40-Word Years

anecdote #224 - hygienist

2012-01-26T09:48:00.002-05:00

when I was a teen and scared of pain
she looked at my chapped lips
with a compassion I wished Jesus had.
she asked to balm my lips and
rubbed in soothing with a tenderness
of touch I'd never felt.

anecdote #223 - overheard

2012-01-25T14:31:00.004-05:00

was the tone petulant? patronizing? blaming? bitter?
the 4 in: if you'd spend as much time wooing me as you do
fantasizing about him, we'd be in a different place
than we are now. TMI for cell. yet pivotal, yes.

tribute #313 - E

2012-01-24T10:42:00.000-05:00

At an age where I'd never seen unshelled peanuts
I sat on her rug, watching my 1st Dr. Who
ignoring the stilted adult vibe in the room
that I wasn't supposed to notice.
30 years, a cache of letters from E.

tribute #312 - Christa (1986)

2012-01-17T11:29:00.006-05:00

                                                the
                                             school
                                    came to
                                  a standstill
                  herded to
                   the looping
             tape, the
           implausible
flight, inconceivably        ended,
the twisted puff        of
Space Shuttle
Challenger. all I could
understand:
   they let
   women
  into space.

not just
history's
passengers,
women
can too.

tribute #311 - Gene (1991)

2012-01-15T11:20:00.004-05:00

A newspaper box broke the news.
a nauseating punch in the gut, weeping blind
in the street, barren baseline road, strip malls
and traffic drone in the coldest of late Octobers.
The first immortal public figure whose death I felt.

collective # 68 - winter concert crowd

2012-01-02T21:27:00.004-05:00

quintessential Canada sparks
in a snowy park as bands play
to crowds huddled, swaying closer
than polite distance for warmth,
who don't shuffle, respectfully
quiet during songs, stomping heat
into feet during covers of applause,
thick mittens making thumps, thanks.

anecdote #222 - stranger advisor

2012-01-01T19:10:00.003-05:00

thin-slicing can get it wrong
but

her character assassination
embodied the antithesis of who
I wanted to be

so I read her have-nothing
-to-do-with-him advice
in reverse.

good examples and warnings
are as valuable if distinguished
properly.

upshot: a gem found.

anecdote #221 - student

2011-12-28T20:21:00.003-05:00

who requested the class read newspapers
complained we only did soft –
local sections, human interest,
never anything "real".
(good observation.)
after that I tried
to mix it up
for myself –
business section. sports –
it's good exercise to read
what's incomprehensible.

anecdote #220 - John

2011-12-20T13:53:00.000-05:00

could do no right to some. visiting granny,
noticed her nail beds were purplish-blue,
recognized CO₂ signs. (was
pooh-poohed) went to town, got detectors,
(criticized as overreacting, interfering)
went over their heads, got a furnace
inspector who saw cracked casings.

anecdote #219 - cousin

2011-12-15T09:43:00.006-05:00

owned a restaurant and gas station,
had a card table in back, was surer
than his own name his hand would
win; bet his businesses on it. lost
(it and wife). never risk more
than you can afford to lose.

anecdote #218 - cashier who voided the sale

2011-12-09T09:56:00.006-05:00

scanned our balsamic vinegar, said
'no fucking way' and set it aside.
'computer's wrong. it says $19.99 for
(nose-wrinkle) this. it's like,
apple juice. no one's paying that
for 100ml.' she put her foot down.
leverage whatever authority you have.

collective # 67 - audible homeless

2011-12-06T09:31:00.013-05:00

Most aren't loud, drunk incoherent in-your-face.
nor muttering diatribers.

No bus at the stop but 3 loops
from same panhandlers. At least
panhandle well!

Well, hello, my ego.
want recognition reciprocated?

Unreasonable small-fish expectations
for strung-outs?

No fish-and-loaves miracles.

