph Heller’s 1961 novel “Catch-22,” the author writes—regarding
self-diagnosed insanity—that “There was only one catch and that was Catch-22,
which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that
were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">In his protagonist Captain Yossarian’s world, empathy was
postlogue to insanity: an entirely different conversation. Empathy,
at mid-century, was the ability to feel—deeply and physically—the pains and joys
of another person. It wasn’t a demand upon others, it was a psychological
anomaly that resided within a special individual who knew, among other things,
that not everybody had the shine. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">In 2022, empathy is manifest differently. In 2022, we are all imbued
with some bit of empathy—a physical firing of neural synapses—and expect others
to honor us, not for our actual emotions, but rather for our externalized
empathy itself. Across time and across our competing conceptions of empathy—we
are both empathetic (individually) and non-empathetic (socially) at the same
time. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">All we have to do is ask; and as soon as we do, we are no longer
empathetic. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">This is as much a study in linguistics as it is in psychology,
history, and politics. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">In Captain Yossarian’s mid-century, the meaning of empathy (like
“insanity” itself) was in flux. When the word “empathy” first entered the
English lexicon (literally meaning “feeling-in”: to enliven an object: to
project one’s own imagined feelings onto the world) in the early 20th century,
it meant almost the opposite of how it was used in Yossarian’s Cold War world
of letters and aerial sorties. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">At mid-century the word “empathy” transformed from “projection
onto” to “internalization from.” Sometime during the subsequent half-century,
“empathy” transformed again into what we have today: inverting the
subject/object relationship: demandingly “feel like I feel”: an impossible
perversion of the rubber and glue maxim. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">Thus, when the semi-devout, semi-originalist Cold War
generation—Yossarian’s direct descendants, Heller’s comrades—is told, in 2022,
to be empathetic to the problems of a new era, they flop: “How can I feel that?
May I retreat to compassion and altruism? I’m sympathetic!” Carnegie’s halls,
Coke’s science education and Musk’s StarLink aren’t sufficient. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">Thus, when the semi-woke, semi-progressive post-Reaganite
generation demands, in 2022, that others be empathetic to their problems, they
know immediately to follow up: “No! Not enough! We need you to experience, not
merely feel.” Today’s empathy demands Jesus without deity, Teresa without faith
and King Jr. without compromise. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">We find that there exists a physical and genetic link to both
senses of empathy. When an empathetic person sees another person who is
experiencing a range of emotions, the empath's neural circuits respond with the
same brain activity to physically feel what the other person is feeling.
Therefore, the confusing difference between Baby Boomers’ empathy versus 2022’s
empathy is not so much in what empathy does, but what empathy triggers: what
follows. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">Fancying oneself empathetic in the mid-century sense is akin to
self-diagnosed insanity in the 2022 sense: reflexively impossible:
Catch-2022: <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">“I feel what you feel,” the mid-century empath might
whisper. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">“No, I insist that you feel what I feel,” the 2022 empath will
demand. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">At this linguistic crossroads<s>—</s>or is it convergence—do we
seek out a new word to replace “empathy” or do we continue to shout at each
other from our entrenched linguistic spaces? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">“Love hasn’t changed, though.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">“Of course it has.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">At least the way we talk about love has changed over 2,000 years,
over 150 years, and even over 50 years. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">“Jesus hasn’t changed.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">“Of course he has.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">At least how we talk and think about him has. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">Or are we just insane? We are a cross-generational nation of
upside-down flying bombardiers, both wondering why the bombs haven’t hit their
targets and also wondering why the bombs haven’t detonated. We are caught in a constantly
breathless state of empathetically inspired interruptus. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">A bombardier who flies upside-down drops bombs upon themself. We
learned this as we fought to replace communism with technocratic oligarchism in
the mid-century Cold War. A bombardier who does so under the orders of a
technocratic oligarchy in 2022 is championed as a patriotic martyr whose own
fragility is defined by what lies un-birthed within his own belly. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">A semi-woke nation of self-identified 2022 empaths is sure to
crumble beneath its own frustrated intransigence: to scorch the earth with
hypocrisy reified by delusional self-importance. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">A semi-devout nation of mid-century Christs-on-cross-empaths is
sure to crumble beneath its own frustrated post-millennial myopia: to dissolve
the social contract through hypocrisy and reified delusional
self-importance. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">And then that frustration gives way to either defeatism or
inflexibility. We can neither exist in a nation without people exhibiting some
sort of empathy, nor require—spiritually or legislatively—others to feel what
we feel. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">Rubber: Glue. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">While we work out this linguistic impasse—waiting for a radically
poetic approach to empathy that cuts into expectations, wealth gaps and nuclear
winters—let’s breed our hill on love: let’s make love our bunker. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">Glue: Rubber. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">A semi-woke, semi-devout nation of individuals who love others
with no expectations of being loved back have the best potential for real,
meaningful, sustainable, and scalable evolution within the boundaries of shared
values, shared laws, and shared expectations. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">"<i>They don't have to
show us Catch-22," the old woman answered. "The law says they don't
have to."<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">"What law says they
don't have to?"<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">"Catch-22."<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">I’m lookIng forward to catching the new version of empathy in
2022.5: organic, love-infused empathy without reciprocating demands: rubber:rubber.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><span>I know, I know, I’m probably <i>nuts. Cuckoo…off my rocker.</i></span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><i><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-size: large;">Read more essays, poetry, and short stories at Momentitio</span><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">usness.com</span></a></i></span></p>poeteconomisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15473052074640896191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-82806112266354862852022-06-24T16:09:00.000-07:002022-06-24T16:09:36.267-07:00Speculations on Persistence--Justice-Interrupted<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Speculations on Persistence—Justice-interrupted<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFvvwuJOyVzFEttgkGSBJjyiy4RjAgwrZ9I-_8nMXuG4VYabBqg_FapKo8OJVg6azDx9g6Kpiz6i7x3wXdumMH4GU3D7dzPAbb7xHSxxUEs9ZkNCXAzWJhxuQ8hvs5BsXMtGklHi-qdyokfPjywHbVjnh4d9Ydnw3CIFLZtCQ8QDc6mcIe1J6mZDvULQ/s631/Mary%20Jesus%20Lamb.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="631" data-original-width="503" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFvvwuJOyVzFEttgkGSBJjyiy4RjAgwrZ9I-_8nMXuG4VYabBqg_FapKo8OJVg6azDx9g6Kpiz6i7x3wXdumMH4GU3D7dzPAbb7xHSxxUEs9ZkNCXAzWJhxuQ8hvs5BsXMtGklHi-qdyokfPjywHbVjnh4d9Ydnw3CIFLZtCQ8QDc6mcIe1J6mZDvULQ/s320/Mary%20Jesus%20Lamb.png" width="255" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">I was blessed with two mothers: two strong-in-their-way,
persistent forces that made the act of mothering into an abstract—if not
impressionistically modern—art form. One gave birth to me and one chose-and-adopted
me as her own. The unorthodox—hey, it was the eighties--way my childhood worked
out was such that I still had a relationship with my birth mother and my siblings
through her as well as a relationship with—of course—the mother who adopted me.
For the former, I was one of many. For the latter, I was always, “The son she
never ‘had’.” There has always been an unspoken family code behind that
statement. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Though I would never presume to know because she has passed
on to her own post-mortality in the case of the former and don’t have the heart
to rip off any possible long-since scarred-over scabs by asking of the latter, I
can only speculate. If I wasn’t aborted—clearly I wasn’t-- do I have siblings-interrupted
who were? Growing up, and through innuendo, I’ve pieced together a possible
narrative that includes sisters and brothers that I might have had: whose
silent burials, in the shade of the then-contemporaneous Supreme Court decision
of Roe v. Wade, were overseen by doctors instead of priests: the knowledge of
whom remain unanswered questions and silent, excruciating—horrible and
debilitating scarred-over—speculative memories. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">In the absence of knowing—I’m content in not knowing it all—all
the facts, I’ll imagine that I’m the second child to a mother who made a
decision, before she knew that there would be a me, that I would be the first. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">In the absence of knowing all the facts, I’ll imagine that my
mother was faced with a choice—a horrible and debilitating choice that she
re-lives each day—between her own health… and that of a child whose term-birth in
the 1970s would have endangered her own. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">In the absence of knowing all the facts, I’ll imagine that
my mother was faced with a choice—a horrible and debilitating choice that she
re-lives each day—between her own uncharted future… and having to bring to term
a child who would survive as a healthy—or living—human being. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">In the absence of knowing all the facts, I’ll imagine that
my mother was faced with a choice—a horrible and debilitating choice that she
re-lives each day—between bringing a child into this world that was conceived
under false-pretenses, as the result of violence, or as the outcome of rape…
and not being reminded every day of those lies, abuses, or violations. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">In the absence of knowing all the facts, I’ll imagine that
my mother was faced with a choice—a horrible and debilitating choice that she
re-lives each day—between bringing a child-out-of-wedlock into a judgmental and
cruel world… and saving that child a lifetime of humiliation. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">In the absence of knowing all the facts, I’ll imagine that
my mother was faced with a choice—a horrible and debilitating choice that she
re-lives each day—between bringing a child into this world that she, without
any help from her family, her church, or her community, simply couldn’t care
for… and saving that child from a life of hunger, neglect, and abandonment. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">And, in the absence of all the facts, I speculate on what that
meant for me. What part of that sibling-interrupted was passed on to me?
