I'm finally getting through my e-mail backlog, which is very exciting. And I keep doing little clean-up things to my web pages, which I find oddly satisfying; this morning I went through the writing articles and did some organization and cleanup -- I think it's much more readable now. (the soul of a librarian...)
Learned something exciting yesterday -- I was in the grocery store, choosing tomatoes for tonight's dinner (making Armenian, woohoo!), and overheard a little old lady talking to another about folk dancing; I intruded and said something like "umm...folkdancing?" And the little old lady, whose name is Yenta (I didn't realize that was a name too...) told me there's dancing every Monday night, and every other Thursday, and more...it's apparently only the contra stuff that shuts down for the summer! So if I'm feeling up to it, I'm going Monday -- the church where they have the dances is only a longish walk from our apartment. Of course, there's still the temperature issue...but I'm sure there'll be fans going. I'll probably live.
Took a break from Narayan to dive into Nicholson Baker's latest, _The Everlasting Story of Nory_, which is just marvelous. Maybe not especially deep, but that's okay -- that's good, in fact. I think Baker gets in trouble when he tries to be serious. Fabulous frivolity, that's his strong point. In this one he does a remarkably good (and detailed, of course!) job of speaking as a young girl-child. Great fun; Nory is precocious and delightful.
Okay, I'm going to go check on my simmering beans (white bean variation on hummus, no tahini, which should be interesting). Talk to y'all later...
9:15. Well, as usual, didn't get quite as much done as I'd planned today, but I did cook one fabulous meal (white bean hummus, mezze platter, cucumber/yogurt salad, stuffed eggplant, and lamb baked in foil with red potatoes, carrots, bell pepper, feta, zucchini, fresh lemon, oregano, and mint).
Also agreed to take a look at a book I may be editing for someone who wants to self-publish; it's literary erotica, and I'm looking forward to seeing it. Could be a fun piece of work, and at least moderately profitable. He's sending it along in a few weeks; we'll see what happens.
And I did write a poem for the Clean Sheets bonus week at the end of June; not sure if the poetry editors will decide to use it, but hey -- I like it. Which is probably more important, in the long run. :-)
Have a good night, my dears.
***
the bones want to fly
when you are oldyour skin will be delicate
fragile as tissue paper
my breath will rustle against it
my fingers will slip over the folds
under the creases
slide into the secret places
(I am always discovering
new secrets within you)
the bones beneath that skin
will be light bird-bones
they will want to go up
want to fly sunward
they will glow through
the skin, at night, when we lie
beneath the covers
it is too warm here
you will cry
I am burning up
I will coax you to stay
I will lick sweat from your pale neck
and blow on that shivering skin
I will lick my way down
(I have done this so many
many times already)
I will lick circles on your sunken chest
I will lick all the way down, and take you
entirely inside my mouth
until you lose yourself
until you are no longer bound
by earth and skin and bone
(I have done this, and will
a thousand thousand times...)
afterwards
I fall asleep
my head resting on your stomach
one fragile arm flung over
your thin thigh, and hip
(it is not much to hold you down)
you will lie there in the dark
hand buried in my silvered hair
listening to the wind
flying
through the trees