John Fahey Rolls Over In His Fucking Grave

"I know it's a little different than what we were thinking... but I think it'll help warm things up... and speak a little more to the whole kids-achieving-their-dreams thing. You know, it's less about technology and innovation and more human, maybe... and it still has a reasonable pulse, tempo-wise... something we could edit to... it'll make the video kind of mosey. I mean, we don't want something too upbeat... the first lines are about a national math and science crisis..."

My argument and I were feeling squishy. This was surely not the legacy John Fahey had hoped for.

"It'd sound like a car commercial," said Eli.

"Too hillbilly," declared Dave.

Oh, everyone loses here, thought I.

Two Portlands

Maybe she'll go to Portland—the one on the east coast. She could take over her mother's mill, fly all over the world and write novels from hotel rooms and airport lounges.

Or maybe she'll go to the other Portland—the one on the west coast, where she left a little skin and blood on the road. She found a lot of kindness there.

It's hard not to think about those places as places I would've gone, too. And hard to think about what it'll feel like when the leaves die out this Fall and the view of the apartment she'll leave behind her is cleared.

Big Blue Heron (Part III)

I got distracted
And, for a minute there,
Froze like a great big blue heron
And watched you move closer

I was refracted
In that salty inlet water
Distorted, but still whole
Bent, but bent toward you

We could have been a different thing
And held on to keep from getting cold
And growing guarded

But I am a fixed point
Around which things revolve
And you are in orbit
Around another fiery light.

Laughter Storage

You left your laughing

Behind the cushions

Of this old, beat up couch

And in the light bulbs

And VCR wires.

It makes me serious.

"F" Is For Flying Lemur

"Seriously, Steve. What is that?"

"Looks like a flying lemur. But I've been wrong in the past about that kind of thing."