tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38027972125468105332024-03-04T22:56:28.895-08:00SONOMA WRITERS ALLIANCEWriters of Fiction, Essay, Poetry and Memoir
Live and Write in Sonoma, CaliforniaSonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.comBlogger374125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-3292022250508660182017-08-01T05:30:00.000-07:002017-08-01T05:30:10.512-07:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">A Cowboy in Spring</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">(Love in a Pick-up Truck)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">by Beverly Koepplin</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Come on, cowboy, come on down from that line cabin,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">ride your trusty old Ford steed into town,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">pick up a new Stetson, soft fawn suede, at the mercantile,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and grab a shirt off the rack, pearl buttons shining in the sun.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Dust off your jeans and polish your boots to newness,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">saunter over to the saloon and breathe in your freedom,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">free from winter snows, cold days and colder nights,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">bawling cows, stiff joints, and solitary hours without end.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Grab yourself a stool and order that first draft of beer,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">swirl it in around in your mouth, swallow the nectar.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ah, for a couple of bucks, paradise is found at the beat-up bar,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and the future suddenly looks like spring and summer and love.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Come on, cowboy, I am waiting down at the end of the bar,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">waiting for you to thaw out, waiting for you to find your feet,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">waiting for you to unwind from off that stool and walk my way,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">waiting for a glance that catches me and holds me tight.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Come on, cowboy, I want to try on your new hat,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">dance a two-step with you as Elvis croons from inside the jukebox,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">wink up at you to say “Hi, cowboy. It’s been a while.”,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">feel the stiffness in your shirt, smell beer and leather and the springtime.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Come on, cowboy, swing me around and dance me out the door.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">One last twirl, then a quick murmur to “wait right there, darling”,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">you go to get your pick up and drive it right up on the sidewalk,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and you say “Come on in, sweetheart.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">It’s a good day for love in a pick up.”</span></div>
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***<br />
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Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-59405818855384876402017-07-31T05:30:00.000-07:002017-07-31T05:30:15.843-07:00<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Ego</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px; text-align: center;">
by Lucille Hamilton</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Think how big their egos must be</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">that their name is known even</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">in villages that grow cotton or rice</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">for a living, or that depend</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">on the diminishing fish that are</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">hauled from the swelling sea.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Never before in our known earth's history</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">has there been such power among so few.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Is it the power of the head, the thinking power,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">or is it the understanding compassion of the heart?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Who has both,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">that can lead us wisely through the extremes</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of our extreme creations</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">that involve us all</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">in decisions that mean life</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">or death - for us all</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in our shared lives' experience</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">here on this beautiful, giving earth?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> ***</span><br />
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Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-86162779136501259042017-07-24T05:00:00.000-07:002017-07-24T05:00:00.541-07:00<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Contemplation of Unlabeled Wine</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span>by Joan R Brady</div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I have always known it to be thought of as...</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">potentially...dangerous...and possibly exotic...</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">A one of a kind created by an artist’s hand...</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">crimson...dark in its bottle...</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Tinted green glass...some thought given when chosen...</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">cork fitted tightly in place...level with slim opening...</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">waiting to be popped...and pored into a glass...</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">But when sipped...there could be rancid taste...or...perhaps...</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a head-reeling sweetness clouding your senses...</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And if offered by a known vintner...promising...”fresh filled ...from my private keg...</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">”you must either decline...and...probably...</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Offend...or taste in front of eyes that assume you will consume all of it...and smile with delight...past mouth and stomach processing...</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And if your pronouncement is contradicted...if that does </span></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">happen...smile and shrug and say... “well I don’t know too much about this kind of thing...but I do know its taste is memorable.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> ***</span><br />
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Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-82194588332120850502017-07-17T05:00:00.000-07:002017-07-17T05:00:11.063-07:00<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;">A Splash of Blood - John Field</span><br />
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<div style="color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>The crime scene of this Raymond Chandler thriller</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>Is an avenue in Beverly Hills lined with palm trees,</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>Pink-stucco villas, mansions and cobblestone courtyards.</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>It's midnight on a warm summer evening in 1949.</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>Suspect number one is Gino,</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>A big-assed, pig-eyed, sleazy-hearted gambler</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>On the skids who needs a lot of dough, fast.</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>Gino and his lo and behold drop-dead gorgeous wife</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>Lorraine are sipping martinis in their living room</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>With Jake and Bernice, a mismatched odd couple</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>Who live next door. Jake never had a music lesson</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>When he was a kid, never kicked a soccer ball.</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>He spent his youth practicing his hands</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>Against furry little animals he fondled</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>And then killed. He's suspect number two.</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>Suspect number three is whoever's hiding behind the curtain.</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>Bernice's face is as plain as a plastic table cloth,</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>Her heart as closed as the innermost ring</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>Of a redwood tree,</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>Her smile as tight as a hundred year old</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>Morning Glory seed</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>And her eyes as empty as two knot holes in a fence.</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Why did Jake marry her?</b></div>
<div style="color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Because she's got the money.</b></div>
<div style="color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Bernice never lets on that she knows</b></div>
<div style="color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Jake is in love with Lorraine and why not</b></div>
<div style="color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Who wouldn't be is the way she reasons it out</b></div>
<div style="color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Pragmatically because Lorraine is blonder,</b></div>
<div style="color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Younger, sexier and slimmer than she is.</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Buried alive by Lorraine’s perfume,</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
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<b>Jake lights Bernice’s cigarette,</b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Sizes Gino up and decides </b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>To put his lights out forever.</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Gino, meanwhile, has similar plans:</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>After he bumps Jake off </b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>He’ll divorce Lorraine, marry Bernice </b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>And live with the hag</b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Until she pays off his gambling debts.</b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Bernice, as usual, sees through Gino’s plot;</b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>All week she’s been coming apart </b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>With victim-sickness, weeping incessantly </b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Each time she thinks about</b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Lorraine’s fantastic curves. </b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: 12px;">"</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: medium; font-weight: bold;">The things lust drives me to do,” she tells herself, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>As with a sigh she lies down on a couch</b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>And blows obscene smoke rings in the air,</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Her face lost beneath heavy layers of skin</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>As she hums an old Irish folk tune so mournfully </b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Lorraine’s standard poodle Buster whines with pity, </b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Wishing Bernice would disappear, afraid she’ll stay.</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Suddenly the lights go out like electric tablets dissolving</b></div>
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<b>In a glass of inky darkness----shots ring out, </b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Two bodies fall.</b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Moments later Lorraine’s butler James</b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Switches the lights back on again,</b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Calmly pushes the curtain aside</b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Behind which he’s been concealing himself</b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>And wipes a splash of blood off Lorraine’s </b></div>
