June 23, 2014 Sunday "Do nothing"

First Words

      …thoughts of an anachronistic, solo pediatrician

                            by Glenn Feole, M.D.

"Be careful too that the reading of your story makes the melancholy 

        laugh and the merry laugh louder," Cervantes, Prologue to Don Quixote

Contact: ishmaelish36@gmail.com

Blog site: ishmaelish36.blogspot.com

June 23, 2014  Sunday

Chief Complaint: (written on the chart before I go in the room)

“Do nothing.”  (impression from an ENT consult)

Interesting Name:

Perferio

Anecdote:

A very attractive Grandmother was here with her daughter and her new Granddaughter for the two week check up.  She was quiet and held herself in a reserved, almost royal manner.  Probably from her long years of being an ICU nurse.  

Lilly was her first grandchild.  I asked her what her name was going to be as a Grandmother.  

“I’m going for Tootsie.”

                    Septemer, 2007, South Carolina

George Joiner's sister, from "A Trip to the Met"
that I wrote and illustrated.

Poetry:

Harmony in the Boudoir

by Mark Strand

After years of marriage, he stands at the foot of the bed and
tells his wife that she will never know him, that for everything
he says there is more that he does not say, that behind each
word he utters there is another word, and hundreds more be-
hind that one. All those unsaid words, he says, contain his true
self, which has been betrayed by the superficial self before her.
"So you see," he says, kicking off his slippers, "I am more than
what I have led you to believe I am." "Oh, you silly man," says
his wife, "of course you are. I find that just thinking of you
having so many selves receding into nothingness is very excit-
ing. That you barely exist as you are couldn't please me more." 

                                      by Mark Strand
                                                  (one of my favorite poets, with a life style I admire)

Coup d'essai:  On Solitude

"Why should I feel lonely?  Is not our planet in the Milky Way? …I have found that no exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nearer to one another."  "…we are never alone."  

     Thoreau, Walden

     I do love Thoreau's sense of humor as well as his philosophical ideas.  Perhaps that is why I am drawn to yoga and the healing silence (physical silence only) that actually binds us all together.  I have so many memories of love and compassion while doing yoga with my family…a communication of the heart made in silence.  Here are some more quotes from Walden:

"If we would enjoy the most intimate society with that in each of us which is without, or above, being spoken to, we must not only be silent, but commonly so far apart bodily that we cannot possible hear each other's voice in any case.  Referred to this standard, speech is for the convenience of those who are hard of hearing."   

Favorite Musician/song:

     Bad Company, "Can't Get Enough of Your Love."

     Plain old down in the dirt rock with only a bass, drums and a guitar.  Powerful.  Elemental.   I had taken a leave of absence from medical school to play bass for several years before returning in 1977 and this was the first song we played.  We hit the big time... a high school gym in Montclair, New Jersey.  I still have the 1974 Fender Precision bass I had bought in New York.  I was so excited to see everyone dancing that I kept turning up my volume…until I blew the speaker.  It was also the first time I had ever done that.

Favorite Book/author:

     Oliver Sacks, Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Childhood

    Precious, interesting, fascinating.  I recommend this to my patients who have an interest in science.

Favorite Movie/DVD:

     Young @ Heart

June 21, 2014 Saturday "mosquito bites, cough, large stomach"

First Words

      …thoughts of an anachronistic, solo pediatrician

                            by Glenn Feole, M.D.

"Be careful too that the reading of your story makes the melancholy 

        laugh and the merry laugh louder," Cervantes, Prologue to Don Quixote

Contact: ishmaelish36@gmail.com

Blog site: ishmaelish36.blogspot.com

June 21, 2014 Saturday

Chief Complaint: (written on the chart before I go in the room)

     “mosquito bites, cough, large stomach”

Interesting Name:

     Jethro, Jewel, Josiah and Jubalar (siblings)

Anecdote:

     Joey was very thoughtful for an eight year old.  He took my questions seriously and usually

thought awhile before answering.  I was impressed.  

