Archive for December, 2007
- Love and Money
A delightful article from the 11 June 1994 edition of the New York Times says as Nobel laureate Octavio Paz neared 80, his thoughts turned to love. Perhaps because, as Paz said, “And you cannot talk about love without talking about its complement, death.” Knowing that, I feel less ridiculous for thinking of love at […]
31 December 2007- Tremens
The man could be 30 or 60. In spite of the sunny 58-degree temperature and his ratty, olive drab coat, he shivers on the edge of a park bench. Frayed at the hem, his jeans need a good laundering, and his boots are scuffed and caked with mud. His matted hair could be any color; […]
30 December 2007- Solveig Dommartin
Two films I have for years numbered among my favorites are Wim Wenders’ “Wings of Desire” and the critically panned cult favorite “Until the End of the World” (I have yet to see the five-hour version). Both starred Solveig Dommartin, a striking, vibrant woman who seemed otherworldly, a sprite or an elf. Because of her, […]
29 December 2007- Catfish History
Eight-foot catfish live in this lake, I am told. They’ve been down there for decades, cleaning up dead things and devouring the refuse of humankind. They’re too smart for the bank fisherman’s lure and too patient for trolling boaters. Truly egalitarian, their bellies serve as the graveyards of their dead peers.
When the lake dries up — and […]
29 December 2007- Turning the Corner
2007: More disappointments than I care to number. If I had known, going in, I would be like Evel Knievel coming out, counting all my broken bones, I probably would have disappeared between the mattress and box springs on my bed and slept from December 31, 2006 until January 1, 2008.
But it’s over in four […]
27 December 2007- Windigo Nation
Today the AskOxford Word of the Day in email is windigo, defined as “(in the folklore of the northern Algonquian Indians) a cannibalistic giant; a person who has been transformed into a monster by the consumption of human flesh.” The word comes from the Ojibwa wintiko. In this Marvel illustration the Windigo resembles an albino […]
23 December 2007- Murder
The gate of my heart is guarded by seven molting crows. They shade it in varying degrees of darkness, rasping at straw-headed pretenders and threatening to peck out their eyes when they venture too near. During slack time they strut around saying, “We are glitter-eyed crows. Nothing outsmarts us and nothing gets past us.”
One woman […]
22 December 2007- Santa’s Top Ten
Since this is the last Friday before Christmas, I’ve unleashed Santa Claws on the week’s top ten, with mostly predictable results:
1. “Blue Christmas”, Elvis Presley
21 December 2007
Pop Christmas songs begin for me with Elvis Presley, and while there are a wealth of selections from which to choose (he released three Christmas albums in his lifetime), “Blue Christmas” […]- India
Truth comes in at the eyes and ears; I sniff it out or feel it out or it lingers on the tongue. After orchestration, it rolls off my word processor like bad a Xerox copy. But sometimes, if I’m lucky, it has a photocopy’s immediacy. I am 47 generations away from the original, and now […]
21 December 2007- Craps
Because they had been drinking Wild Turkey into the night and because they had no dice, they used two sets of six fire ants, counting only those that landed on their backs, and letting the pot build on zeros and ones. Shooting craps with fire ants was a tedious, sometimes painful process. The ants refused […]
20 December 2007