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<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Beautiful Persian rug.</b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Then drags Gino and Jake out of the living room </b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>And deposits their bodies in the hall.</b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;"><b>“</b></span><b>Will that be all, ma’am?” he asks politely.</b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Lorraine, gift-wrapped like a present </b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>In a scarlet and gold Ralph Lauren gown,</b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Waves James away and with gentle urgency</b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;"><b> </b></span><b>Embraces Bernice who nervously fingers </b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>The gat she’s concealing</b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>In a fold of her frumpy dress. </b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;"><b>“</b></span><b>I didn’t have a plan,” she tells Lorraine,</b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;"><b>“</b></span><b>It was just something that happened.”</b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;"><b> “</b></span><b>Hush, my love,” Lorraine coos<br />
</b></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>As she leads Bernice in a fancy little dance step </b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Across the floor in the general direction </b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<b>Of her bedroom.</b></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
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<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
<b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>***</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-72927071324994185772017-07-10T05:00:00.000-07:002017-07-10T05:00:14.976-07:00<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; min-height: 23px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> SERENDIPITY</span></b></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<b>by Nancy Martin</b></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; min-height: 23px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; text-indent: 36px;">
Laurie was over the moon. Her gorgeous and charming boyfriend Jared, had invited her to his very important work-related party. He must - she reasoned - be getting serious, to have asked her to be his date to such a prestigious event. Jared planned to introduce her to all of his co-workers and others involved with his industry. The party would be black-tie, held in the grand ballroom of the ritziest hotel in town. His suggestion to take her shopping for an evening dress was too good to be true. She could barely believe her good luck.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>When they had a mutual day off, the couple drove to the city for a romantic lunch. Pleasantly satiated with oysters, cold sauvignon blanc and warm sunshine on the deck by the bay, they set off to find the perfect dress. In a mellow mood, Jared told Laurie not to look at price tags. “The sky’s the limit today.”</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Taking their time, they meandered in and out of small fashion boutiques and large department stores, looking for the exact right thing. Stepping out of the dressing room in an exclusive designer shop, she modeled a clingy pale blue sheath dress for Jared. The shade of blue, emphasized her large sapphire eyes. They both knew that this was it. Laurie was thrilled when Jared told her how sexy she looked in the slim, blue dress - “My friends will be totally knocked out.” Then he took her home, asking her to put on the dress again, only to see how quickly he could remove it.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>On the morning of the long-anticipated event, Laurie visited a luxurious beauty spa – courtesy of Jared – and got the works. She emerged, feeling great and knowing that she looked her best. That night, Jared arrived right on time to pick her up. Raving about how great she looked, they went on to the hotel. In the car, he told her stories of boyhood escapades with his best friend Matt. She would, he felt sure, really like Matt’s girlfriend, Nora.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
The ballroom was every bit as elegant as Laurie had imagined. Tuxedoed waiters passed delectable hors d’oeuvres and tall crystal flutes of bubbling champagne. When Jared elbowed her and nodded in the direction of the door, they both gasped as Matt and Nora made their entrance. Spotting them, Laurie was horrified and tears filled her eyes. Nora was wearing a dress identical to her own, the ultimate social embarrassment. As the couple approached, the girls silently took a hard look at each other. Then Nora – throwing her arms around Laurie – began laughing hysterically as she said, “What a co-ink-e-dink, I need a drink! Linking arms, they confidently strode toward the bar in their brightly colored spike heels, leaving the boyfriends, standing speechless and wide-eyed in amazement. </div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
***</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-54544979213619967992017-07-03T05:00:00.000-07:002017-07-03T05:00:08.057-07:00<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">FINAL FLIGHT DELAYED</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
by Beverly Koepplin</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">For eight days she laid in the hospital bed.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Eight days of her life went missing in that stillness.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">If she moved, she does not remember.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">If she shed tears or laughed, she does not remember.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Her watchers said sometimes her eyelids flickered,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And one of her thin hands </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">moved restlessly across her body.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Otherwise, like a cocoon, she laid there </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">waiting for life to come,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Not even knowing she was waiting, just being.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">On the ninth day, she woke up, facing the window</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">where a tree bloomed against a beautiful blue sky</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and the light was so bright it hurt her reborn eyes,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">but her room was strangely dim </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and the air smelled stale.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">She turned her head to find she was not alone.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">A flock of angels crowded around the foot of her bed.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">She thought “this is the end, my time has come”,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and she gazed at their hands </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">outstretched to beckon her on.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Half rising, she looked closer at the host of angels.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Their halos were crumpled tin foil </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">their wings made of thunder clouds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">She stopped moving in her bed </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">and pointed her finger back at them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Leave. Hell already has enough people. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I am not going today.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">On the tenth day, my friend told me this story</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and, with a quirky smile that lit up her wan face</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and spoke to the sense of humor </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">she had had all of her life,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">added that she guessed</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">her final flight had been delayed</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> ***</span><br />
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Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-18463072827557574762017-06-26T05:00:00.000-07:002017-06-26T05:00:15.151-07:00<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72.6px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.4px;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Herewith There was Frost Last Night</span></div>
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by Lucille Hamilton</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There was frost last night;</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72.6px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">my fingers knew it even before</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72.6px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I left my warm house</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72.6px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to go get the groceries.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">At that early hour,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72.6px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">it was a benediction of white</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72.6px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as if the heavens wanted to remind you </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72.6px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.4px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of the outline of earth's beauty.</span></div>
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***</div>
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Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-20650546095359178412017-06-19T05:30:00.000-07:002017-06-25T16:28:54.773-07:00<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;">The Phantom - John Field</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ_VR-ciBJtqyFgBFYOXs73iSWMokildzU4KgwGi09vu2dS7bWFNMytUrvu4DHhW2w2RM6rQNQcmwHgC4Y9v72Kd8YdlWcMKtIrfn-dfu7lzJV_-9v-LE5TdWskgjVKJCbWGS0I2bl7Ec/s1600/The+Phantom+-+JF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ_VR-ciBJtqyFgBFYOXs73iSWMokildzU4KgwGi09vu2dS7bWFNMytUrvu4DHhW2w2RM6rQNQcmwHgC4Y9v72Kd8YdlWcMKtIrfn-dfu7lzJV_-9v-LE5TdWskgjVKJCbWGS0I2bl7Ec/s1600/The+Phantom+-+JF.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
<i> “I saw your add in the paper. This phantom you’re selling. Is he still available?”</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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“Yes he is,” I said. “You want him, you got him.”</div>
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<i> “I live just north of the west side school. I’ll meet you there in a few minutes. Bring the guy. I’ll check him out, maybe make you an offer.”</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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“That ain’t the way it works. You want him, yes or no.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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<i> “I’ll be in the playground by the swings. What do you call your phantom?”</i></div>
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“His name is Albert,” I said.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>“Is he docile?”</i></div>
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“What do you want, a poodle/” I said, trying to hide the disgust in my voice as I hung up the phone, for the first time having misgivings about selling Albert.</div>
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</div>
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My bicycle, a rusty old Schwinn caked in mud and draped in cobwebs, groaned as I wheeled it off the back porch, hopped on and headed up Mound Street. Surprisingly, traffic was exceedingly heavy. It had been months since I’d last seen a car on this street, but now I had to wait ten minutes to make a left turn while a steady stream of trucks, motorcycles and horseback riders paraded by. </div>
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</div>
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While we were waiting for the traffic to clear Albert started complaining about the way I was treating him. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>“How come you’re doing this to me?”</b> he whined.</div>
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<br /></div>
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“Because I’m tired of all the trouble you’ve caused me.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>“Such as?” </b></div>
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“The shoplifting spree you authorized me to go on at the PX when I was at Fort Ord. My God, if the army had caught me they would have court-martialed me.”</div>
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<b> “But they didn’t catch you,” </b>Albert shot back, warming to his role as provocateur. <b>‘Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy the thrill of swiping all of that stuff, especially the sport jacket.”</b></div>