     He said he liked animals so in an attempt to make conversation and to also be educational, I asked him about the author of All Creatures Great and Small (about the Yorkshire vet), 

     "Have you read any James Herriot?" 

      (Long pause) 

      "No."

      "Hmmm.  Let's see now.  Have you read any Dostoevsky?"  

      (Long pause) 

      "No."

                Westport, Connecticut, 1990's

At one point I had three Woodies, but they have all gone due to
attrition (he is well loved).

Poetry:

In Defense of Nothing

I guess the trailers lined up in the lot off the highway will do.

I guess that crooked eucalyptus tree also.

I guess this highway will have to do and the cars

     and the people in them on their way.

The present is always coming up to us, surrounding us.

It’s hard to imagine atoms, hard to imagine

     hydrogen & oxygen binding, it’ll have to do.

This sky with its macular clouds also

     and that electric tower to the left, one line broken free.

          by Peter Gizzi, from American Hybrid, 

          A Norton Anthology of New Poetry

Coup d'essai:

"There was that infinitude of oddities in him..."  Tristram Shandy, Laurence Sterne.

     One of my favorite lines in James Herriot's books was when he mentions that he finds aficionado's fascinating, but fanatics irresistible.  I love people who have a passionate interest, whether it was Viktor Klemenko (below) and our shared love of chess (which has still permeated my being)...or my avid reading and search for the perfect science fiction book in my pre-high school years and then with my recent reading of the Nebulla Award winners several years ago.  

Favorite Musician/song:

     Mozart, Symphonies

    When I think of Beethoven, I think of his overwhelming symphonies (Pastoral especially), and not the sonatas (which I have come to love).  Similarly, I associate Mozart with his short works... but his symphonies are wondrous.  

Favorite Book/author:

     Charles Eric Maine, He Owned the World

   Sci-fi.  This was the first science-fiction book that grabbed my imagination; it was in St. Louis, Missouri in 1968 and I was in the 7th grade.  It was recommended by my good friend, Viktor Klemenko, who was a quiet, gentle and self-assured intellectual from Russia that I would play chess with.  A great guy.  I read the book he lent me and returned it to him after a few days.  He said, "What did you think about the ending?"  I said it was...ah...very good…having missed the point.  The whole book revolved around the devastating surprise ending that was revealed only in the last sentence or two… and I had missed it!  ha.  But when I reread it, I was hooked.  I have collected his other works, all vintage and dated.  Not the top of the sic-fi literary world, I am sure, but they all still have that first-love feeling of discovery, suspenseful atmosphere and excitement.

Favorite Movie/DVD:

    Tender Mercies, with Robert Duvall.

    An alcoholic ex-country music star who finds redemption at the hands of an understanding, struggling Southern woman and her son.  Beautiful in its quietness, set in a  small town rural setting.  

June 20, 2014 Friday "chewing tobacco at lunch time"

First Words

      …thoughts of an anachronistic, solo pediatrician

                            by Glenn Feole, M.D.

"Be careful too that the reading of your story makes the melancholy 

        laugh and the merry laugh louder," Cervantes, Prologue to Don Quixote

Contact: ishmaelish36@gmail.com

Blog site: ishmaelish36.blogspot.com

June 20, 2014 Friday

Chief Complaint: (written on the chart before I go in the room)

     “Trouble with the chief complaint is when asked he says cough for about a week. No sob or wheeze.”  

Interesting Name:

     Zinkevius 

Anecdote:

     A three year old had sores in his mouth and was complaining to his Mother.  His Mother was puzzled as to how this happened and wanted to know how he got it.  

     Little Tommy felt obliged to assuage her concern, so he looked at her and said, "Mom.  My mouth is sore because they gave us chewing tobacco at lunch time." 

               Westport, Connecticut, 1990's

This was in a bathroom in Carrboro, North Carolina, just underneath
a Zen Meditation Center upstairs.  

