End of May

A public library is the most democratic thing in the world. What can be found there has undone dictators and tyrants. —Doris Lessing

I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength or their powerful political connections or their great wealth, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and have refused to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles. So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries. —Kurt Vonnegut

I am your Countrywoman
I am your fellow Missourian
You don't deserve me.
You don't see me.
I see all of you.
I could make you blossom,
see all the beauty
I could make you grow,
crowd out the pain
I could give your mind a break,
ease your journey
Instead you sit on spikes and 
vibrate the fury
Come with me, follow me,
listen to me
Let's share this 

This morning-
Two flashes of a dream I can't remember
Blasted by Ruthie's Knocking
I'm your Faith Healer
I'm just looking for one Divine Hammer
Sundays..I've been wondering lately, who's going to save me?
A bird hit my car..I think it flew off, I hope..might've been a starling.

You remind me of Santa Claus

in a good way

I see you at night, I shine!

a feel-i-i-i-i-i-i,ing

Cheers to Women!

 

Further on 24 Highway

Image of road in Ireland, not 24 highway.

I took to driving east on Highway 24 the spring of 1995. I was sad, lonely and jobless. Listening to a Throwing Muses tape that had The Real Ramona on one side and University on the other, I smoked weed and cigarettes and traveled through the downpours and verdant hills of that season. I first started going to Lexington. I would stop at the battlefield next to Anderson House and then made my way back home. Eventually, I ventured further and further east on 24. Driving in that part of the country reminded me of Ireland. I had never been to Ireland, but I had seen pictures and my imagination has always been wild. I wished I was in Ireland. I wished I was anywhere but in my own life.
My next favorite turnaround town became Brunswick. I thought about living there. One time I decided to discover the town a little more and turned north off of 24. I went up a steep hilled street and nearly ran into a old grave yard. I took that as a bad sign, that I was making haste during a bad situation and that living in Brunswick wasn't a smart move.
As days went on, it became an obsession to drive on 24 Hwy. Winding roads through green mossy hills in grey misty weather beckoned my lost soul. Each escape driving me further and further. My farthest distance was when I went to Moberly and instead of turning around there like I planned, I decided to drive a little more. I ended up seeing a sign that said 47 miles to Quincy, Illinois. Just seeing another state on the sign reminded me that I needed to head back home.

The best experience I had on 24 Hwy was at the bridge over the Missouri River out of Waverly. As soon as I crossed the bridge, I found that my beloved highway was no more. I would not make it to Brunswick that day. All that could be seen were a few tree tops floating in an enormous lake that drowned the highway, a silo and farm fields. I parked my car on the shoulder and walked around staring in amazement. The part of the highway that I was standing on looked more like a boat ramp as it slipped into flood waters. Old folks who were also trying to go a little further on 24 highway were turning around on the boat ramp and rubbernecking me like I was a crazy kid. I was, kind of, but when something so colossal as that has happened, how can they just turn around so quickly without at least surveying the capabilities of nature? I have a plan to someday take the original 24 Highway East all the way to the end in Pontiac, Michigan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_24
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Lexington
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick,_Missouri (home of the largest concrete pecan and has a hilarious town motto)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waverly_Bridge_(Missouri)

airpressedprogression (the feeling of House Tornado)

Keep moving

Kinetic motion

airpressedprogression

beautiful wheezing

Several instruments attached

to an accordian

arms aching

with music

simultanious squeezing

airpressedprogression

Breath held

head under wave

Come up silently

Smooth Breath

Slip back down again

keep moving

on, on and on

continuous compression

airpressedprogression