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I had to admit he had a point, but he was a bad influence and I was determined to get rid of him. “And what about Phyllis?” I said. ‘I’m so ashamed of the way I treated her, the lies you told me to tell her.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>“Stop complaining, You got what you wanted.”</b><br />
</div>
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When we arrived at the playground I spotted Albert’s future owner nervously pacing back and forth by the swings. He was an old man----overweight, bald, slovenly. I got off my bike and walked towards him.</div>
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“<i>Where’s Albert?” </i>he asked.</div>
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“Where do you think?” I said. “He’s invisible. There’s no way in hell I can show him to you. That’s not the way phantoms operate. Where you gonna keep him?”</div>
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<i>“In my garage.”</i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
“I’ll need to take a look before I sign him over to you. The place better be warm. Albert likes it warm.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>“How much you want for him?”</i></div>
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<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
This question bothered me because I hadn’t put a price on Albert. Ten dollars? A thousand dollars? I had no idea what he was worth, so I said nothing as we left the playground and walked towards the slob’s house. Now I was beginning to have serious misgivings about selling my soul’s identical twin. Sure, I needed the money, however much the guy would pay for him, but in a strange sort of way Albert and I had become friends over the years, even though he kept getting me in trouble. How could this guy take my place in his affection? True, we weren’t buddies or anything like that, but Albert and I understood each other. The time of the nightmarish battles we’d fought had long passed and now most of the time a sense of peaceful toleration between us prevailed. </div>
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<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
However, as we entered the garage once again I heard Albert cry out, <b>“You can’t do this to me!” </b></div>
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</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
He’s right, I told myself as a crashing weight of guilt fell on me, as if from heaven. I can’t sell him to this freak.</div>
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</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
Usually I forget my dreams when I wake up, but this one stuck in my thoughts for days begging me to decipher it. A week later I recalled a poem Wordsworth wrote about a phantom’s frightening, dreamlike specter:</div>
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“She was a phantom of delight</div>
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When first she glean’d upon my sight,</div>
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A lovely apparition sent</div>
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To be a moment’s ornament,</div>
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A dancing shape, an image gay,</div>
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To haunt, to startle, and waylay.” </div>
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</div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
Wordworth’s poem reminded me how elusive, mysterious and seductive phantoms are, how they hover in our imagination like the fading memory of a perfect kiss or a religious vision or a crime we’ve committed, forever inching their way towards the vanishing point of our recollection but never quite arriving there.</div>
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<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal;">
Perhaps that’s why my unconscious mind invented Albert. Because I needed a scapegoat to blame for every weird feeling or thought or desire I’d ever passionately felt. Why else would he make evil seem so attractive and attainable, and his betrayal so damned? </div>
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The most frightening movie I watched when I was a boy was “The Phantom of the Opera,” a film that introduced me to a very scary idea--that a villain, in this case a disfigured composer played by Claude Rains, could simultaneously create sympathy and horror in my heart. Perhaps that’s why Albert sleeps in my unconscious mind each day and then wakes up and roams around in my dreams at night, his persona calling attention to my fantasies, anxieties and desires so skillfully that I tried to sell him to a stranger.</div>
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***<br />
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Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-86810006062868561862017-06-12T05:30:00.000-07:002017-06-12T05:30:03.346-07:00<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Ode to the Bumble Bee - Robyn Makaruk</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Hurry humble bumblebee to harvest your fill </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 64.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">From the flowers outside my window</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Carry nectar back to your Queen</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Reward for this hard work will be </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The survival of your species</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 64.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">That you are the slower sort </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You go about your business </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 64.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Humming a cool, mellow bass.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For every one of your foraging trips </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You deliver seventy-five percent </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 64.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Of your body weight in precious cargo</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 64.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">That’s what I call marvelous!</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 64.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">You are a gentle one.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 64.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I know, for I’ve offered my hand to </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 64.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Many of your kin, fallen into a back yard pool</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 64.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Gratitude shown by dry wings flying back</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 64.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">To the important work you do.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 64.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Now, heed this warning.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 64.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Just today your species has been removed </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 64.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">From the Endangered List by the</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 64.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">New powers in government</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 64.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Future protections may not be there for you</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 64.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">All I can offer is encouragement </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 64.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">To never stop or change </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 64.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">What you do so perfectly.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 64.8px; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Spread the word my darling</b>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> ***</span><br />
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Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-21771191705700766102017-06-05T05:30:00.000-07:002017-06-05T05:30:28.821-07:00<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Normandy - Joan R Brady</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfN4SJcxNdiUjPMhORJux7SR9KfGacX0h5uxFDovIzC2UBhZcfyAEN5fIPwJcTWXrG1Mr5ibW4ax7ILibzEfWXRSWudPz2ITlFiKn3_WeZk2h-AGhv1JOpR2cwO7ZCBXz6nEi3uojKrkk/s1600/Normandy%252C+France+++July+2009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfN4SJcxNdiUjPMhORJux7SR9KfGacX0h5uxFDovIzC2UBhZcfyAEN5fIPwJcTWXrG1Mr5ibW4ax7ILibzEfWXRSWudPz2ITlFiKn3_WeZk2h-AGhv1JOpR2cwO7ZCBXz6nEi3uojKrkk/s1600/Normandy%252C+France+++July+2009.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Normandy, France: July 2009...</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A battlefield...D-Day...World War II...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">it was part of my tour’s itinerary.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I didn’t choose it. I never would have chosen it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I don’t choose war...</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">but it was part of the tour...and I had paid for it...</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">so I went.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It was our last stop before our northern destination Two...three...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">maybe four o’clock in the afternoon... </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">row after row of tombstones...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">filling acres of field...ending in a jagged line </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">facing the Ocean. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Toward its western edge...stood a single marble monument filled with ashes of the unknown...the unidentifiable. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Am sure somebody knew </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">who they were when they signed up...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">or when they were told </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">they had to go for all those reasons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Walking among/between the graves...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">careful not to step on any. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So many men’s names. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Don’t know if there’s a woman there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Most died the first day they arrived...June 6, 1944. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was in nursery school then...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">San Francisco...there were air-raids...</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">we all wore identification tags. Down the hill </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">from where we lived...you could see the docks. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I remember the gray ships there...one behind the other...two, three, four rows of them...waiting in fog...smelled like this place.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This place... so quiet...always...after death it is so quiet. Back then, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">what did it look like? </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I imagine black and white newsreel film clips. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">(Theaters always ran them before the main feature.) </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">What must the sounds have been? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">History tells us...World War II was a necessary war. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We were attacked. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Fascism had to be stopped. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Hitler had to be stopped. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes we must fight back. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes we must stand up to what is happening to us...otherwise we are dead </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">anyway. French, Irish, Chippewa...all these parts of me know this...but I also know... </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">always...in the end...there is only death...and silence. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That part is forever the same.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">All those tombstones...all l those lost lives...I wonder what this world </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">would have been if they had lived? Would you exist? Would I exist? </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps...we would have all become someone else...</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">toss the dice. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">What would this history we are living now have been if they had lived? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So many questions...so many unending...accumulating...questions. </span><span style="font-size: 18px;"> <span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;"> -</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;"> ***</span><br />
