Chicago (60637)

Then you see an innocuous door and a few steps down
and you think, this looks small and rather
less than you expected.


But again and again the rooms unfold
and you walk deeper and deeper into


book heaven.

Like Roaches

The moment you flick the light switch,

the way they scurry from sight

is not art, nor the sound

of them skittering. You have begun

to understand.

Not even the painting

of the lit room, empty. Art is this:

to look at it, the room painted

the moment after

the lifting of the black

and still be able to feel

the roaches there.

University of Chicago

I visited the University of Chicago over the weekend. What can I say? The neighborhood is awesome, the school is beautiful, and the program is extremely impressive. Hyde Park is much less intimidating than downtown, and there is so much diversity. There are awesome bookstores, and the whole feel of the place is very intellectual.

The bottom line is financing. If I can figure out the money situation, I'll probably be living in Chicago next year; if I can't, I won't. Despite that, I cannot say enough about my experiences with the University to this point. It's definitely on a whole other level. I would be extremely honored to study there.

There Was a Little Magpie

after Joan Miro

nothing is important

your tiny heart

stitching itself to the sky,

planets like a girl's fingerprints

children singing about

the sorrow of winglessness,

a heavy secret never to be told

nothing was more important

you became the first

small thing with blood

to love your own face in the mirror

flight

the way you named yourself

Will the Real False Prophet Please Stand Up?

Image from a Borders bookstore's CHILDREN'S SECTION.

On the "Stimulus"

“There is plenty to complain about for everyone, and perhaps that’s the sign of a good compromise. Regardless of party, we all cast our votes with one hand and crossed our fingers with the other.”
~ U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D)

"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
- George Orwell, Animal Farm, Ch. 5

"No question now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."
- George Orwell, Animal Farm, Ch. 10

"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever."
~Thomas Jefferson

Wordplay

The reading by Michael Dumanis tonight reminded me of this (he talked about the importance of wordplay...cue Bahamadia).