Poem by Hart Crane

Forgetfulness

Forgetfulness is like a song
That, freed from beat and measure, wanders.
Forgetfulness is like a bird whose wings are reconciled,
Outspread and motionless--
A bird that coasts the wind unwearyingly.

Forgetfulness is rain at night,
Or an old house in a forest,--or a child.
Forgetfulness is white,--white as a blasted tree,
And it may stun the sybil into prophecy,
Or bury the Gods.

I can remember much forgetfulness.

--Hart Crane

Time waster #209

You can find a new name for yourself, and here are some of the beauties I found:

Ulf Maryland
Devorah Blossom
Gin Trinh
Denim Adonica
Cynzia Komala
Virika Nuala
Gabi Irish
Erasto Precious
Gemini Winda

Name Creator

The obligatory Thanksgiving list of things I am thankful for.

Being that this is the first Thanksgiving in my whole life that I have been without my family, I am feeling a little sadsack. I am making myself a dinner of sweet potatoes and burritos and playing massive ammounts of video games. So here is my list of things that I am thankful for:

*Borrowing Saucier's x-box and a cheap used copy of Fable
*Sweet Potatoes
*NO football on thanksgiving for the first time ever
*Overalls
*Lots of Harry Potter in 2005 - new book, new movie, this geek fan girl is in Hogwarts Heaven
*Getting once acceptance letter that was just amazingly crazy and lovely
*Veronica Mars
*My family -- you know if you don't say it you will just have guilt. Plus it's true.
*Finishing the blanket I was crocheting. Now I just have to give it!
*Bubble Baths
*Joss Whedon
*Bush's low approval rating. If only the presidency was like American Idol.
*Friends... once again needs to be said, but honestly I think I know some of the most interesting people. They are a cornucopia of quirk, laughter, compassion, and good times.
*Going to see the Barenaked Ladies on Dec 1st
*...and a lot of other things profound and no-so that I would rather meditate and think about myself. Despite some bumps and possible scary changes going on, I have a good life. I have many things that make me happy, and could ask for more, but won't because I think that learning to love what you have and appreciate it is one of the hardest things a person, especially an American, can learn.

Poem by Tom Chandler

To the woman at the Red Edge Motel

Some tourist of love
in his cheap suit of longing
will elbow the bar
in the lounge of no last names,
dip his cuff accidentally
in your seven & seven
and ask you to dance
to the faint moan of muzak,
perfume your earrings
with breath mints and gin
as the lights grow yet dimmer
as his hand on the switch
hovers inches away
from the slick red edge
of your hungover heart
with its faded no vacancy sign.

--Tom Chandler


And for exciting poet news: Garrison Keillor is going to read some of Robin Merrill's poems on The Writers Almanac on Wednesday November 23rd and Sunday the 27th!

Sad Bastard songs

I was realizing the other day I really have a penchant for the sad bastard category of songs. I take the term from theJack Black line in High Fidelity. And it's not like I listen to them to be depressed, it's just that I prefer them in general. They just soothe me and I also think that those songs have the better lyrics as well, the closer to poetry really.

Here is a sampling of my sad bastard tunes:

Tell Her This - Del Amitri
Overkill - Colin Hay
If I wrote you - Dar Williams
Miss you til I meet you - Dar Williams
Let him fly - Patti Griffin
#41 - Dave Matthews Band
Wicked Little Town - Hedwig and the angry inch
Origin of Love - Hedwig and the angry inch
Lover, you should have come over - Jeff Buckley
Lilac wine - Jeff Buckley
My Funny Valentine -- (prefer the slower covers that take a melancholy voice)
Mystery - Indigo Girls
Fare thee well - Indigo Girls
That's All - Mel Torme
Wonderwall - Oasis
This Hotel Room - The Poem Adept
Trouble - Ray Lamontagne
Arms of a Woman - Amos Lee
Your Cloud - Tori Amos
China - Tori Amos
You and I both - Jason Mraz
Helicopters - Barenaked Ladies
The Great Provider - Barenaked Ladies
Aluminum - Barenaked Ladies
For You - Barenaked Ladies
Love will come through - Travis

Yeah, I am a sap sometimes when it comes to my music. But, I will never have a Celine Dion original on there. Honestly, I think hell is eating McDonalds burgers with the old stryofoam containers in place bread and meat with a side beverage of Walmart mop bucket water, wearing burlap leotards and wool underwear thongs in a flaming hot room with poison ivy and pink eye listening to Celine sing on a firey stage while you are locked into your chair.
Yes, that is my hell.

