Maintained correspondence; Cucumber fields, forever; Obla di, obla da - how the life goes on; Sewing; Tamarack squirrel-a-whirl

Maintained Correspondences

(Sherman Park observation from Sally 4th, on riot events of Aug. 2016)

Dear Dave,


On Friday, I was carting my younger son's three sons around Milwaukee, and we drove through the area where all the troubles took place.  I wanted to show my grandsons the fine architecture that exists on some of the streets around there - especially excellent art-deco buildings, still excellent above the first floor, but with crummy looking stores on the first floors of many.  I also wanted to show the boys that people were going around about their business in a part of the city that had been chaotic just days before.  There is a whole lot of repetitive showing on TV about the most violent and upsetting hours of what happened.  Currently there are a lot of very good, very smart, very experienced people assembling and talking together here.   I think there is real hope for our beautiful city to grow into a better time.  We have a long way to go, but it can get better.  I think people are unwise when they decide to carry guns around in cities.  A young man has a gun and is told to stop and doesn't, a policeman shoots him. It's an event that will be a big part of the lives of those who love the unfortunate young man AND the equally unfortunate policeman.   We might never know all the details of this.  All the anger, frustration, sick and tired feelings poured out.  We so need our schools, which try so hard, to get better, and we so need for people to be able to find decent jobs.  If these two things could happen, I truly believe that we would witness significant improvement.  We have GOT to find a better way.

Sally von Briesen
class of WHS 1954

^,^

Cucumber Fields Crossed by High Tension Wires
by Thomas Lux

Listen Online


The high-tension spires spike the sky
beneath which boys bend
to pick from prickly vines
the deep-sopped fruit, the rind’s green
a green sunk
in green. They part the plants’ leaves,
reach into the nest,
and pull out mother, father, fat Uncle Phil.
The smaller yellow-green children stay,
for now. The fruit goes
in baskets by the side of the row,
every thirty feet or so. By these bushels
the boys get paid, in cash,
at day’s end, this summer
of the last days of the empire
that will become known as
the past, adios, then,
the ragged-edged beautiful blink.

"Cucumber Fields Crossed by High Tension Wires" by Thomas Lux from The Street of Clocks. © Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001

An old farm-hand knew whereof he reminisced:

http://raccoonnews.blogspot.com/2008/01/radish-buncher-speaks.html

^,^

Obla di, obli da...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvbs07wwBjo

Lyrics

Desmond has a barrow in the marketplace
Molly is the singer in a band
Desmond says to Molly girl I like your face
And Molly says this as she takes him by the hand

Ob la di ob la da life goes on bra
La la how the life goes on
Ob la di ob la da life goes on bra
La la how the life goes on

Desmond takes a trolley to the jeweler's store
Buys a twenty carat golden ring
Takes it back to Molly waiting at the door
And as he gives it to her she begins to sing

Ob la di ob la da life goes on bra
La la how the life goes on
Ob la di ob la da life goes on bra
La la how the life goes on

In a couple of years they have built
A home sweet home
With a couple of kids running in the yard
Of Desmond and Molly Jones

Happy ever after in the market place
Desmond lets the children lend a hand
Molly stays at home and does her pretty face
And in the evening she still sings it with the band

Ob la di ob la da life goes on bra
La la how the life goes on
Ob la di ob la da life goes on bra
La la how the life goes on

In a couple of years they have built
A home sweet home
With a couple of kids running in the yard
Of Desmond and Molly Jones

Happy ever after in the market place
Molly lets the children lend a hand
Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face
And in the evening he's a singer with the band

Ob la di ob la da life goes on bra
La la how the life goes on
Ob la di ob la da life goes on bra
La la how the life goes on

And if you want some fun sing ob la di bla da

LORDY HOW THE LIFE GOES ON

[Hatch photo from Rev./Dr. John Helt at his home in the shadow of Holy Hill 8/26/16]

^,^

Sewing by Sue Ellen Thompson Listen Online The night before my older sister’s wedding, my mother and I sat up late hand-stitching a little cloud of netting to the brim of each bridesmaid’s hat To be alone with her was so rare I couldn’t think of what I had to say. We worked in silence beneath the chandelier until it was almost daybreak. Soon I’d have a room of my own and she would only be cooking for six. We drifted among the wreaths we had sewn, nursing quietly on our fingertips. That she still had me was a comfort, I think. And I still had her. "Sewing" by Sue Ellen Thompson from The Golden Hour. © Autumn House Press, 2006 ^,^ 'Squirrel-a-whirl' bracket ingrown by tamarack bark; Stump now an artifact at O.F.; dead at Arcadian, sawn in 2010  now does unheard of duty a stand for a new infusion teapot as in when life hands you lemons make tea

^,^

No adventures of Zepata today.