Overtired.

anecdote #217 - critic critic

2011-12-03T10:31:00.002-05:00

expressed frustration at the lit critic not because
he unwaveringly backed one aesthetic, dismissing
others varieties but because the critic couldn't
distinguish between exemplary and bland.
"can't tell a good (particular writer) poem from
an uncharacteristic average (particular writer) poem".

tribute #310 - Jim

2011-11-25T17:12:00.002-05:00

'if you were a good communicator
with life strategies that worked
you wouldn't need poetry. writing
is a pathological failing.' he's
hyperbolic, loves to yank chains,
can make me laugh and think
just about more than anyone.
my heart's wedgie.

tribute #309 - Adrienne

2011-11-21T08:44:00.003-05:00

Clarkson's jobs as diplomat and journalist keeps her in challenge.
I'm wowed at her finesse fielding questions, her face and posture open,
her tone respectful, melodious during confrontational belligerent soapboxer.
photos' telltale – tension shunted to palm in her lap; human.

anecdote #216 - jabbering cell phone user (1 1/2 length)

2011-11-19T08:22:00.002-05:00

funk-spiralled I felt as torrential
in judgement as Noah's proverbial god.

without breaking her conversation
she quick-stepped, tugged his sleeve,

said no, tethered him on the curb.
stooped drunken-swaying he bucked

buckled towards oncoming cars again.
we didn't meet, not a word at me

but she saved me. I'm no Noah but
she restored my faith in good

compassionate action.

tribute #307 - S's wisdom

2011-11-18T21:17:00.001-05:00

"a coping strategy but not a solution strategy".

for personal growth and health you need
real people not people you imagine.

a page can't share back.
you to page? closed loop.

sharing increases one's capacity.
actual sharing needs another person.

anecdote #215 - old boozy dude

2011-11-15T08:35:00.004-05:00

arcs memories, distances.

he seems sweet, laughing, recounting his grandson
yanking his own palate to pull out his baby teeth-sheet
like grandpa can; maybe it's a knack, like whistling.

1991: friendly swaying grizzled man outside Shepherds
intimidated me, newbie volunteer.

anecdote # 214 - uncle

2011-11-13T09:39:00.001-05:00

I was 9. he held up a book, his finger over the first letter of the last word, asked my mom if he could lend me the Joy of _ex. She let into him, sputtering. he laughed, showed the Lex.

anecdote # 213 - woman of a certain age

2011-11-12T21:33:00.002-05:00

asked who gave me the stuffed animals.
Got them for yourself? uncomputable.

what rules govern her expectations?
would she not buy herself flowers?
take herself out to dinner alone?

what would she presume others
should do for her? self-reliance variable:

tribute #306 - Tatsuya Ishida

2011-11-07T12:15:00.003-05:00

his comic is part of my daily; read nearly 5000 iterations of his thoughts, character and characters. challenging religion and gender performance, to what amnesia inverts. even the devil you know, changes to more complex. exiting predestined to free will.

tribute #305 - Cary

2011-11-05T22:41:00.005-04:00

I've such nostalgia for his ad lib

flirtatious, genuine amusement from life
not polluting the world with uncensored self

being told, "Everybody would like to be
Cary Grant," Grant replied, "So would I."

will his grandson become similar? another actor?

tribute # 304 - Ken

2011-11-01T19:11:00.004-04:00

kept his own company,
loved solitude's dawns,
animal's seasons.

self-conscious, floor receiving
his bit-down mirths.
outlived most family, cohorts.

firmly, didn't let on opinions.
was he happy enough?
my cousin / godfather

his last image in
McDonald's security
cameras. search party.

tribute # 303 - Paul

2011-10-26T20:53:00.003-04:00

An ideas person and a details person;
what a rare combo. What impressive

plumes of energy. Caring, vividly alive.
An adorably engaged, doting dad.

