Death Defying

The boy hikes through a shallow gully
and up a rise dotted with sagebrush
He walks to the edge of the arroyo
Listens to the wind rustling in the birches.

He looks out across the plains
Billowing clouds piled high over the Deception Mountains
White as whipped cream on top, but underneath,
Dark as the cancer that clouds the boy’s thoughts.

He thinks he hears the singing then, very faint
He looks down across the arroyo
Seeing deep blue flowers
Meandering through its creases

And again he hears the sweet, melancholy song

A sudden wind creates a dust devil
Momentarily blinded,
He rubs his eyes
When he opens them, she is there.

She reaches out and touches his lips
Lightly with her finger, smiling at him
Her eyes,
The color of sky.

She turns away and walks along the stream
Leans down and lifts water in her cupped hand.
It dribbles through her fingers.
Sparkling like tiny diamonds.

Her straw colored hair swings behind her,
as she turns and beckons the boy.
She shows him a yellow swallowtail
Alight on dark blue cornflowers.

She smiles and laughs
Tosses her hair
and he
He is filled with happiness.

She reaches toward him
A flower petal between her fingers
Mimics for him to open his mouth
She places the petal on his tongue.

A myriad of tastes travel along his tongue
sweet, salty, sour, bitter
He puckers his mouth and makes a face
The girl laughs.

The girl turns to the boy
Places her hand along his cheek
Cool, and soft
He looks into her eyes.

and the sky in her eyes
fills his eyes
and he becomes the sky
and he flies through the stars

and is swept through galaxies
and into black holes
and becomes the dark
and then the light

and he sees and understands.

Who's #1?

Kickoff in the Gaza Bowl

Here we are talking about unrest in the Middle East when the really important question is, "Who's #1 among America's college football teams?" A whole host of bowl games descended on us in the last couple of weeks in which our institutions of higher learning used the athletic prowess of their "student athletes" as a vehicle for advertising educational offerings in engineering, science, and technology, to say nothing (literally) of physical education (or, as such majors are now called, kinesiology), while pinning their hopes for success on gate receipts.

We've had the: "Brut Essence of Man" Sun Bowl in which Oregon State beat Pitt 3 to zilch (that was exciting); the "Citi Never Sleeps" Rose Bowl in which USC went ahead of Penn State 31 to 3 before half time, then everyone fell asleep (except apparently, Citi) during the 2nd half in an anticlimactic finish; the AT&T "Stay Connected" Cotton Bowl in which Ole Miss broke even more Texas hearts than George W. Bush by easily beating Texas Tech; and the Starwood Hotels "It's the Time to Travel" International Bowl in which two teams with 5 losses each traveled to Canada, where losing five games is apparently considered good sportsmanship. And while the Israelis pound Gaza into rubble, we wait with great anticipation for Florida and Oklahoma to pound each other in the FedEx BCS Enough-is-Enough Bowl to determine, "Who's #1?"

You might remember the film “We Are Marshall,” which depicted the rebuilding of the school’s football program after the 1970 plane crash that killed most of its football team and coaching staff. The trailer for the film had Matthew McConaughey, who played Marshall’s new coach, saying, “One day, we’re going to be like every other team, where winning is everything and nothing else matters.” I have the sense that many of those now calling for a college football playoff to replace the Bowl Championship Series ranking system feel the same way.

Well, I have a suggestion for determining the #1 college football team in the nation. My system would make one simple modification to the BCS system, which currently consists of three equally weighted components: USA Today Coaches Poll, Harris Interactive College Football Poll, and an average of six football computer rankings. My recommendation? Simply add one additional component and weight the four equally. What is the new component? Academics -- supposedly the mission of our institutions of higher learning. If this were done, Oklahoma, which graduated less than half of their football players, both white and black, wouldn’t be in the running for the National Championship, and neither would Florida, which matched Okalahoma’s 36% Federal Graduation Rate. Nor would my beloved alma mater, Southern Cal (51%), which doesn’t belong in the same library with Penn State (75%), let alone in a bowl game.

Let’s level the playing field. Don’t reward schools that recruit kids just because they can play football, or basketball, or run track. Make them give their student athletes an education -- one that serves them well when the vast majority of them don’t go on to professional sports (about 1.8% of college football players are drafted by the NFL). After all, there just aren’t that many positions out there for kinesiologists. And who knows, maybe with a few more educated people in the world we can figure out how to stop killing each other over who's #1.

Palestinian woman searches for her TV
so she can watch the BCS bowl game

A Winter Walk in Pictures

Deciding

Two birds fly from a single branch
Diamonds left floating in the air
The sky is clear
My dog romps ahead
Exhilarated by the cold
I leave my footprints in the snow as I walk
Shall I come back this way
Or make a new track?

Burning Bush

Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire,
and the bush was not consumed.

E Lucevan le Stelle

E lucevan le stelle
ed olezzava la terra,
stridea l'uscio dell'orto,
e un passo sfiorava la rena...
Entrava ella, fragrante,
mi cadea fra le braccia...

O dolci baci, o languide carezze,
mentr'io fremente
le belle forme disciogliea dai veli!
Svani per sempre
il sogno mio d'amore...
L'ora è fuggita...
E muoio disperato!
E muoio disperato...
E non ho amato mai tanto la vita!
tanto la vita!

And the stars were shining,
and the earth smelled sweet,
the garden gate creaked,
and a step brushed the sand.
She came in, fragrant,
and fell into my arms.

Oh! sweet kisses, oh! languid caresses,
while I, trembling,
released her lovely features from their veils!
My dream of love has vanished forever.
The moment is gone,
and I die in despair!
and I die in despair!
And I never have loved life so much!
life so much!

A Winter Walk

The snow crunches underfoot
as we make our way
Finding footing by memory
along a path we visualize
Winding through trees
hung with frozen berries the birds
will harvest in late winter
We’ll watch waxwings dart about
Slightly drunk on the fermented fruit
Giddy with the thought of coming spring

Half blinded by bright sun
and sparkling snow
Our eyes are grateful
for the soothing colors that
Nature sets about the landscape
Yellow ochre, umber, burnt sienna, sepia

Like the waxwings
We anticipate the spring’s pale green
fronds and bulbs
Morphing into summer’s dazzling
panoply of colors
And then fall, where we marvel at
Nature’s ingenuity
As her seeds fall, and float, and fly
And scattered about, await rebirth

Nature takes nothing away
but only changes
And even now, watching
our breath fog the air
We see shimmering in our mind’s eye
All the things we love so much
And pointing to dry reeds along
The frozen pond, call out
Come, see how beautiful.

For Maureen & Susan