Transfiguration

Ray Sinneck

The following is an excerpt from a satirical novel currently being written by Ray Sinneck, which he hopes to publish later this year. In this chapter, a fictional Sunday morning talk show host, Jesse Gutwell, conducts an interview with a transsexual named “Jo.”

We’ll be back in a minute with our next guest, Josephine Joseph, a transsexual who has found herself embroiled in four simultaneous lawsuits. But first let’s hear from our sponsors.

The broadcast cut to a sequence of three commercials. Then Gutwell came back on, seated with his next guest, who was dressed in a somewhat tight fitting skirt and with a copious layer of facial make-up. Gutwell began: “Good morning Ms. Joseph,” He thought his guest had the general appearance of a woman, but with a certain indefinable twist about her facial expression.

She quickly responded in a voice that came from a slightly lower register than might be expected for a woman:

Everyone calls me Jo.

OK Jo, why don’t you tell us how you became involved in all these lawsuits. It sounds like you have become a rather litigious force of nature.

Jo replied:

Well, for most of my life I’ve identified with girls and women, and I eventually came to realize that I am a woman trapped in a man’s body. So I decided to transform into the woman I was meant to be in the first place. I am part way into the process. I’ve been taking hormones and working on my appearance, and I plan to have the sex-change operation to become fully female when I am ready. I also became a born-again Christian while all this was happening. I found Jesus, and He has helped me with all the challenges I have been facing.

Gutwell asked a clarifying question:

So you still possess male genitals, but in time you will have those surgically removed, is that right?

Yes, that’s right.

OK, then tell us about this first lawsuit against a baker who refuses to bake a cake for your planned wedding.

Jo started:

Well, my partner and future husband, Billy, and I, were excited to start planning our wedding, even though it is about a year off. We went to a bakery in my hometown and after hearing the story of our relationship, the owner said he could not in good conscience bake the cake we wanted. We asked for a cake with a plastic Jesus on top. He said he is an atheist and feels it would be a violation of his beliefs to provide such a cake. We have sued him on the grounds that he is discriminating against us because of our sexual orientation. He claims it is a religious liberty issue, but we don’t believe him. We think he’s just another intolerant bigot who won’t recognize that other people with alternative lifestyles deserve the same considerations as anyone else.

Gutwell said:

And is this because you would be considered a lesbian couple when you get married?

Jo replied:

Yes and no. You see, Billy was born a female, but plans to have a sex change operation in the other direction and become a man. So after that occurs, we will be just another heterosexual couple, much like you and your wife, Mr. Gutwell.

“I see,” Jesse replied, his right eyebrow tickling his hairline.

Jo continued:

On the date of our marriage, I guess we would technically be a lesbian couple, since I will look even more like a woman than I do now, except I will still have male genitals, and Billy will have begun the process of transforming into a man, but will still probably look more like a woman and will still possess female genitals. Nevertheless, the law of the land protects our rights even if we are considered a same-sex couple. So we should be entitled to the service anyone else might receive. You know, we could certainly buy a plastic Jesus ourselves at the dollar store and put it on the cake, but the owner refuses to provide the cake at all.

Gutwell probed further, “And what about the second law suit?”

Jo responded:

We are also suing the church we joined, the Magisterium, because the priest there is now refusing to conduct the wedding ceremony. He says that same-sex marriages are not condoned within the prescripts of their church doctrine. I pointed out at that in reality, we would be a heterosexual couple, based on our genitalia at the time of marriage, and after we both complete our surgical procedures we would continue to be a heterosexual couple. But he is objecting to marrying a couple who both wish to wear wedding gowns at the time of marriage. You see, Billy wanted this to be his last fling as a woman.

Gutwell rolled his eyes:

Wow, this is getting a bit confusing, Jo. But I understand your dilemma. And the third lawsuit, what is that all about?

Jo said:

Well that one is a gender discrimination suit against Poldies Gym. I’ve been a member there for several years. You know, I like to work out on the elliptical to stay in shape. Recently, I made the switch to the ladies’ locker room and when I went in to use the showers, all the women in there ran out screaming when they saw my penis. I tried to explain that it was just a temporary condition, but it was no use. Then a rather burly looking woman came into the shower and threw me against one of the benches and I ended up needing to get some minor stitches in my forehead. She was so butch — let me tell you. The bottom line here is that we still have many sexists, bigots, and misogynists in this country and I’m trying to take a stand against all the injustice.

Gutwell said:

Well good luck with that one. It could be a tricky case — male genitals in a female shower and all that. OK, let’s turn to the last of your legal actions. What is the basis of the final lawsuit?

Jo said:

This one is really the tricky one. I’m suing my surgeon for racial discrimination. I think he’s clearly a racist. He originally agreed to do the sex-change operation, based on my timetable, and my progress with becoming a woman in my day-to-day life. I wanted to get comfortable being accepted as a woman first. I asked the surgeon if he would also do Billy’s operation. He initially said he would. You see, our plan was to have my penis surgically removed and attached to Billy, who would become a complete man with my help. And Billy would have her breasts removed and surgically attached to me, so that I could become a full-bodied woman. But when the surgeon found out Billy was African-American, he said he would not do the operation. His excuse was that he didn’t think a white penis against a black body and black breasts on a white body would be aesthetically acceptable. Billy and I just don’t agree with that. If we’re OK with the result, then he should be as well. We think he’s just another racist and we plan to bring him to justice also.