"If you're going to go down that road,
go all the way down that road". Live.

anecdote # 212 - Big Sister overheard

2011-10-24T20:41:00.002-04:00

assuring her ward if
there's anything she
can't tell mommy, she
can tell BigSis. it's good
to keep no secrets
from mommy. if
that changes,...

things you can't say
cause like-pain but
talking helps. (put
simply & on the mark.)

earworm # 10 - Sad Songs

2011-10-12T16:12:00.001-04:00

eat worms had strengths, self-mockery, etc.,
self-indulgence in nobody likes sad songs;
brainwashed myself to shut up and put up
like everyone said. everyone who
was getting sick, brittlely cheerful,
or dead. speak. some like dreck;
good market for it.

anecdote # 211 - the plumber

2011-10-11T11:11:00.001-04:00

I said the n-pipe,
z-joint? some letter of joint....?
bathtub's letting sewer gas up.

the contractor chuckled,
assured; His Boys did it Right.

took some pursuing calls before
plumbing correction;

it's easier to be believed
when using Expected Words, tone.

anecdote # 210 - the leaping back man in black

2011-10-10T10:01:00.007-04:00

I gotta cinch in my gesture box;

describing where something was
reaching behind, swept hand down

- running it between shoulder blades.
(mortifying.) hours later, same bar,

different corner, backhand swing
cupped squarely a buttock -

same guy. (I got a giggle-fit.)

tribute # 302 - Christian

2011-10-07T12:40:00.000-04:00

stated that it is unfitting to use a uniform format of response
to various ideas, forms, arts, ideas. reviews should vary.

that niggles me. best expressed response may be
movement, sculpture, movie, sketch, conversation,
essay, nonsense, color, texture, curated clutter or?

collective # 66 - babies

2011-10-05T17:50:00.001-04:00

setting off each other's cries like seagulls
over a scrap of distress. no one knows
what or where.

that may not seem like 40 words but a wail
lasts a lot longer than it seems to count
out the seconds.

tribute # 301 - Patrick White

2011-10-04T12:57:00.003-04:00

he was the editor who penned the reply
when I submitted to Anthos my best poems ever
admitting that i was 14, in grade whatever –
he gave me the dignity of a letter, encouraged
continuing. (blessing or curse?) lost treasure.

tribute # 300 - Catherine Owen

2011-10-03T14:29:00.004-04:00

2 years of dad's death-stench
made sense. her understanding
of grief clicked more into pattern:
pained bodies get angry.
I disallow anger. body needs
what it needs and takes it.
I hadn't connected nightmares
of doing gory violence with grief.

collective # 65 - Enchanted 100 Acre Woods Denizens

2011-10-02T13:03:00.001-04:00

we're all different proportions of all the caricatures.
currently, I'm 1/3 Pooh, 1/4 piglet, 1/4 Eeyore,
the rest of me distributed evenly. overly cautious,
overly sad, jaded, somewhat the simpleton
who can't keep track of thoughts,
overly loves the honeypot.

tribute # 299 - Brene Brown

2011-10-01T21:53:00.005-04:00

something clicked forward a notch.
it's valuable to find someone ahead
of your curve. in her TED talk:

we're wired for struggle,
but also for belonging.
we can't selectively numb.

those who feel connected
know vulnerability's not
comfortable but necessary.

earworm # 9 - Let it Go

2011-09-30T06:30:00.000-04:00

my anthem when words won't come
nor go, when positive thinking's satire,
and negative thinking's unbearably
worse. when outside is intolerable
and my own breathing annoys me.
with no car-acess for a road trip it
presses sense thru skull's thickness.

collective # 65 - exchange students

2011-09-29T17:16:00.002-04:00

I do my atheist penance:
finally I understand

the sadness crossing
the faces of German,
Spanish, Dutch and
Swedish exchange
students who I greeted
by foisting tracts at them
in their mother tongue.

can't escape evangelists
even here. so sorry.

collective # 64 - collective mindset (S.F., circa 1988)

2011-09-27T12:42:00.000-04:00

hydro towers were installed.
a calf was born with two heads.

fear billowed with speculation
under the bellows of fear-mongerers,

using this with entrenched them/us
mentality to leverage their cause.

