Dock spiders the size of your medulla; bumble bee circling as I type; wild turkeys walking, heads thrust forward, looking like velocoraptors–which they are; no boats on the big lake, too early even for the fishermen–Monday, iffy weather report, Thunderstorms likely. Storms are thrilling on this island. The whole lake is surrounded by mountains. There are no rattlesnakes left out here, the locals ate them long ago.
S.K.
Dreamt I was in a coracle out on the Irish sea;
Dreamt I was singing sympatico with my circular boat;
Or did the boat dream me?
S.K.
No one wants to hear your shit—but remember that day in Helsinki when the kid (still a teenager) thought you were personally responsible for Viet Nam? (You told him you were.)
Or remember thinking there’d be a day for standing up straight with your head clear, liberated at last?
Look! I am pushing a large, black wool ball down a dark corridor!
This is a dance for the poets in my country. (The poets with their green suspenders, cartoon flash lights and customized angels…)
Your head clear, liberated at last…
Poetry is not being renewed. I hate to sound like Kenneth Rexroth but have you noticed they’re killing all the young people?
My lines limp rather much the way the blues always do.
Remember thinking you’d live to achieve a double minded smile?
SK
My daughter says she doesn’t want kids.
She’s 30. She has cats. Let me tell you,
hell is real. It’s like pulling a camel
through your nose, cutting through,
cutting through. If I had to work
the whole weekend, I’d slit my throat.
Isn’t it awesome how much love
the universe contains? I’m going
to tell you a story about the toughness
of the serpent. I’m going to dangle you
from the rearview mirror. I promise,
we’re like brother and sister,
There are things that just are, you know?
Things that just mean what they mean.
Why do you care what I have to say?
Do you believe in hell, too?
In a disastrous ruling a California federal court has found in favor of airlines who refuse to make their ticketing kiosks accessible to blind travelers. See fuller details here.
This is what comes of stuffing the regional federal courts with right wing judges–a "stuffing" that has been going on for thirty years. In this case, Judge Spero simply ruled that the Department of Transportation's rules don't sufficiently cover electronic kiosks. Left out of the ruling is the issue of equal access.
I can tell you that waiting in a line for a ticket agent when there are almost no ticket agents is pretty damned awful. Perhaps Judge Spero would do well to fly with me. But of course he probably wouldn't want to sit next to a dog.
S.K.
From the Times:
The brothers, Philip and Joel, earned close to $1 million a year each as the two top executives running a Medicaid-financed nonprofit organization serving the developmentally disabled.
New York spends $10 billion a year caring for the disabled, more than half of which goes to private providers, with little oversight on their spending.
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Hmmm…”Nixon knew when you testified before a grand jury you exposed yourself to perjury, so I’m betting he told the truth,” Mr Kutler said.
I saw this story on the BBC News iPhone App and thought you should see it.
** Judge approves Watergate release **
A US federal judge orders the release of former US President Richard Nixon’s secret grand jury testimony in the Watergate scandal.
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14349727 >
** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want – when you want them, all in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/email >
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Frank Borzellieri, 48, was quietly promoted to principal of Our Lady of Mount Carmel School two years ago – despite a history of controversial writings and campaigns, including a push to ban a biography on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Check out this article:
White supremacist principal worries parents
Terrific essay by Doug Bandow nails Joe Lieberman and John McCain on their respective bogging:
DOUG BANDOW: John McCain: Always Confused, Ever for War
Sen. John McCain has exhibited personal courage, but his geopolitical judgment is uniformly awful. Over the last 30 years there has been no war or potential war that he has opposed.
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1. Don’t fight the water; move with it.
2. Use your arms less. Use your core more.
3. Hit waves head-on, straight through their crest. Otherwise, your boat might tip.
4. Change your vocabulary: “I made a wet exit from my boat” feels very different from “My boat tipped.”
5. Paddle at a quicker cadence, but with less force.
6. Look up: sandstone cliffs. Black rocks the oldest on Earth. Seagulls.
7. But don’t look up when a seagull is directly overhead.
8. Look down: stripes of colored rock beneath the water. Weeds. Broken pilings from old docks.
9. Being upside down underwater isn’t all that bad.
10. Rescuing another kayaker from the water isn’t all that hard. Talk him through it. Look him in the eyes. Don’t panic.
11. Every moment, something can be learned. Every moment, something can be taught.
12. Watch the weather. Watch the water. Shifting winds, changing current. Thundering. Rip tide. Be ready to react.
13. Don’t say a water monster’s name while you’re still on the water. That invites the monster to try to tip your boat/help you practice a water exit.
14. Kayak instructors aren’t afraid to get wet and sandy, to rinse their wetsuits in the lake. To tip their boats while demonstrating how not to tip your boat.
15. Wear a lifejacket. Make sure it’s snug around your waist, chest.
16. Wetsuits do not flatter anyone’s figure. They’re impossible to put on, and even more impossible to take off when wet. But when you practice a wet exit in Lake Superior, you’ll be glad you’re wearing one.
Poet and essayist Andrea Scarpino is a regular contributor to POTB. You can visit her at: http://www.andreascarpino.com
Planet of the Blind 