Thursday, August 19, 2010

The First Contrariennes

"When sentenced at Bow-Street Police Court to two months hard labor the two Suffragettes who were yesterday released from Holloway Gaol uttered the threat 'It will be bombs next time'."
Ah, memories.
August 26 18? is the anniversary of women's suffrage in the U.S. Should I go to the Plague of Women Vultures luncheon?

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Exactly

Refusing at Fifty-Two to Write Sonnets
by Thomas Lynch


It came to him that he could nearly count
How many Octobers he had left to him
In increments of ten or, say, eleven
Thus: sixty-three, seventy-four, eighty-five.
He couldn't see himself at ninety-six—
Humanity's advances notwithstanding
In health-care, self-help, or new-age regimens—
What with his habits and family history,
The end he thought is nearer than you think.

The future, thus confined to its contingencies,
The present moment opens like a gift:
The balding month, the grey week, the blue morning,
The hour's routine, the minute's passing glance—
All seem like godsends now. And what to make of this?
At the end the word that comes to him is Thanks.