riled people expected birth defects.
level-headedness, observation, knocked aside.

anecdote # 209 - my poem for L (circa 1985)

2011-09-26T08:52:00.000-04:00

"dead eyes on a living girl
laughing girl with dead eyes"

(the chorus between
verses urging her to accept herself
instead of seeking praise)

crush threw it crumpled
at my chest, huffed "not very nice"

(keeping silences would've hurt too.)

anecdote # 208 - rabid_bunny27

2011-09-24T11:32:00.004-04:00

how can you converse, exchange equally-weighted information about our world while referring to speech partners by an absurd handle? hiding behind a persona, tickle trunk of masks, skews, confuses, adult interaction. speaking about or with need the same baseline respect.

earworm # 8 - Bosses Lament

2011-09-22T08:59:00.000-04:00

Fraser Union's song rings joy with each hearing. petty little person in me believes self's rightly squished by dismissals of "girl", female as servant. questionable linguistic relativity suggests freedom to perceive's in labelling frame. this criticism of notions relieves something.

anecdote# 207 - Ratna

2011-09-19T08:18:00.000-04:00

she wrapped my head around polytheism.

her laugh, hey, and hand on my back
delivered back intact. Her face, musical voice,
energy — aged, but completely her.

i wouldn't want to be eternal,
but be a container for salvaged
precious remnants...?

earworm # 7 - Amazing Grace

2011-09-17T14:54:00.000-04:00

the song rises in me
like an "i love you" to lips
unconscious of their speaking.

good to be alive.
a sensation has music.
walking in the freedom

of solitude and warm weather
proves I knew happiness
in those years.

anecdote # 206 - wise commenter

2011-09-15T07:04:00.000-04:00

Eirikofs encapsulated the absurdity of applying logic to nonsense: "This is like watching a debate between two people of which one tries to prove the existence of the tooth fairy, and the other tries to prove the existence of leprechauns."

tribute # 298 - Kate

2011-09-12T10:46:00.000-04:00

full-on constructive energy —
she likes jock things, geek things,
girly things; she doesn't give time
for other people's categorical
blinders. she's too engaged
with pursuing curiosity, working
solutions. she could train ducks
in how to shed water off their backs.

anecdote # 205 - from mystery donor

2011-09-10T20:35:00.005-04:00

maybe the leather cuff dropped
from someone's car. I tossed it after lunch
on the table, asked, was it anyone's?
a few coughs, overly pronounced nos.
snapping it on my wrist, I remarked how
small. a child's? (a cockring, dear.)

tribute # 297 - whining bystander

2011-09-09T14:20:00.001-04:00

"at least it's not a child."

friends melted down, felt ill —
such violence to the body;

the pup was alive moments before.
someone finally told her: shut up,

go away. (she hovered anyway.)

saying your grief's not another one's
— counterproductive

earworm # 6 - Integral

2011-09-08T16:03:00.000-04:00

If you've done nothing wrong....
:) calling the bully who guilts
while claiming open palm.

I like Germany's idea — there's not
just nominal respect of privacy
but a right to anonymity

of people and property.
Opting in and invisibility
are dignities.

editorial aside # 24

2011-09-07T16:35:00.004-04:00

I feel a need to restate periodically
that this is not a poetry blog.

I sometimes use lineation
of poetry but device
is not the machine–

just words
compressed to communicate
some pivots
twisting around
thru my life,
processed, considered.

anecdote # 204 - the other woman

2011-09-06T09:00:00.004-04:00

article reminded; an unforgettable overheard:
human pride meeting the Other Wife.

as they cooked together the Other She suggested
that's not how you make that sauce...

