May 6, 2010

Biography: edited




It was a beautiful day, but rain is forecast for the weekend.



Himself: Swam, job searched, cleaned after the construction, shopped till he dropped. Dinner and a sound sleep too….he also had slept poorly the night before.

Herself:…and too, the my hive site, OD blog Did books plus yesterday. Slept like a rock. Will read today then hit one estate sale that has/had a lap tray from the 50’s I want. G’s taking construction orts to Habitat for Humanity and will hit the sale first.

A blog you might like: Tugster: a waterblog about New York harbor, the sixth borough and gallivants beyond. Today you can see our fearless blogger floating hat on in the sixth borough with other miscreants.

Reading: Newsweek: Papers today announced the sale of Newsweek citing losses despite a redesign in 2009. It didn’t go far enough, the pundits tell us. News is gone, and not enough opinion doesn’t work.

Gratitude: Feeling slightly better, G, semi-finishing another piece for the chap book. I know my friends will slice and dice this one as I too have doubts. Grateful that both G and I are going to leave the one big orange wall bare but for a towel rack. We discovered that we are absolutely unified in thinking that adding the Peruvian weaving from D. Higgins estate will close that tiny room in.

Biography

I’ve always been immediately
grabbed,
volunteered, put to work,
scrubbing pots,
sorting, recording, moving
strings of papers and boxes
items of historical importance that escape me now
but were significant then.
Once I copied things ad nauseam
or found myself
picking lunch from shelves of donations
or out of the back of trucks
for the homeless.
There were years I
dodged senators and cameras
and other irritations while working on my own 15 minutes
while building billboards or flyers or filing systems
while digging ditches
writing invitations for those wine and cheese things
that never pulled in the constituents
while schlepping mountains of fabrics or
sewing machines, notions, and other
serious stuff
endlessly,
in my trustless old trucks.

I’d been told I’d be needed
to shelve a book here or there
file discs, straighten, count,
how strange then to be left standing
speechless
rebuffed
in an age when library funds are cut.
Later I find myself shelving books
for another society
sorting endless piles of clothes,
things, stuff, items, gear, effects.
I’m like a wolf in the hen house,
home at last.


Rewritten: we will see how it works. One of you wanted to see how these progress. Several of you commented that you were confused. I was told by the group that I needed to clarify. And too....pictures later as the bathroom is done.


Biography 2

I’d been told I’d be needed at the library
to shelve a book here or there
file discs, straighten, count,
how strange then to be left standing
speechless, rebuffed
in an age when library funds are cut
to not need a volunteer.

I’ve always been immediately
grabbed,
volunteered, put to work
scrubbing pots for Father Joe
picking lunch from shelves of donations
or out of the back of trucks
for the homeless.
Once I copied things ad nauseam
sorting, recording, moving
strings of papers and boxes
for the Historical Society
items of historical importance that escape me now
but were significant once.

There were years
I dodged senators and cameras
wet politicians and canoes and other irritants
while helping to save the slough
while digging ditches
while writing invitations for those wine and cheese things
that never pulled in the constituents
more concerned with working on my own 15 minutes of fame
than of really saving the world.
There were moments
while schlepping mountains of fabrics or
sewing machines, notions, and other
serious stuff
endlessly,
for the AIDS Quilt,
I’d fall off a curb and want to quit.

Now I find myself shelving books
for another non-profit
sorting endless piles of clothes,
things, stuff, items, gear, effects.
I’m like a fox in the hen house,
home at last.

5 comments:

  1. I am not sure I understand this, but I am writing a post on a recent volunteer attempt I have made that sounds like maybe this...?

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  2. I am curious. Which was did it come to you - as you thought - the first way or the second? I think both are descriptive and artistic. And, fwiw, I liked some of both, but mostly the second. You met the "clarity" objective for me, and I have that on my mind this year.
    Looking forward to the pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Two views. Like the wildhare, I like the second a lot. It seems more of a long journey with different stages along the way.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ah "miscreant" a lovely term that has fallen by the wayside. i'll wear it as proudly as i wear my hat. thanks, mage. i like your biography.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey, I can't view your site properly within Opera, I actually hope you look into fixing this.

    ReplyDelete

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