The young in the ruin of the old

Light frost is coming over night lately, just enough to finish off the eggplants, which haven’t been looking too hot in the first place.The flowering tobacco at its feet is holding up, for no good reason. I had no idea it was so hardy. There it is, still flowering with the sweet alyssum, next to […]

Re: Essential Pleasures

I blame what little I know of poetry these days on Garrison Keillor. Sometimes he reads one I like. Sometimes he reads one that seems like a humorous anecdote, but I just don’t get what makes it into a poem. Mostly he reminds him that I like the sound of the spoken word, and he […]

Stamps for bees

2009 has been a year for lots of anniversaries. Galileo. Darwin. The Internet. The Berlin Wall. And now that we’re running out of year, word is starting of next year’s anniversaries. Like L.L. Langstroth’s 200th birthday. So who in the world is L.L. Langstroth?

Orchid shoot is shooting

I haven’t really paid much attention to my moth orchid lately. It rewards that sort of inattention, you see, with lovely flower shoots. It seems like just a few days ago that it was barely more than a bud. Look at it go!

Re: Cheating Death

Sometimes I feel so easily influenced. Sanjay Gupta was so entertaining during his Colbert bump, I rushed right out and requested his book from the library. And Cheating Death: The Doctors and Medical Miracles that Are Saving Lives Against All Odds is totally worth the wait. The book spins out stunning tales, like the skier […]

Fall sprouts

Okay, it’s after Thanksgiving, so the weather is officially allowed to snow. And even now, just when most of the garden is falling asleep, some seeds are still sprouting. Like this a columbine unfurling its first leaves. Good way to get a jump on the competition. You think?

It’s obvious, but thank you

Thank you, O Universe, for the small mysteries that appear in the lens, Like squash bees and syrphid flies and bees like green jewels.

Squirrels never rest

This is what happens when I slack off on the bird feeders. Squirrels hop on.

Re: ISO

“ISO,” by Derek Zumsteg makes “Faith“‘s jaunt through the personals look even more nostalgic. The narrator is as spam-writer, who takes a commission to ghost-write an ISO ad in the W4M section. And those are the easy acronyms.

Re: The Chinese Room

I admit it. I need some help with “The Chinese Room,” by Alec Deason. From the first line, it paints a curious scene, full of wonderful details: It held out its palm for Jason to see. There was a single grain of sand on the worn plastic surface. “I have many thoughts,” the thing elaborated.