— got punched out cold. anger misdirected from
that position their man put them in.

earworm # 5 - I've been to Calvary

2011-09-03T15:48:00.003-04:00

or, as I heard and sang it as a child,
"I've been to Calgary as the witness
of the Word", placing the crucifixion
in western Canada in my nebulous
thataway geography and seeing God's
joyous murder in my hazy theology.

tribute # 296 - Bensalem

2011-08-30T13:26:00.003-04:00

unflappable, level-headed,
given to what looks, in Canada,

like Libyan-style dress.
a learned leader, devout,

he led studies of the Qu'ran.
a Big Brother, fund-raiser,

a do-gooder I suppose,
ethical, honest character

with all the intensity of an
end-timer's necessity.

anecdote # 203 - weirdo

2011-08-28T15:13:00.000-04:00

stranger arrived, declared us "friends" —

as proof recounted the times I arrived at
and left work, as he observed from his apartment.

how much of blogging is refusing myself privacy
so no one can hold over me "having special knowledge"?

anecdote # 202 - Brian

2011-08-26T02:12:00.001-04:00

20 years dating; we're finally
living together. f/t took
adaption. I get to witness

your slo-mo blossoming
trust. expanding past
colleagues, past roommates.

your tongue moves
freer, uncensored, calling
guilt-trips, even, doctrine.

instrumental info exchange
to deeper conversations.
happy anniversary.

anecdote # 201 - street photographer

2011-08-23T12:42:00.007-04:00

dude at a park – why I'd live inside one windowless room.
3 feet away filming me pick my teeth with a fingernail??

tactless. yay, Quebec's privacy laws; one ruins it
for everyone, if you correct rules instead of the person.

anecdote # 200 - bus stop lady

2011-08-21T14:57:00.000-04:00

tilted her chin, stared midair;
an ad might appear

as I flew off my bike
thumped near her feet.

so caught up in her world
she couldn't wouldn't see me?

snapshot of her: a lesson
to not be that woman.

anecdote # 199 - Michael Dennis

2011-08-19T07:50:00.000-04:00

said in interview he reads
a book of poetry daily.

how to find and process
that much?? I decided to start

each day with sustained
reading; 50 pages of poetry

or long non-fiction. it's a dam
in brain against frazzle.

tribute # 295 - Naomi Shihab-Nye

2011-08-17T12:48:00.000-04:00

poet activist, active pacifist, Shihab-Nye is everyday heroic. her life's built of action thru words, insisting that people meet one another as equals not as Others, integrating Arabic into America, outreach to children modeling compassion in YA novels. uncompromising hope.

anecdote # 198 - retired valley boy

2011-08-15T08:49:00.005-04:00

an accent's a song you don't think you remember anymore

but then there's a tie-yam from across the room
an old sweet diphthong that keeps on my mind.

the old-timer's cadence "thick accent"
has the power of a scent, transports nostalgia.

anecdote # 197 - univ. waiter

2011-08-13T09:23:00.000-04:00

on break, with scornful cool, held court:
if you don't have enough time
for please and thanks you don't
have enough to take the service.
don't have enough money for the tip?
you don't have enough money for a meal.

earworm # 4 - Lonesome Blues

2011-08-11T22:43:00.001-04:00

There's a Nashville placenta and two umbilical chords.
One feeds Tennessee. The other (cursed hillbilly straw)
twists to lower class countryside Canada. (It's a thick tube.)

Hank done jump in the river,
but the doggone river was dry. Unlike eyes.

anecdote # 196 - cyber fan

2011-08-09T21:47:00.001-04:00

she became my Big Fan —
for two months she read
and watched everything
I put online, back-channelled
her life, local weather,
recipes, shopping lists,
paranoid worries. oyed-me,
propositioned me with:
I'm in an open relationship
my partner just doesn't know;

anecdote # 195 - cyber researcher

2011-08-07T12:01:00.001-04:00

the craig's list buyer wanted
to be friendly, make a good
first impression — call
our cat by name. except
the page she'd read
was years out of date,
that cat long dead.

seeing a text *today *
doesn't mean it's current.

tribute # 294 - spring lamb (1979)

2011-08-04T15:46:00.002-04:00

bought, mine, conditionally —
he'd be sold for meat come fall.
fingers in wool, eyes in eyes.

training double-minded
farming-mind, giving affection
because that is what the heart
must do. pretending it away because
that is what the heart should do.

earworm # 3 - Dang Me

2011-08-02T22:38:00.004-04:00

Roger Mill's classic rotated in my head for years without being able to remember more than the chorus. How could I forget "sugar's sweet, so's maple surple". So many songs I loved were drinking songs — depression fuels, and fuelled, doubtless.

tribute # 293 - Johnny S.