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Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-67448104038822329742017-05-29T05:30:00.000-07:002017-05-31T11:31:49.313-07:00<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The Ticking Clock - Russ Bedord</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_vGWrpBUJzAPs_zbL6yPHa00sW4mOHzh2f0vlAs-yzPrUxrIfyHxGcWXHsF_uDUQBUL5upe0N6Shyi8rufJMqJ9ne_GxLn8sfr3eXn83j6DlT4zQ6LX_4klea9E215efqsoJ5PcLD5LY/s1600/The+Ticking+Clock-+RB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_vGWrpBUJzAPs_zbL6yPHa00sW4mOHzh2f0vlAs-yzPrUxrIfyHxGcWXHsF_uDUQBUL5upe0N6Shyi8rufJMqJ9ne_GxLn8sfr3eXn83j6DlT4zQ6LX_4klea9E215efqsoJ5PcLD5LY/s1600/The+Ticking+Clock-+RB.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">George was driving five teenagers down a a country road on a cold, snowy, night. I was on the left side of the back seat and couldn't see because the windows were fogged—probably because the bodily heat from five condensed on the cold windows.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Apparently George couldn't see, either. He lost control and the car spun 'round and 'round on the icy road. It finally stopped spinning and slowly edged forward. Visibility was probably still bad because the front end of the car began to drop, and soon pointed downward, sinking into a pond beside the road.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As we sank, I shouted: “In the front—when we are underwater, open the window or door and swim to the surface! There is a pocket of air back here. We can last longer.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We sank, and they probably escaped that way. Rich, on my right, panicked. I told him to take a breath and hold it, grabbed him by his collar and belt, forced him underwater, over the front seat and out the front window.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I filled my lungs from the pocket of air and followed, then swam for what might be the surface. The water was so cold, it compressed my chest, creating a strong desire to breathe, but I dared not. Finally, after a few seconds, air! But the bank was so step, there was no way to climb out.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Fortunately, George was there, hanging on to the broken post of the barbed wire fence that had been pulled into the water by the car. Though the fence was broken, up above it was still anchored. The only way up was to climb that barbed wire. George went up first. Bloody hands were a fair trade for survival. I followed.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We sat on the edge of the road, wet clothes freezing. I was not saying anything, but numbly thinking death by drowning was escaped only to face death from freezing. I imagine George was feeling the same.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We spied a building alongside the pond and sought its shelter. It was a hay barn. Pulling hay down around ourselves to stop from freezing, it absorbed the cold water and slowed the heat leaking from our bodies.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I don't know if I had drowsed, or how much time had passed. I became aware of sounds, voices, and lights flashing through the cracks of the board walls of the barn.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I exited the barn door. I saw he flashing lights of a police car and an officer flashing a light down into the water.</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“There seem to be no survivors,” he said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“We survived,” I said.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">George and I were quickly retrieved from the barn, stripped, and wrapped in warmth. On the way to the hospital, we finally talked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Why only us?” George asked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Why hadn't the clock stopped ticking for us? I don't know,” I said. “Maybe because we weren't afraid to die.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> *** </span></div>
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Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-22492727804656657562017-05-22T05:30:00.000-07:002017-06-03T17:57:48.220-07:00<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;">The Population Bomb - John Field</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Belief in tomorrow</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Demands all of our fidelity</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Because the future lacks experience,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">No year is twice the same</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Or has occurred before,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Yet already our great-great </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Grandchildren</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Have begun to plague our thoughts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">How will they survive when crowds,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Like cages, enclose them?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Or take sweeping turns</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">On earth’s dance floor</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">As we did when we were young?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Best to let the air out of the moon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And watch its old scarred face </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Whiz off, shrivel in the absence</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Of its vanished light</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And sink into the tides</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">On Moonlight Bay.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Then turn as one often does</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">In situations like this</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">To other thoughts, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Such as what the sky</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And all of its impurities </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Would look like</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Had it not been polluted</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">By a right-wing conspiracy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">When was the last time</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">We thought about <i>that?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Well, what is there to do?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Sign petitions? Why?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">One voice in a billion</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Has the same impact</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">As a drop of rain </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Falling on the ocean.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">But imagine </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">What would happen </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">If a billion drops</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Fell on our president’s</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Coiffured hairdo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> ***</span><br />
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Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-36723041328345545132017-05-15T05:00:00.000-07:002017-05-15T05:00:09.850-07:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Dazzled by the Body</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">by Michael Miley</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">All my life I’ve been dazzled by the body, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">by the whiskering face in the reflecting silver,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">by the intelligent, eager willingness of hands, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">by the knowing, hardy mobility of feet, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">by the warm cloak of the torso, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">which wraps the heart</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in a flesh disguise, so the beating</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in its chest is like stealthy footsteps</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in a radio thriller: heard, but not seen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">What is this creature? Who shaped its shape?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">How did I come to inhabit such a house? </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Each morning, I step into a kind of cloud</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to wash its face, shampoo its hair,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">christen the soft vessel―a boat made of hide―</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">with a bottle of rain, and sail into the day. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Each day I debark on the shores</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of a green world, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">dreaming of what I seek, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">but more amazed by what I find,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and the body is the sponge</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">from which I drink the cider of life.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">How is this possible?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">How is this sea-sponge </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">filled with gold water?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; min-height: 22px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Yet, the novel times </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I’ve buzzed out of the flesh,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I know I’m more like a swarm of bees</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">than the hive that’s hung on the tree of bones,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and the deeper dazzlement is yet to come</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">when I kiss this honey world good night</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and fly from this house</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -0.9px;">o’er the road to pure daylight.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal; margin-left: 50.5px; text-indent: -0.9px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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***<br />
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Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-1042176305399404552017-05-08T05:30:00.000-07:002017-05-31T10:35:08.238-07:00<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Listening Pills - Janet Wentworth</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ECPP0TxpSZmAN1pNo9gp6oUoMwLAKa2gqFtuNWORCV821r9ojDAGTFt5jgIyXV3yAdO_rXr78_wOO5C_I5s2JGoWv3PeoA5T9b3kYacTrBWRyaYWd3DeDRl5uCwZBjH2ql7-aDa0lhI/s1600/Listening+Pill-+JW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ECPP0TxpSZmAN1pNo9gp6oUoMwLAKa2gqFtuNWORCV821r9ojDAGTFt5jgIyXV3yAdO_rXr78_wOO5C_I5s2JGoWv3PeoA5T9b3kYacTrBWRyaYWd3DeDRl5uCwZBjH2ql7-aDa0lhI/s1600/Listening+Pill-+JW.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">listening pills </span></b></span></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and the world would </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">be different place</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">we take tranquilizers</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">drugs to calm </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">drugs to make us happy</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">listening pills</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">could cure the feelings</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of isolation & loneliness</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">just think</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">the president of Iran</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">takes a listening pill</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">he understands </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">why Israel is there</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">just think</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">President Trump USA</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">takes a listening pill</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">he understands</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“what in the world</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> its all about”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">no need</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">nuclear energy</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 141.8px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">listens to</span><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">birds instead of bombs!