Poetry:

San Antonio

Tonight I lingered over your name,
the delicate assembly of vowels
a voice inside my head.
You were sleeping when I arrived.
I stood by your bed
and watched the sheets rise gently.
I knew what slant of light
would make you turn over.
It was then I felt
the highways slide out of my hands.
I remembered the old men
in the west side café,
dealing dominoes like magical charms.
It was then I knew,
like a woman looking backward,
I could not leave you,
or find anyone I loved more.

     by Naomi Shihab Nye 

     from Is this Forever, or What? Poems and Paintings from Texas

Coup d'essai:  Of Philosophy

"Here is life, an experiment to a great extent untried by me, " Thoreau, Walden. 
  

     I was drawn to philosophy as a major because it epitomized this 'experiment of life' - Socrates and the thought the the unexamined life is not worth living.  The Jesuits, besides being very passionate about their faith, were very intellectual so I had read Sartre, Kierkegaard, Heidegger and my favorite, Camus, in high school…and the Catholic existentialists, Chardin, Marcel.  I remember Father O'Brien, my mentor, saying that Jesuits had to obtain a PhD and then decide before taking their vows whether man's secular knowledge or the truth they found in their knowledge of God was more important.  An admirable path in life I thought.
    Youth…the innocent zeal and joy…the boundless horizons…the adventure and exhilaration of this 'experiment'.  I still have the same feeling when I reread Walden (below).
     

Favorite Musician/song:

     England Dan and John Ford Coley, "Love is the Answer" (song)

     The voice had always reminded me of Seals and Crofts and then I found out that "England Dan" is Danny Seals, the younger brother of Jim Seals of Seals and Crofts.  Just like Seals and Crofts' music, the song has a message of compassion that I find very moving.   I love the tight bass and drums, the punching quality of the bass drum, the background violins…lyrical harmonies and that "Seals and Crofts" vocal quality.  And the lyrics. 

Favorite Book/author:

     Walden, Henry David Thoreau

     I still have my edition from March 20, 1972, with the cover missing from overuse.  I mark up my books…dog ears, notations, asterisks…(i.e. see How to Read a Book, by Mortimer Adler that I read in the 1960's)…and most importantly, I write "ha" in the margin next to humorous or moving quotes.  Walden has the most "ha's" in total and per page of any of my books, even more that Don Quixote and Mark Twain's Autobiography.
      The themes of being non-material, appreciating the beauty of nature, the simple life, happiness…goals I still strive for.  A reminiscence: I remember staying up all night with a group of friends (we were all Sophomores) in 1972.  We spent the entire night sitting in the hallway and in various dorm rooms talking, laughing, sharing about our future, our experiences there, our intellectual pursuits, about philosophy, music, our goals.  We went to the golf course the surrounded the Inn as the sun rose.  It was a magical night that I can still feel with such warmth...joy and camaraderie…even the air and the fragrances of the dorm are dear to me.  One girl was very sensitive and had a wonderful sense of humor.  I lent her this very book and she returned it to me the next day saying, with a tender smile, that she had "read my 'ha's' "   

Favorite Movie/DVD:

    Win Win with Paul Giamatti.

    Funny and heart-warming.

June 19, 2014 Thursday "itching with Mom"

First Words

      …thoughts of an anachronistic, solo pediatrician

                            by Glenn Feole, M.D.

"Be careful too that the reading of your story makes the melancholy 

        laugh and the merry laugh louder," Cervantes, Prologue to Don Quixote

Contact: ishmaelish36@gmail.com

Blog site: ishmaelish36.blogspot.com

June 19, 2014

Chief Complaint: (written on the chart before I go in the room)

     “itching, with Mom.”

Interesting Name:

Woody on the exam table after a visit...

     Tuezday

Anecdote:

       I was examining a cute ten month old little girl and was wondering about her development.  I asked if she was pulling up or playing patty cake, using consonants.  

     The Grandmother interrupted me and said, “She knows how to shake her booty.”

