Seasonally

I especially enjoyed today's Richard Brautigan Poem of the Day. (As the message says, "The Richard Brautigan poem of the day" machine distributes verse from a variety of poets, some of them named "Richard Brautigan." You can sign up for this daily mail through Google Groups.)

The Trade
by Gary Snyder

I found myself inside a massive concrete shell
lit by glass tubes, with air pumped in, with
levels joined by moving stairs.

It was full of the things that were bought and made
in the twentieth century. Layed out in trays
or shelves.

The throngs of people of that century in their style,
clinging garb made on machines,

Were trading all their precious time
for things.

Winning converts

My 101-year-old grandmother is visiting in California, a wonderful thing for all the family out here. She launched my love of baseball by introducing me to the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings back in the '60s, and she has been a cable-TV fan of the Yankees for many years. So it was another wonderful thing for me when she announced yesterday, "I guess I'll have to be a Dodger fan now," because Joe Torre has moved to be the L.A. manager.

I have got to figure out how to rig Grandma's computer or TV so I can send her recordings of the late-West-Coast games next year.