what I've been upto

whiskey and beauty are our lane dogs: strays who have a few homes feeding them in our lane in our colony, and who exercise occupation rights and guard our building staircase sometimes. whiskey is a light brown white male, who barks at cars and is friendly to friends; beauty is more complex just like women are, and is big and strong and somewhat aggressive especially when she's feeling guarded. but she can also be gentle and let you give her a belly rub. she has black marks on her brown face that resembles a goatie, or at least a moustache. I just learned their names this week. he is scared of dogs and if one of them is guarding the stairs it becomes really hard for us to get back up especially late at night. so I am now looking for some dog food to keep in the car to distract them with cos they don't get lured away from their perch easily. 

and I finally have a (borrowed) office where I come 4 days a week in the afternoons to sit in some silence and work. this reject and (optional) resubmit is hard but progressing slowly. and to keep me company I've brought my poetry with me, rather the books of poetry that I owned. did anyone ever tell you that the best books to keep at your work desk (if you don't write literature or poetry yourself) are poems; you can read a few lines or a few pages and get a lil bit of perspective on life when you're feeling stuck or tired with work. it's mostly Plath, a Blake, and one by a local poet (a gift), and I recently bought one by Margaret Atwood. the last is surprising, a mix of angst, feminism, humor, environmentalism, ... (quoting a bit). 

"The aliens arrive. 

They've heard about human sex

but don't believe it.

At great risk to themselves

they've come to see.

They send down spies

in the shape of flying eyes

that peek in through our windows.

Oh anthropology!

The horror! The surprise!

What a show!

It almost makes them ill!

What a thrill.

They abduct a hundred humans

through a cosmic straw

and slurp us to another planet

and put us in a zoo.

Unless you have sex on demand

you don't get fed.

They say the equivalent of Ah and Ooo,

also Haha.

Dire, what hunger will do.

It's sex, sex, sex,

every two hours,

alternating with egg sandwiches and beer.

Be careful what you wish for."