A Late Sunday Morning in CinCity

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Morning at the Window

by T.S. Eliot


They are rattling breakfast plates in basement kitchens,
And along the trampled edges of the street
I am aware of the damp souls of housemaids
Sprouting despondently at area gates.

The brown waves of fog toss up to me
Twisted faces from the bottom of the street,
And tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts
An aimless smile that hovers in the air
And vanishes along the level of the roofs.


This weekend I've been home with some strain of flu/virus/plague that's been romping around CinCity lately. I believe HoneyHaired brought it home from school, but it's certainly been in the hospital with co-workers taking off sick days like a row of Dominoes tumbling down the assignment sheet.

I've been using the time to update my CV and pull together the application for graduate school. The sticky hold-out seems to be my transcripts, which are ancient and probably stuck in a moldy, duct-taped box in the basement of McMillan Hall at Big Fat University. I am so crossing my fingers that I don't have to HazMat up and drag those yellowed sheets of paper to the light of day.

Not that there's been much light around here lately. I think that a day can't possibly get any greyer than this cold, damp blanket of clouds and yet the next day, yes,...yes it can. Thank Mary, Joseph, and little baby Jesus for Hulu.com.



Been catching up on past episodes of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Showtime's The Tudors.
I guess that makes me one of those liberal neo-monarchists that Mitt Romney and others are caterwauling about. Somehow I'm more than okay with that.


For anyone out there with a fondness for the Motor City and/or R&B, Prairie Home Companion's show this weekend is out of Detroit, acknowledged as a grand old city down on her luck. The music is amazing and almost enough to make a sick person get off the couch and see light at the end of the tunnel.



please note: art by Sheila Vaughan at Stalybridge

Comments

  1. dsFebruary 28, 2010 at 10:28 AM

    Wonderful poem, thank you. Best of luck with the grad school apps also. (I wouldn't mind having Mitt Romney mad at me, either) Feel better SOON!

    ReplyDelete
  2. GailFebruary 28, 2010 at 3:43 PM

    I love the line, "sprouting despondently at area gates" I can agree with that feeling.

    Hope you are feeling better soon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Erin DavisFebruary 28, 2010 at 6:18 PM

    How have you managed to bring so many of my favorite things into one post? I love PHC, and thoroughly enjoyed this week's show. Garrison is bringing his show to Spokane in June! Also, there's nothing like a little TS Eliot to set the mood. I'm eagerly awaiting disc 2 of the latest season of The Tudors from Netflix. Even though Jonathan Rhys-Meyers looks nothing like Henry VIII, he is perfect in the role. Maybe we should start a liberal neo-monarchist club. I'd love nothing better than to confirm Romney's paranoia...

    ReplyDelete
  4. RudeeFebruary 28, 2010 at 8:19 PM

    Hope you're feeling better, soon. Make sure when it's your turn to call in, you do so!

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownMarch 1, 2010 at 5:42 AM

    Yes, good luck with the grad school applications. Love the poem and the painting!

    ReplyDelete

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Hey, thanks for your thoughts and your time:>)

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