Physically? Spiritually? Primordially? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
speculate: would he or she have been more handsome than me? Would he or she
have been gay? Would he or she—or they?— have protected me from bullies who
beat me up because I wasn’t handsome or because I was gay? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">I speculate: would he or she have been perfect, worth looking
up to as I tried to navigate my world in his or her shadow? Was I over-loved or
over-doted upon in some cosmic recompense? I speculate: was I undervalued or resented
as an also-ran to a ghost? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Would he or she have loved me?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">And, in the absence of all the facts, I speculate on what
that meant for my other siblings. Do they wonder? Do they know? Have they
speculated thusly on the life—the brother or sister or half brother or half
sister or stepbrother or stepsister—that hovers silently, speculatively, in our
midst? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do they resent me for being over-loved
or over-doted upon, the next in line; do they resent me for being the one who
was born? Do they, too, ache in the paralysis of speculation? Do they carry the
burdens and cancers, the addictions and the demons, the guilt that should
somehow have been borne by the unborn among us?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">And, in the absence of all the facts, I speculate on what
that means for society. Would that child have been a shining star, a leader, a
model citizen, a genius, the cure-giver for cancer? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Would that child have been a curse, a criminal, an addict, a
drain, a maelstrom of disappointment? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Would that child have been a survivor, a fighter, a
hard-worker, a good neighbor, a huddled-mass made good? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Would that child have been a precocious son or daughter, a protective
brother or sister, a prodigious parent someday? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">What did society gain or lose based on that horrible and
debilitating choice made by someone who was herself a child yet nearly fifty
years ago?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">And, in the absence of all the facts, I speculate that it
doesn’t matter whether that speculative abortion in 1973 or 1974 was legal or
illegal according to the law. I speculate that a woman had to make a horrible
and debilitating choice about her body and about the spirit that was dependent
upon her. I speculate that she, whether currently here or currently in the afterlife,
is haunted by that choice still today. I also speculate that, whether it was
legal or illegal—pre-Roe or post-Roe—she made the hard choice that mothers make.
And, in the absence of all the facts, I know that she—speculatively, whether the
former or the latter— lived to become my mother; despite carrying the horrible
and debilitating guilt of that with her, the former is—at least—a fountain of
subsequent births while the latter is—at least--a fountain of penitent hope.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">And, in the absence of all the facts, speculatively, I know
that the child-interrupted has forgiven her. I know that I have forgiven her. I
know that God has forgiven her. And, I know that she still has not forgiven
herself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">And, in light of marking the fifty year anniversary-interrupted
of Roe v. Wade and SIMULTANEOUSLY, Roe v. Wade’s overturning, I know that women
are not faced, simply with choosing between life and death. I know, not as a
matter of speculation, but as an assertion of fact, that there are many horrible
and debilitating choices in between these false poles. And, in the absence of
all the facts about my mothers, I know that women, who have been faced with
such choices for millennia will continue to do what mothers, potential mothers,
and mothers-interrupted have done for millennia: assert their agency in the
midst of tyranny, display their grace in the midst of debilitating and horrible
sadness, and do what they feel is best—with a mother’s spirit—for herself, her
posterity, and for the universe in which she persists. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">And, ultimately, as a cis-man, all I can fairly do is
speculate on the trials that others face. And in that mode of speculation, I
can trust that, for the many types of mothers, their wisdom and grace and
intuitions about life and the universe are maintained: if not as a matter of
settled law, then as a matter of supreme law that we—as a society, as a
humanity, as a concomitant “they”— must continue persisting--from speculation
to settledness—toward. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://momentitiousness.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Read more essays, poetry, and short stories at Momentitiousness.com</span></a></p>poeteconomisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15473052074640896191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-19371516802852299222022-03-11T15:08:00.002-08:002022-03-11T15:08:46.577-08:00The Lost Hour<p> <b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The Lost Hour</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-Iik7iKrthU8Y38Q-PmBncRHtrHtwry7Zyyc76ZupuRWc3-Q4eUh5e5k3aqHDczAQcys_4wh8j5V_Lu3lShfZyUfEFTZYANcTP15U7gczptTAxGejj6uj75KP23gHsdQ2u2xGwX1ifmJMlV6mTUMsZJ3dZmYGCoA_dOF4pkwY-unhnFID_5GRTxvO=s1688" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1211" data-original-width="1688" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-Iik7iKrthU8Y38Q-PmBncRHtrHtwry7Zyyc76ZupuRWc3-Q4eUh5e5k3aqHDczAQcys_4wh8j5V_Lu3lShfZyUfEFTZYANcTP15U7gczptTAxGejj6uj75KP23gHsdQ2u2xGwX1ifmJMlV6mTUMsZJ3dZmYGCoA_dOF4pkwY-unhnFID_5GRTxvO=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">If we are springing forward,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> After all,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">What are we gaining?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> After all?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">From two to three, <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> Like two never happened.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">From three to three-and-then,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> As if three were magic.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">If we are gaining a gap,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> After all,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">What about the bounce?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> After all?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Cuckoos and cockadoodles<b><o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">Proceeding unawares,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Dawn’s early lights and moonbeams<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> Proceeding without cares,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><i>Sunspots and sore spots and freckles and scars.<o:p></o:p></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Atoms and quarks and preons,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> Charging cosmic airs,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Bending constructs with prisms,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> Hue’d stellar repairs:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">If we jump into the abyss,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">If we flap our wings,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">If we fight the gravity,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> Against the dark star,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">If we save for autumn’s<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> Surly recompense,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">If we wait to bounce back,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> After all.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">If we pause at event’s horizon,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> Ante all,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">What might we gain,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> In The Fall<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> After all?<o:p></o:p></p>Jason Leclerchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00588569576524014548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-72028840857211506262022-03-02T02:54:00.004-08:002022-03-04T03:13:26.389-08:00Winning<p><br /> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Winning<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi802xkXAEXkGrhnIHIenfbu8AlRyokVFiCkbZtO-WtyOROAORjbNprqMfdYbqa3pj8s7Twwt0RG6zuzz58VDlE15JxOnNGJdCbrerfFZvVHZeQMY8tvh1Z54cbhmhwm_QnjOqYH1vRC5KTaB637hXc-PNuaVOTCe2HlgXe-BN6C5USnhOzzwWu4MDiKA=s1538" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi802xkXAEXkGrhnIHIenfbu8AlRyokVFiCkbZtO-WtyOROAORjbNprqMfdYbqa3pj8s7Twwt0RG6zuzz58VDlE15JxOnNGJdCbrerfFZvVHZeQMY8tvh1Z54cbhmhwm_QnjOqYH1vRC5KTaB637hXc-PNuaVOTCe2HlgXe-BN6C5USnhOzzwWu4MDiKA=s1538" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_KHPWZxYGJOO5J-9G3ezuVlLN-gOCLRB_GKIQMMPgN-ZaDAxX_rKsFHsGcXhl0MulAmgof_A5daBVfYxTjMC6WdFWdGxSJGiplh1K5D-fNFx3cZXN-1pAlOo7GLjUMhHtoQ9v5R7y9qAoVa0QFZ1XuohqVuZYRd_zMJ2CCU6B6_DEI_CnbZPRZ3tVQw=s964" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="964" data-original-width="866" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_KHPWZxYGJOO5J-9G3ezuVlLN-gOCLRB_GKIQMMPgN-ZaDAxX_rKsFHsGcXhl0MulAmgof_A5daBVfYxTjMC6WdFWdGxSJGiplh1K5D-fNFx3cZXN-1pAlOo7GLjUMhHtoQ9v5R7y9qAoVa0QFZ1XuohqVuZYRd_zMJ2CCU6B6_DEI_CnbZPRZ3tVQw=s320" width="287" /></a></div><img border="0" data-original-height="202" data-original-width="1538" height="75" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi802xkXAEXkGrhnIHIenfbu8AlRyokVFiCkbZtO-WtyOROAORjbNprqMfdYbqa3pj8s7Twwt0RG6zuzz58VDlE15JxOnNGJdCbrerfFZvVHZeQMY8tvh1Z54cbhmhwm_QnjOqYH1vRC5KTaB637hXc-PNuaVOTCe2HlgXe-BN6C5USnhOzzwWu4MDiKA=w567-h75" width="567" /></b></div><b><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="https://watermarkonline.com/?s=jason+leclerc" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Read this essay as published in the 3/3/22 edition of Watermark</span></a></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">The week before Thanksgiving, we flipped on Jeopardy and saw
her for the first time: a super-plain “Engineering Manager, from Oakland,
California.” My spouse and I giggled a little. Our interactions with the “T” of
our community have been sparse-to-nonexistent: the cashier at Publix who we’ve
only seen from across the grocery belt a couple times and the super-fun Tampa
pride parade when I met Beneva. We are active-adjacent members of a community
of two.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Of course, we have gay friends, but we don’t sit around with
them talking about being gay and how gay our lives are—we discuss sports and
politics and family and travel and cats; LGBTQ is the unspoken background to
the foreground of living our best lives. As white gay men in 2022, we exert a
privilege that was fought for and won by generations of brave cultural activists
dating back to (even before) Oscar Wilde with a throughline including Stonewall
uprisers and AIDS martyrs. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Like children who don’t remember nine months in the womb, we
take our lives—and the sacrifices of our forebears—for granted. We can never
thank our mothers enough for what they endured for us; we acknowledge this as a
specific privilege.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">We were the kind of kids who, though slightly socially
awkward, were able to “pass as straight” sports-playing, church-going, good-grade-getting
teenagers. Neither, though, were we given the freedom to openly explore our
curiosities about sex and gender. Positive imagery and technicolor visibility
were for the generation that followed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Despite the trivially superficial—thin straight hair, beady grey-blue
eyes, and scoop-necked sateen blouses backgrounding her omnipresent pearl
necklace—we were wowed by the vastness of Amy Schneider’s knowledge. Our own minds
obsessed on the unfamiliarity. “I don’t think she was born a woman,” my spouse,
after the fifth episode, verbalized.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Channeling two year’s worth of lockdown-fueled virtual-wokeness:
“Let’s take ‘Things that shouldn’t matter’ for 2000.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Intellectually, I knew that it <i>shouldn’t</i> matter. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a penis-obsessed gay white male, I autonomically
wondered. The consumptive curiosity manifested like the fascination of seeing a
unicorn. It did matter. It DID matter that her experience with her body and
gender and sexuality was not as easy as mine. IT DID MATTER that she was
standing, as her authentic self, in front of the world. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">I am of that generation—before Ellen, before Will &
Grace, and a full decade before Queer Eyes righted Straight Guys’ broke fashion
senses— that had to dig hard to find representation in popular media. The 1990s
didn’t afford the luxury of explicit heroic imagery to identify with—to validate
us, to reject even. Although trailblazing LGBTQs were fighting for us even then,
even when we didn’t know them, popular media did not give them to us. The fully
swinging culture wars of the 80s and 90s didn’t show us victorious images, they
showed us hospiced<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>AIDS victims, they
showed us angry gays shouting down confused Christians, they showed us Jafars
and Scars. Eventually, we got Pride and marriage and acceptance. Eventually we,
the “G”s in the LGBTQ spectrum, won.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">And so, it was with adolescent awe that we watched Amy
Schneider—transformed in our minds from giggle-worthy novelty to affable winner—win.