2011-07-31T15:24:00.002-04:00

an only child, lifetime bachelor; his mother needed him.
dad said he'd never had a special friend. no heirs.
a senior becoming orphaned — only his land,
dog and fiddle for company. his ancestors
and mine were brothers on the 1700s boat.

earworm # 2 - Excuses (1980s) (double-length)

2011-07-27T08:25:00.002-04:00

Excuses, excuses,
you hear them every day.
the Devil gives them out,
and from church you'll stay away.
when people come to know the Lord,
the Devil always loses.

why one of the children
has a cold. pneumonia
do you suppose?
well, the whole family
has to stay home
just to blow that poor kid's nose.

it's up to the mountains,
or down to the beach
or to visit some ole friend.
or its springtime and
the weather's just right....

collective # 62 - The Singing Edwards

2011-07-27T08:13:00.000-04:00

The country gospel band toured our church for a few years, time-lapse kids.

What a ruckus when they came with electric guitar; grumbling of Satanic.

I can still hear Edward's voice, "I know I don't deserve a mansion" and Excuses.

tribute # 292 - Daniel

2011-07-25T21:56:00.004-04:00

Dare to be a Daniel. Dare to stand alone

played well to culturally-embedded persecution fears.
No closet Christianity; Bliss exhorted: be bold.

Said something, that I would go back 2500 years to find heroes.
He was buried in Uzbekistan or Iran.

earworm # 1 - Chrystal Chandeliers

2011-07-24T07:31:00.001-04:00

Charlie Pride's song was "our song" for my parents. a peculiar choice — of people from different worlds never quite matching and one being left behind. I never knew how much to read into that. But good rhythm for a waltz.

anecdote # 191 - fair guard (1988)

2011-07-22T09:45:00.002-04:00

there's a time when doing wrong,
making another lose money, is
ethical. the guard turned
while the large family
came thru the hole
in the chain link fence.
he "restamped"
all their little hands,
lovingly admonishing
don't wash it off.

collective # 61 - Swiss Pastries

2011-07-21T10:09:00.000-04:00

middle-aged eastern european women
bear more shoulder-chips than average,
give once-overs, find me wanting,
not posh enough for their clothing stores,
presume me thief in their groceries.
2 years, 2 branches sniffing 'you
don't need to eat that m'dear?' Boy-
cotted.

anecdote # 190 - lil girl (2011)

2011-07-18T15:50:00.004-04:00

want to keep her face.

her knee-high aghastedness
(her mom's back turned)

her pulls at the plastic bag
now two aisles-wide —

I asked if she wanted help.
her large eyes nodded. I said

pull. her small smile.
I re-rolled time.

tribute # 291 - Mary Magdalene

2011-07-17T15:53:00.002-04:00

anointing with expensive perfumes?
this conflating's common.

pastor said she could only achieve such money
from [wrinkle-nose] prostitution;

[with Christ's Greatness proven
by not stoning such woman;
whyever would I've quit The Church?]

Gnostics allowed her praise, value
and respect.

tribute # 290 - Beatrice

2011-07-14T22:09:00.001-04:00

was extolled at her funeral —
embodying lovingkindness
the first to bring care
with a word or casserole —
a pillar in her young life.

