Here is the poem:
Saturday, November 1, 2008
That Blue Thing
Pools under trees and
Earth turns me to stars.
I locate Venus, Mars,
And that blue thing,
Then head home.
Doppler effect and
Some old ricochet you see,
Astonishingly old,
It or us rebounding,
Heading here, this garden--
A bridge of light sounding
Blue notes to this
Transpontine eye.
I don't know why, but
I think of love under
The blue thing,
Cross the shadows
And always head home.
********************************
Blue Thing is star Vega, which served for billions of years as the North Star, until she retired and the job was awarded Polaris --who apprenticed as handle tip of one of the dippers; forgot which one-- who is 400 lightyears more distant than Vega. Why am I telling you this?
I don't know! I'm just sheltering in place. Brain's wandering in time and space --you know the feeling. We've already been invaded by beings from star Vega. They are called Vegans and they're ok.
We have endured worse. In 1967 all the boys in my high school got called into assembly for a pitch from a member of the U.S. War Dept., Public Relations, General Staff. At question time, I stood and asked how conscription could be reconciled with the 13th amendment. He said the president's power to raise armies took precedence over the 13th Amendment.I considered this a general Staff infection. But we mainly got through it.
Somewhere over this closing paragraph is Norma's view of the globe right now. She recently had a birthday that started with a dental appointment to get a crown installed. I consider it her coronation day, and suspect the handmade mask indicates regal defiance of corona virus. Let's all mainly get through it and be OK, like the Vegans.
Vega is certainly a more worthy star than Polaris. As for Vegans, I split a gut laughing. And as for your question about the 13th amendment on the 13th amendment, it only prohibits slavery for those who haven't committed a crime and 18 year olds are all guilty of something (or maybe that was only me).
ReplyDeletewww.thepulpitandthepen.com
No, it wasn't only you, Jeff. I guess the closeness of Juneteenth got me thinking about emancipation and that high school assembly deep in another century --somewhat the same feeling I had yesterday when Governor Newsom made failure to wear masks outdoors a misdemeanor. Glad you had fun with the post. I did too.
DeleteWe're all working through it as best we can. Last week we were told we could meet with up to five people outside but we were not to sit on the benches. This week we were told we could have a social 'bubble' of ten folks but all ten in the 'bubble' could only have the exact same people in their 'bubble' .......blub, blub, blubble. For the folks in the long term care section and in the retirement section the rules are so stringent for a lousy half hour visit per week that I really doubt anyone will take advantage of it. We'll get through it. I get a haircut this afternoon...that's BIG news. Your poem is delightful as is the photo of the 'blue thing'. Stars get to retire?
ReplyDeleteWell, Delores, it sounds like you've been getting new rules that rival California's, and I hope to good effect. Yet it IS a bit scary. Yesterday I got a prescription filled at Rite Aid and found the 100-foot-long glass front covered in plywood. But yes! They were open --"precautionary" they said. And you're right, haircut is a good sign.
DeleteI have a nephew who was switched at or before birth with a being not from Earth. He is so loved but he is certainly different. I guess there are many like him among us.
ReplyDeleteDear Emma, I too have such a nephew. Perhaps we are related? All best wishes to you.
Delete❤️ Love, cat.
ReplyDeleteLove appreciated and reciprocated, dear Cat.
DeleteSo now I have the urge to watch Contact again, Jodie Foster is quite good in that one. And the Vega car club out near the grounded relay site....
ReplyDeleteDear Mike, I will keep "Contact" in mind. I seem to watch a lot of movies lately. My sister once owned a Chevy Vega which I drove twice and decided it was best suited as a projectile to fire off from one solar system to invade another.
DeleteKind of like Elon Musk did with the Tesla and the manikin astronaut with his arm out the window and one hand draped on the steering wheel. Good thought, though I think a Vega would find a way to break down about 5 million light years away.
DeleteAh, Mike I've broken down half that far from Earth and Triple-A had a tow truck out in 15 minutes. 5 million light years would understandably involve a half-hour wait which, in a total vacuum, would be irritating.
DeleteI need to get my first crown, but am putting it off. I haven't had much dental work done, and am scared! Ah, the draft. How would that go over now, I wonder? My boyfriend and I just re-watched "Contact." I continue to have revelations about space, humanity, belief and communication every time. Such a thoughtful and beautiful movie.
ReplyDeleteDear Margaret, I don't know of anybody who doesn't fear dental work. We get to live in a time of unsurpassed excellence and compassion in the practice, but I too can't consider myself entirely rational until I stop fearing my dentist. As for the draft, when President Eisenhower (who retired military service as a 5-star General) gave his farewell W.H. address, he warned "Beware the Military Industrial Complex!" My dad --a ww2 vet.-- had died young a couple months earlier. I made a determined project of learning what the M.I.Complex was. I don't believe the draft would go over very well now.