We tuned in, religiously for 39 more days. We invited her into our home. We
cheered her on. In a world where much of the imagery around the transgender
community has been warped—where the images are of bullied and beaten victims,
of angry transitioning twenty-somethings shouting down confused Christians, of botched
Danish Girls and tragic HBO docuseries—a winning face became a human face. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">“Let’s make it a true daily double.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Forty days of visibility mattered. It’s mattered to those
high school kids—longing to find and love their right bodies in a swill of pubescent
hormones—who’ve needed to see a victorious image reflected back at them. It’s
mattered to me and my spouse, who’ve needed a reminder that there were pioneers
who stood in front of the world, proud and brave, to clear a path for our own
normalized lives. And, frankly, it’s mattered to those confused Christians who’ve
needed more than anger to counteract their judgement and polarization. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">We thought her unbeatable. She was our unicorn-made-real. Fantastically,
she shattered the records of the greatest Jeopardy champions of all time, along
the way changing the way we talked about people like her. As though touched by
a magic signaling buzzer, she transformed before our eyes, owning her body and
her identity and beaming an infectious—dare I say, sexy— smile into our closest
quarters.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">And then, in the most humanizing event of Amy Schneider’s
historic run, she lost. And then, in that moment, Amy Schneider truly became
like the rest of us: no longer merely a transgender icon of superhuman
intellect: no longer merely a curiosity or unicorn-made-real. When Amy
Schneider lost, she proved that she needn’t keep winning to make her point,
that behind those icy blue eyes and below those pearls on a low-scooped sateen
blouse, was the soul of a happy, inspiring, comfortable-in-defeat, very human,
human being. The specifics of what was hidden behind that podium didn’t matter.
And for that, Americans, Jeopardy fans, the slightly more open-minded members
of my immediate family, and members of the broad LGBTQ community could rejoice.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Amy Schneider, a <i>former</i> engineering manager, a
citizen of our hearts, whose cash winnings are $1,382,800.00, is more than a timeless
Jeopardy Champion. She is the T in a Thanksgiving season that spanned nearly
four months: a momentous, runaway Final Jeopardy round that continues to play
out in our nation’s soul.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" target="_blank">Read more original short stories, poetry, and essays at Momentitiousness.com</a></span></p>poeteconomisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15473052074640896191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-23602696381518179892022-01-06T15:44:00.002-08:002022-01-06T15:44:58.155-08:00January 6, 2022<p> <b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">January 6, 2022</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgJUsPLeqGGgPmzfeg0ADXAf6s9hSs6gHTtuZa5dyMDq9NzHXetOCCS_JsMZXYJgN6svk70_mApWvpAfhvs61KgcPk2WmMt8Jyk-iebUeIZ_nTyfXJ1wfud6zxU21RerilIojPWIBQmL-7vBBYtpsYO_OaHLnNXUrJDhFm1mGzg2b4AnM3YhukYH_Kj=s752" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="752" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgJUsPLeqGGgPmzfeg0ADXAf6s9hSs6gHTtuZa5dyMDq9NzHXetOCCS_JsMZXYJgN6svk70_mApWvpAfhvs61KgcPk2WmMt8Jyk-iebUeIZ_nTyfXJ1wfud6zxU21RerilIojPWIBQmL-7vBBYtpsYO_OaHLnNXUrJDhFm1mGzg2b4AnM3YhukYH_Kj=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p><br /></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Democracy lives:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Outlasting insurrection,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Breathe free, still, again.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p>Jason Leclerchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00588569576524014548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-87306096577040409232021-12-21T16:04:00.003-08:002021-12-31T04:38:58.748-08:00Every. Single. Day<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> <b>Every. Single. Day.</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> <a href="https://watermarkonline.com/?s=jason+leclerc" rel="" target="_blank">Read this essay as published in Watermark Magazine</a></span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiPVGeJlX_3IrqM61NnTbWHo4oz4mDaT5-ao5cN2JZ-z-Uec8YPyOiRMbIMKxqoLKgoNVHXFPsNnO85a4V5z90Z0lUmR5jfI81McKzLSlDFBUvbtVhiCfJN55LiGuvQKAg477UIPvDbsoOy3q9MrJ5K-ECBYuJa6LmMiwI-Y00mcuTII6PgcvwVZo3Auw=s918" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="918" data-original-width="861" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiPVGeJlX_3IrqM61NnTbWHo4oz4mDaT5-ao5cN2JZ-z-Uec8YPyOiRMbIMKxqoLKgoNVHXFPsNnO85a4V5z90Z0lUmR5jfI81McKzLSlDFBUvbtVhiCfJN55LiGuvQKAg477UIPvDbsoOy3q9MrJ5K-ECBYuJa6LmMiwI-Y00mcuTII6PgcvwVZo3Auw=w375-h400" width="375" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Astronomers, those scientists who grant the Birth story from
the Gospels as fact, using the “Christmas Star” as a celestial marker, tell us
that Jesus’s birthday was more likely in June or July, when a bright
star—perhaps a supernova—was visible over Bethlehem: bright enough to guide the
wisemen to the manger. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Historians, charting concurrent, cross-verifiable regional
events, tell us that, despite the “BC/AD/CE” nomenclature which, by definition,
is separated by the Christ-birth, Jesus was actually born between 6 and 4 BC
(yes, before his birth). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Church, aiming to synthesize pagan celebrations with new-religious
celebrations as the global owner of information and knowledge between the third
and nineteenth centuries, has asserted December 25, year One, AD as Christmas.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">My parents, well-meaning and respectful of the American
traditions that grew out of mid-century, anti-Communist commercialism, reinforced
the belief that Jesus, Santa, red-nosed reindeer, and birthday-obsessed snowmen
swirled together in a seasonal spirit of crackling fires, presents, and
over-indulgent feasting.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Poets and essayists and playwrights and cartoonists and
political leaders, promoting a plasticine mythology around American Christmas
that most of us have willingly purchased despite what the astronomers and
historians have told us, defined a non-parochial, ostensibly inoffensive
Christmas that became a melting-pot’s holiday season. We have embraced a <i>spirit</i>
that is independent of fact or science, accepting that a <i>spirit</i> is enough
of a common soul to pulse through. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">I, a product of the Cold-warrior eighties, with a nostalgic
throughline from Reagan to Obama (from Carter to Biden) have made a similar
connection from Jesus to Santa. I’ve synthesized hard science and social science
and literature and politics and sentimental family traditions; I’ve accepted
that a spirit—the third and hardest-to-pin-down member of the Holy Trinity—is
sufficient and that it can span an entire season.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Postmodernly sliding along a snow-slicked, slippery slope on
a sled of synthesized knowledge, I’ve chosen that—not despite but rather
deferentially—<i>any</i> day could be Christmas. I’ve decided that the actual
year and the actual day, or even whether the official story is made up of
fiction-for-didactic-effect, are not the important components of the half-melted,
ice-strewn, heavily moguled fact field. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">I’ve chosen to believe that <i>every</i> day could be
Christmas. The subjunctive mood here abounds with spirit. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">On this mountain of subjectivity, a Jesus-like figure can
emerge anywhere, anytime—as an event to celebrate from the past in a Palestine
or as an event to look forward to, in preparation for in an as yet uncharted
world—to inspire, to teach, to lead us. Love, in such a mountain, is accretive:
not zero-summed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Inspire Love. Teach love. Lead love. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Increase love. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">A God, and their realm and their time—their time-space, as
it were—after all, is beyond our full understanding. A God, and I say this with
a believer’s conviction, is everything and everywhere: alpha, omega: in, with, around,
over. Not just, <i>any</i> or <i>could</i>: the spirit of this type of
Christmas <i>is</i>, “I am!” emphatically. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Most importantly, this everywhere God and this everyday
Christmas are mine. They neither require nor prohibit your God nor your season
nor spirit nor faith nor conformity. Where there are valleys between your
mountain of data points and mine, let’s grow grapes and wheat. Let’s fatten lambs
and strengthen oxen. Let’s make and break bread, let’s spread hummus, let’s
bathe and baptize, let’s share stories and build temples of knowledge. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The view of the world from here is wide and broad, but I
admit that there are, doubtless, unimaginably breathtaking vistas from your
mountain that are beyond my view. Let’s share and trade stories and make common
myths. And where the valleys aren’t so deep, let’s make routes and bridges. Come
visit when it suits you, and see the view from here. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">From here, the sun is our Christmas star.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">From here, every new day is the first day of a common era. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">From here, we synthesize the plasticine and celebrate with
the pagans. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">From here, snowmen don’t melt and we celebrate our
white-bearded elders and each morsel of sustenance is more of a feast than the
previous morsel. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">From here, I can see clear to heaven because every day is a
birth story: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>every birth is holy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Here, every day is Christmas.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Every. Single. Day.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span> </span></o:p><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" style="background: rgb(58, 58, 58); caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #72acbc; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: x-large; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Read more</a><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" style="background: rgb(58, 58, 58); caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: x-large; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;"> essays, short stories and poetry at Momentitiousness.com</span></a></span></p>poeteconomisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15473052074640896191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-49564762533161528362021-12-21T15:43:00.002-08:002021-12-21T15:45:48.679-08:00Love’s Asymptotes: Infinite Functions: Incomplete Transformations: Oblique Sincerity <p><span> <b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-size-adjust: auto;">Love’s Asymptotes: Infinite Functions: Incomplete Transformations: Oblique Sincerity</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-size-adjust: auto;"> </span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><b><span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKfNTEI_MpD8ZlS-5jBzEI9d63jhBxOBYHMx7XyhQ8M76HL90zCyURhH_B7CAaUJ0FCpYYIzgR-ol6YcbIl9l1fFUurs4KJ_tq5CxqZMfRThy4Y3DFnZ36rUagDMGuK3LnQFqbIc0qsd1u/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="975" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKfNTEI_MpD8ZlS-5jBzEI9d63jhBxOBYHMx7XyhQ8M76HL90zCyURhH_B7CAaUJ0FCpYYIzgR-ol6YcbIl9l1fFUurs4KJ_tq5CxqZMfRThy4Y3DFnZ36rUagDMGuK3LnQFqbIc0qsd1u/w572-h333/image.png" width="572" /></span></a></div><span><br /><br /></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>I was recently told that my sometimes-over-the-top positivity comes off as “condescending,” or at least, “insincere.” My friend, whose opinion matters enough that I would address it openly here, went on to imply that I have a pretty great life and people don’t appreciate having it shoved in their faces. Notwithstanding my recent abandonment of public political posting, which (granted) from afar may have seemed based in privilege, I have tried to true up this perception with my intention.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>I thoroughly acknowledge that I am blessed beyond what I deserve or have earned. I also understand that, even in my use of the word “blessed” I’m displaying an unintended privilege; let’s call it “luck” instead.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>I am lucky.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>I know that there are people reading this who are luckier and less lucky than I am. I also know that there are people who have worked (exerted effort) much harder and much less hard to complement the effects of their luck. We are all on some XY axis where luck and effort slope toward success. Our personal perceptions of the relative relationship between luck and effort tend to inform who we are and how we interact with our peers, family, and neighbors.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>So, let me address, publicly, the (fair) criticisms that my friend made.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>For the first thirty seven years of my life, I perceived that my hard work was greater than my luck. I worked harder than I needed to so I could condescend (I admit it) from that position. I piled up degrees and titles and connections. I piled up failed relationships with good and beautiful people. I piled up things. I was, for the first thirty seven years of my life, everything my friend (who had a front row seat at the time) accused me of.