Gutwell was trembling slightly as he grabbed for his coffee cup.

That certainly is an interesting story. But aren’t there problems with tissue rejection and that sort of thing?

Jo replied:

No, we have the same blood type and it should work just fine. Of course Billy will have to also have some sort of implant to make his newly acquired equipment more functional, if you know what I mean, but I was told it is all possible.

Gutwell wrapped it up by saying:

We’ll have to follow the progress of your legal battles. I hope you’ll come back to our program and give us an update.

As they switched to another commercial break, Gutwell couldn’t shake the thought of his guest and her partner in bed together after their operation. Images related to an old Oreo cookie joke briefly danced in his head. But he quickly dispelled the thought. He knew the Thought Police were probably watching the show, and they could tell from a person’s facial expression if someone was having a racist or sexist or homophobic thought. Then he’d be in big trouble. Even though he was a staunch Liberal, he knew he had to be careful.     *

Our Mission Is to Reawaken the Genuine American Spirit . . .

Organizing Communities for Republicans

Barry MacDonald — Editorial

Going Red — The Two Million Voters Who Will Elect the Next President — and How Conservatives Can Win Them, by Ed Morrissey. Crown Forum, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, ISBN 978-1-101-90566-1, pp. 230, $24 hardbound.

From where will the revival of self-confident patriotism come?

Maybe it would be helpful for the Republican National Committee (RNC) to employ people to be in communities and become a presence at local gatherings — creating relationships between the Republican Party and local individuals.

Local Republicans, employed by the RNC, could pinpoint the issues local voters care about so much better than a national presidential campaign whose only point of contact with voters is the repetition of thirty-second ads through mass media.

Why shouldn’t Republicans mount voter registration drives and get-out-the-vote operations similar to the efforts of Barack Obama and Acorn-like organizations, as Democrat success at the local level is undeniable?

And it is a good idea to reach out to young people, African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians because they don’t know who Republicans are, and so they tend to believe the nasty stories the Democrats and the media spin about Republicans. Better communication between young people and minorities, who are presently strangers with Republicans, would certainly improve mutual understanding.

The RNC should be well funded and never idle, because candidates come and go but the contest between Democrats and Republicans is ongoing.

Ed Morrissey has written some good ideas in Going Red, but some of his conclusions are questionable, as he seems to have surrendered to progressives on certain issues.

Morrissey does share a message of hope. The RNC, under the leadership of chairman Reince Priebus, is building a presidential turnout machine independent of presidential candidates. He told Morrissey:

At the end of 2014, I think we had over 4,200 paid employees. When I walked in the door here, we had less than eighty. [We hire] people from the communities that we want to influence, from the community to stay in the community, to then meet the metrics that we set. . . . That means not just necessarily sitting around talking about fracking and clean coal; it means having a pizza party, bringing a band in, once in a while giving hot dogs out and talking to people, and then going to community events. . . . If you’re not in the black and Hispanic communities hardly at all for four straight years, and then you go in and try to saturate those communities, certainly you’re going to do better than you did before. . . . [but] a level of trust that is built over time in order for things to change for your future election results to the positive. . . . [To counter dishonest attacks] if you don’t represent the community . . . you have no one that is there at the church festival on Sunday or the community event to say, hey wait a second, hang on — this is what Republicans believe.

Chairman Priebus is running a national presidential campaign and promoting the Republican Party as if these were local enterprises. If he can meet his goals with only 4,200 employees he will be creating a marvelously efficient organization. And he will be training the next generation of Republican politicians, activists, and strategists.

Morrissey’s passion for public affairs led him to blogging and to getting up daily early in the morning for years and commenting on events. He’s become a well-respected radio talk-show host and a columnist for daily newspapers. He’s skillful at taking complex data and doing analysis.

His goal in Going Red is to understand what went wrong for Republicans in 2008 and 2012. He analyses

. . . communities where Republicans went from winners in 2004 to losers in 2008 and 2012, focusing on one key county in each of seven states that lost Republicans the last two elections. . . . each state has counties that are stubbornly Republican or Democrat — but each one also has counties that either party can win. These handfuls of counties serve as bellwethers for the state, demonstrating the reach of national campaigns across the country. And in close elections, these battlegrounds become the difference in delivering their states’ votes to the victor.

The seven counties he examined are Hillsborough County, Florida; Hamilton County, Ohio; Wake County, North Carolina; Prince William County, Virginia; Brown County, Wisconsin; Jefferson County, Colorado; and Hillsborough County, New Hampshire.

