Day #27 on my Search for a Soul Mate

Has anyone noticed how appallingly pretentious poetry has become?  Pretentiously written, pretentiously reviewed, accessible only to the pretentious.  I hadn’t really paid all that much attention to poetry as a rule (like many people, I considered the art form ruined by the excessively pretentious) – and then I found this little gem, while researching Ivy for my Day Book:

MY WINDOW-IVY.

Over my window the ivy climbs,

Its roots are in homely jars;

But all the day it looks at the sun,

And at night looks out at the stars.

The dust of the room may dim its green,

But I call to the breezy air:

"Come in, come in, good friend of mine!

And make my window fair."

So the ivy thrives from morn to morn,

Its leaves all turned to the light;

And it gladdens my soul with its tender green,

And teaches me day and night.

What though my lot is in lowly place,

And my spirit behind the bars;

All the long day I may look at the sun,

And at night look out at the stars.

What though the dust of earth would dim,

There 's a glorious outer air

That will sweep through my soul if I let it in,

And make it fresh and fair.

Dear God! let me grow from day to day,

Clinging and sunny and bright!

Though planted in shade, Thy window is near,

And my leaves may turn to the light.

Mary Mapes Dodge

I loved the last line:  “and my leaves may turn to the light”.  Considering how often we lose out on poetry such as this – simple, touching - thanks to the snootily pretentious snobs among us, I was thinking of starting a “Real People Poetry Anthology”.  Anyone who has been previously published in a pretentious poetry anthology is barred from submitting anything to the anthology without issuing an apology to the 99% who are the REAL poetry people  (to steal a phrase from the Occupiers).  And yes, if you suspect I’m still holding a grudge against the University of Michigan Hopwood Award people for not even offering a simple thank you to the students who submit heart-felt poetry to them … you’re probably right.  Those Hopwood People really do need an “anti-pretentious spell” cast on them.  Really.

Written on Thanksgiving, 2011

7:30 A.M.  Turkey is in the oven.  Salad and relish in the serving dishes.  Giblets waiting for the gravy-making hour.  Stuffing waiting to go in the oven an hour ahead of time.  Pie is made and ready to go in the oven when the turkey is done.  I have something to be seriously grateful about.  The Lioness of Courage.  I ordered her a shrine.  Painted red, with flames.  [www.bethamine.com, in case anyone wants to see a nice affordable wall shrine.]  As I’m employed elsewhere, I can’t do the full Ancient Egyptian rites of temple service that the priests appointed by Ramses II would have conducted for her – that would take all day - but I can do the best I can.

Here in the United States, “Thanksgiving” can either be a day of thanks for all sorts of things, or a Day of Guilt and Atonement, considering the way westerners thanked the hosts who took pity on them for their stupidity in not preparing for a New England winter properly.  I know of at least two states that wisely decided to stop celebrating Columbus Day and instead celebrate Indigenous Peoples Awareness Day, or something to that effect.

I decided to move the injection time back an hour a day until I reach the evening medication hour – somewhere around 6-7 p.m – which is when my vacation ends and I’ll be going back to work.  I wanted to do it at night when I wasn’t worried about needing to leave for work.  Today will be the first day when I do it (inject myself with insulin) on my own.

Instead I discovered how easy it is for the Bayer pharmaceutical company to steal money out of the pockets of diabetics.  I got my test meter in 2005.  It used Ascensia Autodiscs (the test strips that are used to test my blood glucose).  Last time I bought autodiscs I bought quite a few boxes so that I wouldn’t have to buy them again for quite some time.  That “some time” just rolled around, so I went into CVS to buy some more.

WRONG!!!  Bayer had stopped making them.  I was told my meter was “too old” – five years is too old??!!?? – the University of Michigan Health Service gave me these things in 2005.  Too old??!!??  Only in the land of Greedy Shareholders and Criminal Management is it too old – had Bayer any conscience, they would have made these meters to last a lifetime.  Now they don’t even last five years, while still working perfectly. 

I now had to buy a new meter, new lancets and new testing strips.  The lancets were so weak they didn’t puncture anything.  The tester was so poorly designed it kept kicking out error messages.  The cost was astronomical.  I came home so angry I was prepared to go kick in Bayer’s front door and curse them and their greedy shareholders out, because, trust me when I tell you, the only reason they did this was to heist money out of the pockets of diabetics and put it into the pockets of shareholders.  (Note to all the idiots complaining about the OWS protestors?  1):  stop listening to Fox News because they are lying when they call protestors drug adicts and alcoholics.  Watch Global Revolution TV and see for yourself how desperately unethical ALL of the major news outlets are, and 2) Here’ a good reason why people are complaining.)  And of course I came home without the correct test strips and sat on my bed in tears, unable to test anything.