</span></b><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"> ***</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2bq7J9k20xrv7fNtcm61jvTOvWsvXQ8LyhH4KPFXBH2CVxXFhueJE6Mn-enNEVJR4Y4CIM00TtEprd9mstILEwUDmRklsVu4JIe7hOqW3DptW147lk4dN6wGVe3EA2oSNIv7fzr_r4gM/s1600/Janet+Wentworth+BIO++G2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2bq7J9k20xrv7fNtcm61jvTOvWsvXQ8LyhH4KPFXBH2CVxXFhueJE6Mn-enNEVJR4Y4CIM00TtEprd9mstILEwUDmRklsVu4JIe7hOqW3DptW147lk4dN6wGVe3EA2oSNIv7fzr_r4gM/s400/Janet+Wentworth+BIO++G2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-83593119477066483072017-05-04T05:30:00.000-07:002017-05-04T05:30:35.596-07:00<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The Cave - John Field</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC0LIfC0iZV8Fj_XYzdZySpDkpra5Y4d2v_rwy2gtZqIlCD9K3iW-zOQ338ZPOPEmH8yg_JK6o8H0P1210PaUp7L5OfmONHHHMjcNZC0z_zmUpFdHoMMCOLplLBfNtsYgiEN2LPWzKAPs/s1600/The+Cave+-+JF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC0LIfC0iZV8Fj_XYzdZySpDkpra5Y4d2v_rwy2gtZqIlCD9K3iW-zOQ338ZPOPEmH8yg_JK6o8H0P1210PaUp7L5OfmONHHHMjcNZC0z_zmUpFdHoMMCOLplLBfNtsYgiEN2LPWzKAPs/s1600/The+Cave+-+JF.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">During my summer vacation when I was thirteen I worked as a guide at <i>Wonder Cave</i> in my hometown of Decorah, Iowa. The cave was our local tourist attraction. To get there you had to drive out in the country about 4 miles, past Motter’s Ballroom, our local dancehall emporium, and then down a dirt road another half-mile. The owner of the cave and my employer was Stanley Scarvie, a parsimonious gentleman who also owned a neighborhood grocery store a few blocks from my house. Stanley drove me and my friend Donald Fishback out to the cave and home again each day. He’d drop us off and we’d run the show while he was at his grocery store. Donald was the cashier in the cave’s little gift shop. We sold the usual junk to tourists: postcards of the interior of the cave, ashtrays and other cheap souvenirs. Admission tickets cost 75 cents for adults and 25 cents for kids.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I enjoyed my job, particularly because the cave was very cool and Iowa summers can get very hot. The previous summer I had worked picking vegetables, a crummy job I hated. A couple of times I got dehydrated because my boss, a horrible man named Duff Simmons, called me a slacker if I came in from the fields to get a drink. He loved to sadistically taunt kids and I was too much of chicken to stand up to him or quit my horrible job. I didn’t exactly love my new boss, Stanley Scarvie, but he wasn’t mean or sarcastic like Duff Simmons, just an old tightwad who was always suspicious of Donald and me cheating him when he was back in town running his mom and pop grocery store. Scarvie never caught us stealing from him which we did on a semi-regular basis, whenever we thought we could get away with it. Donald and I rationalized that we were grossly underpaid. After all, what was 25 cents an hour, our wages, compared to the big bucks our boss was raking in? On a busy Saturday or Sunday afternoon we’d sometimes see 50 visitors, so if we forgot to tear off a couple of tickets now and then and also forget to ask a couple to sign our guest book, we’d make up for what Scarvie was underpaying us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">On busy afternoons I’d wait until I had a group of 5 or 10 visitors before we’d enter the cave. I’d be all bundled up in a jacket, but I never got over the thrill of entering the cave and feeling a blast of cold air envelop me. It was like walking into a refrigerator. Scarvie had spent a lot of money lighting the cave, blasting out low passageways with dynamite between the cave’s deep rooms, and building steps from one layer of the cave to the next. I’d start rattling off my speal as we entered the cave, giving the members of my group all the facts and figures: when the cave was discovered, when it was opened, how long and deep it was, everything they needed to know. Always I’d warn them to be careful; the paths were wet and slippery. Hold on to the railings. Stay together. There are low paths, so duck your heads. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The grand finale of our underground tour was the stalactite room, a gigantic pit 150 feet deep filled with hundreds of 10 and 20 foot stalactites surrounding one huge 75 feet tall monster. I never grew tired of catching my first glimpse of that giant. It made the entire journey worthwhile.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Once or twice a month the power would go out and pitch us into complete darkness. I’d quickly turn on my flashlight and reassure everybody that the generator would be up and working in a minute or two, and in the meantime don’t panic. It’s an odd feeling, a confidence builder, to be a boy and lead adults, a confidence builder. Usually everybody stayed calm until the lights came on again, but occasionally a fraidycat trapped in the strange darkness would panic, giving me an unearned feeling of superiority because I held the flashlight. When the tour was over we’d see light filling the cave’s entrance and feel the summer’s heat thaw us out. Then I’d head back to the cave’s gift shop and wait for my next group to assemble. On weekdays I’d often have a lot of time on my hands between tours so I’d read boy’s adventure books or shoot the breeze with Donald.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After I retired from my job there I spent the next couple of summers as a rod man on a surveying crew. A few years later Stanley Scarvie’s health began to fail and he closed the cave. Occasionally when I’d return to Decorah decades later I’d drive out to Wonder Cave and walk around the grounds which through neglect had lost its mystic and turned into an overgrown pasture, and as I’d stare at the cave’s boarded up mouth I’d remember the summer afternoons half a century ago when I’d lead groups into its open jaw and then enjoy the mystery of my journey into its dark and cool belly. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> ***</span></div>
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Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-1339489925869614172017-05-01T05:30:00.000-07:002017-05-01T05:30:00.975-07:00<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Cigar Smoke & Other Temptations - Beverly Koepplin</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyz9Hxj7XTsTev3fInYlUiqraEyxn7W3HMvkNQFe4hA3u5MVeqlSeGbr3iVGEn806W4n1Y9r1-SUNHymXYFbBOOAvJUHuaIfK-BEqJl4tLQqR7EDWk0SdBYyPdfGw6xyMZLSFveXOEpa0/s1600/Cigar+Smoke+%2526+Other+Temptaions+-+BK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyz9Hxj7XTsTev3fInYlUiqraEyxn7W3HMvkNQFe4hA3u5MVeqlSeGbr3iVGEn806W4n1Y9r1-SUNHymXYFbBOOAvJUHuaIfK-BEqJl4tLQqR7EDWk0SdBYyPdfGw6xyMZLSFveXOEpa0/s1600/Cigar+Smoke+%2526+Other+Temptaions+-+BK.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Between the first breath of your life and your last</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">there should be moments that lead you astray,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">beckon you, wrap you around their fingers,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and tug you into corners of intrigue and temptation.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; min-height: 23px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Cigar smoke wafting out of an open door as you go by,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">lamplight glowing on a burnished snifter of brandy</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">held by an elegant man’s hands, long and tapered and strong.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the corner, a black man pounds out ragtime jazz on ivory keys.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">A bedroom with a naked cowboy stretched out on the bed,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">wearing only his boots, a Stetson perched high, and a big smile.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The cigar smoke from his stogie rises like swirling ropes.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the corner, an old radio blares out county and western music.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Cigar smoke blowing mirages over the cabaret tables,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">long white satin gloves, pearls, diamonds and lace,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">whisperings and secret smiles and long looks over martini glasses</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the corner, a sax player blows blue notes up to the velvet sky.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The young man outside the wooden cigar hut in Miami,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">leaning against the wall, indolently smoking one of his cigars.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">lets his eyes wander all over you before raising his cigar in a salute.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the corner, an old man pats out a soft Latin rhythm on his bongos.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Between the first breath of your life and your last,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">you should always be willing to be lead astray</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Your soul learns lessons from its wanderings</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 70.9px; text-indent: 2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">into the smokey corners of intrigue and temptation.</span></div>
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***</div>
Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-743042971286519052017-04-27T05:30:00.000-07:002017-04-27T05:30:24.961-07:00<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">The Dark of the Night -Robyn Makaruk</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNgU_ytHQKAohpzfWGjFyJkY1jvTxOktcPKEb_bm5Nn8ga6IrhGm7ot792kJvEpKIuy_Eq7ACyDG1FBkpMopHi5BDj8w-_s5PkDOFR-y2z3jPMT5pHzGJmDLtpP3ZxPwIHaIMJENKGWaE/s1600/Dark+of+the+Night+3+-+RM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNgU_ytHQKAohpzfWGjFyJkY1jvTxOktcPKEb_bm5Nn8ga6IrhGm7ot792kJvEpKIuy_Eq7ACyDG1FBkpMopHi5BDj8w-_s5PkDOFR-y2z3jPMT5pHzGJmDLtpP3ZxPwIHaIMJENKGWaE/s1600/Dark+of+the+Night+3+-+RM.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here they are</span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: 0.3px;">Phantoms of the night</span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: 0.3px;">Seeping into me like a wet fog</span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: 0.3px;">Before I make it to that</span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: 0.3px;">Blissful, dreamless state</span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: 0.3px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Here they are,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Those phantoms of the night </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Messing with my mind,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Parrying and thrusting swords into </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Benign daytime issues, churning them into</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Rancid butter.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; min-height: 23px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Here they are,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Those phantoms of the night</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">They’re making inner conflicts rise up in the bile tract</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">To surge into full-blown reflux of self absorption,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Causing distrust of my inner vision.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; min-height: 23px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">They are still here, dammit,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Those phantoms of the night, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Ratcheting up the rancor, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Causing a heart rate to climb, teeth to grind</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And bedclothes to twist into a hangman’s </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Noose around my neck.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; min-height: 23px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Then, by a miracle,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Those phantoms of the night</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Do not win the fight.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I float into that interstitial space</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">That closes the door on the battleground</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And opens to a pastoral scene.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; min-height: 23px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">They are no longer here, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Those phantoms of the night</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I can leave this bed of thorns and return </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">To that Ocean of Livingness</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Where once again</span></div>
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</div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 108px; text-indent: 0.3px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I’ll be in tune with the Universe</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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***</div>
