Category: Everything Else

but I have time to share another gem my father left behind.

CONFESSIONAL POEM

I have this large tattoo on my chest. It is like a dream I have when I am awake. I see it in the mirror as I shave and brush my teeth, or when I change my shirt or make love. What can I do? I can’t remember where I got the tattoo. When in the past did I live such a life? And the price of having such a large tattoo removed must be completely beyond reason. Still, the workmanship of the drawing is excellent, a landscape 8×10 inches in full color, showing cattle going downhill into a small western town. A young man, who might have been my great-grandfather, dressed as a cowboy and holding a rifle, stands at the top of the hill and points down toward the town. The caption beneath the picture reads:
“Gosh, I didn’t know we were this far west”

-Louis Jenkins

I don’t know who this Louis Jenkins chap is, but my father seemingly went through a Jenkins phase; the man is well represented in the binder. I may have to do some digging, read up a bit on him. ‘Cause, you know, I haven’t anything to read.

Memorial Day weekend- going to the beach! (I have to admit to a sort of sick curiosity- How much is this going to cost me in gas? To that end, I filled my tank tonight for an accurate reading.) I am expecting that, as always, we will be sitting for some time in traffic. Lucky me, my husband can’t stand to be in the car while I’m driving, time to break out a book!

What’s a girl to read?

Quick Peek into my bag:

A Wolf at the Table by Augusten Burroughs: A memoir about Alec Baldwin. I mean, about Augustens’s father. I can’t wait for this one.

Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian, who also wrote The Double Bind, a book I read in one sitting because I couldn’t bear to put it down. Yummy yummy.

Finally, finishing up Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. Sadly, I will be toting an old paperback copy, as my time is up on the lovely 150th Anniversery edition; it goes back to the library tomorrow. This book is taking me forever because I have been mining for quotes; good God, every other paragraph contains something stunning. I am exhausted by his greatness.

There you have it- a book a day. Add sunshine, ocean waves, and the Great American Bake Sale: that’s a recipe for a damn good time.