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>And then I met Pally and began transforming. When I say, “transforming,” I do not mean “perfected.” Rather, I recognized that I should be in a “state of constant transformation,” in which I always strive to be better, knowing that I’d never complete the process (asymptotally). Some of y’all may have gone through (may be growing through) a similar transformation, religiously , romantically or otherwise. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>For the first time in thirty seven years, I was not the most important person in my life. For the first time in thirty seven years, I perceived that my luck was greater than my hard work. The lenses through which I saw the world were fundamentally changed. I learned what it was to love somebody else. Trust me, I’d been through the motions, from the outside-in but didn’t know it, truly feel it on the insides, until this point in my life.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>I learned to acknowledge my luck.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>Through this new set of lenses, I realized that there was love out there for me—love that I was still more lucky for than deserving of. I began to reassess my relationships and to work towards repairing the relationships that I’d let wither unnecessarily. I realized that many of those who had “hurt me” were not as guilty as I was for causing them to react to my self-absorbed toxicity. Slowly, I reached back out to repair those relationships. It was (and continues, excruciatingly) slow, but as I engaged this process, it was from a point of sincerity: transforming sincerity.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>My goal is not to be better than somebody else, it is to be better than myself. We are all in our own, wholly individualized state of transformation. We are all on our own axes between effort and luck. The biggest part of this transformation that I am in is to understand that disappointment, hurt, rejection, and failure are not actions that others force upon me, that they are all in and on me. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>And then, even as I began gaining traction in reestablishing some of those relationships, they were taken. My (birth) mother, my father, my sister, my brother—cancer, addiction— all died within a two year period just as we were beginning to reconnect—to heal. I miss them, each in a way; I am sad that we were denied by timing of the full reconnection enabled by my incomplete transformation. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>I was texting with my brother just minutes before he took the deadly fentanyl-laced hit that then took his life. I could’ve done better. My transformation is incomplete. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>I had my head in the sand—thoroughly mis-equipped in life skills—when my sisters laid in bed together on Thanksgiving last year and one took her last breath, leaving her twin momentarily breathless and permanently half-empty. I still find myself unable to scoop life back into my surviving sister. I have to do better. My transformation is incomplete. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>Refusing to see their empty bodies after their deaths, I denied final good-byes to the pair that brought me into this world. I refused to face my own unfolding mortality by also denying others that loved them the opportunity to grieve with me—to see me grieve. My transformation is incomplete: asymptotal. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>There are thousands of human paths through which I’ve traveled and whose trajectories I’ve altered. I can never make amends to each of them, to each of you. I have been gifted with a platform and an audience with and for whom to try. My incomplete transformation weighs upon me (asymp-totally): my responsibility to try. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>Sometimes the motions of love, a transformation from self-absorption toward empathy, are the best I can muster. I understand how these public performances may seem insincere. I’ve also found that such performances affect me from the outside-to-in, driving transformation. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>Love, unlike many other mere emotions, is transformational. Trust that my actions and proclamations are meant to be sincere, even if those actions and proclamations come from a part of my brain that seeks to connect with the part of my heart that needs actions and proclamations to be sincere in actuality. I’m transforming, still. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>Another friend, very recently, reacted to the fact that I always say, “I love you,” when we were finishing up a phone call; he thought it was notable. He loved me back—perhaps a conditioned or obligatory proclamation on his part. There aren’t many non-work conversations that I don’t end with, “I love you.” (There aren’t many work conversations that I don’t end with, “I appreciate you.”)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>I’m lucky. I’m transforming. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>Quite honestly, after (now) 48 years, I am fearful of losing the people in my life. Of course, I am fearful of losing Pally: of having to survive on this Earth without his transformational energy to sustain me—to urge me on. But I am also fearful of losing other friends (and former friends) and family (and other family) without proclaiming my love for them. I’m even more fearful that I will not have time to repair the relationships that need repairing before either I or they have had our opportunity to reconnect. I’m mostly fearful that I still take in more love than I emanate and that my inward-to-outward energy is insufficient without love-energy sources to sustain it. I’m still so incomplete without that energy. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>I’m lucky. I’m incompletely transforming. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>I’m fearful. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>So, know that I am sincere. I know that I will not connect or reconnect with all of you on a deeply personal level. I know there are some in whose orbit I float who are still not satisfied with the level of effort I’ve put into reconnection. See above, and contemplate the effort-to-luck on relationships. Contemplate, for a moment, currency and success: a zed axis. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>Sincerely, currently: when you are open enough to share something great that’s happened to you; when you are open enough to share something great that’s happened to your kids or your friends or your neighbors, I am absolutely sincere in my appreciation of that. Please know that. Please know how much it makes me happy to know that good things happen to other people—especially people whose orbit I am in, whether by luck or hard work (I don’t care which). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>I acknowledge my luck. I acknowledge my incomplete transformation. I acknowledge my fear. I acknowledge that, for the last eleven years, I’ve needed to get better—at life, at love, at effort—every single day. But most importantly, I acknowledge my joy that you are part of my life. I acknowledge that I will fall short of your expectations (perceptions, interactions). I thank you for accepting me for who I am today—lucky, incomplete, fearful, imperfect, sincere. I acknowledge my gratitude that you take me at face value and we understand that, despite my faults and verbosity, my life would not be complete without you. While I’d like to hope you feel the same way, you don’t even need to.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>So, let me proclaim it—perform it, at least. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>So, thank you. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>So, I appreciate you. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>So, I love you. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span>Sincerely.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" style="background: rgb(58, 58, 58); color: #72acbc; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: x-large; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Read more</a><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" style="background: rgb(58, 58, 58); font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: x-large; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;"> essays, short stories and poetry at Momentitiousness.com</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p>Jason Leclerchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00588569576524014548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-58671462881790508472021-11-25T11:07:00.003-08:002021-12-21T15:44:43.055-08:00Deadheads<p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Deadheads<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi91fxn7YAuMUYLDhV-qwSX3onmemu2W3j9cfk7gp8pQJrXtHdHVSMdPeI9-5VIiIArFKsic8PeaUkQljNMmevkVhsDEU96fK2D80y4v624PGOhAiv0pSAV45rRpoUwIjtt-l0SX9NFmzk/s2048/B30B6FA9-75F3-4D29-A223-149040709011.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi91fxn7YAuMUYLDhV-qwSX3onmemu2W3j9cfk7gp8pQJrXtHdHVSMdPeI9-5VIiIArFKsic8PeaUkQljNMmevkVhsDEU96fK2D80y4v624PGOhAiv0pSAV45rRpoUwIjtt-l0SX9NFmzk/s320/B30B6FA9-75F3-4D29-A223-149040709011.jpeg" width="240" /></a></b></div><b><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Besides confections and gravies, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Sweet, crunchy— <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Smooth and lumpless,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Models of perfections,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> And presents from “Santa”—<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Still into my twenties—<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Socks and soaps-on-ropes,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> And bitten tongues <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Vittles crowding out curses,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> And semi-sweet, stern orders:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Keep chopping<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Those nuts,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Keep sifting<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> That flour,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Keep stirring<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> That pot,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> No, stop.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This was always the season of Gram,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When she shone,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Herself, the spotlight<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> The spotter couldn’t<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Keep in frame.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The summer was Grampa’s—<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> And the early autumn— <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> All in preparation for Gram’s turn:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Chop and stack the wood<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> For Gram’s fireplace on Christmas,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Plant and grow the herbs<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> For Gram’s feasts in November,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Cultivate the short needle firs<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> For Gram’s wreaths, come Winter,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Save the fallen pinecones<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> For Gram’s cool-weather crafting,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Move the potted mums to ground,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Move the planted mums to pots:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> 10-10-10 and epsom’s<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Moist, but not soaked,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Ramping up at St. Patty’s— <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Clover green.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">And in-between and all-around, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> At the intersections,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Where the seasons met<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> And overflowed,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Was the season of chrysanthemums:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> A year-long obsession—<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Through the semi-dormant spring<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> When the leaves, lime-verdant,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Spread out across the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Through the bright green summer,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> With occasional buds and <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Even less occasional blooms<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Yawping yellows,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Coming<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Round reds,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Coming<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Proud purples,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Coming<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Willing whites,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Coming<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Quilled and Pompons and Tobagos<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Coming: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Anticipating the handoff.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">And in-between and all-around,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Being sent out<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> From the kitchen,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Being sent up<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> From the cellar,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Being sent over<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> From the shed,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> And the garden,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> And the hearth,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> And the tv room,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> To pick the deadheads:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> “If you want blooms on Thanksgiving,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> You have to pick those deadheads.