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Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-90645276300244389582017-04-24T05:30:00.000-07:002017-04-24T05:30:06.504-07:00<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Who's Talking ? -Dave Lewis</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0grCta3MNE9hDRwr_MWFcZhNaY4p1XDKqvCC5VHS21YqySxBPq9oQbkesviFmyUlRCMklIuS3tPI8fJ1ny2B23kW8OU36GxOe8GAkxtMclKWu0ITPFtJh8l1a0QaSC-7g0EFXRxyU_FI/s1600/Who%2527s+Talking+-+DAL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0grCta3MNE9hDRwr_MWFcZhNaY4p1XDKqvCC5VHS21YqySxBPq9oQbkesviFmyUlRCMklIuS3tPI8fJ1ny2B23kW8OU36GxOe8GAkxtMclKWu0ITPFtJh8l1a0QaSC-7g0EFXRxyU_FI/s1600/Who%2527s+Talking+-+DAL.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I got a job with the <b>TRIUMPH THEATER</b> under unusual circumstances last November. I was walking past the theater a few days after the elections and I noticed that the "Eye" (I) and the "Aitch" (H) in the first word had been removed by some miscreant so it became the <b>TR UMP THEATER</b>. I stopped my trek and went in to advise the manager about this mysterious Scrabble. When he followed me out to view the changes it was a Eureka moment for him. "No wonder there has been a drop in audience and all kinds of vandalism!" I restored the sign for him and it was a relief for the manager as things returned to normal.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was responsible for several dozen chores. Carrying the luggage of visiting showmen was one. I was carrying a big "steamer" trunk with a decal on the side that spelled out in three inch high white letters, “<b><i>The Maestro and Mickey</i></b>”. I guessed it wasn’t clothes I was carrying for some guy, it was props for the show . I had seen the posters in the lobby for several weeks that on February 9th, <b><i>The Maestro and Mickey</i></b> were playing in the theater. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The posters advised about the<b> "greatest ventriloquist in the world"</b> and his puppet, with names the same as on the case I carried. The trunk owner, a tall guy in a black tux and stove-pipe hat, I assumed was the ventriloquist and I assumed that the "steamer" trunk included the puppet. It was a good thing I didn’t have any bets placed on that and shift from my normal, lucrative habit of betting on horses!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When I put down the the trunk I noticed that the trunk had a grill over one end. I guessed that there were going to be a magician's pigeons or rabbits in the trunk; I hoped it wasn’t a snake. A week ago a scary snake had escaped from some act and it required a lot of cleaning up after the scared patrons. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The February 9th show, after a brief start-up act, was announced as the <b>Maestro and Mickey</b> <b>Show.</b> I had carried a pair of stools on-stage but they were empty for five minutes as the audience started to wonder what was the delay. Finally the house lights dimmed and the Maestro came out carrying the puppet everyone figured was Mickey. Mickey had a carry-handle on his back and the Maestro carried him like a piece of luggage to one of the stools and put Mickey on it. Mickey perched there with his head hanging down while the Maestro sat on the other stool about five feet away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Maestro greeted the audience in a sort of weird baritone voice and he waved his hand toward Mickey who then sat up straight and started opening and closing his mouth ... but no sound came out. When everyone looked back to the Maestro he was behind a cloud of cigar smoke from an immense Cuban Corona he was puffing. Everyone laughed because it was obvious that Maestro couldn’t talk for Mickey and actively smoke that cigar.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mickey was finally heard: “Don’t laugh at that damn fool! His cigars smell like ....I’ll say "a wet dog", so I don’t offend any ladies. It is my hardest job trying to teach him to have some manners, he just doesn’t learn. He is a damn good ventriloquist though.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The audience was dumbfounded because while Mickey ranted on about the Maestro’s bad habits the Maestro had his mouth full of the cigar and then a whiskey flask. At first there was a uniform crooning of “How the devil..” from the audience and then a series of loud discussions as different groups raised their voices about how the Maestro’s mouth was either full of cigar or his lips were clamped shut.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Be quiet" yelled Mickey! The Maestro didn’t seem to be drawing a breath or paying much attention while Mickey’s eyes seemed to sparkle in anger so they looked like the glass marbles everyone assumed they were. His face didn’t turn red in anger, it looked like the solid, white-painted plaster everyone assumed it to be. Although his mouth moved up and down his lips remained rigid and no one could see a tongue of any kind. While Mickey ranted on about how rude the Maestro was, the Maestro was busy blowing rings of cigar smoke across the stage. The audience could see how perfectly shaped the rings were as they drifted into the beams of the spot lights.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mickey had little lights in his bow tie that everyone in the audience figured were changing in brightness to mimic the amplitude and tone of his voice. It was easy to imagine that Mickey was some kind of robot. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mickey shut-up for a while and the Maestro started to whistle Beethoven’s Fifth but the music was still going when Mickey started up again. The whistling and the ranting were both going for a while and then Maestro stopped and ground out his cigar and lit another.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Mickey’s discussion had turned political and he started to discuss a particular politician. Some people in the audience had voted <span style="text-decoration: underline;">for</span> that politician and although they regretted having done so, they wouldn’t admit they were sorry. It was a bitter pill for them to find they were starting to agree with criticisms of some damn robot that seemed to have a mind of its own. A couple dozen folks who had voted <span style="text-decoration: underline;">against</span> that particular politician cried and another vomited because that damn robot was talking sense while they reflected that millions of citizens had voted for the rascal politician.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mickey and the Maestro finally began to start telling jokes and eventually the laughter became infectious and the political brain-worms rested for the night.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The end of the act caused total silence and the audience realized how easy it was to be fooled. Mickey jumped down from his stool, tore open his shirt to reveal a hairy chested small man who went over to the Maestro and threw a switch that caused the tall figure to fold into a pile on the floor. Mickey called for a dolly and the Maestro was loaded on and taken off stage while Mickey took a few bows.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I was the one that trundled the dolly away and probably the only one besides Mickey who saw that the Maestro was a very limber human. Later, when Mickey and I wheeled the big steamer trunk,with a grill at one end and the “<b><i>The Maestro and Mickey</i></b>” decal on its side, out to a taxi, no one guessed there was a man folded up inside the trunk.</span></div>
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***</div>
Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-46476176922436301322017-04-20T05:30:00.000-07:002017-04-20T05:30:21.546-07:00<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The Way We Are Now - Lucille Hamilton</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx0jHrhl-OaAsMmxFw0hTNfQrtBPT5QTug_A45o1dFkDXoR7NJue1ZVehaxnCBfG0PoOp4_TYuGhTTLCJ9BaQhpR92lYN_uFWoQ3ZdURoTC0vZMSOuLd_gW0siQs4mi_58sgSeS12iFj8/s1600/The+Way+We+Are+Now+-+LH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx0jHrhl-OaAsMmxFw0hTNfQrtBPT5QTug_A45o1dFkDXoR7NJue1ZVehaxnCBfG0PoOp4_TYuGhTTLCJ9BaQhpR92lYN_uFWoQ3ZdURoTC0vZMSOuLd_gW0siQs4mi_58sgSeS12iFj8/s1600/The+Way+We+Are+Now+-+LH.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Stars,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">when I look up,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I realize, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">are still the same ones of my childhood,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">dragging along their stories</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of human morality</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">while rotating endlessly overhead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">One summer in New York City,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I stood jammed in the heat of a sweltering,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">rush- hour stalled subway train,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">while astronauts, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">risking their lives in their special, expensive suits,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">were engaged in making humans' first-known landing</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">on the moon. I was so glad when that first person did</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">his little jig dance - a fitting expression </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">for such an amazing accomplishment of faith.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When I finally got home to our house on the cliffs,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I went out in the cooling dark</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to salute and honor those persons who had made</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">this hard-to-grasp,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">unfathomable change</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in all our beliefs, our stories, our existence;</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the stars</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">now being much nearer than ever before.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the eyes of the Creator,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">this shift is about time, among so many things,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and it </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">is so very beautiful;</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a glove of challenge tossed down </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to all of us</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">human beings,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">seeking out other places we may</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">someday want or need to</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">inhabit,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">if we continue on the way of living </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -0.6px;">as we do now.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 51px; text-indent: -0.6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> ***</span></div>
Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-54144493042372459442017-04-17T05:30:00.000-07:002017-04-17T16:49:57.905-07:00<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Late Awakening: A Dream - John Field</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJOZgu92U0_kRkj4uWCOZonDWwNN-modakkG6RmI3Aez5EpJMc_2wk-cVU4qPAga4koEQbZimtlmXdXyhQPLr9xIhONJK2Pz_1w9Yn0Yudcoq5Z460myZahXzGsrHALlw22fcj6VVBi30/s1600/Late+Awakening+-A+Dream-+JF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJOZgu92U0_kRkj4uWCOZonDWwNN-modakkG6RmI3Aez5EpJMc_2wk-cVU4qPAga4koEQbZimtlmXdXyhQPLr9xIhONJK2Pz_1w9Yn0Yudcoq5Z460myZahXzGsrHALlw22fcj6VVBi30/s1600/Late+Awakening+-A+Dream-+JF.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Each time you approach a mirror </span><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -0.2px;">Come out, come out, the war</span><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -0.2px;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">With President Trump is over </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And the coast is clear.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Blessed with doubt, his climate change deniers, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Mercenary army of lawyers, girlfriends</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And tax accountants fled to the hills,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Every last one of them,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Except for a few cuckoo congressmen </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Who flapped their wings</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">As they flung themselves out of tall buildings</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And landed berserk on the ground.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“Dead? They told you I was dead?”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">A republican senator said, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Stalling for time,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Trying to steal his soul back</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Before they hauled it away. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">You don’t believe me? </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Just visit our cemetery and ask around. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; min-height: 21px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Look up at the wild gray yonder— imagine it</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">blue again, back from the brink of extinction </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">like God----and please! Let the world turn green</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And marvelous again. No more caprices</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">With nature’s thermostat. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Imagine sick trees healing themselves,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Their shade deeper and cooler than ever,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Clouds filling their lungs </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">With conventional weather,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Glaciers taller than the North Pole</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And healthy whales beating the sea to foam. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Such things and others </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Will happen if we make them so</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; margin-left: 72px; text-indent: -0.2px;">
