Paris, Tennessee is the county seat of Henry County and is home to the “World’s Biggest Fish Fry”.

~~~

I stopped by Georgia Boys BBQ on my way back from a haircut.  It’s located in an industrial area, in a small house, two doors down from a small auto repair place.  When  I entered, they had a big chalk board with today’s “meats” (pulled pork, ribs, brisket, burnt ends, . . .) and sides (BBQ beans, slaw, mashers and gravy, . . .).  Their drinks include Mexican Coke, Mexican Sprite, Mexican Fanta, Cheerwine, and sweet tea.  The portions are too huge for me to have tried dessert, but it looked pretty good (key lime pie, bread pudding).

Another definitely excellent cuisine stop in Longmont.

~~~

I hate to link to a commercial plug, but this amazing bird was first built 60 years ago:  “The records set are many: The Blackbird was and remains the world’s fastest and highest-flying manned aircraft. On its retirement flight from Los Angeles to Washington in 1990, to its final resting place in the Smithsonian Air & Space collection, the plane flew coast to coast in 67 minutes.”

~~~

Women in underwear are objects.  Men in underwear are people.

~~~

Elisa discusses Perloff’s essay in the Boston Review, distinguishing between epiphanies and profundities.   I’ve often rolled my eyes at (dum-dum-dee-dum) conclusive lines at a poem’s end.  There are also times when I’ve been moved by a line, like the final two in Sharon Olds’ Feared Drowned:

Once you lose someone it is never exactly
the same person who comes back.

Perhaps to some, that same line is a pointless epiphany.  Hmm.

~~~

How to make snail porridge.

~~~

No Comment:  “As a member of the Hall of Famous Missourians, Limbaugh will have a bronze bust on display at the Capitol along side president Harry Truman, Mark Twain, and Walt Disney.”

~~~

I don’t really want to know what this does.

~~~

I went on a 20 mile ride.  The light was fabulous and on the way we passed a horse rescue farm, an alpaca ranch, a cemetery that seemed to be inhabited by goats, and all manner of country manors.  The Divine Ms. Jackie could not attend as she had a 2-hour commute to overcome to get to Longmont.  But many of the regulars showed up and a few of the slower riders and in the end, we all finished by drinking 400-Pound Monkeys at Left Hand Brewery.

Let’s see, right now I should be in California.  I am posting this in advance so it seems a little funny, but I think that’s right.

Ferrara is both the capital city and province near Bologna, in Italy.  Lucrezia Borgia married Alfonso of Ferrara and is buried in the local convent.

~~~

Late Night Jokes

For Mother’s Day, Hooters is giving away free chicken wings to all mothers who come in. So Take your mom to Hooters. What better way to let her know she’s failed as a parent than taking her to Hooters for Mother’s Day?

President Obama was in town last night for a big fundraiser at George Clooney’s house. They want to have a fundraiser with lots of celebrities so the choice is pretty much George Clooney’s house or Promises rehab center in Malibu.

My mother and I have disagreed on some things. But I think that’s balanced out by her love, affection, and all those times she posted bail.

Sunday is Mother’s Day. My mom’s the best — for years, she fed me, washed my clothes, read me bedtime stories. But then last year, I got my own place.

Hooters is offering customers 10 free chicken wings on Mother’s Day. And 45 REALLY uncomfortable minutes with your mom.

Members of the “Geek Squad” are complaining that Best Buy is making them work off the clock. But they got revenge — today, they took a red audio cable and put it in the yellow visual input.

~~~

A summary of the Ig Nobel prizes of the past, including this graph showing why it’s difficult to break spaghetti in half.

~~~

There’s an app for that.  Famous people reading poems:  “Alongside each recording, the text of the poem appears. Occasionally, while reciting, an actor will add or modify a word, changing the meaning of the text slightly, causing the listener to reflect on the difference between the original and what has been spoken. Some read quickly and brusquely, others languorously.”

~~~

James Fallows reminds me why I never fly United:  “Ah, United. So many millions of miles invested in your “loyalty” program, so little feeling of actual loyalty in the relationship. At the beginning of each flight, passengers see the promo video from the current chairman, Jeff Smisek, saying how excited he is about the new United culture. Most airlines do without CEO-promo as part of the preflight drill; for me these appearances are a regular opportunity to reflect on the difference between the announced exciting new culture and the familiar set-jaw attitude of many (though of course not all) United ground, desk, and cabin crew members.”

~~~

Red-state, blue-state, baby-naming divide:  “More progressive communities, Wattenberg says, tend to favor more old-fashioned names. Parents in more conservative areas come up with names that are more creative or androgynous.”