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Now.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> “If you want flowers on Christmas,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> You have to pick those deadheads.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Now.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> “Go pick thirty deadheads.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Now.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> “Go pick a hundred.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Now.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> They needed some time:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Together, alone, and with<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Precocious me out of sight—<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Respite.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In this currency, the handoff of seasons, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> From Grampa’s to Gram’s,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> When Grampa and Gram <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Rest together,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Now resting, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> At the National cemetery,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> In the memorial wall, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> The deadheads at home proliferate:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> The mums we’ve picked up over <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> The years (over the year):<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> The mums we’ve watched over and <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Doted on, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Champion over poinsettias and roses<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Important in their own rights,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Lord over the yards, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Back, front, and sides,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> And decks and porches:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> In the bounty of hand-picked<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Deadhead mulches:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The season of mums persists,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Rounding corners,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Connecting Grams and Grampas<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> With their buds and blooms<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> With the gardens they planned,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> With peats,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> With mulches of their<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Own makings:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Connecting Grams and Grampas<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> With the grounds and plots<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> With the families they planned,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> With love,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> With perennials<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> They nourished:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Connecting Grams and Grampas<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> With grams and grampas<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> With restless roots they fed,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> With the deadheads <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> They counted,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> And instigated<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Seasonally,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Yearly,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Daily:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Confections and gardens,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Living lessons—lessons on living: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Wrapped, with sharp-mitred,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Tight corners.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Sweet, crunchy— <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Smooth and lumpless,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Models of perfections:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Counted in deadheads,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Passed, timelessly, in a heap<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Of tomorrow’s blossoming,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 1.5in; text-indent: 0.5in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Tireless, pyrotechnics.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" style="background: rgb(58, 58, 58); color: #72acbc; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: x-large; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Read more</a><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" style="background: rgb(58, 58, 58); font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: x-large; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;"> essays, short stories and poetry at Momentitiousness.com</span></a></p>Jason Leclerchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00588569576524014548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-19640249244929910812021-11-11T03:17:00.003-08:002021-12-21T15:44:30.589-08:00Rocking Chair<p> <b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large; line-height: 200%;">Rocking
Chair</span></b></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhHYQ9ti8ZN8zpImfJGBfzO-pShzc7I3rtYkwRU7FEsVaws65PNSgeHwTKmdzJavk8NKI_VEOKIbR0Vgv4mDMNXZqkwe39MIOtO1IdXf61PcjpmQx5UNwF9X22zr77qfFpVzc89mWbDP1J4xdtFzoecFHBtCBpFzfASBSBm_tRVlyLp5ka7umJcWCll6A=s472" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="472" data-original-width="362" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhHYQ9ti8ZN8zpImfJGBfzO-pShzc7I3rtYkwRU7FEsVaws65PNSgeHwTKmdzJavk8NKI_VEOKIbR0Vgv4mDMNXZqkwe39MIOtO1IdXf61PcjpmQx5UNwF9X22zr77qfFpVzc89mWbDP1J4xdtFzoecFHBtCBpFzfASBSBm_tRVlyLp5ka7umJcWCll6A=s320" width="245" /></span></a></b></div><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></span></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%;">They first met when
she was sixteen. He had just enlisted in the Navy --thirteen days after the Japanese
bombed Pearl Harbor. She was dating his younger brother and, when her deep turquoise
eyes first met his, all he could think was how sorry he was for him. He was going
to take his girl: not exactly the best Christmas gift he could offer. It was, however,
the last selfish thing he ever did in his life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He had engineered the trip to the high school, ostensibly
to gather some paperwork that he needed for the recruiter. The grey stone building,
electrified with the excitement of puberty, hormones, and fear about a newly-declared
war, buzzed. To him, as he walked these halls for the first time since he graduated
six months earlier, they glowed. He channeled this electricity and walked upon it
as though floating on some newly reckoned atomic power. With some help from the
receptionist in the office, he got her class schedule. He could have had any girl
in the school that day—including the receptionist whose knees buckled and forearms
goose-pimpled as he spoke to her in his baritone which had just recently quit cracking—toweringly
brave as he looked in his uniform. The navy blues wrapped around a spotless specimen
of man, a recruiting poster made alive, his cobalt blue eyes ripping through everything
unfortunate enough to fall into his simple, uncontemplative gape.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Standing outside her classroom when the bell rang, he made
no excuses for his presence by the door. It was not his place to make excuses; the
commitment he’d recently accepted precluded him from such trifles as appearances
or explanations. With clarity of purpose honed by the bravado of a man who had offered
his life for an ideal called America, he held his hat in his hand. He watched her
as she walked from her desk and loitered by the window for a moment gazing at the
newly white landscape in a way that he would watch her gaze for the next sixty years.
He watched her, as she steadied herself on the sturdy casement and as she pushed
herself off of it. He watched her as she wandered, dreamlike, to the teacher’s desk
to discuss—was it last night’s homework assignment or something else—a topic that
ended a with smile so big that it pushed her shoulders back and her perky bosom
forward. It was far too cold for the skirt she was wearing and far too winter for
the blouse. He was glad for both, though he imagined himself a hulking overcoat
wrapped around her: already warming her in his storied, electric arms.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She passed through the door last of all, the only one from
the class who did not acknowledge him. Deliberately coy or uninterested? He was
not sophisticated enough to discern the difference. Had he been, it would not have
mattered. He watched her pass, a full head below his own. Her ginger hair radiated
a clean he’d never smelled. He summoned the electricity from his shivering ankles
and forced it up though his veins, up his legs, through his chest, and finally out
his mouth. He whimpered her name. He was limp, deflated, now having shot every atom
from his being in her direction. He could not see her misty eyes rolling back nor
her freckled face contorting with the light-headedness of having not breathed since
she left the window, nor that she was biting her lower lip, nor that her ears were
flush.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes?” She looked back. The game was, indeed, coyness. An
inexperienced coyness, mostly unpracticed, and certainly never used on her current
boyfriend whom she liked well enough but had never occasioned to kiss. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The youngish teacher—whose own core was ablaze and sending
a scent which would undoubtedly excite her male students into frenzy during the
next period— watched on from the corner of her eye as she wrote on the blackboard
in feigned anticipation of that next group of innocents. The deliberateness with
which she wrote on that board indicated that it was just a cover. She wanted her
name to be on his lips. The chalk cracked and skid along the black slate with a
startling screech. Abandoning her task, she walked back to her seat and took another
preoccupation as she strained to listen. “Yes?” she whispered to a phantasm before
her. “Yes,” she affirmed. She was melting in her cold wooden chair.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now re-righted and re-energized by the glance she cast back
as she acknowledged him, he spoke her name again, audibly. The next words he spoke
were unrehearsed and unplanned, but had echoed in his mind with each step since
he’d left—with the same singularity of purpose that he’d mustered earlier in the
day to the recruiter’s office— his parent’s home. Unconsciously, with the same autonomic
power that made him breathe, he started the next sentence, “Will you?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes.” She interrupted. “Will I?” she echoed first him, then
herself. “Yes.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This was the first time she had even spoken to him. He would
love the moments when he heard the sound of her voice a zillion times more. This
was the first time she had interrupted him. He would forgive her this habit a zillion
times more. She breathed for the first time since walking through the door and her
color returned, a pinkish snowy white. This was the first of a zillion times that
he would shiver in the presence of her breath. Her heart—once weakened by a year-long
affliction with scarlet fever—beat out of her chest. This was the first of a zillion
times he would rejoice in that sound. She dropped her books, her lily gaze never
leaving his. This was the first of a zillion times he would forgive her weakness.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>With that, they were affianced. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They danced in each other’s eyes for a moment, he twirling
in the pastel turquoise, she dipping in his steely cobalt: in each other’s skies:
clouds together.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The moment stretched along his calloused hands, a farmer’s—now
sailor’s—hands along an arch toward her own. With an outstretched finger, he lightly
dabbled upon hers. For every bit of rough and work that his hands carried, hers
carried an equal degree of supple. The only thing he’d ever felt so soft was the
corn silk that he rolled into cigarettes, perhaps a newborn calf. Other than his
mother, he had never touched a woman. Truly, he had never touched a woman in the
way he was touching this creature. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When asked sixty years later, sitting beside her on their
front porch, in their rocking chairs—rocking—to describe the feeling of her skin—that
moment—that day, summoning all of the memories he could muster and all of the words
he had learned in a lifetime that carried him from Long Island to Missouri to California
to the Aleutians, and finally to Central Florida where he built them a home and
provided for a family, he nodded deliberately. His creased eyes searching the distance
for the perfect words, he smiled a corn-silk, tobacco, and sweet tea-yellowed smile—a
smile bowed slightly leftward—and beamed. Speaking with a resonant yet labored voice,
at once as a farmer and a father, as a sailor and a husband, as a grandfather
and a hero,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>he said, “It was very nice.”