The counties are broken down by history, family income, ethnicity, prevailing attitudes and community characteristics, employment characteristics, and the shifting inflow and outflow of people. Population shifts in these swing counties have transformed Republican bastions into “diverse microcosms of the U.S. electorate.” He writes that for Republicans to succeed they must adapt better strategies and messages.

In writing Going Red,Morrissey went to each county and interviewed more than a hundred activists, elected officials, and voters, including Republicans, Democrats, and independents. He used Karl Rove’s extensive data gathering operation, and relied on party officials and radio talk show hosts to make the introductions he needed for the people he interviewed.

But regardless of his careful methodology, I don’t believe Morrissey got a good sampling of Republican voters. I believe the opinions advanced in Going Red, are more in line with what Karl Rove and Washington strategists think.

Many of the people Morrissey heard from wanted to hear economic solutions to America’s problems. He talked to a businessman who had gone door-to-door during elections in support of Republican candidates, but he’s become disgusted with the Republican Party. He wants the Republican Party to stay out of American bedrooms. This attitude is common in Going Red.

Morrissey talked to one hundred people but couldn’t find anyone who supported Republican positions on “social issues” — the people who did mention social issues said they were deterrents to winning elections.

It’s frustrating and puzzling that Morrissey never specifies which “social issues” he means. Does he mean abortion or same-sex marriage? We don’t know. His refusal to be clear seems to be an embarrassed avoidance.

Also it’s remarkable that Morrissey never met a supporter of Donald Trump or a Republican who feels betrayed by the Republican leadership in Washington, as recent polls show a majority of Republican voters do feel betrayed by leadership in Washington.

To make connections in neighborhoods Morrissey also relied on representatives of LIBRE Initiative, a nonprofit organization that describes itself as a

. . . grassroots organization that advances the principles and values of economic freedom to empower the U.S. Hispanic community so it can thrive and contribute to a more prosperous America.

LIBRE seems an admirable organization, but the problem is Morrissey discounts how ordinary Republicans feel about the ongoing violation of our southern border by illegal immigrants. Ordinary Republicans want the southern border secured: we believe in assimilation and American traditions — such as free speech — which are threatened by masses of people entering the country illegally who for the first time in American history may not want to assimilate into America.

There are good suggestions for reaching out to Hispanics who are U.S. citizens in Going Red. E. J. Otero is Hispanic and a retired air force colonel who ran for Congress in 2012 in Florida. He points out there are five or six different issues Republicans could use with Hispanics. For example, Venezuelans will respond to economic arguments because they understand how dreadfully socialism functions in Venezuela. And Puerto Ricans have also come to America to escape socialism.

Otero recently arranged for a Republican candidate to address a meeting with Hispanic voters in West Tampa. Morrissey describes Otero’s observation:

The candidate’s message of competent governance, reduced red tape, and economic empowerment began to inspire the crowd, Otero says . . . right up to the moment when the candidate shifted to the attack and began lashing out at Democrats. Otero watched the crowd’s reactions, seeing plainly that they had rejected not just the messenger but also the message. One angry audience member told Otero that when the candidate was trashing Democrats, “He was talking about us.” 

Reince Priebus and the RNC should take note, train RNC operatives not to alienate potential converts, and to take the time necessary to get to know them and practice persuasion — the effort will take time and persistence.

The problem is Morrissey doesn’t seem to like Republicans voters very much. He wrote:

Peter Wehner, a former adviser to George W. Bush, put it in harsher words . . . writing that “the message being sent to voters is this: the Republican Party is led by people who are profoundly uncomfortable with the changing (and inevitable) demographic nature of our nature of our nation.” . . . But if this view doesn’t necessarily reflect the leaders of the party, the more troubling issue is that it does reflect a not-insignificant number of its voters, who are worried that appealing to Hispanic, African American, and young voters will require an abandonment of conservative principles.

I believe Morrissey is uncomfortable with how he perceives ordinary Republicans react to Hispanics and African Americans.

Does Morrissey believe, much like the Democrats, that too many Republicans are bigots? I don’t know. In the entirety of Going Red the issue of illegal immigration is not acknowledged as worthy of discussion, as if we should resign ourselves to open borders.

There is a consistent refrain running through Going Red about the negative “tone” Republicans supposedly project:

Sometimes, though, the Muñozes feel betrayed by the tone Republicans use on immigration and other issues. . . . “You don’t tell a girl she’s ugly, and then ask her to the prom.” The problem between conservatives and the Hispanic community became especially acute in 2007, when Prince William County passed an ordinance that allowed police to check on legal resident status when detained — a move that humiliated legal residents. It was later repealed, Deborah notes, but the damage was done.

Has Morrissey internalized and validated progressive opinion? Has he surrendered the view that Americans have a right to defend our traditions in the management of legal and illegal immigration?

Let’s clarify the issue of “tone.” For sixty years our culture has been under assault from progressives. Republicans and conservatives have been smeared as racists, sexists, bigots, homophobes, and “Islamophobes,” a newly coined term.

Progressives are very good storytellers. They rise up a parade of victims and accuse white Americans of racism.