~~~

Scott wants to know:  “In places where gay marriage has been legal for some time, what has been the cost to society? Has the social structure crumbled? Did taxes go up? Did any hetero Christians turn gay from peer pressure? Was there an outbreak of bestiality? Did it rain toads?”

~~~

Interesting:  Scientists look at octopus DNA to determine the last Antarctic ice sheet collapse.

~~~

People as medicine:  “Thomas Willis, a 17th-century pioneer of brain science, brewed a drink for apoplexy, or bleeding, that mingled powdered human skull and chocolate. And King Charles II of England sipped “The King’s Drops,” his personal tincture, containing human skull in alcohol. Even the toupee of moss that grew over a buried skull, called Usnea, became a prized additive, its powder believed to cure nosebleeds and possibly epilepsy.”

Bad Salzuflen is one of the many “spa” towns in Germany, known for its hot springs and thermal baths.  The town is the birthplace of comedian Jürgen von der Lippe.

~~~

For my brother, the Trekkie.

~~~

~~~

So, on Wednesday, I’m flying to the Bay Area with Kyle and Eileen (Kyleen) to go see Lin and Roy at their ranchette, eat fish at Pismo bay, and maybe ride the ATV around the place.  On the way down, we’ll stop and see Chris and Dave and probably hit an In-and-Out (no probably about it, actually).  I wish the Divine Ms. J could come, but too short of notice.  On the weekend, we’ll drive to San Francisco and do all manner of touristy things.

So, I may not be blogging regularly.

~~~

Just because Ms. Becky and I were discussing this.  19 Ridiculous SkyMall Products.

~~~

The problem with helium:  “And, since the Federal Helium Reserve provides about one-third of the world’s helium each year, this has upended the entire market. There’s little incentive to conserve, recycle or find new sources of helium. Instead, we’ve been frittering it away.”

~~~

Old and/or strange trees.

~~~

Felix explains the JPMorganChase $2 (or $3 or $4) billion trading loss:  “Taking a much bigger-picture view, however, what was really going on here was that JP Morgan had hundreds of billions of dollars in excess deposits, thanks to its too-big-to-fail status. And rather than lending out that money and boosting the economy, Jamie Dimon decided to simply play with it in financial markets, just as a hedge fund would.”

~~~

NYC is the fastest-growing technology hub.

~~~

Mothers, drink your beer.

~~~

Regretsy is where DIY meets WTF.  For example:

~~~

Of course it is:  “Jerusalem, Israel: An Ultra-Orthodox Jew swings a chicken over his head during the Kaparot ceremony in the Mea Shearim neighbourhood.  The Jewish ritual is supposed to transfer the sins of the past year to the chicken, and is performed before the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur.”

~~~

More if I think of it.

Indian Trail, North Carolina was founded in 1861 because of a history of traders traveling the “Indian Trail” between Petersburg, Virgina and the home of the Waxhaw Indians.

~~~

Ms. Jackie and I walked the Pearl Street Mall while waiting for her bike to be tuned up prior to her charitable mountain run next weekend.  We dropped into SmithKlein Gallery, which as some very nice pieces.  Some of the artwork was out of my budget range (like the $15,000 rabbit sculpture), but some were actually quite reasonably priced, considering the quality.

Some of them, like this piece by Warren Cullar, was interesting (it’s over 4 feet tall), but also way above my price range.

We moved on to The Med to have a little lunch.  It was busy, as it always is, every day of the week, nearly every hour that it’s open.

Across from our table was this completely amazing arrangement of flowers.  They bring in new flowers every day.

~~~

Late Night Jokes

Today Newt Gingrich didn’t agree or disagree on the gay marriage thing. However, he did say there should be a term limit on all marriages.

Researchers at Harvard say red wine can slow the aging process. They say if you drink red wine, it can help you look younger. And you can look even younger if you get the other person to drink it.

The White House admitted that Vice President Biden’s endorsement of gay marriage forced him to come out in favor of it. So in a related story millions of Americans are trying to get Biden hooked on pot.

