Progymnasmata

The other day I pick up my copy of Moby-Dick and leafed through its pages. They were heavily annotated in #2 pencil and smelled of old cigarette smoke. The binding was broken in many places. Pockmarks dot one page, the victim of stray ash from a cigarette that I was smoking at the time.

For about three years, I smoked cigarettes. Not many -- about 2-4 per day. Make that 2-4 per night. Why did I start? So that I could stay awake to read Moby-Dick at night. No, I didn't think it was ...

Lately, I've been pretty disappointed with my once-proud gender. Sure generations ago were were violence-mongering *******s with tendencies to xenophobia and misogyny.

But that stuff gets too much press these days. As a former boss of mine once said, "in lieu of the truth, people will always accept bad news as gospel". Now, men seem to be pathetic, lethargic, and overall undignified.

Real Men:

1. Work hard -- with their muscles, I mean. They ...

Into the Open Sky

Our autumn leaves descend --
Poplar, sugar maple,
Oak, and black cherry --
The colored-side face down.

Pines half-participate --
They shed (like deer in spring)
Their summer-gathering
Interior needles.

I love them, these old pines:
Their autumn molting time,
Their winter sun diets,
Their shedding summer fluff.

I rake them this morning--
The turned leaves ...

I'm down stairs at my house -- probably checkin' my fantasy football team or reading a LitNet thread, when I hear a loud

*crash, bang, tumble crash!*

from the garage. I think something just fell off of one of the shelves. Maybe one of the kids' sleds.

Anyway, it's gettin' time for me to go pick up the kids. So I walk up stairs and get my keys, wallet and phone and get read to go out the door.

Interlude Regarding "the Door" ...

So I tell my wife "you know dear there's only one thing -- just one! -- that I love more than you and the kids: the Fantasy Football draft. All the other days, you guys are more important to me. You should be grateful." She does this: and smiles.

Later I say this to her: "Honey, let me revise my previous statement: there's only one day in the entire year that's more important to me than our anniversary, Christmas, either kid's birthday, etc: the fantasy ...