DeleteNo, it most certainly wouldn't go over well. If so many people can't "sacrifice" by wearing a mask in public during a pandemic...well, I rest my case. My grandfather was a dentist and did most of our dental work when I was a child. I didn't floss and always got in trouble, but otherwise I had no fear. Anything besides a cleaning makes me nervous though because I have no experience with major dental procedures. I've never even had a cavity!
DeleteMargaret, in all my 70 years, the only person I encountered who never had a cavity is my big brother, Frank. Are you certain you and he are not related?
DeleteAlso no cavity (as yet) Sorry for jumping in to brag :-)
DeleteNo problem, Lisa. As administrator of this blog I extend bragging rights to you!
DeleteThe poem has aged nicely. It entices the imagination. The old globe is being wise, masked for survival. And Vega belongs to an exclusive club, former north stars, no wonder it has so many human devotees!
ReplyDeleteDear Tom, I've never mentioned this before to anyone, but when I compose myself for sleep and close my eyes, everything gets dark except for a small central circle in the middle of it all. It is blue.
DeleteHi, Geo! Beautiful poem and image. "Earth turns me to stars" gives me chills! I'm glad that you and Norma are surviving sheltering in place, even if your brain is wandering. My brain's been wandering in time and space too. It has been hard to settle down and focus; and I have been struggling with blogging, especially with getting around to visit my blogging friends.
ReplyDeleteAnd I've been avoiding the dentist. I can't put that off much longer though, because I've been in life-threatening danger more than once because of dental issues. I am definitely scared of the dentist, periodontist, endodontist, oral surgeon, and maxillofacial specialist ~ I don't think I've left any of my dental stable out. I hope that Norma is happy with her crown!
When I was in my senior year in 1967, a Canadian Forces recruiter came to our high school for an assembly. I questioned him about the opportunity for women in the services. He said that women could be secretaries or nurses. I told him exactly what I thought about that which made my father, our principal and retired service member, proud. I didn't sign up, needless to say. Now women can be anything in the Canadian Forces, and if I were coming up now I'd be proud and excited to serve.
I actually spent a week at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs when I was a teacher ~ an outreach program to train elementary teachers in space science so they in turn could inspire their students to study science and math. It was heaven. We were transported by Air Force Academy buses. We took classes in the Academy's classrooms and labs. We did underwater training in the Academy's pool, ate in its mess halls, went on its flight lines, built rockets and shot them off, and toured everywhere on campus. If I could do it all over again, I'd so have my sights set on the Air Force Academy. It's at least twenty years later, and I still haven't shed all the sparkle dust of that week. Of course I wasn't looking at the swamps of Vietnam.
My kind, gentle, tenderhearted husband, who catches flies and releases them outside, fortunately received a high number in the draft lottery and escaped Vietnam. My first husband lied about his age and enlisted in the Army at 17, became a paratrooper with the 101st Airborne, and was paralyzed in a car accident within twenty-four hours of shipping out to Vietnam. He was the only one in his unit to survive. The rest all died in Vietnam. They were surrounded by Viet Cong, trapped in a valley in fog, and helicopters couldn't get in to rescue them, so they were all killed. My first husband was always haunted by the fact that he wasn't with them. He thought that if he had been there, perhaps he could have changed things and some of them might have lived.
We live in a strange, random, and indifferent world, but as Americans and Canadians we have been spared much suffering and now struggle with feeling out of control and unable to predict our futures. We will get through this. There have always been tough times, worse times. We who can shelter in place are the lucky ones (or so I try to convince myself). I'll be back to catch up! Please take care ~ both you and Norma! Sorry about the long comment ~ Sometimes you just get me going ~ LOL
Dear Louise, don't be sorry for the long comment. You have seen the reality of a troubled time that most people have only heard about briefly in history classes. It parallels current calamity only in its global threat and scope. There was much to do in the late '60s that finally brought Henry Kissinger and Lê Đức Thọ to the Majestic Hotel in Paris in '73. Far too many lost their lives or health in combat. Others took to the streets in civil disobedience. Some fled. Some were lucky. And some, quite a few really, worked in the shadows, nudging, pushing, selling ceasefire and honorable military disengagement --service purposely unrecognized in public record. Point is, all these influences, these paths of conscience, despite ideological disparities, served to end a war under the administration of Richard Nixon --of all people. Gosh, I guess you get me going sometimes too!
DeleteLOL! It's fun to get you going too! I was very happy when Richard Nixon left the White House in disgrace.
DeleteGeo:
ReplyDeleteYour 1967 comment as a young lad... very insightful and important. Did you receive any repercussions from that comment, however? I can only imagine that you may have, depending on how progressive (or not progressive) your school was at the time.
I had not known previously about the Vegan People’s origins. Did they also have a hand in guiding General Motors to produce the vehicle named for their star? If so, I think it may explain why the vehicle, though attractive, was not designed for Earthly terrain..... and fell apart quickly. It must have specifically designed for the Vegan’s home planet.... perhaps less gravitational pull or some such thing.