Feeling out of sorts at the church door; Everything's up to date; Bow ties; Zepata saga - instalment IV (1998)

At the Church Door
by Louis Simpson

Listen Online


I didn’t stay for the closing
hymns and prayers. I felt
out of sorts, so I left.
Someone was before me
at the door: a child, gazing
at a spot on her wrist.
She said, "Can you help me?"
"What is it?"
"A ladybug," she said.
So I opened the door,
and she said, "It jumped off."
We stood looking around.
"It’ll be all right," I said.
She went in, and I left,
taking care where I stepped.

Steeple bell, 1st Cong. church, East Ave and Broadway

SRN photo

"At the Church Door" by Louis Simpson from The Owner of the House. © BOA Editions, Ltd., 2003

^,^



Rodgers and Hammerstein

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodgers_and_Hammerstein




Kansas City
where everything's up to date

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6pmZE1Qtyw

Another one from OKLAHOMA! :

THE FARMER AND THE COWMAN SHOULD BE FRIENDS

Attention should be paid by warring downtown Waukesha factions
and others in conflict around the world.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G85aEsgMDwA


and one more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEwVAV3VPw4






^,^


Bow Ties

John Helt and grandson Emerson
at recent wedding of John's son TJ

Ben Willard at his wedding 7-3-16
(New wife is our daughter, Erin)












Old photo, work togs here




^,^

GOP presidential candidate 2016

^,^

Zepata and El Dayo

Instalment IV

Somehow during the clattering night

at the quonset

Zepata and Irena in their cabin found sleep

the devoted creek-ets too slept

but only after hearing the snores of Zepata

did they stop rubbing their own parts together

all very long songs over

The bedclothing on the  bed

 of tree trunks and 1000 lb test

lariat rope

the bedclothing oh my

Again

Irena chose to soak them for starters

in Zepata's unemptied bath water

til a return

Irena built up the fire for coffee

and shaved soap chips for clean-up

with the large blade she always wore

at the back of her neck

hidden within her long black hair

the sheath strappage appearing to be a choker

necklace ah yes she was clever

She checked her kit:

twin balanced 45 calibre pistolas;

over her shoulders went

the holstered dual bandoliers

crossing between her taut breasts;

all cartridge loops full

and leather thongs tied around each

of her muscular thighs

Thighs which could cause Zepata

to yell ouch Ai yai yai;

a grenade in the usual place;

sewing needles and thread;

pemmican;

iodine, cotton sheeting for

bandages or sling;

silver bicep bracelets with

hinged turquoise cabechons

behind which - check - the

cyanide capsules in event of capture;

for the Federalis meant to kill them

for a long time with many inhumanities

 on sight ha ha

Saddle bags filled with flour, salt

bacon

canteens (8) filled with

mountain stream water;

flintrock; several changes of socks;

her spiked wrist bands;

signal mirror, binoculars,

sack of gold coinage;

fish hooks; high-cuff leather gloves;

two large rolls adhesive tape;

medicinal and recreational whisky;

20 feet leather thonging;

