#28 of #365 – The Earth Exhales

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One of the reasons I like walking Heidi early in the morning is this – the earth exhaling. Till I got a dog, I had only seen this phenomenon when I stayed up late, rather than got up early.

I love how Heidi is trying to compete with the exhaling earth by adding her own cloud of vapour.

The quote is from the John Betjeman poem Slough, the final stanza of which reads

Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough
To get it ready for the plough.
The cabbages are coming now;
The earth exhales.

link to full text

I like how the text is on the Slough website!

I heart Betjeman. His poetry is like Kiplings, in that it is best read out loud.

5WordChallenge – January 6, 2011

How it works:
Write an entry of any length or style using five assigned words. Bold the five words. Tag your blog post with ’5wordchallenge’ and any other tags you wish to add. Feel free to pingback to this post or provide a link to your entry in comments. New words will be posted in two weeks.

Words for this challenge were chosen by kimkiminy:

Shudder, fur, aspire, wanton and range

If you’d like to select words for an upcoming challenge, visit Red Pen’s blog and leave a private message.

Should you aspire
To set men on fire
So they shudder while calling your name
Wear fur and be wanton,
You will find them wantin’
To see you again and again…

Get them a cookin’
while you do the lookin’
For money and fortune and fame.
A range of emotion
as deep as the ocean
Shouldn’t cause you any pain.

When time has passed
And you look your last
On all those men you have known
Money and things
Don’t give you wings.
Remember, we all die alone.

from Braided Lives, by Marge Piercy

We dance together, naked woman
and man in full armor, clanking.
When he presses me tight to his
bosom, mine is impaled
on a protective spike.  If
you love me, you’ll kiss me,
he says, and knocks out my teeth.
If you love me, you’ll save
me from this imprisonment he
says as he fits a new point
to his lance and climbs
on his horse and charges.  You
didn’t really love me
he mutters to my corpse;
that’s why I’m still locked
in here.  Oh, the love
of woman is weak.  It sure
is my blood sings like gnats
in the evening as he
goes clanking off.

Thanks to Sara who reminded me how much I like Piercy’s writing.
 

Wikileaks v Paypal

Spam Header Inspired Posts

From Venus, who got the idea from Lex (sorry – no links -they all went back to Vox, and Vox closed…)

I thought Hey that seems neat then discovered my inbox curiously devoid of spam.

Till this morning.  When this dropped in.

Truth – If Neither Tell

If neither of us tell
We can keep this secret
Locked away, battened down, shut up tight.

If neither of us tell
We can pretend none of this happened.
If neither of us tell.

But one of us will.

It will burst from your mouth one night
When you are in your cups
And your filter is set to Open.

It will sneak out of my mouth one day
When I am feeling intimate with someone
When I want to share.

It will be overheard by strangers
When you phone me
To ask if you are remembering it right.

That is the thing
Secrets are not secret
If two people know.

Dehra Adams – Irish Terrier Pat – Poem of the Day

Memory leads me and I have to go,
It sweeps my hand along the dog’s rough coat,
And I am on a hearthrug, six years old,
Safe beyond words, fingering his collared throat.

Memory leads me and I have to go,
Up the first stairs that taught me to be brave,
And I am in a bedroom, twelve years old,
Sad beyond words, viewing his garden grave.

QotD: Favorite Poem

What is one of your favorite poems?
Submitted by marvel is my pen name.

This is for On The Prowl, who says he gets nothing from reading poetry.  That seems a great shame – so, here is a poem to listen to.

We all know someone like this, but only JCC has the venom to totally describe a Twat in so many, many words.

This may offend – there is rudeness, some swearing and a lot of vitriol in these words.

BE WARNED and do not flame me if you listen and do not like.