I believe too few Americans recognize the power of revolutionary narrative. There’s the myth of Michael Brown being shot by police while trying to surrender in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown’s shooting represents the supposed racism of the American justice system. The myth of Brown’s innocence inspired the rioting, the looting, and the burning of Baltimore. The myth of Brown’s martyrdom inspired the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

And the Black Lives Matter movement has been raising revolutionary mobs throughout the nation. And the influence of the narrative is not narrowly focused on black/white issues: A stigma attaches to all of American culture. The momentum created by Black Lives Matter contributes energy to the “war on women,” the war on fossil fuels and coal, and to the war on the “one percent” and the “capitalists” who rig the economy. All these “wars” share a common villain — constitutional America.

And Morrissey worries about the “tone” of Republican voters.

The progressives are engaged in revolution; perhaps Morrissey hasn’t noticed. The progressives have been creating myths for decades (Tawana Brawley comes to mind) and filling their followers with furious intensity. Progressives conjure movements based on fear, anger, and hatred, and once these passions are aroused and directed by astute operatives they are extremely difficult to mitigate.

Morrissey super-analyzes everything, but he’s lost perspective. Until the Republican Party can figure out how to counter operations like Black Lives Matter, and the narratives they promote, the Republican Party will be on the defensive, and America will be mired in bitterness.

Surrendering to progressives on social issues is a mistake. There are generations of American children growing up without fathers. How do we solve fatherlessness? And as families disintegrate in America, is it plausible that restricting Republican messaging to economic arguments is good enough? Can we preserve the free economy and private property rights once we allow the government to take the father’s place in the home as breadwinner?

Using the RNC as a vehicle for improving communication between Republicans and neighborhoods is a good direction. We do need to reach out to young people and minorities. And if the RNC employees can muster up some humility they might discover effective methods and winning issues for the future

But the problem is not one of Republican “tone,” as Morrissey believes, but of Republican morale.

The Republican leadership has stood by perplexed and paralyzed for sixty years as the left has assaulted one American institution after another. The fear of being called a racist has silenced too many Republican politicians for too long.

Ronald Reagan was an exception. He was not afraid to advance the full spectrum of conservatism. Our current Republican leadership seems intimated by polls — as if there’s no possibility of changing anyone’s mind. Ronald Reagan cheerfully and forcefully made his case — and the polls changed!

The rise of Donald Trump coincides with the failure of the intellectual leadership of the Republican Party and the conservative movement to connect with Republican voters and good-hearted, open-minded Americans throughout the nation. Our thought leaders don’t inspire — they over intellectualize — and they don’t know how blunt the vicious attacks of the left.  

Donald Trump has been successful because he’s shrewd and fearless, and he has an intuitive grasp of the average American’s morale. He has a simple message that works: making America great again. People are hungry for such a message, and the Democrats, with their decades-long disparagement of constitutional America, are ripe for a fall.

I believe Donald Trump has a good chance to beat the Democrats in November. He’s the counter-revolution to the revolutionary left.

Donald Trump isn’t conservative, and he’s an unreliable partner in the advancement of decorum. But I don’t believe he represents the ruination of American culture either — though perhaps conservatives will be busy cleaning up the messes he creates.

One final thought — of the seven counties Morrissey writes about, Donald Trump won most of them by wide margins in the Republican primaries. Yes, winning a primary election is not the same as winning a general election, but unless the Republican leadership can figure out how to win a general election without the enthusiastic support of Republican voters, it’s important to pay attention to the morale of Republican voters, as Donald Trump has.     *

The following is a summary of the June/July 2016 issue of The St. Croix Review:

Barry MacDonald, in “Organizing Communities for Republicans,” looks at the strengths and weaknesses of Going Red, a book written by Ed Morrissey about what’s necessary for Republicans to win critical counties within swing states in the coming presidential election.  

Ray Sinneck serves as a reincarnation of Jonathan Swift in “Transfiguration,” in which a T.V. personality interviews “Jo,” who is transitioning from being male to becoming female.

Paul Kengor, in “Western Civ in the Crosshairs — and a Glimmer of Hope,” exposed the vast ignorance of college students and their purposeful mis-education perpetrated by progressive professors who want students to remain ignorant; in “The Communist Party Feels the Bern — U.S. Communists Couldn’t Be Happier About the Democratic Party’s Direction,” he shows how the Sanders campaign is the continuation of the leftist revolution that Barack Obama has begun; in “Having a ‘Trump Talk’ with Your Kids,” he proposes a way of handling children and Donald Trump.

Allan C. Brownfeld, in “Identity Politics Is Eroding the Integrity of American Universities,” smashes the silly “reasoning” of the students at Stanford University who demand the school’s next president be “nonwhite and either transgender or female”; in “Another Attack on Free Speech: Should It Be a Crime to Want Open Discussion of Climate Change?” he responses to the attempts by seventeen attorneys general from fifteen states to criminalize disagreement with liberal scientific notions; in “Seeking to Reverse His Corruption Conviction, the Former Virginia Governor’s Strange Defense Is: Everyone Does It,” he takes note that many prominent public officials of both parties are coming to the defense of the convicted former Governor Bob McDonnell, showing that both parties are comfortable trading access for favors.