sighted-in rifle; 35 yards fusing

and sulphur matches, large box of same

Zepata rolled away the stone next

to Dayo's quonset and put 24 sticks of

seized RR blasting dynamite

into a long leather hide and rolled

it so that it made a double compartment

one for each of Dayo's haunches

We becawm one with May He Ko

he chuckles to El Dayo

if a boolet hits here

he slaps the double bag arrangement

as he secures it to the saddle

Dayo snorts defiantly his

No Way amigo

Dayo stomps his hooves

and shows the whites of his eyes

his head tossing up and down

in anticipation of new battle

He will stride just a little ahead of Mare

There may be enemy fire

As always Mare will try to achieve

the lead position

and as always

Irena will say

I  not doing that, my greatest love

Mare she always wants to lead

I cannot help

Mare also carries hidden grenadage

No freighting opportunity

is ever overlooked by Irena

or Goddess of the Sun as the

peasants call after her

when they pass the poor villages

All this preparation took place in

the first light of day

El Dayo and Mare stand only a yard apart

and the spurs on both Zepata's and Irena's

boots jing-jing in concert as the two

fighters for the downtrodden

march in step to their mounts

Hep Hep

shouts Zepata

Two sinewy legs simultaneously

attain socketage in stirrups

Two sinewy legs simultaneously

arc over the horses' hind quarters

And they are off

A more splendid sight there never was

Sigh the creek-ets

Waving their bandanas from the window

Where they will watch a very long time.

[6-3-98]

Nard - rubbing down with; Better music; C-clamp; Expeditionist; Zepata episode III

^,^

(courtesy Rev/Dr Tom Bentz

8/12/16)

^,^  

Play https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rblYSKz_VnI

Something there is that doesn’t like permanency

         Or any semblance of it………….

Oh yes, we’ve assembled many a thing with nails and screws, even with oxyacetelene welding, to make them last.  But under it all we’ve always had a thing for configurations that can be quickly taken apart.  Folding tables, telescopes, umbrellas, tents, stuff that can be made smaller or made to disappear at will.

It is even more so now.  Could it be that I am aging and see my remaining life as a camping trip?  All trappings to be easily folded and put away when the time comes?

I thought about that when it came time to assembling a wire trellis framework up on the deck, which in our old house is merely a 2^nd floor rug-shaking porch only slightly bigger. How would I build this framework?

Simple to nail or screw it to the existing deck members, but my mind came coming back to someone eventually taking it down, and how much easier it would be if I just used C-clamps.

^,^

Expeditionist

^,^

^,^

Easily assembled things

~

including for a hoe-worse

Zepata 

episode III

Zepata and El Dayo

Instalment III

For the next several days

Zepata and Dayo only hear each others'

sounds as they shout encouragement

to each other, Zepata with Irena

in the cabin, and Dayo and his mare

in the hastily-constructed quonset

a barn of sorts

For Zepata the amigos will do anything

and Zepata wants Dayo to have a roof over his head

for when they are at rest

so the amigos dragged corrugated steel

sections up the mountain for Dayo's

shelter

It had to be steel because Dayo when he

is with his mare destroys wood structures

beats them to the ground

so intensely as with all things

approaches and executes El Dayo

so great a hoe-worse there never was

Now this is the thing for Zepata and El Dayo:

Irena and the mare are not playthings

for the two stallions'  rest and relaxation

Oh yes they are that

but when there is liberation work to be done

against the Federalis and wealthy land-owners

in the lower lands

they ride together at random times as a foursome

to keep Irena's and Mare's

blood up

to keep Zepata's and Dayo's blood up

for in May Hee Ko blood is everything

Something of Zepata and Dayo

has gotten inside of Irena and Mare

making the latter as furious fighters

fierce and likewise indefatiguable

in all ways and everywhere

as the former

After six days of jousting retreat

a mirror flashed a signal from down below

Tomorrow signaled the compadres

Come tomorrow

Bring the dynamite

Bring the women

Saw-dight comforts Zepata

We have one more night here

Irena pours red wine and uncovers

the leetle creek-et cages she made

during Zepata's absence

and the creek-ets, from down below where

Irena gather them

good and true Mexican bawgs

 begin to sing

begin to lull Zepata

the music of them so much he did love;

and Irena in the dusk lights a candle

and oils her lithe body with a concoction

of her own:

Rosewater for a base, then added equal measures

honeysuckle nectar, axle lubricant blended

with saddle mink oil and Witch Hazel heated over

candle flame to bring out the scent

to flood the cabin with the scent

her long and slick black mane wound

into a wreath and secured with catgut

from her guitar case

Already Dayo's hooves were punishing

the quonset

a primeval sequence which incited

Zepata's pituitary

incited Zepata to shout encouragement

to his faithful steed from their distance:

Ole, Dayo, Ole old hoe-worse

Ah-ha-ha ha-ha

Ah-ha-ha ha-ha

rejoins El Dayo

They think alike these two

In so many different ways

^,^

At Fort Benning GA; Ritual waters; Route step; Soldier

At Fort Benning GA

where father trained for eventual D Day

invasion of Normany, WW II 1944

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p02DgHeGdyI

^,^

Ritual Waters

The mighty Fox River now sees the young Burmese father

At its banks communing with the moving water

Which flows like the Ihrewhaddy in his homeland

Slowly but surely, and it has fish

Hla rides my bicycle – now his -  in spare moments and continues

His pursuit of a livelihood at the Fox River

The other day he told me he caught eight big fish

“How big?” -  and he held his thumbs and middle fingers together

to represent girth

instead of  hands far apart to represent length

the way we do around here

which said he is thinking of food

where fishermen of my acquaintance usually are thinking of a trophy

How wonderful to think of Hla riding my bicycle to the river

With a fishing pole

Catching fish that struggle to survive in slowly clearing water

Fish to feed his boys who also like to catch and eat fish, as in Burma

In olden days and even now sometimes we see

Milwaukee (?) blacks and pore folks at the riverbanks and lakeshores

in Waukesha County – they aren’t from around here -

hunkered down, usually, so as not to stand out

fishing “our” recreational waters

for food, smiling furtively beneath broad straw hat-brims

when they snag one that would bring their hands

around in big O’s;

And well-to-do locals motor by and cluck their tongues and say:

“Just look at that!”

^,^

Route Step

The bridge from Wheeling Island Ohio

across the Ohio River

to Wheeling West Virginia

was built before the Civil War

the first and oldest

continuously-operating such bridge

in the United States

Travelers on Route 70

pass over the Ohio on a newer bridge

to the north

but within sight of the old bridge

which serves local traffic

and which is anchored

on the Wheeling side

in tons

of cement beneath

our traditional stop-over hotel

on the annual way to the Maryland farm

So that shock waves of the bridge cables

are transferred slightly to our beds

and we're connected vibratorily

and there is no extra charge for

such magic finger treatment

I like to take an early morning walk

across the bridge each year on my trip

and I've noticed spider webs on the supports

that mimic the fretwork of the bridge itself;

and I've felt the sway of the bridge

in the wind, or when a car passes over

next to me on the narrow pedestrian walk

The water looks far below

and it is

During the Civil War

Union soldiers were marching in lock step

across the bridge and they set up a

vibration that caused one of the three instances

when bridge has collapsed;

those calamities happened during

the bridge's earlier life;

it hasn't fallen in a long time

proponents say

But that's when the broken march step

came to be, known as Route Step

to any soldier or parade marcher,

because the ordered but free-form paces,

out of pounding rhythm,

- no LEFT! RIGHT! LEFT! -

kept the Wheeling bridge

from falling down again

^,^

Soldiering

I saw a picture in a newspaper yesterday

of Russian children being taught in a classroom

about gasmasks

and I thought

how wrong that is.

A good share of my now 80 year life

 has been given up

to reflecting on how wrong things are.

When I was a child people's bodies

were being shredded, blown apart

in World War Two

not a glorious war but one that had to be won

and my bandage-winding, sweater-knitting

Red Cross costume-wearing paternal grandmother

with her progeny, four sons, all in the war

 would dress me in military costume

and her heart would swell with pride when

I looked like a little soldier, like one of her sons

on her front lawn in Cedar Falls, Iowa

but it never felt right to me

and when with my dad then Captain Dix we traveled from

military post to military post as he trained

for the ultimate D-Day invasion with the 90th

I shied from ceremonial cannon firing

I think I shamed him by holding my ears

and not liking the sharp sting of gunpowder

in my nose which I remember well.

Children come into this world with

a purity that is wrested from them -

the Russian children had that look

that look of something not being right;

Who wants to stand next to a blasting cannon

Who wants to wear a uniform for play

and what does it say to teach little boys and girls

about death being in the air they breathe?

Mental disorders, poisoned brain cells

a fetid pond in which to swim

for Earth's minnows

it fosters irregular heartbeats and earns us failing marks

with the cosmos:

 in this holy sea a spoiled estuary.