SATURDAY POEM I ADMIRE
White-Eyes
In winter
all the singing is in
the tops of the trees
where the wind-bird
with its white eyes
shoves and pushes
among the branches.
Like any of us
he wants to go to sleep,
but he’s restless—
he has an idea,
and slowly it unfolds
from under his beating wings
as long as he stays awake
But his big, round music, after all,
is too breathy to last.
So, it’s over.
In the pine-crown
he makes his nest,
he’s done all he can.
I don’t know the name of this bird,
I only imagine his glittering beak
tucked in a white wing
while the clouds—
which he has summoned
from the north—
which he has taught
to be mild, and silent—
thicken, and begin to fall
into the world below
like stars, or the feathers
of some unimaginable bird
that loves us,
that is asleep now, and silent—
that has turned itself
into snow.
Mary Oliver, 1935-, Pulitzer Prize winner, holds poetry chair at Bennington College, Vermont.
Deep Thought: “I’m not sure it’s good to think back to my childhood memories, because I end up feeling happy and sad at the same time, and that gives me a weird “neutral” feeling.”
Today I am grateful for: Altoids
Guess the Movie: “You’re the first man in five years who didn’t tell me I look like Veronica Lake inside of a minute.” Answer: LA Confidential, 1997. 
Winner: Leonidas.
Kerik Nomination is a Ticking Time Bomb
by Ellis Henican
Campaign bodyguard to Rudy Giuliani.
Errand boy for the Saudi royal family.
Energetic exploiter of Sept. 11th tragedy.
Tough-talking publicity-hound vowing to bring law and order to Iraq – then hightailing it out of there after a disastrous 14 weeks, leaving the place far less safe than he found it.
Oh, the bullet points on Bernie Kerik’s real-life resume just go on and on. But is this really the guy we want standing between us and the terrorists?
George W. Bush apparently thinks so. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 8:32 pm
+ = Got a lot more free time today than I expected.
- = First freeze tonight.
Comments (8)
LA confidential…great movie…
interesting article about Kerik as well…
Correctomundo!
The poem gave me chills. (No, I didn’t mean that as a funny, it just occured to me when I re-read the comment!)
this is one awesome poem…
I read the poem out loud – poetry should always be heard – and found a beautiful emotion swelling in me, felt like the bird, and the cloud, and the snow, and the poet herself, stunning woman that she is, living off in the woods with her partner writing of the natural world around her. Mary Oliver’s walks through the woods are something else, gems and jewels falling from her mouth…
Speaking of poetry, my dear, when are you going to share more of yours? You know I do consider you by far the best woman poet at Xanga. I know you’re heady and smart as they come, but you got talent too…
Even if you shared a poem a week of your own (too), it would be a big treat for the rest of us… xoxo
very nice poem…good feeling../N *
What a lovely poem. A friend (now gone) introduced me to Ms. Oliver’s poetry years ago, so it was nice on many levels of feelings & thoughts.
It seems like Dubya’s replacements are worse than the original Cabinet members.Which is very scary.