Mitt Romney has issued an apology for some of his high school pranks that went a little too far. Probably the meanest prank was the time he bought his high school and fired everyone in it.

My question with the same-sex couples is: Who drives, who nags? Who says let’s order dessert and who says I’ll just have a bite?

After President Obama announced his support for gay marriage, his campaign raised a million dollars in 90 minutes. That explains why today Mitt Romney actually supported gay marriage from noon to 1:30.

A new survey found that the best time to post something on Facebook is on Wednesdays between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. — while the best time to post something on MySpace is on Wednesdays between 2004 and 2007.

~~~

Over at Nothing to Say & Saying It

Jordan:  The poets, John, are fifty years behind the visual arts. This means it’s up to us to keep Kennedy from going to Dallas.

John:  I disagree. I believe it’s the conversation about poetry that’s watching grainy black and white. The poetry’s doing fine, except where it’s not.  Sandra Simonds would be as impossible in 1962 as would Charles Avery.

~~~

The Ego Theory of Venture Capital:  “My theory is that venture capital used to be a more rational business model. Today, I think venture capital is largely ego-driven. For wealthy investors, it’s more about proving how smart you are, and having the chance to forever associate your name with a startup success. It’s sort of like the Kennedy family transitioning from their bootlegging roots (allegedly!) to politics. Rich people often need to scrub their family reputations. Investing in startups is the modern way to do that.”

~~~

How long did cave-women breast feed?

~~~

Will America elect a jerk?  “Very few votes are going to be cast on the basis of what Mitt Romney did or didn’t do to John Lauber in 1965. So that, per se, isn’t Romney’s problem. But this is: The story lands as another brick on pile of evidence amassing that he’s just a disagreeable human being.”

~~~

That’s all, gotta go.

Ringgold, Louisiana is named for  Major Samuel Ringgold, the hero of the battle of Palo Alto in the Mexican-American War.

~~~

Me and my Bugeye Sprite.

~~~

I was googling for something or other and ran across this Sears catalog of “hand-painted oil reproductions” of Gaugin, da Vinci, Vermeer, Dali and others.  Most were about $1000.  I didn’t know famous works were licensed in this way.

~~~

Fishbowl bras.  Because they could.

~~~

Late Night Jokes

President Obama officially announced he is in favor of gay marriage. Of course, this is a monumental event. This is the first time Joe Biden said something Obama didn’t have to apologize for.

The women know what this means. Now all the good ones will be married AND gay.

“The Avengers” continues to break box-office records. The Pentagon refused to provide military hardware because they found the movie too unrealistic. They said they can’t lend any tanks until they explain why the Hulk’s pants don’t fall off.

Membership and recruiting of al-Qaida is drying up. Far be it for me to tell terrorists about strategy but I think membership started to subside when they went to the suicide bomber exploding underpants.

Let’s just say you put on the exploding underpants and you detonate. When they bring in the 72 virgins, then what?

President Obama came out with approval of same-sex marriage. He said that over the years, he has been going through an evolution on the issue. That makes opponents on the far right doubly angry. They don’t believe in gay marriage OR evolution.

Yesterday New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said he’s not sure if he’s going to run for re-election next year. He’s said, “I’ll collapse that bridge when I get to it.”

Nestle is releasing new Crunch bars in Girl Scout cookie flavors like Thin Mint and Peanut Butter. And to make it even more authentic, Nestle’s CEO is having his parents pressure their coworkers into buying them.

~~~

“When in doubt, do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”

~~~

Some great letters.

~~~

Yesterday was another ride in the vein of “Revolt of the Slowpokes”.  That’s those of us who can’t keep up with the 20 MPH speed demons that go on other rides.  We meandered for 15 miles, headed by our Fearless Leader Jean:

BTW, not all of the party are slowpokes.  Buzz, who took these pictures is very fast and experienced, which is why he was able to ride ahead, take pictures, catch up and do it all over again.  That’s me in Canary Yellow.

We had one stretch along Airport Road where we next to traffic.  Most of the way was easy-going.

The route included a detour to look at Gretchen’s flowers, which were GIGANTIC.

I really have to find a riding jersey that doesn’t have the built-in bump in the front.

~~~

Very cool. This lady turns your kid’s art into toys.

~~~

Keeping it short today.

Pforzheim stands at the gate to the Black Forest in Germany.

~~~

My usual riding experience.