I knew her only as senile
cruel, incontinent, iron fisted
to daughter-in-law — but
kinder than (amoral) aging.

anecdote # 189 - K

2011-07-12T10:14:00.004-04:00

declared at the funeral that he would take back the heirloom ring,
break his brother's body's finger to get it.

which person gets attached to legal names? a best self?
most impacting self? grief-pettied? love-glazed?

which essential selves look away?

collective # 60 - Proboscis monkey (early 80s)

2011-07-09T15:59:00.005-04:00

his face hung over my bed for years.
not an individual so much as contrarian idea of beauty,
allegiance to pugs, Cabbage Patch Kids, sowbugs, worms,
to who others called ugly. No one chooses
their mortal coil, species. life's sacred.

editorial aside # 23

2011-07-07T11:39:00.002-04:00

I've decided to continue the project until the end of February 2012, or when the well is dry, or until 1000 posts (excluding asides). whichever comes soonest. 1000 posts would be a couple posts a week until then on average.

anecdote # 188 - Sunday School Teacher

2011-07-02T11:49:00.005-04:00

Anglican teacher said: class, time to put away the crayons.
her eyes saw me, radar visioned thru my thought-sin
thru my red-lit bones, palm, the darkness of the rose
crayon hidden in my fist. she and god permitted me.
guilt-decades.

anecdote # 187 - Su

2011-06-28T12:54:00.000-04:00

declared to her childhood friends that she is not the carefree happy child she was.
who? they said. you were always morose, stressed and depressed.

from childhood every 5 or 6 years I reinvent the change to panic attacks, migraines.

anecdote # 186 - O

2011-06-24T08:10:00.000-04:00

looked at me, said,
- he really should buy his own
he nodded at the pastel-hearted umbrella

-It's not mine! that was his choice.

- oh my. put it under the table, dear;
that's too gay for the Village.

(muttered 'butch points')

anecdote # 185 - Brenda

2011-06-20T11:11:00.004-04:00

they may not be visible:
the heart-pounding-lost,

the face-saviors. some days
bewilder. I stared dumbly at a

door. not sure to push, pull?
she did the simple — try.

- I'm new to this planet,
I apologized.

B: - just arrived
this morning myself.

anecdote # 184 - dog walker

2011-06-17T14:58:00.002-04:00

person with dog on black leash and collar passed.
friend and I oohed, "isn't she cute"

with a huff of great offence dog-walker snapped
He's a boy.

what? maybe put pup in pink ruffled skirt?
why does gender matter anyway?

anecdote # 183 - pedestrian suit Magoo

2011-06-15T10:10:00.003-04:00

An 80s single panel comic: index finger raised pontificating, his speech bubble following his fall into the open manhole 'there but by the grace of god go...."

touchstone parable

pride, superiorness invites comeuppance.

reinforcing — raising voice against
is a lowering.

anecdote # 182 - the slender boy

2011-06-13T10:04:00.003-04:00

the Moroccan rug salesman brought us off the train to his home,
introduced his son, off school today,
instructed: bring us tea.

the man left. the boy confided,
I'm not his son. not allowed school. I'm his slave.
we bailed.

collective # 59 - bullies

2011-06-10T17:34:00.000-04:00

don't thank the last straw.
don't call it formative.

eureka: don't cringe, sweat,
counter, defend, bless.

don't change myself / avoid
interference, teasing, correction.

that's all them.

my behaviour could be anything.
theirs — constant.

call it: dust under feet.
heads up.

tribute # 289 - gearhead

2011-06-09T09:54:00.003-04:00

Intimidated by lens length
presuming that cash invested
represented commitment to craft
i folded, sure he'd got it covered;
He knew where to hustle
position self in room.
His shots were well-focused
blase, missing The Shot;
lesson learned: shoot anyway.

tribute # 288 - Pinkie

2011-05-28T11:02:00.003-04:00

nursed until a teen,
almost mom's size
before being weaned.
mom rebounded to
pregnant. Pinkie
entered oestrus too;
birthing close together.

her own nipples swollen
Pinkie dropped her kittens
at mom's nipples,
nursed with them.

normal otherwise;
individuals are quirks.

tribute # 287 - James Harriot

2011-05-23T16:14:00.002-04:00

In one touchstone episode the veterinarian gave the calf a sedative because pain causes fear, causes spirals of more distress. To let the consciousness leave would mean no thrashing on the emotional front, letting the body heal itself faster. Sleep.

anecdote # 181 - YuChen

2011-05-17T09:50:00.007-04:00

remembering YuChen — The Great Leap
Forward, theoreticians to hard-pack soil,
starvations, tree bark lunches —
I pick up the grains of rice I spilled.