Mark W. Hendrickson in “Barack Obama’s Bathroom Overreach,” considers President Obama’s recent decree that public schools nationwide must prepare restrooms for transgender people; in “The Democratic (Party’s) March Toward Socialism,” he describes in detail the Democrats’ comprehensive predation on private property rights; in “True Reagan: A Fascinating Up-Close Look at the Fortieth President,” he reviews a new book about Ronald and Nancy Reagan, written by a close aide who served during the White House years; in “A Liberal College Professor Freaks Out That His College Invited a Republican to Be the Commencement Speaker,” he examines a letter from his wife’s alma mater in which a professor laments that House Speaker Paul Ryan has been invited to speak, and he lists the professor’s juvenile comments; in “The Black Hole of Debt,” he writes: “The world is caught in a black hole of debt, and it’s hard to picture any way to get out of it”; in “The Increasingly Incestuous Ties Between Google and the Democratic Party,” he reports an ominous instance of big-government cronyism.

Herbert London, in “Trump’s Foreign Policy,” evaluates Donald Trump’s foreign policy speech and, though he cites flaws, he sees good points too; in “Saudi Arabia: U.S. Foe and Friend,” he takes a hard look at a strained relationship; in “Civilizational Conflict,” he describes the conflict between militant Islam and Western culture as a confrontation that may be impossible to avoid.

Reuben Larson, in “My Name Is Johan Larsson — This Is My Story,” gives an account of his Grandfather’s life as he emigrated from Sweden to America in the nineteenth century to build a family and establish a homestead.

In “Letters From a Conservative Farmer — Photos on My Wall,” Jigs Gardner considers the meaning of photos.

1.

As civilized as a sword can make us —

Hasn’t it a cultural achievement

To fold the steel in layers and forge it

With a hammer and anvil and hone the

Blade to lethality to inscribe it

With vows of victory and to wield it

Requires a warrior’s training to

Surpass the enemy’s might in battle

And all to no benefit without a

Supporting ethos infusing courage

In the warrior? As civilized as

We may be in the midst of savagery

Haunting the human animal forcing

A defense of gentle accomplishments.

And there are methods

for instilling compassion

and benevolence

in the midst violence

in the human dilemma.

2.

Light and leaf — sun and sky — mind and sky — with

My eyes open I see the natural

Cooperation composing this world

And I wonder at the magic of it

That my skin absorbs the light just as a

Leaf absorbs the light just as the sun fills

The space surrounding the earth with light and

Somehow turns it blue — and have you noticed

How we live subject to the natural

Drama of the sky ceaselessly moving

With clouds and rain and wind and light and have

You noticed how the mind ceaselessly moves

From happiness to discouragement to

Confusion and also astonishment?

Too seldom do I see

too infrequently notice

the churning magic

composing combinations

and ceaseless transformation.

3.

It’s a modest dining room a smallish

Round table and in the morning I make

Coffee and have a bowl of cereal.

Maybe a conversation an email

Or an expression on someone’s face from

The day before has left an impression

With me and so I consider what they

Are thinking and how they are coping and

What I should do — I didn’t understand

How to direct my energy when young

How to discover what needs attention —

I come to my breakfast table as to

A reliable sanctuary and

Continuously find intuition.

Solitude is good

regularity helpful

quiet conducive

for the cultivation of

insightful understanding.

4.

I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of

Playing the sleepless poet rummaging

For significance and sacrificing

While everyone else is sleeping and I’m

Stubborn and I’ll pay the penalty in

Taxes for not having health coverage

I’ll stop taking trazodone my magic

Sleeping pills because I refuse to pay

Hundreds of dollars just to consult the

Doctor once just to update prescriptions

So I went to the pharmacy looking

For non-prescription drugs and I talked to

The pharmacist and he impolitely

Asked me so how much coffee do you drink?

Could it be the pot

of coffee I drink each day

lifting me up in

the morning making me buzz

keeping me awake at night?

5.

Some people are crazy enough to wear

A wing suit and stand poised on the tip of

A Mountain and jump — with fabric outstretched

Between their arms and legs and body — and

They fly inches from the rocky edges

Plunging as the eagles do consuming

Miles of air passing inside and outside

Of alpine shadows falling on the slopes

Below — how divine the venture must seem

Flowing within a spectacle of such

Gigantic proportions — discovering

In a human form capability

For soaring with flaming sensations and

A beating heart — and with serenity?

Perhaps a

flying squirrel was

the inspiration

but where on earth did

the courage come from?

1.

Angus

As a handsome youth with dark hair he’s not

Remarkable but the photo has a

Story — he’s just come to America

From Australia and I wonder what

The photo does to those of us who knew

Him as my father appears very much

Like me or my brother at that age and

He’s full of youthful open confidence

As we know the story of his life of

His family his ministry the journal

He founded — we know the bitterness the

Courage and the triumphs no one else could

Comprehend and each of us remembers

Differently as each knew him separately.

