Early Summer Poetry Slam #4: The Messenger

Grackle on the sill
Questions raised by gold-rimmed eyes
falling on waiting ears

Fall of the Crow Tree

Two houses over from mine, and you couldn't miss it.  It had to be the tallest tree in the immediate neighborhood.  I had a great view of it from my kitchen windows.  My next door neighbor's house blocked the view of the bottom half of the tree, but it towered over the roofline.  The tip of the tree must have been about ten feet higher than the next highest one beside it.

The species is unknown to me.  All I could tell was that it was straight and slender, probably as a result of being surrounded by other trees.  The top of it was sharp, the few branches angled gracefully upward into a fairly compact radius.

The best part of that tree was the birds, I think.  Very often a small group, usually five or so, would alight on the top branches and hang there swaying in the breezes.  Robins and starlings, maybe, but definitely some crows.  The crows looked wonderfully portentous on cloudy days with wind.  The black outlines stood out against the sky like sheet music for some delightfully scary opera.  My guess is the view was spectacular.

Most mornings I made sure to take a look at the crow tree.  The tip a cathedral spire on a golden sunny day.

The Crow Tree was a landmark, and I hoped it would be around for many more years.  Nature had other ideas, in the form of  a sucker punch landed during a severe windstorm earlier this month.  I looked out the window one morning, and it was gone.  I did a double take.  Yep, gone.  Not all the way gone; when it blew over, it got hung up on an adjacent tree.  I suspect my neighbors haven't quite figured out how to remove it yet.  It was a tree most tall.  Still is, even in repose, languishing in the arms of another.

I can see it there, atilt and wondering, and I wonder myself at what the crows must think.

Monday Sunshine: Songs from Shingled Ridgelines

Dogwoods, scent blooming.

Sing awake our lonely souls, 

Roof virtuoso!

Monday Sunshine: Haiku, Shameless Wildlife Edition

At ease on the post,

Seagull shits in broad daylight.

He cares not, why should I?

Random Tuesday Thoughts: GumboIsAVirgin Edition

Can you believe it? I mean, seriously, really? It's time for "Random Tuesday Thoughts" courtesy of the UnMom, which many of you (i.e. all of you) have heard of. Apaprently, everyone except me. 'Cause in all the time I have been blogging, I've never done the random Tuesday thing. Never. Nope. Nada. Which means (gasp) i'mavirgin that this is the first time I have done it. So grab a button, or something, and get started!

DISH SOAP: I have a big bottle of Palmolive dish soap sitting on the edge of my sink. One of the big clear ones filled with green goo. I bought it because I was in a hurry, needed soap and forgot to consider that the word "Palmolive" gives me the creeps. I don't know why, it just sounds vaguely unwholesome.

FIX THE DAMN THING ALREADY: One of my neighbors has a job that apparently requires him to leave by 5:00 in the f*&%in' morning. I say f*&%in' because he also has a car that has a muffler that sounds like Snuffaluffagus (did I spell that right? who cares, I'm tired) with a head cold having a seizure. Seriously, I'm thinking about lending him some greenbacks, tell him to have that thing looked at. If it isn't broken, then he should be smacked around a bit. Dammit.

STR-STR-STR-STREAMING AUDIO: I listen to my favorite radio station quite a lot, by streaming it over my laptop through a wireless rig to my speakers. It sounds GREAT, mostly, except for the ti-ti-ti-times the au-au-au-audio player software gets the hi-hi-hi-hiccups. Then, it's just weird, I mean, really we-we-we-weird. I thought it must just be the beer talking, but it happens mostly in the mornings while I eat breakfast. And I don't drink beer for breakfast. Very often.

KIDS AND THE DARNDEST THINGS #1: A while back, me and the Wee Lass were bellied up to the dinner table, shoving calories down our necks, when the subject of music came up. In the course of our conversation, I was asking her what kind of music she liked. We sang a little bit of the Spongebob Campfire Song:

Hilarity ensued. Then, I asked her if she liked to "shake her booty", and emphasized the question by shaking mine with gusto. Wee Lass looked at me with all seriousness and said "Daddy, don't dance while you eatin'". Hmm. Good advice, indeed.

KIDS AND THE DARNDEST THINGS #2: Watching "The Little Mermaid", the wedding scene on the ship, where it is discovered that the evil Ursula has taken on the guise of Ariel. When Ursula is found out, reverting back to her octopus form, Wee Lass said: "Why would anybody want to marry someone so ugly?" I don't know, sweetie, money?

WTF Files: While looking for something else, I found this image in my files:

I don't know, man...

ITS FUNNY BECAUSE ITS STUPID: Not sure exactly why, but the following video makes me laugh until I nearly wet myself:

So there you have it, my very first Random Tuesday Thoughts, Gumbo-style! I'd say get over to Keely's and give thanks and drop some comment luv! Happy Tuesday!