Old Signs of Life in Idaho

A Mask to Hide Behind

Another one of my roof-tin masks.

And another - I like this guy alot.

Reflections on a Painting

Photograph of a part of one of my finger-paintings on grocery bag paper, behind glass with reflections of the office and window behind.

Poem - New Love in the Evening

Here's a draft of a new poem I'm working on and hope to submit to a journal eventually.

New Love in the Evening

The sky, a scrim of damask;
The bay a pulsing sheet of satinet.
We lay among the whispering sea oats
Sharing smiles and tentative touches
In sunset's sudden brilliance.

No tsunami of salty passions
No urgent struggle and tangle of limbs,
No shuddering of the earth beneath us -
Just a gentle convergence of warm awareness,
Like an imperceptible shifting of sands before the breeze,
A stirring and swelling of innocent desire
Sweetly buoyed by a slowly rising tide of nascent love.

I bent to kiss your lovely hands,
Surprised by your tears as you leaned into my arms,
While the new moon sailed above,
Stately as a swan,
Attended by a skein of twinkling stars.

[Update: submitted to Poetry Magazine on 1/13/2010]

Tin Masks in My Office

Tin mask I made titled "Dr. Wilkerson's Palsy", after my former dentist who suffered a bad bout of Bell's palsy and retired shortly thereafter.

Another one of my masks, untitled.

A Countryman's Year

A Countryman's Year - births and deaths of animals and extended family members; planting and harvesting, hardships and Hallelujahs; the day to day struggle to survive, and perhaps to prosper for a season.  This original waltz melody perhaps captures the feeling of a year experienced by a country family.  This simple piece of sheet music has been viewed over 12,000 times in the past 24 months.

A Countryman's Year

Look North, to the Winter

Another front from the north brings icy blasts into Florida.  Temps may dip into the high teens in my area.  Mind the water pipes!

Milk of Human Kindness - Poem

The milk of human kindness

Is poured out on the floor.
The angels of compassion
Have all bolted out the door.
The fear of unbelievers
Glides blithely down the stairs
And fouls each verdant Eden
In this world of earthly cares.
Eve has jilted Adam
Abel is slain by Cain -
The serpent in the garden
Walks amongst us all, again.

There'll Be Dancing

Will be rehearsing this week with other musicians for a special contra dance on Saturday.  Not the usual band; this one a pick-up band, of sorts.  All friends.

Sign of the Times

I hear it has been snowing up north.

Bacon

Just say'n, y'all.

When Hell Freezes Over

I can't report that all the water pipes burst in the night, or that my citrus crop was ruined (don't have one).  But it got cold last night.  Was at a friend's until after midnight and returned home to a house that was 45F inside.  Likewise this a.m.  The high today will be 46F so I don't expect the house to warm up at all today.

Poem Written During a Staff Meeting

Parchments and palimpsests
Hiding in dark cloisters:
Dust and knowledge gathered,
Past and present sleeping.

Who will stir these dry leaves,
Feel the faded velum?
Trace these timeless stories,
Tell these tales of ages?

Health Care, Recession, Terrorism, Unemployment - Google Trends

As 2010 begins, two issues occupy the limelight in the nation's public discourse. I did a 6-month comparison of Google search volume of the terms "health care" and "recession" in the United States.  The blue line corresponds to volume of searches for "health care"; the red line, "recession".  Here are the results:

One might conclude that Americans are thinking or worrying more about health care than they are the "recession" economy, especially in the last half of 2009. Let's throw in another term, "terrorism" just for comparison. Again, blue="health care", red="recession"; orange="terrorism".

Again, "health care" is generating more search traffic. "Terrorism" is down there with "recession". Lets see how "unemployment" (green line, below) measures up to these three:

In this comparison, "unemployment" generated the most search traffic, and was consistently high for the entire 6-month period. Roughly 10% of American workers are unemployed. Roughly 10% of Americans have no health care. These two issues are the more immediate worries to families and individuals - while "terrorism" and "recession" appear to be background issues.