               January, 2010, South Carolina

Poetry:

                                    Growth

                        I saw her the day before the birth

                       struggling with the ache in her stomach

                        a caesarian section two months early

                        not because of the growth in her womb

                        but because of another growth

                        that had spread throughout her body

                       soon to be overwhelmed

                        After visiting her newborn

                        alone in the isolette

                        I walked down the long gray hallway 

                       to see her

                        so far from her baby

                        I brought her flowers the next day

                        hesitating to hand them to her

                        Let me just put them on the counter, I said

                        No, she said, and gently reached out

                        and silently cradled them in her arms

                        like a newborn

                        caressed them with her smile

                        in silence as I watched

Glenn Feole

                              1992

Westport, Ct.

Coup d'essai: ...

Favorite Musician/song:

     Flim and the BB's, the CD "New Pants"

     A classic in my mind and one of my favorites.  Jazz is too narrow an adjective for the scope and creativity of this album.  He is the quiet, self-effacing bassist for James Taylor as well.  Once, he was upset, Taylor said at one concert, when Taylor mentioned Flim and the BB's to the audience.  I   His goal, he has said, is to disappear on the stage - only the presence of his bass playing to be appreciated as it adds to the song and performer.  A mentor for me and my bass playing.  He is the most sensitive and creative bass player I have ever heard, both on this exquisite CD as well as his accompaniment of James Taylor. 

Favorite Book/author:

     J. D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey
          The Salinger voice, conversational and erudite...

Favorite Movie/DVD:

     Ulee's Gold, with Peter Fonda
     The gentleness of the opening scene alone…the
Grandfather's relationship with his granddaughter… poignant and beautiful.

Favorite Quote:

   

    " …pedagogue, preceptors. tutors….gerund-grinders…"  Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy.

June 18, 2014 Wednesday "bilateral feet"

First Words

      …thoughts of an anachronistic, solo pediatrician

                            by Glenn Feole, M.D.

"Be careful too that the reading of your story makes the melancholy 

        laugh and the merry laugh louder," Cervantes, Prologue to Don Quixote

Contact: ishmaelish36@gmail.com

Blog site: ishmaelish36.blogspot.com

June 18, 2014 Wednesday 

Chief Complaint:  
(written on the chart before I go into the exam room)

     “Here for evaluation of bilateral feet.”

Interesting Name:

     Thurshundray 

Anecdote:

       Teddy, age three and one-half, was lying on his back on the floor looking up at his Mother and I after his examination.  It's nice to see someone so relaxed in the office.  

     He interrupted us and said, "Mom?"  We both looked down and I had a feeling something interesting was going to happen.  He was a card.  

       "Mom, I'm not your son."  That was the end of the message.
(Note: Teddy has subsequently graduated from his Father's alma mater, Princeton.)

                    Westport, Connecticut, 1990's

Another of a series of pictures of how I find Woody
after I leave the exam room

Poetry:

To Waiting

You spend so much of your time
expecting to become
someone else
always someone
who will be different
someone to whom a moment
whatever moment it may be
at last has come
and who has been
met and transformed
into no longer being you
and so has forgotten you

meanwhile in your life
you hardly notice
the world around you
lights changing
sirens dying along the buildings
your eyes intent
on a sight you do not see yet
not yet there
as long as you
are only yourself

with whom as you
recall you were
never happy
to be left alone for long 

      by W.S. Merwin, from Present Company.

Coup d'essai:

     Quote: "…his brain was like wet tinder, and no spark could possibly take hold," Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne.   

     This sounds like my professor's comment on my philosophy thesis...

Favorite Musician/song:

     Paul McCartney, "Junk"

         Exquisite, evocative, memories of first love (from his album Ram I believe)

Favorite Book/author:

     George R. R. Martin, The Sandkings (short story)

          One of the most atmospheric, suspenseful (although a little macabre) sci-fi short stories I have ever read.

Favorite Movie/DVD:

     The Girl in the Cafe, with Bill Nighey

           I could completely relate.  A beautiful and gentle romance.

