Sunday, July 19, 2026
Forest Garden
FOREST
GARDEN
There's
a forest in the garden
Where,
shaded by tomato trees,
Plastic
tigers, grave and solemn,
Lie
and take their noon-day ease.
Where
Pop has built the earthen dams
All
around the eggplant plot,
Brown
and baggy plastic hippos
Belch,
and blow their bubbling snot.
High
in twisted clover stems
Monkeys
swing, tree to tree.
Amid
the clods and shells of snails
Roam
great gorillas, fierce and free.
I
lie watching on my stomach,
Cautiously,
through jungle grass,
A
gray line of new elephants
As
they ponderously plod past.
2021 Diary: The Last Few Days of July
7/29/2021: Up about 5 AM, prayers and Bible. Fell asleep
during cartoons. A little after 9 AM went to FD, got (besides some food) a new
belt and the Kung Fu Panda trilogy. Watched “Heartbreak House” until about
noon. Went in at 3:30 PM to cook supper (chili). Kept expecting Kam to come
home, but Susan took him to the shop. Burst of wind and rain about 5 PM. When I
went in to wash dishes at 8 PM, I could hardly get anything out of Kam about
the TV interview, just that he thought it went well. Worked up the final
integration of the Birthday Books into the shelves and read about half of
“Padre Porko”. Would that July would end.
7/30/2021: Up at 5 AM.
Prayers, Bible. Cartoons. Checked my RBFCU account, saw it had the next
deposits, so ordered from HEB. Started frying taters about 1 PM, or at least
gathering the stuff and prepping. At 2 PM went out and waited and the delivery
came, this time by a nice lady aided by her son. I always wonder if people are
judging me by Susan’s house, not realizing that I am personally poorer than
they are (probably) (though rich in family love). Humped everything in in FIVE
loads, though it was helped by carrying the sodas and teas in a Walmart cloth
bag. Called John and we had a long yak. Done frying by 3:30 PM. Went in and as
I cooked the fish Kameron and I waited for and watched his appearance on KENS
news. It was a very creditable performance. They had him wear a hat to be more
interesting. Went in and washed at 7:30 PM, then made myself a big burger. Bed
about 9:30 PM.
7/31/2021: Up about 5 AM again. Prayers and caught up diary. Bible.
Cartoons at 6 AM, and I slept in and out through them until 8 AM. Had eggs and
cheese at breakfast. At 11 AM took trash out and talked with Susan; she was
going through the storehouse to find a mama-san cushion for Kam. Reading “A
Celtic Temperament” on and off all day. Played DQ8 a while. For lunch/dinner
(about 3:30 PM) had hamburger, onion, cauliflower, and cheese mix. It’s now 7
PM and I’m about halfway through ACT. Saturdays are so dreadfully lonely. I
seldom see anyone as they are all busy and I have no cooking to do.
Notes
'Oh my God, I was so happy then!' 'Happy? You were miserable! You told me so yourself!' 'I was happy, I just didn't know it.' I needn't have fretted so. All Julys end ... inevitably.
Daily Bible Readings for Today's Mass
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 106
Reading 1
There is no god besides you who have the care of all,
that you need show you have not unjustly condemned.
For your might is the source of justice;
your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all.
For you show your might when the perfection of your power is disbelieved;
and in those who know you, you rebuke temerity.
But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency,
and with much lenience you govern us;
for power, whenever you will, attends you.
And you taught your people, by these deeds,
that those who are just must be kind;
and you gave your children good ground for hope
that you would permit repentance for their sins.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (5a) Lord, you are good and forgiving.
You, O LORD, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my pleading.
R. Lord, you are good and forgiving.
All the nations you have made shall come
and worship you, O LORD,
and glorify your name.
For you are great, and you do wondrous deeds;
you alone are God.
R. Lord, you are good and forgiving.
You, O LORD, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in kindness and fidelity.
Turn toward me, and have pity on me;
give your strength to your servant.
R. Lord, you are good and forgiving.
Reading 2
Brothers and sisters:
The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought,
but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.
And the one who searches hearts
knows what is the intention of the Spirit,
because he intercedes for the holy ones
according to God's will.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying:
"The kingdom of heaven may be likened
to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
While everyone was asleep his enemy came
and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.
When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.
The slaves of the householder came to him and said,
'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
Where have the weeds come from?'
He answered, 'An enemy has done this.'
His slaves said to him,
'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds
you might uproot the wheat along with them.
Let them grow together until harvest;
then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
"First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;
but gather the wheat into my barn."'"
He proposed another parable to them.
"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'"
He spoke to them another parable.
"The kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened."
All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:
I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation
of the world.
Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house.
His disciples approached him and said,
"Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."
He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man,
the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom.
The weeds are the children of the evil one,
and the enemy who sows them is the devil.
The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire,
so will it be at the end of the age.
The Son of Man will send his angels,
and they will collect out of his kingdom
all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.
They will throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun
in the kingdom of their Father.
Whoever has ears ought to hear."
Saturday, July 18, 2026
Cosmic Reliquary
COSMIC
RELIQARY
Dancers,
dancing, in crystalline amber,
Fighting
the flow of molecular stasis;
Eight
thousand, ten thousand, years in making
Their
ritual, primitive, delicate paces.
Swimmers,
swimming, through old slow stone,
Beating
their fins in the bubbling rock;
Ten
million, twelve million, years in cresting,
Sedimentary
waves in limestone blocks.
Old
light, streaming, down from creation,
Great
galaxies beaming through chasms of years;
Two
billion, three billion, light years in coming
From
stars that, perhaps, are no longer here.
Another one of my elderly poems, pressed into the front lines in what feels to be the waning years of the war. The conceit is, of course, the the universe around us is a museum of relics of work unguessed. Never could quite come up with a satisfactory final line.
Blood on the Axe: A Bit of Teen Angst
BLOOD
ON THE AXE
Blood
on the axe
And
dark is the day
Bare
trees are blowing
And
crows fly away
How
shall we know
How
shall we hear
In
the dim of the night
In
the cold of the year?
Frost
on the ground
A
cold wind crying
Dark
doors gaping
As
the sunset's dying
How
can we hope
How
can we bear
In
the gloom of the soul
In
the dark of despair?
Stain
on the sword
A
curse on the land
Man
at the crossroads
With
scales in his hand
The
powers of darkness
Are
at his command
Who
can resist
How
can we stand
The
look of his eyes
The
touch of his hand?
I wrote this as a teen in high school (1980 or so) and the apocalyptic outlook seemed so much more serious than the general hedonistic surge everyone else seemed to be indulginging in. I was more attuned to it from the death-cult we were only recently emerged from. Very dramatic; very pessimistic. Anyway, it's preserved here as in amber in these portentous, pretentious verses.
"Why Do We Hate the Aliens, Dad? Is It Because They Killed Grossbah?"
They discuss the proposed magic school, Morgs, and magic. From Episode 1. The title of this post is from an ancient silly joke only two people could understand.
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