<span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -0.2px;">Because anything else is unthinkable.</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
***</div>
Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-51492337113060783882017-04-13T05:30:00.000-07:002017-04-13T05:30:07.129-07:00<span style="font-size: xx-small;">In the Dark Hours of the Night- Beverly Koepplin</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJId9RRWFkn7785cqUzMXCtYlk7gWmn0uZwQGm3ieGBvxnQ-LJFd5emltfrwkNqQbdvl4ZY2KHVL3SBbcTfGBzMzcD8J8V5x3wNe9bsv-oz2sBT7DsAVTo58RlK9OuM75aHEVsd-RGJ_w/s1600/In+the+Dark+Hours+of+the+Night+-+BK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJId9RRWFkn7785cqUzMXCtYlk7gWmn0uZwQGm3ieGBvxnQ-LJFd5emltfrwkNqQbdvl4ZY2KHVL3SBbcTfGBzMzcD8J8V5x3wNe9bsv-oz2sBT7DsAVTo58RlK9OuM75aHEVsd-RGJ_w/s1600/In+the+Dark+Hours+of+the+Night+-+BK.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the very darkest hours of the night, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the stars shine the brightest – </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">they are our beacon lights </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">so we can find our way to morning.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the dark hours of the night, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the bridge between dusk and dawn folds up,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and we are left stranded in the cold and relentless night </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">with no way out.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; min-height: 23px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the dark hours of the night, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the mountain lion prowls in the canyons.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Only the smartest of her prey </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">look for her tawny, glowing eyes in the blackness.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the dark hours of the night, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">life is precarious for those without safe haven.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Shrieks heard in the night echo </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">between the hard-lived hours until first light</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; min-height: 23px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the dark hours of the night, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">small benign creatures becomes monsters</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">who rise up and nibble on our faces </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and ceaselessly howl in our ears.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the dark hours of the night, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">we seek sweet comfort in our beds</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">only to find none, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and we wander the rooms of our home in a futile search.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; min-height: 23px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the dark hours of the night, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the wishes of our day go astray</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and nightmares bully their way in, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">uninvited and unwanted.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the dark hours of the night, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">we often lose our minds</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to the demons of those dark dreams </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">who carves holes in our hope.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; min-height: 23px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the dark hours of the night, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">our repentant prayers go unanswered,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and the sins of our daylight hours </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">visit us again to feast on our regrets.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the dark hours of the night, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">where there should be peace</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">there are instead warriors armed in anger </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">who battle over our sleeping souls.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; min-height: 23px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the hours of the night, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">we should respect the masters of the dark,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">for we may believe the morning light </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">will mark the end of our travails.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">But when the long hours of night slowly give way to day, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">pray for avenging angels</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">for the devils of the dark do not die; </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large; text-indent: 0.7px;">they only hide and wait for another night.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large; text-indent: 0.7px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; margin-left: 71.1px; text-indent: 0.7px;">
<span style="font-size: large; text-indent: 0.7px;"> ***</span></div>
Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-78606134484275398652017-04-10T05:30:00.000-07:002017-04-10T05:30:02.003-07:00<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The Devil- Joan R Brady</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirw9ZsWMPmobBeRctEVyC6iRONAX25tDmgaPI8Zg7obZYEDXF7mBW8y66I1lTtP7bLC4q1EJ37ZN9RTSosFOwPwkJ7mQgk1mn4SqSKxEwr7TD6OUfh5MaPOepQ5Bw_-O0B-YQBp7P46gk/s1600/Devil+-+JRB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirw9ZsWMPmobBeRctEVyC6iRONAX25tDmgaPI8Zg7obZYEDXF7mBW8y66I1lTtP7bLC4q1EJ37ZN9RTSosFOwPwkJ7mQgk1mn4SqSKxEwr7TD6OUfh5MaPOepQ5Bw_-O0B-YQBp7P46gk/s1600/Devil+-+JRB.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Saturn...sixth planet from the sun...</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">place of boundaries...I am your child</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I thrive on visibility...sensation...</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">nothing else exists</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">each year I deck myself in fashion’s newest shape</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">my credit card has no expiration date</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I am glitter...I am neon...I am the torch</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">illuminating the burning of witches</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">possession...assassination...terrorism...anarchy</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">limitation...inertia...circumstance</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">mine is the light that destroys all other light</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">last seen...I was dancing in a gold</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">tuxedo...in the halls of the mad</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">unrecognized...I destroy you</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">embrace me...I possess you</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I am the fascination with the downward pull</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the voice inside that says...”you are never enough”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">mephisto...shaman...messiah...archangel</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the name doesn’t matter</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; min-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I am all deities...who exact obedience</span><span style="font-size: 18px;">.</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
***</div>
Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-32678847027754199012017-04-06T05:30:00.000-07:002017-04-06T05:30:42.655-07:00<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The Telephone Call - John Field</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiUx0EY4zzoK7Jb-JW9AckrluNElRWp7lVeJ2UXJLITB6NGe9Wb5b4DITizkFek2LRBbZIHxwJehsU13memNQrb9Puz4uWSNTkV9W2hGO1L3F0wt2byfsypbiVP5nKbv_nGusyeXfiX0g/s1600/The+Telephone+Call+-+JF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiUx0EY4zzoK7Jb-JW9AckrluNElRWp7lVeJ2UXJLITB6NGe9Wb5b4DITizkFek2LRBbZIHxwJehsU13memNQrb9Puz4uWSNTkV9W2hGO1L3F0wt2byfsypbiVP5nKbv_nGusyeXfiX0g/s1600/The+Telephone+Call+-+JF.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Just before noon the telephone rings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">“Grandpa, do you know who this is?” a young man asks.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For a moment I don’t recognize the voice, so I go through a process of elimination. It definitely isn’t Nate, a sophomore at Texas A and M. And it isn’t Ethan, I’d recognize his voice immediately, so it must be Theo, the youngest of my daughter Catherine’s three sons, a freshman at Casa Grande High School in Petaluma.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Theo?” </span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">“Yes, it’s me, Grandpa,” Theo replies, his voice trembling, “and I’m in big trouble.”</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This news really hits me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Okay, tell me all about it.”</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">“I’m in Florida----in jail.”</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now I’m really worried.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“What happened? What did you do?”</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">“It’s kind of a long story, but I didn’t do anything bad.” </span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">He sounds like he’s crying, and my heart goes out to him.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">“I came down here for a jobs conference. Grandpa. Do you know what an Uber car is?”</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Sure, I say,” waiting for him to get to the point.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">“Well, after the conference was over I called Uber and asked a driver to take me to the Orlando airport, but on the way there we got pulled over by the police. I thought it was because the driver was speeding, but they searched the car and found narcotics in the trunk next to my suitcase.”</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This is coming at me so fast I stop wondering why Theo’s parents allowed their fifteen year old son to go by himself all the way to Orlando for a jobs conference. The whole idea sounded improbable. Preposterous, even. Then I remembered when I was a 17 year old freshman at the University of Iowa 65 years ago attending a careers conference at the student union. About 30 businesses set up tables and we went around asking about job opportunities at companies like IBM and Johnson & Johnson and listened to their representatives give us a sales pitch. Even the army, navy and marines had recruiting booths. Well, sure, I suppose Cathy and Marty showed Theo how much they trusted him by saying yes when he asked if he could go there. After all, didn’t my other daughter’s sons ages 9 and 11 fly by themselves to Atlanta recently to see their grandparents?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Okay, Theo, what happened next? Did the drugs belong to you?”</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">“No no, grandpa. The driver told the cops they were mine, and I told them they belonged to the driver, so they took both of us to the police station, tested me and I was clean. Then a detective told me that if I agreed to testify against the driver in court they’d let me out on bail, but I’d have to come back to Florida in 3 to 6 weeks when his case came up.”