Love Poem—A Rehearsal Of Loss

Valentine’s Day is coming up and you should have a poem for the occasion.  Here is one for a Valentine’s Day where you are possibly planning to break up with your sweetie. Or maybe you figure you will be broken up with that day.  

( Here is a poem I wrote about my wife. Maybe you would like to write a poem citing your sweetie’s virtues.)

This poem is called ” A Rehearsal Of Loss”  and was written by Agha Shadid Ali. This poet lived between 1949 and 2001. He was a Muslim who was born in India and later taught in the United States.   

Behind having a breaking up poem for Valentine’s Day, because sometimes life goes wrong, I like the idea here of sunrise as a loss. 

(Above–canyon at sunrise. Below–Sunrise in Perth, Australia. )

Here is the poem—

The night rose from the rocks of the canyon.

I drove away from your door. And the night,

it left the earth the way a broken man,

his lover’s door closing behind him, leaves

that street in silence for the rest of his life. 

Texas Liberal Has Best Month—Thank You Blog Reading Public

I’m glad to report that this blog had its best month ever in January, 2009. The blog averaged 1708 page views a day for January. This is due to you—The blog reading public!

If you Google the number 1708, the first non-Wikipedia entry you get is the 1708 Gallery in Richmond, Virginia. This is a non-profit gallery meant to showcase contemporary art. It was established in 1978. It is located at 319 West Broad Street in Richmond. The 1708 Gallery has a blog.

Above is a picture of an art auction at the 1708. I think they are selling the Mona Lisa. I’ve never been to an art auction. 

The current exhibit at the the 1708 are the works of Nichole Maury and Christopher Quirk.  Ms. Maury makes collages and Mr. Quirk is a painter. Mr. Quirk also has a blog.

Here is how Mr. Quirk describes the work he creates—  

“I direct the focus in my paintings to the viewer experience, and away from the notion of the painting itself as a bearer of content. Discordant components and qualities in each painting pose questions for the viewer, suspending resolution, and provide a space for the viewer’s own meditations. The idea is to give, not tell, and for the painting to provide an experience that unfolds over time…”

Good for this guy. It’s good to have the time to create, and good to have the time to think about why you are creating something. More power to anybody engaged in creative pursuits. 

And thanks to everybody who reads this blog.

Hurricanes Not A Rainy Day Expense?

The malignancy known as the Texas State Legislature must decide if it should make more cuts to state programs, or dip into the nine billion dollar rainy day fund to help pay for expenses related to Hurricane Ike and two other hurricanes that impacted Texas last year. 

Above—Not a rainy day. Hurricane Ike flooding not far from where I live in Houston.

Governor Rick Perry says that the Federal Government should pick up many of the costs. That’s because Governor Perry is a big believer in using government to help people. (That’s a joke.  He’s not those things. He’s a mean guy who panders to a mean constituency.)

The idea that we would even consider cutting services in this already barbaric state because we had a hurricane that came and did people a lot of damage is….well, that idea is just Texas for you.