It’s a small circle

of people capable of

comprehending the

photo’s reverberating

depth as only we knew him.

2.

Hazel was his sister’s name and dad said

She had a hard life as her husband was

A brute character and my dad would gaze

At the photo of her youthful smile and

Her profusion of hair and I can see

A touch of family resemblance as

The enthusiastic innocence and

Openness communicates happiness

But you can’t tell by seeing the photo’s

Eight decades old and between them was a

Steamer that traversed the Pacific from

Australia to America when such

A trip seemed irrevocable as dad

Left behind his family and homeland.

In youthful photos

of my vanished family

of a faded world —

I can sense optimism

And eager exploration.

3.

So I was in the square in Paris just

Before Notre-Dame Cathedral after

A year of schooling at Oxford having

Scored well with the teachers and being a

Young man with prospects for success who was

Free of responsibilities and yet

I couldn’t be happy — now here you are

Accomplished graduated prepared to

Be an engineer a young man with no

Obstacles except that you’re unhappy —

Is the world to come so threatening so

Imponderable it’s hard to begin

Or is misery merely a habit

You must overcome? You will find a way.

Unfortunately

I’m not able to give you

exact guidance as

in matters of the spirit

we each have our own puzzles.

4.

As if I were trying to sneak a look

At his cards to see what he’s doing he

Holds back and won’t communicate how he’s

Considering his options what he wants

To do what he thinks he’s capable of

Becoming — it’s time that he makes his way

That he determines a direction and

I know he doesn’t have to get it right

There’s wide latitude — it’s not a lifetime

He’s planning just the first few steps and then

He may reconsider readjust and

Change course but how can he know what’s best for

Him without testing his abilities

And discovering how the world responds?

Because he’s done it

because he’s reconnoitered

possibilities

a father may guide his son —

but the son may be stubborn.

5.

Being in a place where a person was

Makes the separation more poignant and

Who am I to complain as didn’t I

Get on a bus to Galveston Texas

And take a plane to Osaka Japan

And didn’t my parents wave goodbye and

And didn’t they watch me depart to an

Uncertain fate thousands of miles gone

And haven’t I been wondering when you

Would take a worthy direction but now

I realize emotions can become

Mixed as your courage is inspiring

As you’re behaving just as I did but

Part of me I’ve found wants to keep you near.

How can I complain

of my son’s emulation

as Joshua has

decided to go northward

up to Juno Alaska?

6.

Jocelyn

You were resisting in Pioneer Park

Pouting and refusing to walk on a

Summer afternoon as resolute as

A toddler with a bulging tummy

Could be bereft of her container of

Water that I forgot so I scooped you

Up and we proceeded home — today you’re in

Graduating robes at Moore College of

Art and Design in Philadelphia

Which is far from home with a degree that’s

A gamble the schooling will be useful

As we have encouraged you to become

As creative as possible because

Your talent deserves opportunity.

The conveyance of

emotional subtlety

comes naturally

in faces you create so

experience carefully.

1.

Stillwater

When the native peoples walked for water

This same valley was here resonating.

They called a section “Stillwater” because

The water spread between limestone bluffs.

Iced-over river and overcast sky

Slopes of bare trees and snow the clean cold air

The quiet settling among the bluffs

Prepare this place for reverberations.

Sioux and Ojibwa fought in a hollow

Lumberjacks floated rafts of logs downsteam

A frontier prison held the Younger Gang

And steamboats plied the townsfolk with supplies.

Pioneer Park has a southward view

For sunrises and sun speckled water.

Sun river

eagle soaring

seeing

2.

Kristine

A name is a gift that accompanies

A life and the christening of a child

Is a bestowal of your parent’s best

Intentions and wishes for the passage

Of a life as if they could be present

To smooth the way so to proclaim “may you

Be Kristine” is to wish in all your days

That you be moved with wisdom and love like

Christ and Kristine is a lovely name you

Should cherish as a gift but a name is

Only a word repeatedly pronounced

And the magic of the naming does wear

Off and the essence of spirit is yours

To express and no one else can do it.

It’s much easier

to say Kris and pronouncing

Kristine instead is

expressing formality

invoking incantation.

3.

Her parents left her behind at a gas

Station and at a swimming pool and they

Didn’t intend to hurt her but worse they

Forgot she was one of the family —

And though they retrieved her they also gave

Her the impression she’s worthless

And now the grown woman can’t get enough

Attention to lose the expectation

She is forgettable — just as if she

Were given a piece of a puzzle and

And assigned the task of finding where it

Belongs — so it seems she’s been abandoned

She’s lost and upset and struggling to

Compose herself and to find the way home.

To compose herself

to discover the way home

is quite a puzzle —

in a world full of strangers

to find those who are loving.

4.