The most splendid

Since I was a small child I've felt that little inaminate things were very wise, that they had their own kind of wisdom, something to teach me if I would only pay the right kind of attention to them.... I don't look at anything as being insignificant. I that's another overlooked gift of poetry. Many times people imagine that poets wait fro some splendid experience to overttake them, but I think the tiniest moments are the most splendid.

--Naomi Shihab Nye

Caption contest

So you might not win anything persay, but let's think of some very interesting captions that could go with this picture. I have been finding a lot of retro images lately, and they are irrestible.

Sara Recommends

Born Into Brothels
This documentary is one of those testaments to what art can mean to anyone, regardless of status. In India, there are children that are born and raised in brothels, where violence and crime are part of their daily life. Many of the girls there are also destined for the life of their mothers, even at an early age. There was a small group of kids that were given cameras and taught photography. Some of the pictures they take are so beautiful and honest and unafraid. Its frustrating to watch the woman who teaches them try to get them an education and a path out of the brothel life. This film has a delicate balance between the pain and the joy of their experience through the photography.

Ok Go - Oh No
For those of you who have not seen the video for "A Million Ways", you must. This four person band dances in their backyard. The choreography is inspired and celebrates the human body... well not really, but it does celebrate geek-tinted hipsters dancing in vintage suits. I only wish I could dance like that. I picked up the album the other day, and its pretty solid. Fun, just poppy enough, and catchy beats.

Squirt of lime juice in your water bottle
I am so over lemon. It's all about the lime. Lemon sometimes reminds me of household cleaners. Lime: tangy and gives your water a little kick. Even the lime juice that comes in the bottle will do the trick. Ideally, I would have the slice of it, the little pulp floating around your water looking like a citrus snowglobe.

Marshal from Alias
So, I have started my new TV show addiction. I watched Six Feet Under obsessively and am oh so calmly waiting for the arrival of season 5 on DVD. Now, I am onto Alias. I finished Season 1 in a weekend. I have just finished the first disc of Season 2 and Netflix cannot send the next ones to me fast enough. (so if you know anything, don't be a bastard and spoil future eps for me, I am going as fast as I can) I just can't get enough of the women kicking ass. I have even started having spy dreams. But, I have found the love of my life on that show: Marshal. Some might think that Michael Vartan or Bradley Cooper might be the apple of my eye, and they are adorable, but no no, its the character of Marshal that makes this geekess' heart flutter. He is imaginative, a genius, and so excited when explaining his nerd-ventions. I might as well be twelve, still have my head-gear and cut out a collage for my wall. Hmmm...


Reading any comic Tony Scribner recommends to you
He is my comic guru. Seriously, I don't think that I have ever not liked what he has given to me: Alias, Fables, Identity Crisis, Batman: The Killing Joke, Batman: The Long Halloween, Ex Machina, and last night he hands me four JSA's all with a well, well endowed Power Girl on the cover. Yowz-sa! He can give me all the good dirt on the writers and such. I respect what he reads alot because he follows the writers more so than the characters most of the time. I bow to you, Tony.


Not laughing your ass off until the girls loudly discussing their denial and secret admissions of anal sex have completely walked by your office
I am not making this stuff up folks.

I heart words

Thanks to Shannon for this amazing new innovation in vocabulary:

The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing of one letter, and supply a new definition........Here are this year's 2005 winners:

1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

2. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

10. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

11. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

12. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really
bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

13. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

14. Glibido: All talk and no action.

15. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

16. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've
accidentally walked through a spider web.

17. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

18. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

Out in the Kitchen

Out in the Kitchen

Jennell is working on this fantastic project: a cookbook with families at the center, namely GLBTA families. Considering the government and some people will not recognize or respect different definitions and variations on family, it is very important that GLBTA and others are able to hold onto what they see and live everyday. Food is at the center of any family, corn-bred or punk, and why not celebrate that!

Online interactions

So, of course being the sweet single I am, I try online dating with little success. But I am curious about something. In the past two weeks, I have gotten "winks" from 3 guys: all fans of NASCAR.

Now, for those that don't know me, I possess little to no characteristics that would make me a NASCAR lover. I even got my driver's license late. I failed it 4 times! I think ESPN is a nuisance when I am flipping through channels. Circles make me dizzy. I can't even manuever in Grand Theft Auto. I hit pedestrians and got motion sick.

Not that there is anything really wrong with NASCAR, I am just puzzled with the connection.