June 17, 2014 "Echo"

First Words

      …thoughts of an anachronistic, solo pediatrician

                            by Glenn Feole, M.D.

"Be careful too that the reading of your story makes the melancholy 

        laugh and the merry laugh louder," Cervantes, Prologue to Don Quixote

Contact: ishmaelish36@gmail.com

Blog site: ishmaelish36.blogspot.com

June 17, 2014

Chief Complaint:

     “My tongue is allergic to vegetables.”

Interesting Name:

     Echo

Anecdote:

     One Father was telling me what medicine he had been giving his one year old.  Instead of "Nitelite" he said, with almost a wistful tone, "Nite-life." 
     Westport, Connecticut, 1990's

Poetry:

X-RAY

Some prowl sea-beds, some hurtle to a star

and, mother, some obsessed turn over every stone

or open graves to let that starlight in.

There are men who would open anything.

From my journal, often gentle statements
during yoga asanas at retreats.

Harvey, the circulation of the blood,

and Freud, the circulation of our dreams,

pried honourably and honoured are 

like all explorers.  Men who’d open men.

And those others, mother, with diseases

like great streets named after them: Addison,

Parkinson, Hodgkin – physicians who’d arrive

fast and first on any sour death-bed scene.

I am their slowcoach colleague, half afraid,

incurious.  As a boy it was so: you know how

my small hand never teased to pieces

an alarm clock or flensed a perished mouse.

And this larger hand’s the same.  It stretches now

out from a white sleeve to hold up, mother,

your X-ray to the glowing screen.  My eyes look 

but don’t want to; I still don’t want to know.

   By Dannie Abse, from New and Collected Poems

Dannie Abse is a physician in Wales and I was fortunate enough to come across his work in a medical journal.  Poignant, sensitive poetry from a doctor's perspective - I have long admired his work.

Quote:

To paraphrase Tristram Shandy, "Take sorrow, and pleasure, horizontally." 

Coup d'essai:

Favorite Musician/song:

    Bill Evans - jazz piano.  You Must Believe in Spring

     A tie between Thelonious Monk and Evans as my all time favorite jazz musician.  His sensitivity at the keyboard is legendary and breath taking as opposed to Monk's shear genius and lack of self-consciousness as he creates at the keyboard with such abandon.
     I asked my Uncle Ray, a professional jazz pianist in Texas and a mentor in my own musical development, who his five favorite jazz musicians were and he said, "Bill Evans, Bill Evans, Bill Evans, Bill Evans and Bill Evans."  During high school, he visited me and said, "Glenn, you have to listen to other jazz besides Monk.  It's like eating whipped cream all day."   Once he showed up in my living room in Connecticut, and in a very mysterious, zen like fashion, his gentle eyes and smile, simply handed me a CD without saying anything.  The only one he gave me, Bill Evans' You Must Believe in Spring.   A piece of gold.  More on Monk later...

Favorite Book/author:

     Tristram Shandy but Lawrence Sterne
He influenced so many people (read by Wittgenstein, Thomas Jefferson and Nietche…to name a few);  Vonnegut-like in his hilarious insights and words spoken directly to the reader.   

Favorite Movie/DVD:

     Music From the Inside Out
     If you love music in general, classical music in particular, this is a superb DVD.  If follows several members of the Philadelphia Symphony, asking them why and how they developed their passion for music.  It crescendoes (for me) into a tender ending featuring a Brahms Symphony that has become one of my favorite…a thing of great beauty.  

June 16, 2014 "Beautyana"

First Words

      …thoughts of an anachronistic, solo pediatrician

                            by Glenn Feole, M.D.

"Be careful too that the reading of your story makes the melancholy 

        laugh and the merry laugh louder," Cervantes, Prologue to Don Quixote

Contact: ishmaelish36@gmail.com

Blog site: ishmaelish36.blogspot.com

June 16, 2014

Chief Complaint:

     “Cough for four years”

Interesting Name:

     Beautyana

Anecdote:

At a Starbucks in Boston

       Dylan's Mother was going away for the week on some business.  She would be out of the state and probably would be hard to reach.  Dylan had a cough but her exam was fine.  I reassured her and said, "It's just a cold but if you develop a fever or if the cough gets worse, just call me."  