Eric

I remember my first friend beyond my

Family the first intimacy when

We discovered there were secrets to share

And with innocence I gave my trust and

I encountered how much fun it was to

Delve and roam the neighborhood and then my

Family moved to Minnesota and

I left my friend in Kansas — and there was

A procession of friendships and there were

Disappointments and betrayals and I

Had to grow a layer of armor and

I began to measure how much trust was

Sensible and I’ve tasted bitterness —

But I want to be gentle and sincere.

Wholehearted

innocence was

lost — but I have

circumspection

and kindness.

5.

A rascal put a

snail shell in a

tuba —

rumble has rattle

curlicue in curves.

6.

Matt’s a six-foot banana today on

The sidewalk and might have been Gumby a

Coke bottle or Spiderman yesterday

And he’s standing and driving a Segway

A T-shaped vehicle with two wheels and

He was a soldier in Afghanistan

Was shot in the head has memory loss

And headaches and because he can’t work he

Passes the time in a costume looking

Ridiculous to snare the attention

Of passersby attempting to impart

Happiness because he intends to turn

Around a bad day someone is having

Because his humor is the best of him.

It’s too easy

to become isolated

laughter is magic

humor communicates and

people need inspiration.

1.

Abraham Lincoln

He was moved with compassion for the slaves

Declared the nation must choose slavery or

Freedom when none wanted to see the truth

He knew the choice could not be evaded —

Thoughtful and grave with a far-away gaze

Burdens settled on him so he became

The master of himself and of many

Hot-tempered men contesting Civil War —

The north fought to preserve union and law —

Not to free slaves — Lincoln understood the

Temper of his people knew not to waste

The slaughter of soldiers so he waited

Until emancipation could succeed —

He was the only one fit for the job.

Sadness troubled him

compassion moved him to lead

strength sustained him through

thousands of battlefield deaths

may he be honored always.

2.

As the years are accumulating the

Seasons are becoming precious to me

And in the transition from winter I

Watched the tips of trees begin to bud

And noticed the vulnerability

And the beseeching posture of the limbs

Rising up to the sun but now in the

Summer their forms are concealed within

Luxuriant foliage and I’m attuned

To the ascending and dissipating

Sound of the wind in the leaves just as if

The trees are sighing and I remember

These voices from childhood — resonating

Communicating succoring soothing.

The invisible

undulating in the trees

the inaudible

arising within the leaves

communicating soothing.

3.

Crossing a threshold and absorbing light

There’s a connection to be imagined

In a baby seeing swirls of color

And hearing startling and soothing sounds

Experiencing taste distinguishing

The warming power of a smiling face

A comforting voice with an embrace and

As leaves of the trees emerge and absorb

The light as the roots consume nutrients

From a thawing soil the tree will never

Know it’s a tree but when the gnawing of

Hunger comes the baby discovers how

To manipulate others by crying —

Nurturance arises magically.

Before the things of

the world acquire names there’s

no distinguishing

within a baby’s thinking

between inside and outside.

4.

George says hello with a quivering chirp

As I’m entering the room as he’s

Leaning his head on the piano leg

With his back legs sprawling as lazy as

Possible — a portrait of nonchalance —

He’s not a kitten anymore and not

A grown-up either as there’s not a thing

He does but eat and sleep but he knows my

Habits during the night and leads me to

The necessary room but he ambles

More slowly than I want to go so I

Slow down because I can’t get around him

Because George is large and doesn’t hurry

And I’m the one who’s being disciplined.

George hasn’t a mane

isn’t on the savanna

doesn’t have a pride

but he is brown and does have

a complacent majesty.

1.

In a “half-faced camp” a shed with three sides

They lived not much better than bears in a

Cave because that’s the best Thomas could do

Hewing a shelter from the woods with an

Ax and saw — they arrived after fourteen

Days in an oxen caravan to a

Fork on the Sangamon River to a

Place without obligations and to a

Site where Nancy his mother would die of

Milk sickness where Abraham learned to do

 Sums of arithmetic by writing on

A wooden shovel and shaving it off —

He had a year’s schooling but he absorbed

The Bible and Robinson Crusoe.

Weighing his words and

speaking dispassionately

Abraham Lincoln

would present his arguments

sincerely and precisely.

2.

Is there a triter subject than a rose?
They are mostly just stems and little leaves —
Yes their velvet petals are enchanting
But the contrast with their thorns? Overdone —

As common as the sun or moon in verse
Who hasn’t read poetry belabored
With roses? I’d rather see some other
Flower — peony or chrysanthemum —

Yet I adore the resonance of “rose”
And the certainty that every human
Has beheld the sun and moon and roses
So to become one with humanity —

What everyone has beheld I behold
Too what everyone has loved I love too.

Yellow rose petal
evanesces —
thorn

3.

There are raindrops in this piece of paper

And the clouds from which the rain came reside

Now within this white form that was once a

Tree that has become a poem because

Without the drops to nurture the tree the

Expression of the tree the paper and

Poem could not be and the minerals

In the soil also live in the paper

Because without minerals soil has no

Potency and the magic of the sun

Rises off the paper to warm your face

As I communicate to you with words —

The logger the road maker and the mill

Worker have all labored for this poem.

