links for 2006-07-12

links for 2006-07-11

links for 2006-07-10

on poetry & css

I need to tweak my stylesheet to account for the poetry I’m writing here now. I set this up for prose, with no spacing between paragraphs, and indented lines to start them. Doesn’t work so well for poetry.

I think I know what I’m going to do, though…add the class “poem” to any post in the poems category, and then redo the spacing/indenting for that class. should be pretty easy. 🙂

sunday scribblings: hotel stories

this week’s prompt. it spawned a poem, which I wrote in my paper notebook and edited a bit before copying it here.

the sxsw poem

I dropped my suitcase
my black wheeled bargain from Goodwill
as it strained at the seams
because I didn’t know
what to bring
or not bring
turned the dial on the air conditioning
with a gasp
of relief
pulled open the blinds onto Texas
or at least a smallish square
a parking lot
an american flat
a texas flag
a bit of freeway
two hills, holding the freeway
between their sides
overgrown
with the most vivid green
on the darkest near-black bark
I’d ever seen or could imagine

that hotel room: my home
base for a week
the tiny kitchenette
mostly-emtpy fridge
stock dishes, two burners
a microwave replaced the first night
the table where I plugged in
my laptop
tossing words a little bit
like these
out onto the carrier wave
a television
with no remote

oatmeal and a banana
a cup of tea
saranaded by an unfamiliar
radio station
not wanting television
or a big breakfast
only simple nourishment
to fortify days of complex
thoughts, emotions, wants

a week and a bicycle
the ride over the river
on a narrow concrete track
carved out from the freeway
morning solitude
just as I crave it
watching the river/not watching the river
dawn over rippling water
and the fear of falling

much later collapsing into bed
teeth brushed
face scrubbed
medicine taken, reducing my dose
while I’m here/gone
seems unlikely in retrospect
but that was what I’d promised
and determined to do

sleep in a strange bed
just as deep
the roar of the freeway
the same sound
as the tides of traffic
I hear faintly from my front yard

stuff that didn’t work out

Things I was excited about in my neighborhood that are no longer so….

A friend around the corner with a lovely garden.  Only he got weird and isolated, and now he & his gf don’t live there.  The garden is going to hell because the guy they’re renting to doesn’t take care of it.  One side in particular is now entirely overgrown with dandelions, morning glory & blackberries.  I noticed it again today on a little walk.  Makes me kinda sad.
A video store two blocks away.  Only it closed.

And then there’s Ralph’s. 🙁

links for 2006-07-08

tidbits from today’s picketing

I had a great conversation with a former ENA president who has been picketing for an hour every day, all week long.  She said that she’s had lots of people come up and thank her.

We had one counter-protester. A middle-aged man, very jovial.

About 20 people showed, and this time we split pretty evenly between 4th ave. & State st.

I swear there were fewer cars in the parking lot than would be usual at that time of day on a Friday.

I realized I’d been locking my knees when I saw my physical therapist drive by…and honk.  (How cool is that?)

One of the most fun things, honestly? Smiling and waving at people who frowned at us, gave us thumbs-down, or yelled.  (Usually I couldn’t tell what they were yelling, anyway.)

Janet told me, at the end, not to burn myself out.  And I don’t feel burnt out…although I did come home and take a long tepid shower, and then devoured a handful of tacos. Instead, I feel happy and empowered.
In addition, I finished laying down gravel at the back of the house.  Happy happy.

photo friday: summer

beach party Rachel, originally uploaded by epersonae.

Last Sunday was such a lovely summery day, and in this photo Rachel looks like the epitome of fun in the summer sun…albeit with a serious purpose in mind.