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so it was: very nice.</span><o:p style="font-size: 12pt;"></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" style="background: rgb(58, 58, 58); color: #72acbc; font-family: Lora, serif; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Read more</a><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" style="background: rgb(58, 58, 58); font-family: Lora, serif; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;"> essays, short stories and poetry at Momentitiousness.com</span></a></span></span></p>poeteconomisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15473052074640896191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-7895394100939890082021-11-07T08:28:00.001-08:002021-12-21T15:44:18.037-08:00Eleven<p> <b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Eleven</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirFslokD5duoFxBznvpZoGIElUF3rU1dbbSGfhbScX3RRPoxUpFElFc4iuE0EnAWRAs2rm7cZ91wcVDEa_nerU7eawQrt72LV3XnBdLhQePepv35GpI_dkdBQEu8OQjiLZHzhqwVwMJqU/s1325/EEB255CB-DD76-49D4-8067-F79EADF35114.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1005" data-original-width="1325" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirFslokD5duoFxBznvpZoGIElUF3rU1dbbSGfhbScX3RRPoxUpFElFc4iuE0EnAWRAs2rm7cZ91wcVDEa_nerU7eawQrt72LV3XnBdLhQePepv35GpI_dkdBQEu8OQjiLZHzhqwVwMJqU/s320/EEB255CB-DD76-49D4-8067-F79EADF35114.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;">Hours, just short of half a day,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;">More than ten and less than twelve,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;">The back half to convenient-shopping’s Seven.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;">Donuts, just short of dozen,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;">A tenth of one hundred ten,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;">A rogue line of iambic pentameter.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;">Inches, just short of a foot,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;">Fingers, just short of two-hands,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;">Centimeter more than a decimeter.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;"><span> </span>I more than X and X more than merely I.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;"><span> </span>You, more than I’d ever imagined I’d need.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;"><span> </span>You, more than I ever deserved to receive.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;"><span> </span>You, rounding out the completest milestone yet.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;">These years together so far:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;">Four thousand and eighteen days,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: medium;">The first, the best, until the next eleven. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" style="background: rgb(58, 58, 58); color: #72acbc; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: x-large; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Read more</a><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" style="background: rgb(58, 58, 58); font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: x-large; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;"> essays, short stories and poetry at Momentitiousness.com</span></a></span></p>Jason Leclerchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00588569576524014548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-70502252391786007022021-09-11T14:50:00.002-07:002021-12-21T15:44:01.681-08:00Deconstructing Patriarchy’s Parades<p> <b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Deconstructing Patriarchy’s Parades</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFJ9J_mjMLMKHSfUjWl0k-3Yc70DymOkFac5-zzBRFuqcYWdYawDNOYFampuZ_f0-h2aGyM9z_toPr2iiM38GFSUFJkAr3zc5BHmoRPJl_bxewMoeZy0SWEk4tRg7jQky_Wun0WWwqPNM/s1186/BD4B075D-AA21-4A2C-AA72-2EE7C707A452.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1183" data-original-width="1186" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFJ9J_mjMLMKHSfUjWl0k-3Yc70DymOkFac5-zzBRFuqcYWdYawDNOYFampuZ_f0-h2aGyM9z_toPr2iiM38GFSUFJkAr3zc5BHmoRPJl_bxewMoeZy0SWEk4tRg7jQky_Wun0WWwqPNM/s320/BD4B075D-AA21-4A2C-AA72-2EE7C707A452.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /> </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Every everything,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Everything always is.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">On poetry’s phallus,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Phalluses on parade,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Everything.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Phalluses.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Not for nothing,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Nothing ever is, really,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">On history’s bosom,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Bosoms on parade,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Not nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Not bosoms.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Tits.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Cocks. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Between nuances,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Nuance sometimes is,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">On science’s parade,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Intersects.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Extrasex.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Titsy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Cocksy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Greater than parts.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Greater than sums.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Better than some:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Better than most.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Better than great: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Again in our grey.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> On display.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Tittily. Cockily.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Assembling stories,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Stories can be,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">On essayists’ parades,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">New constructs.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Constructed.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Tittiful. Cockiful.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Wonderful. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Beautiful.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Technicolor.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Blind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Stereo. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Deaf.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Synesthetic.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Immersed.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Alive.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Feeling the way through.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Perfect. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" style="background: rgb(58, 58, 58); color: #72acbc; font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: x-large; text-decoration-line: none; text-indent: 0px;" target="_blank">Read more</a><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" style="background: rgb(58, 58, 58); font-family: Lora, serif; font-size: x-large; text-decoration-line: none; text-indent: 0px;" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;"> essays, short stories and poetry at Momentitiousness.com</span></a></span></p>Jason Leclerchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00588569576524014548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-28433656260535944712021-09-06T05:39:00.001-07:002021-09-06T05:51:08.397-07:00Labors<p> </p><p class="MsoTitle"><span style="font-size: 48pt;">Labors<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbc2yWE2yhGKUjFjqGdsRoO1ZCbz25tZ5tF_P2FYDkBvV8qDDc1cNvDsVi5iZbEzw7GUUBk_8Xz1eAhRgSAdhIsOqgx71uoNliRPyn6I_kTdzaS0Krhafk1ovVs5C1UX5jr9F-gzy1Myjf/s300/labordayparade1.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="224" data-original-width="300" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbc2yWE2yhGKUjFjqGdsRoO1ZCbz25tZ5tF_P2FYDkBvV8qDDc1cNvDsVi5iZbEzw7GUUBk_8Xz1eAhRgSAdhIsOqgx71uoNliRPyn6I_kTdzaS0Krhafk1ovVs5C1UX5jr9F-gzy1Myjf/s0/labordayparade1.gif" width="300" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">A day’s work, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">By
the piece or the hour,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Or the week,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Or the lifetime,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Compensated and taxed,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Shaved off the top.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Fruit-bearing,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Cherry-dazzled top:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Time-popped.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Future-sharing and wealth-spreading:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Their labor.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">A day’s work,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gestation-ending,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Birth-giving,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Mother-making.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Dilated and pushing,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Through the bright crown.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Child-bearing:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Donning the cased crown:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Pro-nouned.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Cross-flaring and sown seed-spreading:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Her labor.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">A day’s work,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Leading-on
the parade,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">On the floats,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Throwing candy,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Progressive retirements: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>White shoes re-shelved.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Path-bearing<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Crowds’ funds now un-shelved:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>We-selved.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wide-load-sharing and pride-spreading:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Our labor.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">A day’s work,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Carrying-on these toils,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Our efforts,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Our nation’s calls:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Infrastructures buttressed,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Beacons brightened.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Right-bearing<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Cadence enlightened:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Heightened.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Rockets-glaring and hope-spreading:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Love’s labor. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" style="background: rgb(58, 58, 58); color: #72acbc; font-family: Lora, serif; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Read more</a><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" style="background: rgb(58, 58, 58); font-family: Lora, serif; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;"> essays, short stories and poetry at Momentitiousness.com</span></a></span></p>poeteconomisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15473052074640896191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-48801819951767898462021-07-23T12:05:00.001-07:002021-07-23T12:05:58.816-07:00Manchester in July or Memere’s Song In The Round<p><b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Manchester in July or </span></b><b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Memere’s Song In The Round</span></b></p><p><b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></b></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp9n_p05MY1do5GDr_HTILXw7ul9r9ODOdzlL72b-4yltIoBMAsuHReqC6ZCcxqPPszXJvLdalkynzU4wxzd-HDPFVhXapI0ubgadFqx8glTK25C-7JV0wWMd8WYW6JIfQ-K2kiOi6otw/s2048/7C9DDDCE-D712-4475-BFA8-6D83E4D5BA2B.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; font-weight: bold; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp9n_p05MY1do5GDr_HTILXw7ul9r9ODOdzlL72b-4yltIoBMAsuHReqC6ZCcxqPPszXJvLdalkynzU4wxzd-HDPFVhXapI0ubgadFqx8glTK25C-7JV0wWMd8WYW6JIfQ-K2kiOi6otw/s320/7C9DDDCE-D712-4475-BFA8-6D83E4D5BA2B.jpeg" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Rushing against a still sunset,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Along the Bridge d’Notre Dame,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c4043; font-size: 12pt;"><i>Frère Jacques</i></span><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A west wind of my own making,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">On an otherwise still afternoon.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The sun urges, head-on:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> The coursing Merrimack<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Smacks concrete pilings, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Smoothing crags,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Underfoot: Sediments<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Leak from Winnipesaukee,<u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Emptying to the Gulf of Maine.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Sightlining phantasms<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> From Amoskeag Mills:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Master plans, river-bent.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Caught by a quick duskshower,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A small-dropped mister.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Long enough to soak,</span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #3c4043; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 1in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c4043; font-size: 12pt;"><i>Dormez-vous</i></span><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Light enough to cover,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Right enough to wash:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Northwest to Southeast,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> From Montreal to America, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Refilled streams<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Along the way to safe harbors:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Manchester in July:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Queen City promises.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Consorting with present ghosts of:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> A river half-crossed,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Ambling, un-shored-ly.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3CFgkUTGlr93jznFMjbA2QTQTdSg1eGDRpWyejV_GMCLv7k1gpjDmkV4hat5RqrfkbZGCRdCkD8YWHlolFmT3TZJDxLKlB3IbqI2AW4Q4sitX2qVqIRMrxXHvsbES2UjCmh6GuWQAKvc/s2048/5E802596-AE6A-46D4-91A4-DF66D81749F7.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="font-weight: bold; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3CFgkUTGlr93jznFMjbA2QTQTdSg1eGDRpWyejV_GMCLv7k1gpjDmkV4hat5RqrfkbZGCRdCkD8YWHlolFmT3TZJDxLKlB3IbqI2AW4Q4sitX2qVqIRMrxXHvsbES2UjCmh6GuWQAKvc/s320/5E802596-AE6A-46D4-91A4-DF66D81749F7.jpeg" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Clipping the damp night head-on,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Capricorn ascendant now,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Moon moving across the horizon,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Responsibility and duty ahead,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Familiar rays-to-beams:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Bowing relations, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Routing Midsummer parades.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Celebrating pleasantries,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> With Sparklers streaking,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c4043; font-size: 12pt;"><i>Sonnez les matines</i></span><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Connecting dots,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> To generations past:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Recollecting, spirits,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Dionne to Youville to Rimmon,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Bare granite exposed. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGtHkP3HnLrinUTMpYOB1gF-jnNk1RgsGia-68aHFRjX91DEGFhJC2yY5Gd7ERufJHKUfHtvT6EEoXe0aAenPvQbPgBVIzYWIisPT1mBDcRt1GzvS1UXYVqoiA5ArHgxFlEz5QTJtvMeM/s2048/7B215AF3-E9CE-44DB-8704-50A73E22DA14.