The Malady of Wing and Antenna

Bob, , ,

You took to the railroad lines like a fiddler to a roof.
And the hours out walking, an aficionado of being
For the wind and for the horizon and for the fields.
You took home the sweat of summer,
And into the night, the dimpled ribbon of the moon
Unravels along an airy topography. You are enlivened
By the malady of wing and antenna as the butterfly
Tops the ironweed. Like the evening dusk piled on the blue sky,
And above that, the night without any currency
Of its own giving away everything.

14 thoughts on “The Malady of Wing and Antenna”

  2. Amazing the way this flows. Reading it feels like I’m on a train with my head out the window absorbing all that I see. It’s like a play-by-play broadcast of nature. “an aficionado of being.” What a beautiful line! And then the ending “And above that, the night without any currency Of its own giving away everything.” Such a potent reminder that nature is one of the last things that is free except for national parks which I don’t mind paying to enter. The one thing I don’t understand is why people have to pay to go camping? All the bugs and bumpy ground to sleep on. The campsites should pay us!

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    1. Haha. Yes, maybe they should pay us to sleep at campsites. I’m glad you liked that line. Funny, the two lines I least sure about, the first line which John liked and the line you like, I was the most nervous about. But I’ve always been unsure about what I write. I really like the idea of a play-by-play broadcast. I’m going to keep that in mind when I write next. Thanks!

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      3. I think we’ve talked about the movie Slacker before so if I’m repeating myself, sorry. It’s that scene when the guy breaks into a house to steal some shit and the old man and his daughter that live there wind up asking him over for dinner or something like that. The old man talks about all that mattering is that we endure. He wasn’t necessarily referring to writing, but I applied his words to writing, that we endure and that we almost have to write….to get it out of our system and to enjoy the process even if it is hard at times, most of the time.

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      4. That’s sage advice from the old man. And makes me want to re-watch Slacker even more. I’m going to look to see if I can find it streaming this weekend. Thanks for sharing that!!

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      6. I watched Slackers last night. I forgot how good that movie is. Thanks for the recommendation. So many great scenes. I especially love the ending, when they throw the camera off the cliff.

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      7. Yes, that is such a fitting way to end the movie when you stop and think about the plot….there isn’t one, just one wonderful dialogue after another. I’m glad you got a chance to see it.

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