Birds fly under your chair

"Get to work. Your work is to keep cranking the flywheel that turns the gears that spin the belt in the engine of belief that keeps you and your desk in midair."

- Annie Dillard (The Writing Life)

Go here for the whole passage. Actually I'm sure Ms. Dillard would prefer that you go out and buy the book.

Pain Calls in Sick

The coalition of body aches and pains, including twitches, pangs, jabs, throbs, stabs, burns, tingles, numbing and cramps, has posted a notice on its web page stating that something is going around the office there, and that the elements of discomfort are themselves not feeling well. Some sort of virus, is the official word. It's hitting hard. "Yes, even pain itself is not immune to a nasty flu," the statement reads. The coalition asks our patience as its agents of bodily harm recover. "Surely, our usual customers can understand how we are feeling right now."

Indeed we do. Take your time. Don't hurry back.

Kibble

There are so many books
sitting up beside my bed
you should see the looks
I get before they're fed

The Mind's Eye

My brain twisted a word in a Washington Post headline today. For a split second I thought it read:

"After Rapture, Road Still Closed"

Ah, well, as long as there are alternate routes.

Enforcer

As I pry hard at
the stick pin lying
flat on the bathroom floor
in the space between

somehow there is always
space between

Sir Isaac Newton
pulls back mightily
the sumbitch –
doesn't he ever quit?

I dream of an oar

"My poetry costs me endless
labor. I sit down to it...like the
galley-slave to his oar."

- William Butler Yeats

Stop and smell the roses in ten easy steps

1. Do your research. Get to know roses. Where do they grow? What do they look like? Why should you care? Learn to recognize a rose as opposed to, say, a thistle, from ten paces away.

2. Clear your schedule. Dedicate at least half the day.

3. Wear appropriate shoes. Landscape can be tricky, especially for those unaccustomed to being out-of-doors.

4. Bees! Don't forget the EpiPen.

5. Hang up and turn off your cell phone. Yes, really!

6. Clear your head of all extraneous thoughts, except the one about where you parked.

7. Obtain all necessary permissions, pay entrance fees and visit the rest room one last time.

8. Single out a rose that you find attractive. Lean in and put your nose close to the soft, colorful pedals. Caution: Avoid the thorns. They are not fragrant, and will slice your nostril right open. (But, of course, you'll know this if you do your research. See step 1.)

9. Inhale deeply, trying not to cough, sneeze or lose your balance.

10. Equate the pleasant aroma with joie de vivre, the joy of living. Hold that thought. Hold it longer. Done.