What's Up at the UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station

December 2010 News from UMASS Boston Nantucket Field Station

Petrach

The turtle in the picture is a red eared slider.  It was given to us by someone no longer able to care for him. Each morning as part of my daily ritual I walk to the laboratory to turn on his sun lamp, feed him, and provide some small measure of interaction for him with the outer world. He will live this life with little variation until the end of his days.  We can't let him loose here, they are not native (see below) so the best he can hope for is a larger tank, it's on order.
I've dubbed him Petrach after Francesco Petrarca

From Wikipedia - Francesco Petrarca (July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374), known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar, poet and one of the earliest Renaissance humanists. Petrarch is often called the "Father of Humanism".^[1] In the 16th century, Pietro Bembo created the model for the modern Italian language based on Petrarch's works, as well as those of Giovanni Boccaccio and, especially, Dante Alighieri. This would be later endorsed by the Accademia della Crusca. His sonnets were admired and imitated throughout Europe during the Renaissance and became a model for lyrical poetry. Petrarch was also known for being one of the first people to refer to the Dark Ages.

As a pet lover and someone with a respect for any living thing, I find keeping turtles most disturbing (they should not be kept as pets!)and yet each day I find myself, rain or shine, making sure the pet rock is alive and well.  I pick him up from time to time even though I'm a germaphobe and I know turtles are a breeding ground for bacteria, and yes I talk to him. Nothing heavy just sounds really, a snippet of a song or a poem that I woke up with banging around in my dreams.           

From Wikipedia - The red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) is a semi-aquatic turtle belonging to the family Emydidae. It is a subspecies of pond slider. It is a native of the southern United States, but has become common in various areas of the world due to the pet trade. They are popular pets in the United States, Mexico, the Netherlands, Canada, Spain, Japan, Malaysia and the United Kingdom.

Travel Plans Askew

We had plans to travel
Day afer Christmas 2010
Glad we didn't see those plans through
Sorry Mom
Our plans are askew

Down Here

Down here
The foot
Wish bone
Impacted molar
Scattered artifacts
Some plastic
Keep out
Stay off
Protect it

The precipatation
That was supposed to peter out
by mid day
Blows sideways
Sundown 4:30 ish
Slush up to my galloshes
Ice in my mustache
Hot cocoa with Bailey's awaits
Knock on the door
Dog on the prod
Dinner later

The Boys

They play rough
Cats head engulfed
Dogs mouth
Daily occurrence
A boys life

Saturday Ritual

Hey Jake let's take a walk
How about Borderland
or Wampatuck
I'll pack a lunch
My fishing tackle
a picture of you

The Innocent Hearts

Liu Xiaobo is a true hero.

http://poetry.about.com/od/contemporarypoets/p/Liu-Xiaobo.htm?nl=1

Check out this book!

http://www.sarahblakebooks.com/

Highly Recommended.

Len

Hello Again

Cold cycle spin
Send fluids skyward
Scour rock

News of ancient remains
Jaw at the bottom of a wash
Four teeth still in

Nexus of morain and deer paths
Archeology for breakfast

Preservation the rhythm
In the wind
Hello again

Thank You

Aftermath of a day well spent

Dirty dishes and recyclables to sort

Pictures snapped poetry popped

Music

Play date with good friends

Come Monday begin again

The natives here

Go sledding in the graveyard

Quaker slip and slide they
Throw snowballs at windmills

When the Wii is unavailable

Video of the UMass Field Station

http://www.plumtv.com/videos/nantucket-field-trip-field-station/index.html

The Field Station

http://www.plumtv.com/videos/nantucket-field-trip-field-station/index.html

A very nicely done piece by our friends at PlumTv.

In The Offing

Come on gale and grey
I'm ready for a snow event
You're coming no matter what
So, let's get it on
Go sledding in the graveyard
Throw snowball at windmills
Write our best holiday intentions
On the windowsill
Next to the cat
Catchin all the warmth afforded
From the failing light
That which is
In the offing
Fn ay

Long ago

Rick Hamlett is someone I haven't talked with since the early 70's when we both belonged to a theater group called "Living Presence", he's the one in the glasses, I'm the one with his mouth wide open.  Some things never change.  Thanks for dropping me a line and this pic. Rick. 

Length of my Shadow

Yellow light lift my feet
The long knives of winter
Ragged and redolent with life
Draw the dog in me around the corner
Riffles pant legs and matted fur
Length of my shadow
Guide me
Breadth and girth
Of my desires

Holiday Party!

Every year since our arrival
We've hosted a holiday celebration
Join us this Sunday
Poetry and music
From 2-4
180 Polpis Rd.
UMass Boston
Field Station
Potluck dinner
From 4 till whatevah
Come on, come ovah

Mr. Kent Foreman

I heard of Kent Foreman from Regie Gibson. When I said he sounds very cool I'd like to meet him Regie assured me I would.  He came to Nantucket to read at the UMass Field Station in 2006, with Regie. At the time we collaborated with a theater group on Island known as the Uptown Players run by Jim Nettles and Neville Richen and it was arranged that on this tiny speck of sand we had Regie, Kent, and Brother Blue all perform on the same day. Regie and Kent did their John Henry piece and left us speechless, all of us, even Blue. Jim Nettles, Dr. Hill, Kent Foreman you are loved and I'll remember you. 

Earlier my emotions ran towards sadness, that's changed. I've spent the morning listening to Kent's CD while thumbing through my copy of Warren Lehrer's portrait of Blue.  That will never be a bad thing.      

Take a moment to read this

http://owlrainfeathers.blogspot.com/2010/12/ark-coming-and-kent-foreman.html

Kent Foreman

pillowpoets.ning.com/video/kent-foreman-epiphany

Last night
Long after I'd gone to bed
News came of your passing

With the coming of the light
I wake and celebrate your life

If you cut and paste the line from pillowpoets into a search his haiku epiphany will appear.

Kent Foreman

Last night came the news of your passing
Gravedigger I dig and
Celebrate your life

Stroll

So we went strolling
Downtown
Stopped at the Atheneum first
Big mistake
Not the first
Left my wallet home
Carried a bag of books
For a couple of hours
Sisyphus on the upswing
Literate
Kept my hands
In my pockets
For the most part
Took some pictures
My methods mortify
The missus
I apologize
For making you stand
While the boat leaves
Proving my thesis
You can stop

Little Village

we live publicly
on private property
words don't always convey
a signs true meaning

thankfully I have some stage experience
posed look
phrase uttered (something from a favorite movie)
with impeccable diction

and back to work

Life in HD

Water's your eyes
This west wind
Taste's of iron
A punch in the nose
Offers up it's dead
Swegen had Cormorant
For breakfast
Plastic
eyeless sneakers
Laced up with Spartina
Limpets and petroleum derivatives
A faded balloon
It's a girl!