ADD haiku
flashing images
thoughts bubble and burn away
train of thought, forgot.
An old poem from a few years ago.
Quiet as a pebble watching from below
nestled in the ruffage
changing composition slow.
The seasons fly on by
Birds and leaves wheel over head
butterflies alight.
The sun is changing all its colors
fading into night
ever slower ever faster
a rapid promenade.
The hand that turns us over
is the hand from which we’re made.
I cannot believe the speed with which
some of us skim through life
As if this gift of consciousness
is a source of solely strife.
the grace with which the world is turning
moves me close to tears.
How all the clockwork parts have grown
entwined throughout the years.
Pause your blur and ponder on
this thing that we’re a part of.
Wander through it, seek out traces
of the purpose that it’s the heart of.
I just realized I narrowly escaped being raped and murdered when I was child…by being weird.
I was an only child. I remember playing in the front yard, examining the grass, looking up at the sky, sitting and thinking.
One day, when I was about six or seven, a big brown van rolls up in front of the yard and a man in the driver’s seat yells at me through the open window: “Hey! I lost my dog, have you seen a puppy around here?”
Compulsively I say, “Nope! What’s your dogs name? I lost my kitty (LIE). Have you seen him?”
Creepy Van Guy: “Uh…no. It’s uh…[some dog name]. Will you help me find my puppy?”
Little me: “No, I have to look for my kitty….his name is [madeupname]….He is gray and white and i love him. *Starts yelling made up name at the top of my lungs*
Creepy van guy: Ok, uh yeah. Well why don’t you get in the van so we can go find our pets together?
Little Me: Nope, pretty sure he’s around here somewhere…*continues yelling made up name at the top of my lungs, pacing back and forth the perimeter of the yard, with arms flailing around*
Creepy van guy: ………… *drives off*
Little me: *continues yelling made up name at the top of my lungs, pacing back and forth the perimeter of the yard, with arms flailing around*
Little me: *repeat for the next hour*
I used to compulsively lie like a lot of little kids. I never realized until I recently heard about another account of “can you help me find my puppy?” that my simple act of weirdness might have afforded me the rest of my life. It was probably the screaming and flailing, but I’m still amazed that I thought to do that, without even realizing that I was probably saving my own life.
It don’t think it occurred to me at the time that this man could have been dangerous. I just wanted him to go away, because I knew the stranger danger rule, and I wanted to be left alone in my yard to play. I think I also kind of wanted to one up him, and be impressive. So I made up a story and a game for myself and went with it. I never realized exactly how close to death I might have gotten until now. I had to sit for a moment and be thankful for the serendipity of weirdness. My parents don’t know about this. I’m 26 now.
November: a poem.
Leaves hang like open pages of a book.
Torn, scalloped, yellow. They narrate the history of a summer: the details of the weather and the signatures of a myriad tiny mouthparts taking their daily bread. Give us this day, O tree.
Sunrises and sunsets, the seasonal stain of molecular cycles, the winds and rains all written on the leaves of an epic.
The wind whispers laments and moves the prairie bells to utter a rustling toll, a ritual dirge for their hero, Summer.
They wait for death like saints in flaxen robes, silent and shivering, peaceful, hopeful. They wait to be spirited loose by the hushed mourner and delivered, dancing slowly, down to their ancestor earth.
A blanket they will make for her in thanks, a quilt sown from the warmth of spring.
Is it Right for Members of Congress to use their access to Insider Information to Profit from the Trade of Stocks?
Click to read full article.
Excerpt:
Schweizer: We know that during the healthcare debate people were trading healthcare stocks. We know that during the financial crisis of 2008 they were getting out of the market before the rest of America really knew what was going on.
In mid September 2008 with the Dow Jones Industrial average still above ten thousand, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke were holding closed door briefings with congressional leaders, and privately warning them that a global financial meltdown could occur within a few days. One of those attending was Alabama Representative Spencer Bachus, then the ranking Republican member on the House Financial Services Committee and now its chairman.
Schweizer: These meetings were so sensitive— that they would actually confiscate cell phones and Blackberries going into those meetings. What we know is that those meetings were held one day and literally the next day Congressman Bachus would engage in buying stock options based on apocalyptic briefings he had the day before from the Fed chairman and treasury secretary. I mean, talk about a stock tip.
While Congressman Bachus was publicly trying to keep the economy from cratering, he was privately betting that it would, buying option funds that would go up in value if the market went down. He would make a variety of trades and profited at a time when most Americans were losing their shirts.
Whimsical prints on Etsy. Click the pic to see her gallery.
