Journal of a Sabbatical

March 4, 2001

batten down the hatches, stow the mainsail, buy white bread and batteries - quick!

Today's Reading: The Merrimack River Hellenics and Other Poems by Benjamin W. Ball

Today's Losing Pitcher: Tornado Boy! a.k.a. Hideo Nomo

When I was out walking yesterday, one of Priscilla's neighbors told us his wife had just called from Market Basket on her cellphone to tell him the market was jam packed. Apparently there wasn't a cart to be had, they were running out of bread and milk ... no mention of batteries though. I was feeling smug because I had just done my grocery shopping on Friday and would be all set for the alleged storm, which I haven't quite managed to convince myself to believe in yet.

So I spent a leisurely morning getting reacquainted with Nancy, fixing her breakfast, and reading bad poetry to her. We both got a big kick out of how laughably bad The Merrimack River: Hellenics and Other Poems is. Then Nancy challenged me to find a good poem in among the bad. I randomly turned to the Hellenics section, which seems to be homage to various Greek poets. Oops. Chorus in Lesbos caught my eye. Who could pass up a stanza like this:

Around our dwelling, haunt of muses, bloom
Green citron woods with golden fruitage hung;
And when the starry twilight spreads its gloom
The nightingale is busy with her tongue.

Well, I don't know if good is the right word but it certainly, um, stirs things up...

We're ready for the blizzard now. Who needs white bread and batteries?