PipeTobacco
Dear Prof., I received no repercussions for my question. Although my high school was located in a conservative ranch & farm town, nobody considered me out of line. There was a decorum of courtesy practiced in assemblies back then that hopefully persists into this crazy time. Hard questions were asked, but the speaker --a career soldier-- replied curtly and politely. I said "thank you" and sat down. There were no further questions. As to Vegas, I love your lesser-gravitation theory!
DeleteCurious. I was just thinking about Richard Nixon yesterday after I was reminded that he made Father's Day a national holiday. The night he announced that he would resign the presidency the next day I called my wife and said go out and buy two cases of beer as I'm inviting everyone in the newsroom (for which I then worked) over to celebrate. I finally threw the last guy out at 6 o'clock the next morning. He was the executive producer I'd never gotten along with. Strange memories. I would have traded him for a Vegan and sent him in search of that blue thing hours earlier. See where you've led me, Geo!
ReplyDeleteDear Bruce, thanks for reminding me about Fathers' Day, which began the same year my father was born, 1910. I was in my 20s --and a father twice over-- when Pres. Nixon declared it a National Holiday. Although his politics and mine were often antipodal, I appreciated his gesture. I had 2 handsome sons. He had 2 beautiful daughters (Tricia, Julie). Had I been in his job, I'd have done the same thing. As for his resignation, remember he apprenticed under Ike, closed up the war, suddenly (almost as if by plan) got Watergate guilt and knew his work was done. He did ok --might've been Vegan.
DeleteIt's a beautiful poem. A little blue, maybe, but that's okay like the vegans. I'm a newly turned vegan but not an alien, at least I don't think so. My perception has a way of being off but I'm otherwise okay. I was infected by way of binge watching documentaries during quarantine. No regrets. Speaking of space, littleb and I have started watching "The 100" on Netflix. We thought we had discovered a new show but we didn't-it's completed seven seasons without us. Not sure if we'll complete the whole tour-it's gone from mildly violent to fingers over the eyes violent. It's not much of an escape when watching gives you a stomach ache. Had never heard the word "transpontine" before and had to look it up. I liked the way you used it. That blue thing could also be a transpontine eye, depending on perception.
ReplyDeleteDear Consigliere, Thank you! From one end of a 25-year-long bridge of blue light to the other is clearly a stretch, but we see it in the night sky and even on the backs of our eyelids. The Universe is communicating with us and, if it's communicating, it is alive. I remember being very pleased to find a word for it. Will check out "The 100". Best wishes to you.
DeleteWe have had terrible times before and weathered the storm. During these summer night and when the weather cooperates, I sit outside on my deck and under the stars, and think about the day ahead and try to only have hope. Some days it is easier than others.
ReplyDeleteLovely Arleen, I know we're a few time zones apart but your "under the stars" routine is a familiar one to me --even though I live where the sun runs out of land. Yet I feel your hopes and the hopes of others across this country, carried through night by stars, and add my own.
DeleteThank you for the beautiful poem, Geo.!
ReplyDeleteAnd I love Norma's photo showing that our world needs protection -- earth starts to avoid contact with misbehaving greedy or hateful people.
I was so surprised in the first days of our lockdown how beautiful the sky and the air over suddenly Berlin was - no aeroplanes, almost no cars...
Dear Britta, I read aloud your comment and compliment to Norma --who thanks you, as do I. Decrease in noise and smog are noticed here too, but at the cost of 25% unemployment and, sadly, a rise in mortality rate. But that is when we need greater strength in hope, ingenuity, international cooperation --greater need for good minds, kind hearts, courage like yours.
DeleteI thought the earth had a bikini on, at first, and now I'm wondering if planets can have beach parties. If not I hope the views make up for it. I like the smudgy white line (vintage photo vibe) and spilling darkness is my favourite kind xx
ReplyDeleteDear Lisa, Yes, planets do have beach parties! Their motion combines in chorus and affects the character of time and space --wavelengths comingled. Lots of Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon tunes, I imagine --but in deeper voices.
DeleteAh, I shall sleep better for knowing this :-)
DeleteAlso thank you for extending bragging rights, I will make a pledge not to overdo it xx
Good plan. I used the same schedule to cut down on smoking: I made it a rule never to brag in my sleep.
DeleteGirls go to Mars to get candy bars. Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider. So, vegans go to Vega to..?
ReplyDeleteNorma's photo is clever.
Dear Susan, thank you! Relayed your compliment to Norma. Also relayed your excellent jump-rope(?) rhyme, which we both really like. Your provocative question --"...vegans go to Vega to..?" is intriguingly enigmatic. In Nevada, there is an unofficial slogan: "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas". Too close to be coincidence. You're onto something cosmological!
DeleteLove this and (per usual) ALL YER Blogs! Glad you are alive in this time....and I keep saying "There are so many more colors than Silver" regarding the description of corona linings.....
ReplyDeleteGlad we're both alive in this troubled time, Annie B. I tried answering your comment earlier but it disappeared! Recall saying I like the look of silver so I'd use duct tape to pad the pointy side of the crown in case it's put on upside down or carelessly left on the throne and somebody sits on it.
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