~~~

Someone please explain this to me.

~~~

Derek’s buddy, Max Moore finally responded to my friend request.  Max was Der’s roommate in Chicago and I’ve spent some time with him there and in Las Vegas, where his parents live.  He’s a terrific young man and an completely ferocious climber.  He completed his degree at Columbia about the time Der did, then went on a nation-wide tour with his sweetie Liberty, climbing and bouldering their way across the country, if their Facebook pictures are any evidence.

~~

“Good night, Westley. Good work. Sleep well. I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.”

Did you know that the Dread Pirate Roberts had its own Wikipedia page?

~~~

I’ve always liked Martha Stewart in that not-paying-too-much-attention-just-like-her way.  I love my Martha Stewart copper-bottomed heavy fry pan that I bought at Target for $25.  I love my Martha Stewart 400 thread count sheets I got somewhere else.  And I like the balance of activities that Elisa posted in her list from Martha’s Month.  It is exactly why I like Ms. Stewart:  a collection of practical tasks that serve to make the world more beautiful, satisfy her obligations, and engage in some entertainment.

~~~

Oh, hell, everybody else has weighed in.  Me, too. I loved Where the Wild Things Are.

~~~

There are Miller Moths all over my house.  One or two pops up in my car when I drive off.  I have no idea where they come from.  I pick them up in my palms and escort them outside.  I open the window of the Honda and let them fly out.  It doesn’t matter, they’re there the next day trapped against the window or fluttering around the kitchen lamps.  Supposedly, they are the adult form of the army cutworm.  OK, fine, no problem.  But where did all these cutworms come from.  Basically, Colorado has no bugs.  I have no roaches.  I have no ants.  I have no worms.  We don’t do bugs.  It’s too cold in winter and too dry in summer.  Or something.  I don’t really know, I’m just waiting for someone to explain this Miller Moth thing.

~~~

Falling in love while dancing.  Heck, I’ve done that.

~~~

On Facebook, I notice that I was just added to the “I Hate Being Added to Groups Without Being Asked” group.

~~~

The Sendakian Avengers.

Paragould, Arkansas is named after J. W. Paramore and Jay Gould, respective owners of two large railroad companies that had lines that intersected here.  Paragould’s Capitol Theatre hosted the world premier of the 1941 movie The Man Who Came to Dinner, staring Bette Davis.

~~~

Rent the evil birthday clown:  “At the end of a terrifying week, your child will indeed be attacked. Deville, wearing a freaky clown mask, will smash a cake into your child’s face, Metro reported.”

~~~

Yes.  “Today Obama did more than make a logical step. He let go of fear. He is clearly prepared to let the political chips fall as they may. That’s why we elected him. That’s the change we believed in.”

~~~

It’s not what it looks like.

~~~

How to survive in a downturn:  “The coffee shop’s secret is to offer every conceivable service. So in addition to coffee and pastries, you can also get a urine test, a paternity test, financial planning, tax prep, a studio photo-portrait, and, soon, a specialist cleanup service for landlords whose houses have been rented by compulsive hoarders. The counter-staff also serve as unofficial fixers for local lawyers, because all the judges and clerks eat there.”

~~~

In 2011, all German police fired exactly 85 bullets:  49 warning, 15 shots that injured, 6 that killed.  Eighty-five bullets for an entire year in a country of 80 million people.

~~~

ZBL (Zombie-Based Learning) : “Instead of reading about the distribution of resources on Earth in a textbook, you are researching available resources to plan your post-outbreak settlement.”

~~~

Late Night Jokes

Facebook has revealed their estimated net worth — $96 billion. That’s almost as much money as businesses lose every year from their employees wasting time looking at Facebook.

Rick Santorum finally endorsed Mitt Romney at 11:00 last night. When reached for comment, Santorum said, “When I can’t sleep, I try endorsing Mitt Romney for president and it puts me right out.”

President Obama’s re-election campaign is focusing very hard on Latino voters. That explains President Obama’s new campaign slogan: If you squint, I kind of look Puerto Rican.

Lindsay Lohan was in New York having dinner with Woody Allen. Nice going, eHarmony.com.

A new study found that most people can’t go 10 minutes without lying. But since the study took 20 minutes nobody knows what to believe.

Most people can’t go 10 minutes without lying. We have a name for those 10 minutes — “job interviews.”

