wayback machine part 2

We took off the week between Christmas and NewYear's, and had a great relaxing time playing with all the new toys. One day was very warm and nice, and that was the day we decided to go to the zoo. It was a grand adventure, and Oscar walked the whole time, and Eric carried John in the fancy backpack. Many adults were envious of the backpack.

Oscar's favorite was his elephant, and Eric's favorite was the seals.

These last two pictures are of a dik-dik. So there you go!

Silly john

John does lots of awesome dances at dinner these days.

poem of the week

The Geese

slicing this frozen sky know

where they are going—

and want to get there.

Their call, both strange 

and familiar, calls

to the strange and familiar

heart, and the landscape 

becomes the landscape

of being, which becomes 

the bright silos and snowy 

fields over which the nuanced

and muscular geese

are calling—while time 

and the heart take measure.

- Jane Mead

welcome to the wayback machine

First stop - Christmas!

Poem of the week

I've been putting up a poem outside my office door every week. I get them from "A Poem a Day," a collection for high school students curated by Billy Collins. It is here for now: https://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/p180-list.html

It's a little tricky choosing poems from this list. They can't be too long, or too overtly about death, love, sex, religion - any of the classic topics for poetry and high school students. Nature is a safe topic, but those poems tend to be long. It's fun to sort through and pick one that strikes my fancy!

This week I chose this one:

The Bagel

I stopped to pick up the bagel
rolling away in the wind,
annoyed with myself
for having dropped it
as if it were a portent.
Faster and faster it rolled,
with me running after it
bent low, gritting my teeth,
and I found myself doubled over
and rolling down the street
head over heels, one complete somersault
after another like a bagel
and strangely happy with myself.

—David Ignatow

I'm working long days the next few days so I would like to stay happy with myself as I roll along like a bagel too! Humans are tori after all.