The rain is a broken piano, playing the same note over and over. My five-year-old said that. Already she knows loving the world means loving the wobbles you can’t shim, the creaks you can’t oil silent—the jerry-rigged parts, MacGyvered with twine and chewing gum. Let me love the cold rain’s plinking. Let me love the world the way I love my young son, not only when he cups my face in his sticky hands, but when, roughhousing, he accidentally splits my lip. Let me love the world like a mother. Let me be tender when it lets me down. Let me listen to the rain’s one note and hear a beginner’s song. Maggie Smith
The earth is closing on us, pushing us through the last passage, and we tear off our limbs to pass through. The earth is squeezing us. I wish we were its wheat so we could die and live again. I wish the earth was our mother So she'd be kind to us. I wish we were pictures on the rocks for our dreams to carry As mirrors. We saw the faces of those to be killed by the last of us in the last defense of the soul. We cried over their children's feast. We saw the faces of those who'll throw our children Out of the windows of the last space. Our star will hang up in mirrors. Where should we go after the last frontiers? Where should the birds fly after the last sky? Where should the plants sleep after the last breath of air? We will write our names with scarlet steam. We will cut off the head of the song to be finished by our flesh. We will die here, here in the last passage. Here and here our blood will plant its olive tree. Mahmoud Darwish
The sun rose here at 6:07 a.m. The weather, patchy fog, mostly sunny later, Highs 69-75. The fellows at THE PERFECT AUTO SHOP are kidding around, feeling chipper. . . . . . like having four aces, The phone rings. A voice at the other end says: "I need a quote on a water pump." "You need a quote?" (from one of the aces) "I'll give you a quote: 'To be or not to be, that is the question.'" and hangs up! A minute later the phone rings back. A perky voice replies: "To sleep, perhaps to dream." and hangs up! In Abilene? These guys have been watching the moon too long. Carl Rakosi
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