Bad Poetry

Posted on July 4th, 2007 by gail helen.
Categories: Education, Personal, Literary, Omnia Vanitas, Meta-Fors, Poetry, Random.

In my Young Adult Literature class, we’ve been talking about the particularly kind of poetry that adolescents write. My last post reminded me of a poem I wrote about headaches years ago, and I thought I’d share it with you for a laugh. The formatting was better, and I’m couldn’t remember all the words . . . Wish I could crack open my old WordPerfect files, but alas, you’ll just have to make do. :)

Pain

On nights like these I swallow
flakes of bleached bone snow.
A familiar knot of cold forms
until the moon is not
so big
and the stars are not
so bright
and I can see the strings
anyway . . .

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Insidious

Posted on May 31st, 2007 by gail helen.
Categories: Relationships, Personal, Omnia Vanitas, Meta-Fors.

An adjective which can mean “harmful in a subtle, gradual, or imperceptible way.” Words are often like this. They lead to thoughts that can be described in the same manner. Ever notice how something can be said in the most off-the-cuff manner, and yet later you awake to discover it’s eaten away at your soul? What do you do when your own thinking feels like a disease?

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Rings Like Anchors

Posted on May 29th, 2007 by gail helen.
Categories: Relationships, Personal, Politics, Feminism, Omnia Vanitas, Meta-Fors, Sponsored Posts, Random.

So my 11th anniversary is coming up in July. Because we’re not married, we celebrate our relationship from the day we met, and since we do not plan to let the government tell us that our commitment matters, we probably will continue to do so until we die or implode, just like other couples, rings or not. But I think its impossible to be a girl in this society, and not feel the pressure surrounding the “Miss” or “Mrs.” divide (BTW, I’m a Ms., thank you very much). From pity to scorn, those of us not wearing diamond rings on our left hands get to experience the whole gamut of judgments from everyone around us. Just to be clear, while I understand the important role marriage plays in our society, I personally believe it is an antiquated tradition that is going to die out within a few generations, for a number of good and not-so-good reasons. I’ll blog more on that later. But I do believe that commitments for life should be recognized and celebrated by the couple, their family, and community. They should be personal and relevant to the people concerned. This is the primary reason I like PrimeStyle’s concept of how to buy jewelry. They state that:

Jewelry requires thought. It should fit your looks, personality and lifestyle. Personal style should be reflected in jewelry. It’s important to find the right piece for the right person. If you approach a jewelry store for something special, they’ll ask questions before showing jewelry, like “ask you what your job is, what your life is like” and try to learn all about you.

Recently, my boyfriend and I have been considering getting rings (okay, he doesn’t want to wear one, but I won’t if he doesn’t! :) ) for ourselves. Not diamonds, which we oppose on both moral and economic grounds, but something that represents us and our personal feelings of commitment to each other. PrimeStyle would probably be one of the places we’d look in our quest, although I’m pushing for iolite as previously mentioned. Rings, like tattoos, can serve as a reminder of the other half of your life when you’re apart. Like an anchor, a ring is meant to keep you grounded. How much more effective they are when they are special, meaningful, and not tarnished by the ugliness of the diamond trade!

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The Cicada Menace

Posted on May 28th, 2007 by gail helen.
Categories: Personal, Omnia Vanitas, Current Events, Meta-Fors, Random.

Ok, so I’ve been waiting for over a week for the little green devils to pop out of the ground and start grossing me out. I still remember the spring of 1990, when the last brood covered my entire school yard, until one day they all died and littered the asphalt with their crunchy little corpses. It is impossible to describe the smell, which is unbelievable in coming from dead insects. Ugh. They’re supposed to spring forth in May, so they should come sometime this week. I think, besides the fact they’re six legged flying uglies, the true reason they disconcert me so much is the very nature of their life cycle — they spend 17 years buried in dirt, only to emerge into the sun for a brief and brutal time. If they can beat the odds and avoid being eaten like a Thanksgiving dinner by the various birds, wasps, and spiders that relish them, they get to spend 4 weeks reproducing before their lives end. Too much mortality for me, I think.

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Jesus Saves . . .

Posted on May 23rd, 2007 by gail helen.
Categories: Personal, Omnia Vanitas, Meta-Fors, Money, Random.

Okay, I usually try to avoid religious-based humor, but this was just so good for where I’m at now in my life. Anyone who is paying for health insurance can appreciate this article from The Onion. It’s entitled “Jesus is My Health Insurance,” and is worth a read for great lines like this one: “Oh, once in a while those folks from P & H Collection Agency come calling, but I know it’s just Jesus testing me. For I know that just as He delivered Lazarus from the tomb, the Lord will deliver me from the $80,000 in unpaid medical costs on my billing statement.” Hehehe.

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