IMPARTIAL IN THEIR CRUELTIES

THE MPs WEAR THE UNIFORM, IMPARTIAL IN THEIR CRUELTIES

The new online dictionaries help so much with etymologies. But more, they open the words to others with similar questions. You find out what others are reading, and which words they're stumbling over. Lately it's been the big words, old timers, returning as big waves. Words like "revanche," words like "rebuke." They take him to old songs, too. He hears Mahalia, "I've been 'buked and I've been scorned..." These words carry such big hope for the world.

After Harvest, After the days of the dead, trees visit the cemeteries at night. It's story time.

The poet has a pass to leave the base. He has been given permission to walk into the emotional landscape. He must remember to return at the stated time. The thing is, there's no clock where he's going. How will he know? He huddles near the children. They are watching the cat as he throws the mouse in the air, playing with it.

Jim Bodeen

3 November 2017