the glory and the horror

Duty
Advocacy
Best interest
Autonomy
What do you want?
What should you want?

Systems
Forms
Strange languages
Hierarchy
How do we get there?
How did we get here?

Strategies
Treatments
Arguments
Fight
It’s a battle.
It’s a journey.

So, I don’t think I have confessed to this yet, but I thought I’d come clean.

I love Pride and Prejudice. In particular, the 2 DVD A&E version.

It’s smart, witty, intelligent, and funny. The characters are interesting, decently developed, and generally real. A couple of the sisters are a bit one-dimensional, but Lizzie Bennet and Mr. Darcy are simply fantastic! Mr. Bennet is a hoot as well. It’s interesting how social boundaries were sorta crossed, but not totally crossed. The status quo was challenged, but entirely to restructure all of society.

Anyway, HIGHLY recommended.

the wordsruntogether
from the hydrant in the white coat.
lost in the big room,
the waterfall cascades around him
but he’s not wet.

he only feels one drop
“cancer”
and nothing else matters.

the room rings with the silence
of “chemo…” and “spreading to…”
“weeks to months…” and soaks him.

the rain clouds circle above
waiting to unload.

she turns to him
the floodgates open
“scared…” and “the kids?”
“why” and “dear God”
“do it together…” and “not alone…”

the pressure is releasing
the dam has broken
the current takes them away as
the wordsruntogether.

Introduction to Poetry
by Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poem
and ahold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I saw drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

I love reading to analyze, to find the author’s reason(s) for writing the piece, to see if I agree, disagree, or other. I don’t read much poetry, usually, but I’m reading more for a class that I’m taking this semester. This piece struck me tor the point that the poet is trying to make – that we shouldn’t try too hard to find the point. Sometimes, we should read and let the words soak into us, and us into the words, so that we become enveloped in them, and they wrap around us and our senses.

The first few lines are particularly vivid. The mouse is inside, coming out, taking some wrong turns along the way, but gently feeling, one step at a time. The room is dark, and it isn’t entirely clear, but there’s a light switch somewhere, where all would be illuminated.

There is such a thing as trying too hard, as the last few lines suggest. What good is it to flog something with a hose? It’s not exactly the tool of choice if you’re trying to get something out of someone.

Poems are supposed to be affective. Sometimes, I don’t give it the chance to be what it is designed to be.

The deep south of Texas, that is. We’re almost as far south as geographically possible for the continental 48. I’m posting this from South Padre Island, where we’re spending the 4th of July weekend for a friend’s wedding and our 6 month anniversary. It’s been a wonderful 6 months being married to the most wonderful Kathleen. I’ve learned a lot about myself and her that I don’t think I was aware of beforehand.

The weather has been great, although a little windy. It destroyed a friend’s beach umbrella today. It also blew a lot of sand into various bags, towels, etc. The wedding was a small beach wedding, with wonderful latin music and salsa dancing afterwards for hours. Our friends are Cuban and Mexican, and their families really know how to throw a party with lots of great music, food, and dancing. The entire ceremony was in spanish, and officiated by another friend of ours, which was a little unusual. It was one of those experiences that I may not have the opportunity to repeat, kinda like Onnie’s wedding several years ago. Another type of Southern experience.

We’ve been listening to a Da Vinci Code-esque book on tape (we picked it up for the drive down), The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason. It’s actually quite a fun mystery/suspense story about a rare Renaissance book, and the secrets contained therein. This could be a pretty good escape fiction piece if anyone is looking for anything.

I can hear the fireworks outside. I guess people figure it’s after midnight, so it must be ok to set them off.

I hope everyone has a safe and fun 4th of July, and I hope churches remember that we are citizens of heaven, first and foremost.