YuChen, mind's eye tracing his face —
I smell smoke — I've burned the whole
pot of mung beans.

tribute # 286 - G.

2011-05-14T13:39:00.003-04:00

my knuckles aching from
leveraging the knife to chop —

my coworker from 18 years ago
pops up — restaurant lessons

chastises my pot-scrubbing
"work smarter, not harder —

soak" — I get down the
food processor.

we keep listening years
into the gaps

anecdote # 180 - teacher who relented

2011-05-04T09:14:00.001-04:00

T-ball and softball seasons, I'd strike out
then make dandelion chains in the outfield

teacher, exasperated, said: play or leave!

I can leave?? Can I play 21 instead??

(sigh) so long as you are moving.

Reroute goal-paths using underlying objectives.

collective # 58 - the laugher

2011-05-03T15:35:00.001-04:00

there's one in most crowds
—hooting one out

so that a mildly amusing line
in a subdued theatre gets

unfunnier on account of those
(zealously encouraging?)

guffaws.too loud, too long,
and ill-timed.

(egad, am I one of those
laughers?)

anecdote # 179 -L

2011-04-27T12:19:00.003-04:00

let's swim to the point

heaved my panting self a-sweet-why-did-I-ever-leave-you-shore

she looked at me, then skywards

clucked, we'd better get back; might storm

we both knew it wouldn't
and that it would
work.

mule after carrot
I followed her back.

anecdote # 178 -Kimmy

2011-04-20T15:35:00.003-04:00

How often I reenact her in grade 7
stuck having insisted on wearing

her new Strawberry shortcake shirt

too warm for the day
with nothing underneath, no way to change.

wanting nudism

[shoo, impertinents!
who would scope out her nothings.]

anecdote # 177 - writer, mislaid memory of which

2011-04-14T17:48:00.009-04:00

at Festival said one mustn't assume the reader dumb;

Ponce de Leon —

Who? an explorer from Spain
When? in the 16th century.
Where? Spain, country in Europe.
Europe? A continent over the Atlantic
What? Bigbigwater

there's no natural end to over-catering.

tribute # 285 - Gayle

2011-04-14T09:48:00.003-04:00

counselled me when I was in high school. As a teen she wasn't happy until university when the workload got heavy enough; Some people need to be overbusy before they can be content. She pegged me; I tolerate underactivity poorly.

anecdote # 176 - Eugene

2011-04-11T11:50:00.001-04:00

we gabbed happily at staff meetings.
years of bumping into by chance,
exchanging intentions to have coffee.
lunches never happened.

my affections grow slowly.
by time they're there,
people've moved on.

I need to learn
to ditch self-consciousness
faster. attach.

anecdote # 175 - portrait photographer

2011-04-08T09:57:00.003-04:00

a family photo with the in-laws
when i was the new girlfriend

"just family this time dear"
waving my SIL out of shot

urging me to stand with "mom"
resemble her more than her kid does?

[aging myself digitally, yep]

tribute # 284 - Hockey shirt

2011-04-04T14:39:00.004-04:00

Tourney sweatshirt treasure —
the first shirt i wore home.

First clothes of his
on my back at Bible club

meeting. Raised brow of L
Not quite your style...?

The shirt of being found out.
Wait, you two seeing each other?

tribute # 283 - sod hut wife

2011-04-01T13:21:00.002-04:00

story goes: she felt her mortality
drawing closer, surely as winter.

across miles of prairie, the only
woman. her husband needs

practical. she arranged a mail-order
bride, a replacement helpmate,

and for as long as she'd live
a companion, confidente.