NIGHTMARE LANDSCAPE
WITH HEGEL

so rivers are not natural boundaries
but the easiest route to another place
when the forests are thick and dark
and the mountain passes cold with snow

there's always a way out

but every land is someone else's land
every group considers itself a culture
all people know their own wealth

every migration is an act of war

every boat landing
every stranger's footstep
every wheel cutting a new road
is aggression against existing culture

there's no home in a new land
the air is tainted with the poison of fear

-Julie Ann Armstrong

From Exile

It's bright the icy foam as it flows,
It's fierce in January great sea tumult
It's woe's me the language, long-wished-for-speech
For the sake of tales, would be sweet to my ear.

Ability in English I never had,
Neither knew phrases of passionate French:
A stranger and foolish, when I've asked questions
It turned out crooked-I spoke North Welsh!

On a wave may God's son great us our wish
And out from amongst them readily bring us
To a Wales made one, contented and fair,
To a prince throned, laden nobly with gifts,
To the lord of Dinorwig's bright citadel land,
To the country of Dafydd, where Welsh freely flows!
- Dafydd Benfras, d. 1257

Don't eat blue food. ­Meredith family saying
Don't eat Glue's good. ­Treat Ave. wisdom

Many a birch-tree green of cloak
(I'd like to choke the Saxon!)
is now a flaming heap of fire
where iron-workers blacken.

For cutting the branch and bearing away
the wild birds' habitation
may misfortune quickly reach
Rowenna's treacherous children!

Rather should the English be
strung up beneath the seas,
keeping painful house in hell
than felling Cynon's trees.

-excerpt from
"Glyn Cynon Wood"
16th c.

AFTER TUTORIAL AT ST. J'S

traits of a true philosopher

love of truth
prudent
not fond of money
liberal minded
brave unafraid of death
humble
just & gentle

bored with instruction
sometimes destructive
probably smokes too much
likes good whiskey
interrupts others frequently

-Julie Ann Armstrong

Amargo Creek

Slipped on ice, broke an elbow
Late handing in an essay
A glowing, orange F at the top of the page
Head concealed under the upturned flaps of my raincoat

I scribbled till dawn
Fell asleep at the kitchen table, spilled a cup of coffee
Stained a new pair of jeans, burnt toast
My girlfriend said she's pregnant
But not by me

It rained last night
A soaking drizzle
A crack, pause, boom, flash
Menacing darkness, cacophonic night

Slipping into a funnel of water
Tumbling off the edge of jagged shale wall
Falling, tumbling, falling, tumbling

Outside, a chirping May morning
A rainbow on the horizon
The fresh, piney smell marvelous
Rivulets of water cascade into Amargo Creek.

-David Velarde, Jr.

If you'll but attend
to the tales I append
you will understand
that's there's no deed unplanned
by a woman's hand.

- an anonymous
Cymric poet,16th c.

PC Corner: "Welsh" comes from the Saxon word for "Foreigner." "Wales" is really Cymru and its citizens are y Cymry. "Taffy" is a British slur against Cymric folk - you know the old rhyme:

"Taffy was a Welshman
Taffy was a thief..."

So, I wonder what's up w/ that Laffy Taffy stuff?! (aye-that was a joke. Don't hurt me.-@)