Director James Cameron announced that he is planning to release three sequels to “Avatar.” But come on — none for “Titanic?”

~~~

Arrested Development Lego set.

~~~

Scott goes out on a limb again:  “All I’m saying is that if we cared about future generations, we have the means to solve a lot of their problems in advance through genetic management. In reality, we don’t care too much about future generations, so the current method of mating all higgledy-piggledy is fine with everyone.”

~~~

The Gloom-and-Doom Disease: Should Woody Allens Have a Home in the Manual of Mental Illness?

~~~

A Chinese murder mystery:  “Like his creator, Inspector Chen is, at heart, a poet who thinks deeply about things: In particular, Chen ruminates over the human costs of China’s rush to transform itself into a superpower.”

~~~

I have somehow along the way befriended a mystery author on Facebook.  She starts off almost every day with “Good morning!”.  Today, that was followed by “I hate mean people!” and “I want to thank everyone that bought my book already and everyone who might buy it soon or eventually, hopefully, soon.” and “Today is going to be a bad day to sleep, it’s already muggy!”

I feel like I’m listening to someone’s parrot.

~~~

Campobello, South Carolina sits on the South Pacolet River and has a population of about 500.

~~~

The Avengers in high school.

~~~

Avenger thumb drives.

~~~

The other Avengers.

~~~

A guy on Facebook was complaining that his son’s teacher called his son “the posh boy among the Geordies”.  I have no idea what that means.

~~~

From Stephen Burt:

I don’t know whether the “William Logan” responsible for the exact and careful, superbly paced and definitively informative, archive-based essay in the current VQR, on Elizabeth Bishop’s teen years at summer camp, is the same “William Logan” whom some of you know for his slashing reviews of contemporary poetry, but whoever that guy is in VQR, he’s terrific. More of him, please.

~~~

** Snork **         (I stole that from Becky)

~~~

Frankie says relax.

~~~

~~~

~~~

~~~

Late Night Jokes

President Obama has his new re-election campaign slogan. It’s just one word: Forward. Have you been watching this election? Can we press fast forward? Can we just get this thing over with?

Some good news for that New Jersey tanning mom. Over the weekend at Newark’s airport she bought a ticket from New York to L.A. for only $50. Apparently they mistook her for a piece of luggage.

In a new interview, Vice President Joe Biden said the sitcom “Will & Grace” made America more comfortable with gay people. Biden also said the sitcom character Urkel made America more comfortable with President Obama.

Anybody watch the Kentucky Derby? Once again it was won by a guy from Kenya.

Lindsay Lohan was seen having lunch with Woody Allen. That’s a parole violation, right?

Yesterday on CBS, Newt Gingrich said it would be “inconceivable” for Mitt Romney to choose him as a running mate. And today, Romney issued a statement saying, “Yep.”

After just one term in office, French President Nicolas Sarkozy lost his re-election bid because he was unable to fix his nation’s economy. Or as Obama put it, “Uh-oh.”

In an interview this weekend, “Jeopardy” host Alex Trebek hinted that he might retire in two years. Or as he put it, “Born in 1940, this game show host wants to sit around in his bathrobe eating ice cream.”

Ryan Seacrest just put his house on the market for $11.9 million. The house has five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, and 6,000 mirrors.

Saint Peter Port is the capital of Guernsey.  A trading port at this location existed in pre-Roman times.  The official name for this island is the Bailiwick of Guernsey.

~~~

I have almost 2,000 miles on my Blue Bike (the hybrid) now.  I think I started riding last July, and I ride 50-60 miles a week now, and oh, I probably have a couple of hundred miles on my road bike, so that’s what?  Maybe 3,000 miles the first year?  That seems like more than I rode, but it’s been a mild winter and summery spring.

~~~

This is a typical woman who Facebook wants me to meet.  The dating sites are all like “MeetMatureWomen.com” and all the ladies are tiny, like this one.  I mean, you could hold them in your palm.

~~~

~~~

I somehow tripped over the Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time web page.  They have Mark Knopfler at 44.  And of course Hendrix as #1 (all the rankings do that).  And Clapton always in the top 10.  Also in the top 10 are the most famous guitarists, like Keith Richards and Jimmy Page and Eddie Van Halen.  Are they really the greatest guitarists?  Beats me, I’ll have to ask Der.

