Saturday, March 10, 2012

Antiquities; silver and gold star mothers; elephant products; tidiness


The elephant
 a noble beast
is revered by some
and still slaughtered by others.
Pre-raccoon, we scrawled
a prehistoric mastodon
on a shelf bracket fungi
and put it out to dry.

It still reposes here
years later
at the Odd Fellows,
overexposed, next to 
a fish fossil from Silurian
limestone sediment
it suggests antiquity.


Our building, The Putney,
is made of limestone
that is circa 137 million years old.

The elephant became 
a Republican symbol
somewhere along a fuzzy line
but that's just fine, 
and we'll gladly use
paper from
Sri-Lankan elephant
dung (see below)
and be happy.


(I don't think donkey dung
would have the cachet that
elephant dung has, anyway...)


.........


A circus elephant,
made into a flag stand
rears pose-like on the loft rail
here at the OF,
greeting each new day
with old glory, a flag
donated by officer Hogan of the State bank
when I opened a senior account.
I asked if I could have the little flag
and Hogan, looking left and right
 said yes.
(Remember that:
State Bank = yes.)





A heavy teak elephant
grazes as a desk ornament,
OFian;
folks who visited Ruth and John Hale
in the old days
will remember this elephant.
He was theirs
and he is not for sale.


An old gourd horn,
playable even in its broken state
needs its non-bakery elephant ears
glued back on

The ears came from the back
of the skull so all of the gourd
- grown at 517 Arcadian -
was used.
Our scarce fringe hair 
decorates his forehead.
A worn Harlow Kneser cornet
mouthpiece, used with proper embouchure,
allows for great playing.

This elephant form presently
lies honored in the spare room
on a quilt, tattering but usable,
made by my grandmother
of Cedar falls Iowa.

She had a banner in the front window
at 2009 Clay Street in the 1940s
 holding four silver stars
signaling she had four sons
serving in WW II,

all in different theatres;
all came back alive
but damaged in varying degrees..


War no more....

Yes, they were silver, but I'm painting them gold, for they are all dead now, RIP




................

Pachydermal humous




Dee gave me some paper.
I love paper
--onion skin, and now this! -
from
The PLOWSHARES Center
in Waukesha


made from recycled Sri-Lankan
elephant dung.
See net link below.


I used it all up in letters and post cards
and went back for more yesterday.





For more information:


http://www.mrelliepooh.com/

True to what the advertising says
there is no smell to this paper
whatsoever
and it takes ink on both sides
very well.


Some of the sheets are thick enough
to cut up and send as post cards.
Reasonable prices.
Plowshares also has recycled ellie-dung
pins and refrigerator magnets.


Great gifts idea. Budget-pleasing!


........


Dawn of a recent morning, downtown
Tree branches, light-struck, are vibrating to bud out


It is imperative to exercise due diligence
to keep this charming Waukesha sector clean.
Street cleaners run regularly in these
early morning hours.


We know;
we see them.
Others not living down here
may assume everything is
automatically tidy all the time.




Not so.
Everybody, all stakeholders -
be they property owners
or tenants -
must play a part
in our lovely neighborhood
to keep it that way.


Lend a hand, please!