</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now Theo was finally coming to the point, the real reason he called me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“So how much is bail?”</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">“$15,000, but it’s totally refundable after I testify.”</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Of course I want to help you,” I tell him, “but first I’m going to call your folks and let them know what’s going on. Don’t worry, I’ll stand up for you because I believe you’re innocent.”</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">"No no no no!” Theo pleads, his voice trembling badly now. “Don’t call them. When I get home I’ll tell them everything, but it’s got to be face to face. Otherwise they might think I was smuggling the narcotics and lying to the cops, but I know I can convince them I wasn’t if you’ll let me handle this the honorable way.” </span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Theo, you need a lawyer.”</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">“I’ve got one. He wants to talk to you.”</span></i></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">“Mr. Field?”</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Yes.”</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">“My name is Ryan Williams. I’m Theo’s lawyer from legal aide. I believe he’s innocent, but he’s really shook up and needs to get out of jail, go home and tell his parents what happened so he can clear his name.” </span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Theo said his bail is set at $15,000.”</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">“That’s correct,” Williams says. His voice is very steady, professional, like he’s handled many cases like this one in the past----just another scape a kid’s gotten himself into, and it’s his job to clear everything up with the police.</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“So how should I send the money?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>“Send it to a bail bondsman named Terry Parker and he’ll have Theo out of jail and on his way home this afternoon. What you need to do is deposit $15,000 in cash at Bank of America. Don’t wire the money. Cash will get through immediately.”</i></b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“My bank is Wells Fargo.”</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">“That doesn’t matter,” Williams says. “Do you have a pen and paper?”</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I tell him I do.</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">“Take the cash to any Bank of America branch and deposit it in account number 483 047991236. You got that?”</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“I do.”</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">“The routing number is 026009593. By the way, it’s 3 o’clock out here and the banks close at 5. Can you get the money to Parker in the next couple of hours?”</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“I can. But tell Theo to call his folks right now. They’ll believe him.”</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">“He only gets one phone call,” Williams informs me.</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Let me talk to Theo again. Then I’ll go to my bank.”</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">“Hello grandpa. Thank you so much.” </span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I can feel Theo’s relief in the tone of his voice. As soon as he hangs up I call his father and ask if I can speak to Theo. If he’s in Florida I’ll keep my promise and send the money.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Theo’s in class right now,” his dad says, “but I’ll tell him to call you when he gets home.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I’m tremendously relieved, but still have questions about whether or not Theo was somehow involved in this scam, so as I explain to Marty what happened and ask him if he has any idea how the scammers got my phone number and seemed to know so much about Theo and me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“They probably hacked Theo’s Facebook website,” Marty says, and suggests that I change my Facebook password and take out Identity Theft.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">An hour later Theo’s so-called legal aide lawyer phones and asks me why I haven’t sent the money.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Because Theo is in Petaluma, California, I tell him.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Then I call the sheriff’s department and report what happened, but am told that because no crime was actually committed there was nothing they could do about it and suggested that I contact the Federal Trade Commission and give them the details of the scam. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Tomorrow Theo is coming over to our house-----and I can’t wait to see him. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>***</span></div>
Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-1113825230888894622017-04-03T05:30:00.000-07:002017-04-03T09:59:16.450-07:00<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Quincunx-Russ Bedord</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFfsJMab_798dS2aeJoElKCtyFzc3JvfwpMue6Q1t4pUWr9nPksTCaxzVsxlOU-wjEaJIMFQxgGMCLVaJhBGKSWccVFhKYLicVx2uTeHGnSfH0RhiPpMH7aPpDzkgPv-6yk5ZaUoC4p58/s1600/Quincunx+-+RB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFfsJMab_798dS2aeJoElKCtyFzc3JvfwpMue6Q1t4pUWr9nPksTCaxzVsxlOU-wjEaJIMFQxgGMCLVaJhBGKSWccVFhKYLicVx2uTeHGnSfH0RhiPpMH7aPpDzkgPv-6yk5ZaUoC4p58/s1600/Quincunx+-+RB.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We left before it got dark. Sut, my Egyptian guide, suggested hat we leave early, then camp in the desert, near the tomb of Osiris. After the workers set up camp, I had dinner, and we talked late, I couldn't sleep. If Osiris is in the tomb, as Sut claimed, then he wasn't resurrected and didn't rise to heaven, as legend said, but got to Heaven like the rest of us (that hope to get there).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My anticipation kept me awake all night. I finally sat outside in a chair to watch the morning sun rise. Dune shadows, at first, were long and mysterious, then shortened as the sun rose I thought of the phrase “.... the lonely sands stretched far across the desert.” How far? The Sahara stretched across the African continent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is cold before the rising sun's heat penetrates. By 9 AM, one looks for ways to get out of the heat. But it's a short ride to the entrance of the tomb. Virtually invisible, it is an opening in the desert floor, filled by sand. The workers had to shovel long and hard before a stone archway was visible, then shoveled more until it was open. Then I could leave my shaded chair and enter the tomb.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ancient Egyptians must have been really short! I am not tall, but at 5' 9”, had to bend over in the tomb entry hall Thank God the tomb room itself had what looked like a seven foot ceiling. Not high, but at least I didn't have to bend over.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The 15' by 15' room was lined with stone. Even vermin like rats and mice avoided this forsaken landscape. There were no droppings. Only the dust of centuries was on the floor and on the lone sarcophagus sitting in the middle of the room. That was significant all by itself. Atop the lid of the sarcophagus was the sculpture of a cat. In the same reclining position as the famed sphinx, it was finished to much more detail, even though it was only the size of the sarcophagus lid. You could practically count the hairs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I breathed quicker thinking that Osiris might be entombed here, and gazed around the room for artifacts worth collecting, hoping to find something that identified the occupant. Sut was by my side, saying nothing. There were no artifacts. Had he raped them before showing a westerner the tomb?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Never mind. I admired the cat sculpture and noticed a plaque across its chest that was marked with hieroglyphic symbols. I made out the code for Osiris. This was It! This was Osiris' tomb!.I inspected the likeness of the cat. It's ear tips to the tips of the bushy whiskers on each side of it face formed a perfect square. The cat's black nose in the middle of this square made a quincunx. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I couldn't resist, and reached out to touch that perfect nose. That was a mistake. Perhaps it was a chemical I had on my hand. Perhaps it was the decay of centuries, but the sculpture started crumbling. First the nose where I had touched it, then backward until the entire sculpture was a mound of sand and dust that spilled off the sarcophagus and onto the floor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Opening the sarcophagus disclosed a mummy with no distinguishing identification. I found Osiris' tomb but had no proof. I was so excited I forgot to take a picture. Now I might never be famous.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> ***</span></div>
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Sonoma Writers Alliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09445863984621020642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802797212546810533.post-28426201454132911922017-03-30T05:30:00.000-07:002017-03-30T05:30:03.994-07:00<span style="font-size: xx-small;">River of My Life - Beverly Koepplin</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbnA_nwnPMAS9aL9mlVFslVVgViPxrVpu89H8eS-smCub4Cs6c0ujC0oIqOA_UcKgUt6rMLRg-wmKdUnr_427rZGjp7RzaU1tt8MPTKBFO7RBzdJzU9MKsQ79HF4sDzdSCugT1vTZou9w/s1600/The+River+of+My+Life-+BK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbnA_nwnPMAS9aL9mlVFslVVgViPxrVpu89H8eS-smCub4Cs6c0ujC0oIqOA_UcKgUt6rMLRg-wmKdUnr_427rZGjp7RzaU1tt8MPTKBFO7RBzdJzU9MKsQ79HF4sDzdSCugT1vTZou9w/s1600/The+River+of+My+Life-+BK.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I live my life in a river that will carry me to my end.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I have from the day I emerged, wet and wailing,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">from my mother’s womb </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">and slipped into the river’s welcoming current.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So easily I went from one water life to another, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">it felt like coming home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Each day at the end of the day’s travels, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I look back to see how far the river has carried me, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">the rocks I have crossed,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">and I am gladdened to see how far I have safely come</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">and saddened to see how much closer I am to the end.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes someone joins me in my river’s journey,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">and we move along together, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">sometimes touching, sometimes not.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes they see something shiny in another flow, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">slip out of my stream,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">and I never see them again, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">just a shadow floating away then fading.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes they go past me, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">traveling faster than I can,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">and I watch them go, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">helpless to stop them, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">and their end comes too soon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Those are the times I would cry </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">but I have nothing to dry my tears on;</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">my whole world is water, ever moving on, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">and my tears just fall into the wet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes, most often, I drift alone, not happy but content</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">to watch the banks go by, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">to wonder how long this river will carry me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes I bump against the rocks yet move on, battered and bruised.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">At the end of those days, I give my thanks </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">to the gracious water gods.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes I wish </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">that there was always someone with me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When the river water is cold and dark, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I yearn to feel warm solid flesh.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I want to have someone carry me to land, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">to walk the rest of this journey with me,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">our steps in rhythm, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">until we can no longer see the river and I am home again.</span></div>
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