Metamorphosis

is a fact and the magic

is a mystery

and the mystery is deep

though it happens every day.

4.

Such things too
the smudges
and slabs
take part in
the bloom —
row apartments
and vine roses.

1.

My mind is a bowl pondering why my

Friend would say he has no one he relies

On because he’s never said such hurtful

Words before and my mind is a bowl of

Frustration as I’m plotting to persuade

A woman to submit to my way of

Managing our meager finances as

I consider her quirky reactions

And my mind is a bowl seeing the sun

In a brilliant sky amidst moving clouds

And there suspended is a crescent moon

And for moment I’m just watching as

My mind is a bowl and an opening

Offering good intentions this morning.

Crescent moon in the

blue sky of morning —

a hole in the day

2.

The swallow bursts before me snatching my

Sight swooping rising diving and turning

Turning as if it were a whirling blade

Turning and then vanishing into sky —

But the bumblebee lumbers in the grass

Plodding and bumbling and purposeful

Desirous of nectar to return home

Serving the manufacture of the hive —

I can’t resist the urge to grab the toad

Squeezing and turning it as I wonder

Is it toads or frogs that give out warts and

I suppose it’s either but I don’t care —

I’ve spent an hour playing in summer

And so escaped a dreary winter day.

These blasted winter

days have frozen my toes and

I’ve worried about

my constantly frozen toes

until this morning’s thawing.

3.

Only banana

tastes like banana

only a tongue

can taste banana —

I have the joy.

1.

Asphalt Driveway Co.

I was lucky years ago to work on

The crews that put in asphalt driveways in

The summer and we came in tall trucks with

A tractor a roller and a paver

And we were young men exercising our strength

And honing our skills and learning what was

Necessary — like standing on a load

Of asphalt while the soles of our boots burned

And shoveling from the truck down into

A wheelbarrow because that is the

Only way to get the asphalt to an

Odd place — there was no use in wearing

Gloves because they would be worn out very

Fast so our hands developed calluses.

I used a maul

a shovel

and a pickax

and grew a

capacious heart.

2.

Willie’s appearance might not impress you

Because he was too thin and tanned almost

Black and the sun is not kind to exposed

Skin — he was silent unpredictable

And volatile — but as the chief on an

Asphalt driveway crew he was a master

Craftsman working from his tractor seat at

Timing the arrivals of the trucks and

The moving of the grunts and at tearing

Out the old driveway and sculpting the ground

With an eye for the drainage of water

And he was good at raking stones into

Place and once the asphalt was flowing he  

Knew how to lay an impeccable mat.

Willie was wicked

in his rages over

carelessness or

stupidity or

for no reason.

3.

Grunts

Davey folded the six plastic rings that

Connected a six-pack of pop into

A single ring and with his hands grasping

Behind his neck he tore it apart and

Joey franticly shoveled the stones

In the correct general direction

And Joey drove hastily weaving

Around the traffic with a hot load of

Asphalt and there came a day I had to

Prove myself so I swung a pickax like

John Henry and the next day they let a

Surplus guy go and kept me and with my

Boot I balanced on an empty pop can

And with my fingers tapping crushed the can.

The crew chief mastered

all the necessary skills

and he sits in the

tractor seat and he

determines everything.

4.

A tamper is a steel pole with a square

Ending that is used to put a raised edge

Alongside an asphalt driveway and I

I had a good eye for tamping a straight

Line and the chiefs selected me because

My tamping was a fine finishing touch

And I was happy because I could keep

Working and I had a skill setting me

Apart and I enjoyed riding to jobs

In the back of a tall dump truck wearing

A bandana but not a shirt feeling

Like a pirate and encountering the

Curious expressions of passersby

Because I was a member of the crew.

It is easy to

encourage a young man

and entice him to

work like a raging demon —

give him some belonging.

5.

A roller uses two cylinder wheels

That we filled with water and it’s about

Twice as big as a golf cart and I went

Forward by pushing a lever forward

And backward the same way and one day I

Was rolling pressing a just laid driveway

Going right to the edge of a ten foot

Drop enjoying an easy interlude

Between hard labor and I pulled back on

The lever but the roller kept on so

I jumped and down it went boom boom and like

A cat I landed with my heart going

Boom boom and I might have been dozing a

Little beforehand but then I woke up.

Synchronicity —

a mechanical failure

a ten foot drop and

vigorous dexterity

produced a happy ending.

6.

It was a joke we enjoyed — four of the

State government road crew were leaning on

Their shovels as one was shoveling — though

There might have been a little envy too

Because we were like skinny feral cats —

And from the moment we arrived at the

Yard there was ceaseless motion before dawn

And through the heat of summer days until

Returning past the evening twilight and

The only occasional rest was if

There was room for me in the cab to doze

On the way to the next job otherwise

I’d stand in the dumpster part of the truck

With my arms over the sides holding on.

Such a test of pride —

to lift a wheelbarrow

and hurl it up and

over the side into the

dump truck about ten feet high.