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Monday, May 26, 2008

Your Monday Poem

Oops, got busy Sunday, and am now off to get even busier today. Here's your Monday Poem. by Brad Leithauser, printed in the May 29 New York Review of Books

Old Globe

For her big birthday
we gave her (nothing less would do)
the world, which is to say

a globe copyrighted the very year
she was born -- ninety years before.
She held it tenderly, and it was clear

both had come such a long way:
the lovely, dwindled, ever-eager-to-please
woman whose memory had begun to fray

and a planet drawn and redrawn through
endless shifts of aims and loyalties,
and war and war.

Her eye fell at random. "Formosa," she read.
"Now that's pretty. Is it there today?"
A pause. "It is," my brother said,

"though now it's called Taiwan."
She looked apolgetic. 'I sometimes foget . . ."
"Like Sri Lanka," I added. "Which was Ceylon."

And so my brothers and I, globe at hand, began:
which places had seen a change of name
in the last ninety years? Burma, Baluchistan,

Czechoslovakia, Abyssinia, Transjordan, Tibet.
Because she laughed, we extended our game
into history, mist: Vineland, Persia, Cathay . . .

She was in a middle place --
her fifties -- when photos were first trasnmitted,
miraculously, from outer space.

Who could believe those men -- in their black noon --
got up like robots, wandering the wild
wastelands of the moon,

and overhead a wholly naked sun
and an Earth so far away
it was less real than this one,

the gift received today --
the globe she'd so tenderly fitted
under her arm, like a child.

Finally, there's cake; nine candles in a ring.
. . . Just so, the past turns distant past,
each rich decade diminishing

to a little stick of wax, rapidly
expiring. I say, "Now make a wish before
you blow them out." She says, "I don't see --"

stops. Then mildly protests: "But they look so nice."
We laugh at her -- and wince when a look of doubt
or fear clouds her face; she needs advice.

Welll -- what should anyone wish for
in blowing candles out
but that the light might last?

2 comments:

Ron said...

My morning reading routine has a gaping hole in it without regular Calhoun's Can(n)ons postings.

I hope everything's all right, Ann. Miss ya.

For what it's worth... I posted the following comment on Dave Congalton's blog, after he posted a piece thanking the readers of New Times for selecting his the "Best Blog" in the county. He didn't approve my post for his comments section... so I thought I'd post it here:

- - -
Congratulations, Dave.

You do have a good blog, and I agree with some of the other posters that less national stuff and a more local focus would make it better.

However, I have to wonder: Is your blog the "best" in the county, or is it the "most publicized"?

For example, I wonder how many "Best of" votes Los Osos writer, Ann Calhoun, would get for her excellent blog if she hosted a countywide, daily talk show that allowed her to announce her web address several times a day.

Perhaps next year, New Times could have separate categories:

- Best Blog that's announced several times a day on a countywide, daily talk show

and;

- Best Blog NOT announced several times a day on a countywide, daily talk show

If not, it seems like "congrats" will be in order here for years to come.
- - -

Good observation.

Mike Green said...

Ha Ha Ha , let me tell you a little "New Times best of story"

I worked for a well respected european auto shop for quite a few years, once a certain young "gopher" that also happened to be a Cal Poly student set out to get the "best automotive accolade" for our shop, he went around and him and a few of his buddies loaded the ballot boxes all over town.
He told everyone in the shop except the owner.

Needless to say, we won, The owner was beside himself with pride and praise for his crack crew.

Well, we had a good laugh at his expense and since he really was a great guy ( we all actually loved him) He didn't take it to hard when we told him the story, in fact he slipped the instigator a Benjamin.

New Times Best Of? Give me a freeking break, why hasn't San Luis Camp and Pack ever won best men's clothing?