Cheers to Dover, PA

Eight of the nine school board members up for re-election (all Republicans, all voting in favor of intelligent design) were ousted by voters and replaced with Democratic candidates.

I take this quote from the CNN article today:

Intelligent design holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by some kind of higher force. The statement read to students says Charles Darwin's theory is "not a fact" and has inexplicable "gaps.


Yes, you radical evangelicals.... theory is theory. It is never fact. Any scientist will tell you that there is no absolute truth or fact, just correlations and relationships. (and if there are any scientists out there that will tell me I am wrong, forgive me I am remembering 11th grade Chemistry with Mr. Pike) Just like intelligent design is not a fact, it's a theory. THEORY! In all honesty, I don't think we know what the hell happened, but there is a lot more data to back up evolution, verus a diety creating something in a wink. Separate your church from our state, and teach what you want at home. You have every right to believe it. Heck, you may be right... but until I see it, I am going with the more pausible theory.

Sorry, the victory of NO on 1 has me all high like a 5 year old on a grape Pixi stick. Hurrah!

Embarrassing moments on film: #409

My sister scanned a whole bunch of pictures for me, and oh my, they are doozies. This is my attempt to be Blossom. Oh don't we all miss Six?

Election Day

So, I think that most of my loyal and lovely readers are active citizens. I would like to think so. Remember that today is election day. I heard this quote this weekend from a speaker at a youth seminar: "When you don't vote, you give other people permission to rule your world without you." The speaker also said that "volunteers have great sex appeal." Needless to say, I thought he was pretty smart.

Vote today.

If you are in Maine, try voting No on 1. Many fabulous people will love you. There may be hugs. Not to mention, Texas is the only other state that has an GLBT item on the ballot. Let's continue the trend of making us look good for the rest of the US.

Maine Won't Discriminate

Poem by Denise Duhamel

Buying Stock


"...The use of condoms offers substantial protection, but does not
guarantee total protection and that while
there is no evidence that deep kissing has resulted in
transfer of the virus, no one can say that such transmission
would be absolutely impossible."

--The Surgeon General, 1987

I know you won't mind if I ask you to put this on.
It's for your protection as well as mine--Wait.
Wait. Here, before we rush into anything
I've bought a condom for each one of your fingers. And here--
just a minute--Open up.
I'll help you put this one on, over your tongue.
I was thinking:
If we leave these two rolled, you can wear them
as patches over your eyes. Partners have been known to cry,
shed tears, bodily fluids, at all this trust, at even the thought
of this closeness.

--Denise Duhamel

Poem by Ezra Pound

Meditatio

When I carefully consider the curious habits of dogs
I am compelled to conclude
That man is the superior animal.

When I consider the curious habits of man
I confess, my friend, I am puzzled.

-Ezra Pound.


Now, all of those people that really know me may be puzzled themselves. I am not really what you would call an animal lover. But, I do find quite a bit of truth in this poem. So, yeah yeah, tell me more about you dog or cat or flying squirrel... ain't nature great? I still say a great patch clover is fascinating.

Sara's Irrefutable Truths for the time being: Ham tribute

I hope Torrey does not mind that I thought this was such a cool idea that I would borrow from his fabulous blog. It's more of an homage really. Cheers, Torrey.

If at a dinner where there is a buffet, my table will always be called last or in two places before last.

Hanging out with Kath Kohler will always result in a good time.
I saw the Goddess of Good Times & Laughter this weekend -- and she did not fail me. The night ended with random dancing and the morning started with a lovely brunch of flat crust pizza. Good times indeed. Better state motto: Live free or die OR Don't mess with Texas?

My mother always calls me when I am sleeping.
She has a sense for these things. I for about a semester to two I would call Jay when he was taking a #2 without knowing it. But my mom has done this for 5 years now. She must have a Weasley-esque clock that the Sara hand goes to "nap" or "deep sleep" and she calls me just to mess with me.

I will at least have one Joss Whedon reference a day.
It does not matter what I am talking about with someone, it could be laundry or their new baby, I will find someway to make a reference to a Buffy or Firefly or Astonishing X-men some how. And what is weirder, I may only say one reference out loud to people, but how many more there are in my head.

God in a quiz, very convienent

You fit in with: Spiritualism Your ideals are mostly spiritual, but in an individualistic way. While spirituality is very important in your life, organized religion itself may not be for you. It is best for you to seek these things on your own terms. 80% spiritual. 80% reason-oriented.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com