L'aura del Campo

What's in a name and Quenemo.

SPRING: 17 Bahá (6 April)

Weather where I am: 68º and anticipating a storm.

Weather in Stockholm, Sweden: gloomy and 43º

There will be severe weather in the region by afternoon. It is Spring, a season of two faces here on the plains. Kind one day and cruel the next. This week the temps will vary from 31º to 77º. The days are expected to be 25º to 31º warmer than the nights. In contrast Stockholm will be almost the same every day, ranging between 29º and 44º all week.

Later in the day: 81º !! It is 55º in Salina, Kansas in the middle of the storms. There are some severe ones coming this way.

A contest in vees.

Is Stormy a vamp or vhat! Her vords to be woven into a poem are very vicious, viperous or vorse. No need to worry about alliteration with these eight: violet, vine, vase, vast, vanish, vagrant, view, vision! Do I feel a vampire verse coming on or vorse, a Viennese villanelle? To enter her contest go to: "Stormy's poetry newsletter & contest"  [ASR]

A quilt for Tracy.

Colleen came by yesterday to get support for a quilt for the AIDS Project. Tracy Hughes died last November 8th. I told her she'd have to get a hold of his partner, Shaun Campbell, to really do it right. However, I mentioned I had written a poem for Trey, but didn't think it was good enough. Last night I wrote another short sketch:


Quenemo kid


What of the kid from Quenemo,
known by the yellow of his skin,
this gift of a dying liver?

Will he be remembered for big blue eyes,
a smile that dawned from ear to ear,
the toss of his light brown hair?

What color was his favorite as a child?
Which toy his very best friend?
And what of his friends that mourn him now?

Is paradise filled with rainbows, Trey?
And do you get to play with them?

Among the cornfields and the cows,
his ashes inurned in Quenemo,
I ask him now. [163.41]

Quenemo is a small city of about 450 people in rural Osage County, west of Ottawa and south of Topeka.

Next: A pope with a vagina?

Notre Dame has angered some Catholics because they will allow the Vagina Monologues on campus. Wow! A university allowing the controversy of women speaking about women without the permission of men! What next? A pope with a vagina? Cardinals with pms? (oooh ... we probably already got a few of those ...)

Polishing the helmet.

Well Rodney asked me last night to polish his helmet. Now, normally, I wouldn't name names. But, he asked again in front of others today. You see ... sex on the streets is not always a private affair. Surprised? Well, when a couple were arrested last year doing 'it' in the middle of the street, everyone knew who! Afterall, the spectators vouched for it.

Being Dennis.

Dennis is a character who dresses up for all occasions, real or imagined. He is known to change outfits more-then-once during the day. He's unique, in tiger stripes, fuschia or pink. Diane Morgan today complimented him as being the only person she knows who is truly at ease with himself. She has a point. He showed up at lunch today in grey Tweety Bird longjohns, an adult version of a baby-sleeper. Only Dennis could do this. No one else would ever dare!

SENSED

Stench of the alley-way; the fragrance of crabapple and Spring; warmer outside than inside; blue jay, 5 feet away; a display on rape; redbud almost in full bloom; buds rising above the swords of irises.

Do you know Mr. and Mrs. Jay?

I ask because I saw a blue jay today. Unless we have pets, we tend to refer to animals and plants by type or description. As a child did I name 'my' elm tree Elmer? No. Even though I mourned the loss. How many blue jays have come and gone since I first saw one? If they had individual names, would I care more?

You see, it wasn't just any drunk who asked me to polish his helmet, it was Rodney. And Dennis has a name; he's not just an objet d'art in lavender. And Tracy will get a quilt that honors him, in spite of his family's rejection of Shaun, and ultimately of him. Do we care when a blue jay is born or dies? Without a name, I wonder. And what of the cold 'will-spring-ever-get-here' weather in Sweden? Would I care if I didn't know AL? Ha var påsklilja ett namn? So each blue jay matters more, each tree, each person, when we have honored it, him or her with a name.

And next time I talk with my friend Jan Jay, I'll remember to ask how her huband is.