Tag Archives: life

Birdsong

 
“Save yourselves!” cried a tiny voice, squeaking in the early dawn as the collosal clock of doom ticked away. They could all hear it, deep in the gentle settling ticking and creaking of the great oak tree they nestled in, reverberating cold empty echoes in their frail hollow bones.

“Save yourselves! Fly away!” another tiny voice piped up, singing out harmoniously with the first.

The light broke proper over the forest, and the rest of the tiny voices began to shout out their warning, “Save yourselves! The end is coming.” But no one seemed to be listening.

“Save yourself!” shouted a red-breasted fellow, ululating the cry, choking on the final syllable. He himself could feel the warning of time ticking down to Doomsday vibratingly to the tips of his tail feathers. The fear froze him from within, even as he swallowed air to shout his warning once more. Still the large hand swept to the final time, resonating deeper still, deep down next to where the primal fear nestled in his subconscious.

“Save yourself!” echoed from branch to branch, tree to tree, yet no one was listening. Winter was coming. A winter that would last. And only the ancient memory of the dinosaurs vibrating spider-like in their tiny souls knew what that really meant.

And still no one listened.

summertime is here

Baking soaked mulch, fills the air
With the first sigh of summer, life
Reborn’s morning damp-ended
Kiss, walking Wishbone ‘neath
Perfect white scudded blue, tufts
Of clouds off-setting the turquoise
Surround, sun’s out, air’s clear,
E’en light chill punctuated pulse
Of passing trains, rat-a-tat machine
Gun of hedge-trimmer
Does nothing to take the edge off
One of life’s perfect days,
Welcome back summer, we missed
You.

flushed

Flushed, system running
Tinnitus-high, smiling inside out
Breathe tight, short in throat,
Constricted with happy hormones
Life-rush of fine feelings thrown all
Too high, overdrive with no rough
Life to grip, just the ease of happy
No-stress enjoyment, true to life,
True to me, wide awake, bright-
Eyed, bushy-tailed, chomping at
The bit, look out world, are you
Ready for an Emerson, loaded with
Endorphins and aimed straight out
At you? I think not! Too bad, too
Late, don’t say I didn’t warn you
This ugly little duckling just got his
Turbo on – at this speed looks don’t
Matter, only steering straight on
Towards the stars and beyond,
Like LL said, don’t call it a come
Back, cause I’ve never been here
Before. Not sure even I know where
I’m heading, all I know is that it’s
Right –
She’s the one.

inside-out happy

Shit-eating grin,
What shit-eating grin?
With food and water running out
Is happiness sin?

We tough it through turmoil,
Fight strong through the night,
Chasing ‘way demons under
Pale moonlight, until dawn’s
Bright awakening bursts through
The night, with millions starving,
Many more in misery, being this
Happy, can it be right?

I may not have all the answers,
In fact hold very few, like
Why as sentient beings we
Hold such a narrow world view,
Not seeing the suffering every
Dripping tap cries, cheap food on
Our plates while the supermarket hides,
The dirty truth of its source, broken
Backs of our cousins, dying of
Starvation, malnutrition or hot lead,
Each inexpensive morsel we eat now,
Their lifeblood has fed.

Not being a saint, I eat the same,
Looking for a better choice, to
Step outside this game, thoughts
Circling back, seriously happy,
My heart sings a private song,
A duet at last, here comes the
Smile, a new life can begin.

With the world in this state,
Is true happiness sin?
If it is, I’m unrepentant, a sinner
Is me. I’ve waited long enough to
Be happy, you see. I’ll do my best
Change my food-eating habits,
Change my ways, for happiness
Can be more driven Good
Than Hollywood daze.

Love unrepentant,
Love hard, love long,
For when we are all dust
Only love carries on.

Living with Lyme Disease – 30 years and counting…

(The recording above is the radio program “Lyme Disease Controversy Comes to the Capitol“, broadcast on New Hampshire Public Radio by Elaine Grant on Monday, February 01, 2010.)

I have Lyme Disease. I caught it when I was around five years old.

Ixodes scapularis (aka 'Deer Tick')
Ixodes scapularis (aka

You get it from the ‘deer tick’ (aka the ‘baby tick). Fundamentally, Lyme disease is a bacterial infection.

Where did this all begin? Well, let me tell you…
I was about five years old (my memory of precisely when is obviously not perfect). I held no fear of ticks or insects, having grown up barefoot and wild in the forests and swamps around Chappequa, New York. As most young children are, I was impervious to any fear of nature, insects or animals.

Ticks do not crawl across the skin like many other parasites, nor do they hop around as 6 legged jumping beans like fleas (yech!). They find a nice, sometimes shaded, piece of skin (mine was behind my ear) and begin to make a home for themselves.

Continue reading Living with Lyme Disease – 30 years and counting…