Fish Boxes.

Recently, R. pointed me towards a paragraph from a short-story called "The Patch" by John McPhee that appeared in the Feb. 8, 2010, issue of The New Yorker. He got my attention by claiming that he thought it came close to offering a metaphor for my aesthetic, my muse. That it sounded like the way I think about information, about history, about language, as I write poetry.

Okay, so he got my attention. Here's the McPhee paragraph--a story about fathers and sons and fishing, which, in and of itself, does not sound much like my writing. But this:

Pickerel have palatal teeth. They also have teeth on their tongues, not to mention those razor jaws. On their bodies, they sometimes bear scars from the teeth of other pickerel. Pickerel that have been found in the stomachs of pickerel have in turn contained pickerel in their stomachs. A minnow found in the stomach of a pickerel had a pickerel in its stomach that had in its stomach a minnow.

is fantastic. Must. Now. Write. Poem. About. Pickerel.

Hahamongna Blog Day.

Here Is A Place

[*excerpted* *cut* *not whole any longer*]


. . . There is there.
All our looking at things
should not make there
here.
There is not here . . .

Here is a place, Hahamongna,
where two fingers touch.

On July 12th, the Pasadena City Council will decide whether to proceed with a plan to build soccer fields in Hahamongna Watershed Park, between the San Gabriel Mountains and the Arroyo Seco. I may write poetry, but I am also a soccer mom. My daughter belongs to the AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) Region 13 (Pasadena, Altadena, La Canada). By definition, by regulation, all soccer fields are the same. Thus there is always an alternative soccer field. Yet Hahamongna Watershed Park is unique. Why would we choose to replace what is rare with what is routine?

More information about the proposals to build soccer fields in Hahamongna Watershed Park, the five unique habitat zones that make up the park, and what you can do to protest this proposal, is located at SaveHahamongna.org

and at the following local blogs, all of whom are participating in this online day of protest:

Altadena Above It All
Altadena Hiker
A Thinking Stomach
East of Allen
Finnegan Begin Again
LA Creek Freak
Mendolonium
Mister Earl's Musings
My Life With Tommy
Pasadena Adjacent
Pasadena Daily Photo
Pasadena Latina
The Sky Is Big In Pasadena
Webster's Fine Stationers Web Log
West Coast Grrlie Blather

**Image courtesy of SaveHahamongna.org **