~~~

Rebecca is a SERIOUSLY good cook.  She writes hilarious recipes that are actually remarkably precise.  And everything ends up tasting scrumptious.  But, then she does what I do:  take a picture.  And the picture looks like a picture of a picture of food.  Like I do.  On the other hand, Tearful Dishwasher could take a picture of a Bangladeshi sewage pit and it would look like the most delicious thing you ever set your eyes on.  Why is that?

~~~

Even though growth has slowed, this country will still likely be the largest economy in the world by the end of the century:  India.

~~~

For the 100th time:  Social Security is not going broke.

~~~

Another article on why it takes a LOT LONGER than you’ve been told to caramelize onions.  (Hi, Becky)

~~~

I was driving down 18th Street and, while stopping for a light, spotted this slender woman with red hair and white tennis shoes.  She was swaying to some inner music and smiling slightly and looking around without seeming to all that much.  I thought “how lovely”, and pulled around the block, right on Stout, right on 19th, right on California.  And there she was, still swaying, still lovely.  So I pulled over and she got in and we went to dinner.

~~~

Who do so many people reject evolution?

“There is no protagonist, no motivation, no purpose—all crucial elements in a narrative, whether it’s Frog and Toad Are Friends or Fifty Shades of Grey.
.
.
The biblical story of creation, in contrast, couldn’t be richer. Talk about drama! Characters who want things, surprising reversals, heroes, villains, nudity.”

~~~

Pretty funny:  “Compared across more than 100 factors measured by the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report, from corruption to deficits, JP Morgan analyst Michael Cembalest calculates that the major countries on the euro are more different from each other than basically every random grab bag of nations there is, including: the make-believe reconstituted Ottoman Empire; all the English speaking Eastern and Southern African countries; and all countries on Earth at the 5th parallel north.”

Native Americans were the first to inhabit the area now known as Lineville, Alabama. The Creek Indian War of 1813, however, resulted in their removal.

~~~

An unfortunate juxtaposition in my hometown newspaper.

~~~

Cracked me up.

~~~

The best way to transport a panda.

~~~

Late Night Jokes

It’s prom season, too, which is why all the drugstores are running so low on baby’s breath and Axe body spray.

One of the most anticipated movies of the year, maybe of the decade, comes out tomorrow. It’s Marvel’s “The Avengers.” All the super heroes gathered together. And it’s nice — it’s kind of cool to see all the characters responsible for my virginity together in one film.

Hey, did you guys hear about this? Last week, the brakes on President Obama’s limousine were apparently damaged while he was in Georgia. Yeah, Obama tried to call AAA, while Biden tried to call the Geico gecko.

I was just reading about this. Qantas Airlines will start attaching electronic tags to luggage to keep it from getting lost. And they’re going to start doing that once they find the suitcase containing all the electronic tags.

This is interesting, you guys. Over 100,000 people have listed themselves as organ donors since Facebook made it an option this week. Which is weird ’cause I’ve always turned to eBay for all my organ needs.

~~~

Scott’s proposed income leveling:  Suppose the only thing you can do by magic is reduce by half the wealth of the top 1% while knowing the money would be transferred to no one.

~~~

The sarcastic fringhead.  No, really.

~~~

Why evolution is true.

~~~

Elisa says:  If you like “accessible” poetry (whatever that means to you), then write and read accessible poetry. But leave me my Stevens (not accessible at all), my Anne Carson, my Lyn Hejinian, my Kirsten Kaschock. You can have your Billy Collins.

It’s interesting because I would not have put Carson or Kaschock in my own personal list of inaccessible poets.  I certainly understand Elisa’s point, and having Hoagland or Lux slam slam elliptical verse doesn’t help things.

~~~

Another big bang theory: “British scientists have a new theory about what killed the dinosaurs: flatulence.”

~~~

“It’s … It’s … It’s the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. I tried to think of the most harmless thing, something that could never destroy us, something I loved from my childhood.”

Buy them here.

~~~

And in Eau Claire news . . .

“Someone put a sculpture of the Loch Ness monster in the Chippewa River . . .”

~~~

Best post of the day from Facebook:

“I love poetry. I love conferences. The Northwest Poets’ Concord is amazing. But I will *kill* myself if I hear one more poet ask, “How much time do I have left?” during their own freakin’ reading. Folks, you can tie your shoelaces and comb your hair. Time it out on advance or bring a goddamn watch.”