Worthless Sleep

Most people are familiar with restless sleep where the night is constantly interrupted by one thing, another, or nothing in particular.  Short periods of unconsciousness are only randomly interspersed throughout the night and insufficient to guarantee a reasonably wakeful and rested morning.  Over the years I’ve dealt with the effects and side-effects of this kind of sleep deprivation.  It would creep up on me frequently during periods of high stress such as points in my graduate studies when my mind would refuse to wind-down for the night and keep me up until I got out of bed and worked through … Read the rest

Meatloaf and Cabrito

This day has been approaching for some time now, and finally arrived… A gaggle of goat kids, barely over the trauma of having their horns or other body parts removed (as was the case for the males), have been traumatized again. Having reached adolescence, it was time to wean them from their mothers by forcibly separating them.  I’m such an evil man.

Today has been a day of musical goats so to speak.  Atticus (Cocoa’s baby), Patricia, and Stephanie (Nippa’s girls) had to go away today so their mothers could rest and I could get more milk.  At the same … Read the rest

Poetry is for sissies and the lost DVD

It’s been a while since I wrote anything about the family…  It seems I’ve been on a poetry bender for the last several months, and have left the more weighty matters to moulder.  I can’t for the life of me understand why it is that I feel inclined to make up silly rhymes to go with stupid pictures, but I guess I find it somewhat therapeutic to pull myself away from the world of analytical and sterile language that dominates my days at work.  Unfortunately, that probably means that the three or so family members who have ever read this … Read the rest

Rain

A graying sky comes pressing on
It's twilight at noon day
Air's heavy since the early dawn
Seems a storm is on it's way.

A distant rumble passes by
The horses snort and stomp
A sudden flash lights up the sky
My outside work must stop.

In the barn a drum beat starts
Quick tapping on tin roof
A yearling kid now jumps and darts
Beats dirt under her hoof.

The tapping turns into a roar
Explosions shake the walls
Howling winds pound on the door
The roof makes water falls.

A thirsty earth gapes wide the mouth
To drink 
Read the rest

Pray for Rain

'Mid searing heat we pray for rain
And hope for cloudy skies
To wet the earth and cool the air
Make shade for squinting eyes

Withered plants cry out for damp
And wilt in summer's heat
On cracking earth with fissures wide 
Growth turned in fast retreat

Dust and sun and baking winds
Blow grit in eye and ear
Peeling skin and cracking hands
Pray that rain is near

The Elephant

Acknowledged but unspoken,
Sitting heavy in this space,
A weight on every shoulder,
Tensile strain in every face.

It's name must not be sounded,
Nor its presence e'en confirmed,
It's substance flat discounted,
It's existence not affirmed.

If aired, the thoughts and feelings,
Formed about the ugly beast,
Would stir it from a slumber,
Then it on my peace would feast.

So better to ignore it now,
accept the stagnant stink,
Give up what was my breathing room,
Turn off my will to think.

Confine myself to smaller space,
Be glad I have some left,
Then hope it won't demand 
Read the rest