Thursday, June 07, 2007

birthday

details will be published later.

for now, please allow me to share this poem
highly suitable for when people turn ages ending in zero.

i've always liked this poem. that's all.

On Turning Ten

The whole idea of it makes me feel
like I'm coming down with something,
something worse than any stomach ache
or the headaches I get from reading in bad light--
a kind of measles of the spirit,
a mumps of the psyche,
a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul.

You tell me it is too early to be looking back,
but that is because you have forgotten
the perfect simplicity of being one
and the beautiful complexity introduced by two.
But I can lie on my bed and remember every digit.
At four I was an Arabian wizard.
I could make myself invisible
by drinking a glass of milk a certain way.
At seven I was a soldier, at nine a prince.

But now I am mostly at the window
watching the late afternoon light.
Back then it never fell so solemnly
against the side of my tree house,
and my bicycle never leaned against the garage
as it does today,
all the dark blue speed drained out of it.

This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself,
as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.
It is time to say good-bye to my imaginary friends,
time to turn the first big number.

It seems only yesterday I used to believe
there was nothing under my skin but light.
If you cut me I could shine.
But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,
I skin my knees. I bleed.

-- Billy Collins

1 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Happy 3-Oh. I'm sorry I can't make it in person but it's a bit of a drive from Brooklyn. I hope it's a great day. I'll lift a beer in your honor tomorrow. :)

-- cheeser

6/08/2007 02:12:00 PM

 

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Wednesday, June 06, 2007

and more!

happy birthday to the eschemo survivor! you rock!

also, thanks to those of you who have sent me presents. i mean, wow. i can't tell you how excited and touched i am that you remembered, and how great it is to come home to brown paper packages tied up with string.

!

i will open them tomorrow morning before i go to work.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks CamoBunny. I hope your party was fun. I had a fabulous day and a fabulous cake. Two tiered cakes, over a fountain, with four staircases leading north, east, south, and west to a smaller set of two-tiered cakes. I won't say how many candles were on the cake, but I will say that all these cakes had pink and pinker roses encircling the sweetness. The party was held at a reception hall on the 15th floor, overlooking the inlet one way and Denali the other. We (50+ guests) ate buttery halibut, prime rib, sweet gingery carrots with broccoli, smoked salmon spread, spinach orange salad, and garlic mashed potatoes. My husband who wore a tuxedo for the event, even gave a toast! Everyone else was dressed in no less than Alaska's standard of high class apparel which bode well for the post-dinner dancing. It was a party I'll never forget. Thankfully I never saw the bill for this party, and I'm glad that it will be going to the bride and groom and not us. (You probably guessed it right away when I mentioned the pink roses....or was it the fountain?... or the staircases?...or the tuxedo? ha!! )

6/11/2007 06:44:00 PM

 

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Friday, June 01, 2007

invitation

next week i turn thirty years old.

i am having a party.

you are all invited.

see you next saturday!

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