     The thought of this added responsibility was transforming Dylan into a young woman right before my eyes.  She glanced at her Mother knowingly and said in a singsong voice, "We're both worried about this because Dad is so irresponsible.  Especially in that department." 

       Westport, Connecticut, 1990's

Poetry:

First Communion

Daily Mass, Thursday at 5:15

Today there was a Father in a suit and tie

the Mother dressed up like Easter

In between them their teenage son

as tall as Lincoln

the same gaunt face, 

deep set eyes, and lanky looks

he towered over them

someone to look up to

he also in suit and tie

His face was too innocent, too eager to please

his deep voice too loud

at the sign of peace I heard

“Mom, don’t kiss me!”

Then a few seconds later 

a loud, wet kiss on his Mother's cheek

that echoed through the Church

as he went to communion he was craning his neck

looking at every one in excitement

as he walked down the aisle 

with an unsteady, stooped over gait

I thought, if only people could really see

that's how I walk to communion too

He received communion, the priest looking up at him

straining to get the host into his mouth

he then smiled and said loudly to his Mother

“That's it?”

When communion was over

Father announced that this was his First Holy Communion

and we all clapped to welcome him into the Church

all fifteen of us

and this was as good as Easter Sunday

                       Glenn Feole

                       April, 1996

                       Westport, Ct

Favorite Musician/song:

     Sting

     Favorite album: Mercury Falling

Favorite Book/author:

     Keats, "On Seeing the Elgin Marbles for the First Time"

Favorite Movie/DVD:

     The Elephant Man (John Hurt)

June 15, 2014 "King"

First Words

      …thoughts of an anachronistic, solo pediatrician

                            by Glenn Feole, M.D.

"Be careful too that the reading of your story makes the melancholy 

        laugh and the merry laugh louder," Cervantes, Prologue to Don Quixote

Contact: ishmaelish36@gmail.com

Blog site: ishmaelish36.blogspot.com

June 15, 2014

Father's Day

Chief Complaint

     “My boy is well.”

Interesting Name:

     King

Anecdote:

     An anecdote for Father's Day 

     A Father was in for a check-up with his one and one-half year old son.  They were very close and were laughing and playing when I came in the room.  When I finished, I said, “Oh, I forgot to ask you about sleep.  How is he sleeping?”

     The father looked sheepish.  “I know I’m not supposed to tell you this but he’s sleeping in our bed.”

     We commiserated about how difficult it is at that age to train him to sleep by himself.  I told him how, in my experience, if you don’t train them early, it goes on for several years. (When I say I speak from experience, I mean that I speak from hard earned personal experience as well, not just 32 years of pediatric practice...I learned a lot of pediatrics in my pre-pediatrician days...) 

     He looked at me with a smile and said, “We have two others and my oldest girl is four…and they’re all still in our bed.”   

     He was happy. 

     May, 2007, South Carolina

Poetry:

15

On Saturdays I follow Father through factories, pool halls,
tool & die shops, lathes echoing off cinder block as we lug
dollies piled high with syrup, ice cream in hissing dry ice,
under blue fluorescent clouds in meat freezers, slipping in
greasy sawdust, his thumbless left hand zipping razor-edged
metal coffins, zziinngggoooopp!, tossing in candy, cigarettes,
Mother's tuna salad, unclogging hot and cold colored snakes
inside soda and coffee machines, cursing and praying to screws
nuts and wires he means nothing to, kibitzing over his always
moving shoulder to men in overalls and suits at DuPonts, Gerbers,
Bonds, Bausch and Lomb's (everyone a war hero!), handing out
free coffee, cashews, Mounds bars, women giggling as his big smile
swaggers down hallways... until we get home in the dark, stinking
of chocolate, coffee grounds, powdered sugar, soured mayonnaise,
his hands red and swollen from slapping a million backs. 

         by Philip Schultz, from Living in the Past.