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: bold; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGtHkP3HnLrinUTMpYOB1gF-jnNk1RgsGia-68aHFRjX91DEGFhJC2yY5Gd7ERufJHKUfHtvT6EEoXe0aAenPvQbPgBVIzYWIisPT1mBDcRt1GzvS1UXYVqoiA5ArHgxFlEz5QTJtvMeM/s320/7B215AF3-E9CE-44DB-8704-50A73E22DA14.jpeg" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Pressing on to dawn again,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <i>You are my sunshine</i>,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Resting somewhere near Elm,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Disoriented in deja voodooism,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <i>My only sunshine.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Unguided, unmapped, signalless,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hip-deep in the deluge,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> That crack in that sidewalk,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> That porch on that house,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <i>You make me happy when skies are grey<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> That hill, that slope, that curve,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <i>You’ll never know, dear,<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Rounded bends refilled,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Waters pooling,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Puddles emptying,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> , <i>How much I love you.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Baptized by the Queen,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Fresh starting again. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <i>Please don’t take <o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">My sunshine away</span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <i>Ding dang dong.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Ding dang dong.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>Jason Leclerchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00588569576524014548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-58195648460492203982021-06-26T13:22:00.005-07:002021-06-26T13:27:19.459-07:00Who's Your Jesus?<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> <b>Who’s your Jesus?</b></span></p><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7r0cFLAOoIwuI4ZK0z_BMaTc9oMK5YSVRRUSFC3dANN0G-OxZIaOEh_AkxrSELTs3aDmiOxqItUW_i0W1Z6wpRcRBtTGXW9YhOjthYYsjfVHGDppQTPbitYdbVeOjA1KFJ0DS8eubpAq_/s987/Whos+Your+Jesus+062512.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="987" data-original-width="908" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7r0cFLAOoIwuI4ZK0z_BMaTc9oMK5YSVRRUSFC3dANN0G-OxZIaOEh_AkxrSELTs3aDmiOxqItUW_i0W1Z6wpRcRBtTGXW9YhOjthYYsjfVHGDppQTPbitYdbVeOjA1KFJ0DS8eubpAq_/w588-h640/Whos+Your+Jesus+062512.PNG" width="588" /></span></a></div><br /><b><a href="https://watermarkonline.com/?s=Jason+Leclerc" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Read this essay as published in Watermark</span></a></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Is your Jesus the son of God, a Savior who came to Earth,
suffered on the cross, and wiped away your sin so that you might have eternal
life in heaven?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Is your Jesus the miracle worker who healed lepers, rose the
dead, and turned water into wine?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Is your Jesus a historical figure who espoused the dignity
of all human life?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Is your Jesus the consort of men, fisherman of souls,
builder of a social movement? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Is your Jesus an archetype of goodness? Love embodied?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Is your Jesus a socialist? A Democrat?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">A capitalist? A Republican?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">A contradiction? A myth?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">My Jesus is all of these. When you start out believing that He’s
divine, everything else seems reasonable. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">I understand that, for some of us, Jesus falls nearer the
bottom of these options than the top. The magic (deity) of Jesus is strong
enough to be as much or as little as we need Him to be. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Regardless of where he falls on this spectrum for you, there
are lessons that he taught us that are at <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>least as useful as their literary value. I aim
to connect here on that level: at the intersection of learning and humanism. For
me, that Jesus is the man that walked into a metropolitan, commercial city center—ostensibly
a temple—to witness religious leaders and government officials exploiting
pilgrims who were doing their best to follow the law in the face of wider persecution.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">And then he got angry. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>John 2: 14</i></b><i> In the
temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the
money-changers sitting there. <b>15</b> And making a whip of cords, he drove
them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the
coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><i><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Then, three days before he was crucified, he did it again!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">In case the first time, described in John (2) wasn’t enough,
the Gospel of Matthew (21) tells of a second such incident. It was so important
that Jesus turned the tables twice. From these two events, four powerful
messages are conveyed:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Don’t abuse your power, especially not in the
name of God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Don’t exploit the powerless pilgrim who seeks
only to do what’s best for their family.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Don’t get rich on the back of the weak, the
faithful, or the dispossessed—especially if they are part of your tribe.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->It’s ok to be angry in the face of injustice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">So, in this month of Pride and Pulse remembrance, when there
are those who would question our motives as we march—solemnly and thoughtfully
and visibly and, yes of course, gaily— into city centers, let’s respond with
our own Jesus’ explanations:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">For too long, you Pharisees have erected secular and
religious institutions that have enforced systemic barriers to inclusion in the
full benefits of America’s promises to certain communities. You have done so,
when not in the name of our Jesus, in the name of enlightenment
revolutionaries. You have denied us of liberty based on our skin color, our
gender, and our sexuality long enough. We are , by Jesus’s example, rightfully
angry. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">For too long, you Pharisees have erected walls and customs
and attitudes that prevented our presence amongst you. Our children, huddled
masses, yearning to breathe free, have been exploited and used as bogeymen to
polarize against and fundraise off of. Like the Pharisees in the market, you
told us that if we sacrificed our doves and oxen—our sustaining assets—then we
would eventually receive your support before the Law. And then you kept raising
the prices of those same prayers, finding new pilgrims to disenfranchise. We
are, by Jesus’s example, rightfully angry. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">For too long, you Pharisees have created costs of basic
living—like healthcare—and required technologies—like transportation and
communications—without which our most vulnerable neighbors are trapped within
inescapable socioeconomic borders and without which they cannot fully exercise
their full rights as citizens. When the price of access to citizenship is
prohibited by the costs of survival and when those are measured in profits that
exceed fair trade, it is a sign of injustice. We are, by Jesus’s example,
rightfully angry. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">See, the first Pride was an uprising of angry citizens
against the institutions that were preventing full access to the rights that
should have been conveyed as nothing more or less than citizenship. The first Pride
was a protest against abuse of power, against exploitation, and against
injustice ingrained in the most basic institutions of the economic structure.
The first Pride was, by Jesus’s example, a turning of the tables: a setting
free: a spectacle. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">So when Pride is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>challenged, when asked why we should be remembering our anger, why we
should continue to stand against abuse of power, against exploitation, and
against injustice when we, “have come so far,” it’s for the same reason Jesus
came back to the temple a second time: we need to continue advocating for new
pilgrims and new generations: we are bound by our righteous anger to turn
tables and to share sacrifice. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Most importantly, we are United in Pride by love which, by
Jesus’s example, is the strongest power in the universe. Whether it follows that
your Jesus is a Democrat or a Capitalist or some other type of mythic
construction, we should all take this lesson of His anger to heart and remember
that love and anger aren’t contradictory. Love and anger, by Jesus’s example,
are complements that swirl together in ongoing Pride, protest, and progress. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">May we renew our love and righteous anger, in the Spirit of
Pride, each day, together. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">May your Jesus bless you, may he continue to bless us all. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Read more essays, short stories and poetry at Momentitiousness.com</span></a></o:p></p>poeteconomisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15473052074640896191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-30193645808921040142021-06-16T17:27:00.001-07:002021-06-17T03:20:46.904-07:00Je Vais T’apprendre<p> <b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Je Vais T’apprendre</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p><br /></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlXy2VZ1rddhyphenhyphenl817sJvxzMtiNs0V4l2fzmCgBS3pe81_mPc6St3SdeEIZSq2zMe5lC2ry_zpF14iH9VM55vwPGs677hOQJv9mI5Yu36qqFSNol4CxqL4HnIpO9AzLI-2Hhq6JZ3BxLO0/s2000/49DB782B-A795-4A7A-9B71-F2C60617A589.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="2000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlXy2VZ1rddhyphenhyphenl817sJvxzMtiNs0V4l2fzmCgBS3pe81_mPc6St3SdeEIZSq2zMe5lC2ry_zpF14iH9VM55vwPGs677hOQJv9mI5Yu36qqFSNol4CxqL4HnIpO9AzLI-2Hhq6JZ3BxLO0/s320/49DB782B-A795-4A7A-9B71-F2C60617A589.jpeg" /></a></div><br /><o:p><br /></o:p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Of all the sweetest things Pal’s done,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> Of all the sacrifices and <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> imperfection-overlooking,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">When he said, “yes,” to my request,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> He closed, ringed round, the perfect loop:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> “Yes, I’ll let you teach me cribbage.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Of all the things that Pepere did,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> Of all the sacrifices and <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> Grandfatherly, New England-love,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">When he said, “yes,” to my request,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> He started, cutting cards deeply:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> “oui, je vais t'apprendre le cribbage.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">For all the fifteens-twos,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">For all the double runs, <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">For all the right jacks,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">For all those rare flushes,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">For all the last card gimmes,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">For all the you count firsts,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">For all the lucky cuts,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> For all the bad ones,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">For all the nineteens that never happened:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Of all the self-served things I’ve done,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> Cribbage has been the most self-served,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> Making it a gate to my heart,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">When a new acquaintance says, “yes,”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> An instant litmus test turns blue,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> “Yes, let’s cut to see who goes first.” <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">With ma tantes and mon oncles,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">With close cousins,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">With those college buddies<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">Who found a way to make it into a <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"> Drinking game.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">With my father’s sweet widow.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">On airplanes, <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">With avatars and iPhone apps.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Of all the Pop-y things Pop did,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> Of all the close-yet-distant moves,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> Of all the disappointing kitties,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">When he said, “yes,” to my request,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> He taught me that life is a game:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> “Yes, let’s play one more game of cribbage.” <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;">Read more essays, poetry, and short stories at Momentitiousness.com</p>Jason Leclerchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00588569576524014548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-45782049971342266522021-04-11T07:12:00.002-07:002021-04-11T08:41:05.024-07:00FTK<p> <b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Find the Kitty </span></b></p><p><b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSQN30q7UTSN_iby0kGLclCdJGJlt_Kg4i9QnDNl155iCnb5uZ-tFW61ptejoMFDn2uBzNne85O6djsRFzFpeiIuLH35ofx_gp_IRDD28hheEZdEizTWhAWpLi2PljJ4DDvQ09BwlEtyI/s1600/F6ED9C0E-DA9B-4DDC-846A-29E84B07BACB.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="739" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSQN30q7UTSN_iby0kGLclCdJGJlt_Kg4i9QnDNl155iCnb5uZ-tFW61ptejoMFDn2uBzNne85O6djsRFzFpeiIuLH35ofx_gp_IRDD28hheEZdEizTWhAWpLi2PljJ4DDvQ09BwlEtyI/s320/F6ED9C0E-DA9B-4DDC-846A-29E84B07BACB.jpeg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">There she is, I see her luminous eyes<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Piercing the darkness,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> With a coy playfulness, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Those lovely, haunting<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Orbs, laser-focused just<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Above my head:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> <i>I know you’re watching me,<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> I love the attention,<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Don’t look away.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">There she is, I see her elegant pose,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Regal and stately,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Black on black camo,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> On rugs, in shadows, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Graceful silhouettes, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Each chair a throne:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> <i>This bell is my scepter.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> This box is my castle.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Your heart, my realm.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">There she is, our long serving matriarch, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Twenty years old, at least,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Ninety six, at least,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Our splendid grand dame, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> The ruler of our home,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Deigning her grace:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> <i>You may pet me here now,<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Right there, between my ears;<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Under my chin. