L'aura del Campo

Assumptions. Family. Peppers. 3 Poems

Why do people assume that they know what is best for other people? My aunt has been deeply hurt. Why do they go ahead and do things without asking? I'm pissed off. Band Day images. Three poems. My friend Gastón Araoz is in town! I've been sleeping far too much.

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         L'aura del campo          

SUMMER: 2 'Izzat (9 September)

'é a lua,  é a lua,  na quintana dos mortos'
♣    Federico García Lorca    ♣

Ask me

Why do people not ask? Why do they assume that it's okay to do things?

Color me pissed off. I spent two months of planting, watering and weeding the peppers. They looked magnificent. The tomatoes are a strangle of weeds. The pumpkin has been devastated by blister beetles. The okra just started blooming. The eggplant has struggled. But the peppers looked magnificeent.

Today, one of the neighbors picked most evey last f***ing pepper. They didn't ask what was ripe or not. They picked them all, leaving only the smallest ones and even some of those they picked. Cleaned the patch out. Two months of work for a half-bushel of unripe peppers! Can you hear me scream?

These peppers are ripe when red, but can be picked before then. So ... a few that they picked had some orange on them. Most were yellow, some yellow-green. There is a whole month left in the growing season, but we won't get any ripe peppers now. Noooooo, they f***ing picked them all!

End of rant ...

███████ Weather in Lawrence, Kansas: 74º
███████ Weather in Mesa, Arizona: 86º
███████ Weather in Charleston, South Carolina: 85º
███████ Weather in La Paz, Bolivia: 50º
███████ Weather in Washington, DC: 84º
███████ Weather in Saint George, Bermuda: 79º
███████ Weather in Monroe, Louisiana: 90º

My aunt may be moving to South Carolina. That is another sad story. Her daughter really loves her, but made some very human errors. She assumed what would be best for her mother without asking. And at 77, my aunt is not about to let anyone, not even her daughter, run her life or choose for her.

It is still winter in La Paz, Bolivia. It gets down to about 28º at night. My friend Gastón Araoz is from there. Now he lives in Washington DC. Last week when I was at the Kansas football game I left a message picking on him. Today he calls. He's in town! And going to today's game against U.La.-Monroe. I'll get to see him this week.

Bermuda is looking forward to a stormy few days as Florence is headed there for lunch tomorrow.

POULTRY? YOU CALL THIS POULTRY?

Plastic bag

it waves on a breeze
caught on a twig

once

it carried milk home for a child
then gathered some peas
not done, it wrapped leftovers
we stuffed in the freezer

now

relieved of its burden
on this cold windy day
it's flown out the window
its very first flight

and alighted here on a twig

where it waves on the breeze
to a garden frozen stiff [163.337]

On nights like these

If I had to cradle the world to hold you tight,
tell you tonight that all will brighten with the dawn,
I could.
For you I'd become a sun. But the light would burn,
keep you awake. On nights like these I'd sing moonlight,
I would. [163.338]

Squirrel

Her movement, up the tree and onto the roof,
made us look outside our window.

Each day her slender body, her grey bush tail
entertained us summer and autumn.

By winter she was sleeping.
By spring we were gone.

Without someone to entertain,
who's her audience now? [163.339]

COMMUNITY

Jen, who is interning at Pélathé as part of her MSW program, said she and three others needed to do a project. Hub and I suggested the homeless community and more specifically minority communities within it: gay/lesbian, African-american, Native-american, and interracial couples. There are more of course (hispanic, religious and physical handicaps come to mind). Minority communities have both special barriers and/or resources available. I am suggesting to them that they can contribute by studying people that are usually overlooked. Most of the service providers seem to come from majority communities and do not understand that homelessness (which is solved by providing a home) impacts different groups of people differently.

Saw Amber by the shelter today and spoke to her about the above issue. She said that 95% of the street community is only looking for a warm hole to stick it in, your name isn't required, and a bush to do it behind will do. Got Dusty blushing when I dragged him into the conversation . But sexuality and the normative societal boundaries surrounding sexuality do not apply on the streets. Amber, who is one of the brightest people I've ever met (accepted into Harvard, IQ of 160+) is on the streets because her family (they have money) won't accept her as is.

MY LIFE

Yesterday I slept in. Been reading and writing on the computer a bit too late into the wee hours and I'm paying for it.

Weeded and watered part of the garden. The heat isn't so severe now. The vegetable garden is dry, but if it rains as expected this weekend, it'll be okay. There have been problems with rot due to the lushness of the tomatoes which was a result of flooding them during those weeks of 100º+ weather. Okra has been blooming ... so maybe!

Last night I fell asleep early. Like 8 p.m.! This isn't good. It leaves me with 'fuzzy head' the next morning.

Janice took me shopping; she is a dear . Got enough fish and yogurt for a week +. Already fried some tilapia .

This afternoon, I got to see the high-school bands parade down Massachusetts Street. They were from small communities like Wathena to very large and wealthy schools like Blue Valley. Sumner Academy from Kansas City, Kansas stole the show though with their movements. They may not be the Cobras, but they can shake it. I was thrilled to see the kids from B & B (Baileyville and Benedict) in their light blue uniforms. Baileyville has a population of 80; Benedict 15.

IMAGES

Baton twirlers; saxophones; flutes; 6 tubas spelling out T O P E K A in white on black; tubas of all colors; a male member of the color guard from Wichita; the diversity of marchers, their sizes, shapes and colors; children everywhere, the 2-5 crowd is taking over!; strollers; the crowd leaning forward, incringing on the marchers at the intersections; brownie troops; the military band bringing up the rear.