sovay: (Default)
sovay ([personal profile] sovay) wrote2007-12-12 02:45 pm

Unlikely out of time

I have been a dutiful citizen; I spent five hours yesterday at the Middlesex County Courthouse, where around one o'clock it was determined that no further jurors were needed and the rest of us could all go home. According to one interpretation, this means that I got up at a quarter to six for nothing. According to another, at least I wrote two-thirds of a poem while I was there. Next time, however, I am bringing more than four books to read.

My beautiful cousin Tristan made me a card for Hanukkah, which arrived on the seventh night: a menorah made of two handprints in blue paint with yellow candleflames painted at the fingertips, signed with his name right to left, as in Hebrew. I know we all share thirty percent of our DNA with lettuce, but I am glad just to be in the same species as him.

For the fifth night, we held a Hanukkah party. Incredible amounts of latkes were made and consumed by [livejournal.com profile] sharhaun, [livejournal.com profile] fleurdelis28, [livejournal.com profile] wind05, [livejournal.com profile] nineweaving, [livejournal.com profile] ericmvan, [livejournal.com profile] captainbutler, [livejournal.com profile] greyselke, and easily half a dozen others, and we all wound up in front of the fire telling stories (and watching bits of YouTube on my laptop) afterward. Nothing burns like clementine boxes.

And last week, my uncle Thomas came to stay with us for two days on his way to Iraq. He is my father's youngest brother; my parents more or less raised him from the time he was twelve until he went into the army, where he trained as a paratrooper and learned to speak Korean. He has been a civilian for fifteen years. This is not where he should be. Why are so many people still behaving as if this war is normal?

I have cards to write.

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