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">There she is, I see her:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> In that corner,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Under that table,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> On that rug,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Curled, comma-like<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Striking a hard pause:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> An earnest contemplation,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> On the fourth step,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> On the roof,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Among the impatiens,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Our recalcitrant annual,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Black ears and moist black nose<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Blooming again each season,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> By that door,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> On the bed,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> In the window,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Looking for Gus, longing for Gus,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Watching Booker chase lizards<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Bridging the Gus to Booker gap.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Seeing me see her,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Being seen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Where is she, our, “sweet, beautiful baby?” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Where’s our kitty to be found?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Bridging her own gap,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Teaching us patience,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Demanding grace, not tears,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Each purr a gift:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> <i>I will always be here,<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Your kitty for finding,<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Your kitty found:<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">There she is.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Here she is.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I’ve found her:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> <i>Here more than ever<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Everywhere,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Here with you.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Luminous,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> <i>Look here.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Elegant,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> <i>Listen</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Matriarch.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> <i>Now</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Seen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Found.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Here.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"> <o:p></o:p></p>Jason Leclerchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00588569576524014548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88342366397504660.post-49678893296722184982021-03-28T05:24:00.001-07:002021-03-28T05:27:11.771-07:00 Fingering Spinoza’s Conatus<p> <b><span style="font-size: medium;">Fingering Spinoza’s
Conatus</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg18-8x4Z1I-IJAfL8_5y5idfk5FNy9NyFywv_Tos8Xuq-vEL_4mjv39DNZLwn9_IU5QB8Ggkhb4XD1R2mPj1moopJfZu6jG2aYLG1E1fXuK9mt1VzLj7qkSk1KWYl4x1YlB4Ks7YXGio36/s1077/Spinozas+finger.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="713" data-original-width="1077" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg18-8x4Z1I-IJAfL8_5y5idfk5FNy9NyFywv_Tos8Xuq-vEL_4mjv39DNZLwn9_IU5QB8Ggkhb4XD1R2mPj1moopJfZu6jG2aYLG1E1fXuK9mt1VzLj7qkSk1KWYl4x1YlB4Ks7YXGio36/s320/Spinozas+finger.PNG" width="320" /></a></b></div><b><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p><b><a href="https://www.authenticitymags.com/fingering-spinozas-conatus?fbclid=IwAR3x674o83zyKwDPHSCfgAHDk8ICm2KQjE_Ka3p_O0OvNjjYZLR7xDI6ih4" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Read this piece as originally published at Authenticity Magazine</span></a><br /></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">In researching the topic of
purity, on message wikis and memos on metaphysics—from Athens to Hippo to
Spinoza—I found hundreds of answers, ranging from the, “Word of God,”to a, “mother’s
smile,”from, “diamonds,” to ,”the depths of a black hole” to, ”<i>conatus</i>, the
<span style="background: white; color: #202122;">innate
inclination of a thing to continue to exist and enhance itself.”</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">My favorite was, “an infant’s
hand wrapped around a father’s finger,” probably because of it’s metaphorical
depth. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #202122; padding: 0in;">But all things excellent are as
difficult as they are rare.</span></i><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">In metaphor, of course, there
is nuance: subjectivity: a lack of purity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Then, there’s oxygen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Then there’s gravity. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Then there’s new-fallen, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Pure-driven
snow. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Then there’s pure evil—<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">But what is the pure state of
oxygen? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What
about ozone?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And those holes and layers <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And tri-valence?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">But what of Newton’s gravity?
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What
about the moon’s?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And other moons’ moons<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And asteroids?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">But what about the core of a
snowflake? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What
about accumulations?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And mud-slushy drifts?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And semi-ice?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">But what about Judas’s ring? <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What
about Hitler’s?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And limbo and lust?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">At the individual level, such
definitions are clear cut. We have our conceptions and our ideals. We have our
own senses: our own aesthetics. We can build walls and moats around our own
absolutes. We can demand conformity, but if unanimity is achieved, it’s nothing
more than a statistical anomaly. Expand the solution set, broaden horizons and deepen
universes and shout louder from higher mountains, and we find dissension. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">The more we understand
particular things, the more do we understand God<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">My research turned up an unexpected
complication: despite The Oxford’s definition, there was a broad swath of
definitional difference that we can’t discount in these times, when perception
seeps into reality—when facts are squishy: when adverbs modify adjectives—intensifiers—that
modify nouns: when we slice into truth behind the semipermeable, translucent veil
of nuance. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">We are three levels away from
the thing, itself. We hide behind—proclaim our innocence among— the branches of
the diagram. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">No wonder, then, it’s so easy
to demand purity of others even as we are wed to our own conceptions—from
definition to application—of purity. How we navigate the distance from “here
comes the bride” on a chaperone’s arm to the bully pulpit indicates our own—individual—failure
in purity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">And, so, purity has become
something that lives outside of ourselves—beyond those walls and moats and in
the haughty expectations we have of the dark forest: of an otherness that
haunts us. Purity is something others should exhibit even as we hide behind our
own curated imperfections. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Pride is therefore
pleasure arising from a man's thinking too highly of himself.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">“We all fall short, but when <i>you</i>
do, it’s egregious and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>unforgivable.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Anything can, accidentally,
be the cause of pleasure, pain, or desire.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Where is the room for compromise?
Where is the room for the imperfect space in which reside the good heathens? Is
that really hell, despite Dante’s poetic assertions? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Because everything is a
compromise, nothing is. Because every position is pure—individually—every other
position just can’t be.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">And in this dark forest of
subjectivity, we are hamstrung. We can justify anything: we can hold others
accountable for failures by our own standards. We can send drones, operated by reformed
hackers, to eek out the justice that we fall short of demanding. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">We can demand the sanctity of
life—<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
type of life we value. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">We can demand equality of
opportunity—<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When
it’s not inconvenient. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">We can demand our freedoms—<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sans responsibility. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">We can demand grammatology—<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>While denying it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">We can demand the Marines—<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And celebrate Seal Sixes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Draped in our flags and in
the zeal of metaphor, we recall eleventh grade in all its self-molested insecurities:
when Walt Whitman proclaimed our bodies electric. We mistook our metamorphoses
through adolescence for impurity; we mistook poetry for prose: the Whitman of
1863 for the Whitman of his deathbed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Our flags are multivariate.
Our metaphors are as deep as our support for the ASPCA. We want every stray to
be spayed, every still-born kitten to be an anomaly wrought in the hope that
such sadness could be prevented. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">What’s the difference, again?,
between “anesthetized” and “anesthesia?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What’s
the difference, again, between the confederacy and the union?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Degree? Flags? Metaphors?
Adverbs?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Actually, it’s the
challenges: the questions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Do you support life? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Do you support equality?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Do you support freedom?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Do you support grammatology?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Huh?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Do you support the Marines?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">I didn’t support the
impeachment. I don’t agree with the question. It’s impure. I don’t agree with
the grammar of it. I don’t agree with the definition of it. So, here we are, together
and split down the sides. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The rules of grammar are not
up for discussion, right?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">And, why send in the marines
when a drone will do, right? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">And, the rules of grammar,
and the rules of engagement, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">And the rules of metaphor-<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The application of totem:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Tautologies un-applied.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">And the rules of purity,
bound in the rules of mistakenness, mistaken by the intransigence of true
justice, fall apart in the bounded misapprehension of their own definitional
failings. We are no more pure in our abortions as we are in our alms-paying. We
are no more pure in our sacrifice to history as we are in our psalms-playing.
We are no more content in our fairness-at-base than we are in alms-taxpaying. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">It follows that everyone
endeavors, as far as possible, to cause others to love what he himself loves,
and to hate what he himself hates...<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">So, ultimately, we seek out
fathers’ fingers to wrap tiny hands around, not because it’s anything pure, but
because it’s familiar: because it’s secure: because it makes us feel
incrementally better. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We each have our
own idea of what purity is and what best represents it. We can grasp those
things and hold on tight, but the harder we hold onto those things the harder
it is for us to release them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our
muscles cramp with memory. Fatigue gives way to habit long after our own hands
overtake once-larger ones. Eventually, those hands—all of them—crumble to ashes
and dust. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Oxygen combusts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Gravity free-fails.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Snowdrifts melt. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Nature abhors a vacuum.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">When we resort to absolutes,
when we demand others’ purities, when we hold onto intransigent perfection, we
do no more than float, ablaze, in piles of sludge. Worse yet, we incarcerate
others in the same prison of false objectivity: non-recombinant cells aswirl in
a feckless cosmos. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">I believe that fewer abortions
are better than more.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I believe that a woman has sovereignty over her body.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">I believe that fewer guns are
better than more.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I believe in a well regulated Militia and the right to
bear arms.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">I believe that fewer
restrictions on speech are better than more.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I believe that words as blunt-force weapons can be
deadly.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">I believe that we are all
made equal and loved by a just God<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I believe we all have different talents assigned by a
just God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">I believe that we are given
false choices that demand purity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I believe we misapprehend the totems of purity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">I believe<i> thought is an
attribute of God, or God is a thinking thing.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I
believe<i> extension is an attribute of God, or God is an extended thing.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">I did not support the
impeachment:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I fully supported the impeachment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>17 and 45–not 42, really,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>If I’m being honest. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">So, here we are, alienated
even from the father whose finger our hands now envelop. And here we are,
crying out for others’ purities, celebrating—parties of one—hollow victories,
in the chambers that echo with our own demands: our own pure demand—monologues,
essaying begetting verse, unto the ether.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">So, here we are, ultimately challenged
with the next step which simply must be away from the event horizon and back
toward impurity. If we don’t need fathers, we need other others to endure our
musings: to listen when we speak our personal perfection into social, pure
imperfection. Not because we shouldn’t seek pure perfection, but because we
know it can’t be achieved, we must peel back our egos—research-reified as they
may be— and slide along asymptotes, crawl into the space between metaphor and
meaning:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Between poetry and prosody: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">From mothers’ smiles to
diamonds<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">To Gods’ words, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">To a
place where metaphors soak us in<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">And deny purity’s authoritarian
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Grip upon us. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://momentitiousness.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Read more essays, poetry, and short stories at Momentitiousness.com</span></a><br /></p>poeteconomisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15473052074640896191noreply@blogger.com0