Coup d'essai: ...

Favorite Song/musician:

     Cat Stevens

     1970, Freshman in college, my record player constantly turning and playing James Taylor, Cat Stevens and Seals and Crofts.  "Tea for the Tillerman" brings me back to peace, joy and Volkswagon Vans.  "Oh Very Young" "Hard Headed Woman" "Peace Train" 

     Lyrical, poetic, philosophical, deep and gentle music.  

Favorite Book/author:

    Don Delillo

    White Noise and Endzone are two of my all time favorites.   A gentle tongue in cheek irony that portrays our human foibles in a gentle, humorous way.  Intellegent and poignant. 

Favorite movie/DVD:

     Rushmore (Bill Murray, Schwarzmann)   

     An ideal comedy with such insight.  The closing scene and song are touching.

Favorite Quote:

    "Hunger is the best sauce"  Cervantes, Don Quixote

June 13, 2014 Friday "whizling"

First Words

      …thoughts of an anachronistic, solo pediatrician

                            by Glenn Feole, M.D.

"Be careful too that the reading of your story makes the melancholy 

        laugh and the merry laugh louder," Cervantes, Prologue to Don Quixote

Contact: ishmaelish36@gmail.com

Blog site: ishmaelish36.blogspot.com

June 13, 2014

Chief Complaint

     “whizling” 


Interesting Name:

       Zy Quez X.

Anecdote:

     A very nice couple in my practice went on a long awaited vacation and they had finally, after much        debate and anguish, asked the grandparents to watch their little three year old son.  I was surprised.  They were very protective and this was a big step for them, I had thought.  A few days later, the gentle grandparents called me and then came in to see me because of a painful contusion to the child's toe. 

     When I asked what happened, the Grandfather laughed sheepishly and told me that the cause of the 
contusion was going to be a little embarrassing to explain to the parents.  He looked hesitantly at his
wife with a smile and then turned to me and said, "I had asked him to go to the refrigerate and get me a beer, and it fell on his toe." 
     Westport, Connecticut, 1990's


Poetry

Mr. Robinson at the Supermarket

Recently, he stopped doing his own shopping.

Unpacking groceries made him unbearably sad.

The bags were too full of things he already knew,

so he decided to let other people

choose his food for him.  The man in Produce

sent him to the Customer Service Desk,

where an Assistant Manager smiled, shrugged,

apologized.   He nodded and pushed his empty basket

toward the back of the store, where in the cereal aisle

he found an unattended shopping cart

full of food and shuffled to the checkout.

In the evenings after dinner, he sits

at his kitchen table and thinks about things.

For example, organic deodorant,

beets, baby food, feminine hygiene, 

unscented anti-static dryer-towellets.

For example, the woman across the hall

and her nine cats, each named for one of the planets;

his Japanese Maple bonsai, whose tiny branches

toss and quake with his breath; his goldfish, whose mouth

endlessly forms and re-forms the slow shape

of a question he can never quite hear.

               by Christopher Cunningham

                                   Best New Poets, 2006


Coup d'essai:  On Music

     I have been rereading Oliver Sack's Musicophilia.   As always, he has insightful, delicate writing with such empathy for his patients' suffering.  The power of music to heal.
     I sometimes put on DVD's such as O'Horten, The Triplets of Belleville or The Straight Story just to hear the beautiful ambiance of the sounds of nature, the lyrical background melodies, a train going by, a horn in the distance.  Zen-like in it's simplicity.  When I was doing my art work, every time I put on Brian Eno's Music for Airports I would always know that the lush, minimalist sounds would lead me to create something of beauty.
     
Favorite Song/musician:
     Thelonious Monk,  everything, but especially "Crepescule with Nellie"

Favorite Book/author:
     James Joyce, Dubliners (Araby)

Favorite movie/DVD:
     Groundhog Day, Bill Murray.  Funny and philosophical, one of my favorite comedians.