new poem and more photos

Here is a new poem I wrote partially inspired by my trip to Yosemite this summer and strangely reminiscent, at least in the first verse, of Johnny Cash's Five Feet High and Risin.

As soon as the sun rose so did I crawl out.
Shivering, my hat pulled almost over my eyes,
I boiled water for tea.
I sipped and I supped and I watched the frost line retreat,
the sun chased it over the dirt and my feet,
and the tent and my boots from it’s icy grip freed,
‘It’s a damn fine day today’.

Down the trail, all alone,
A long week behind me and now I am worn.
The rocks and the roots and the snakes underfoot,
The saprophytic angiosperms litter the floor.
Charred trunks across five feet,
The pace of the step jars the heart of my beat,
‘It’s a damn fine day today’.

Crystal pure, clear crisp crunchy ice I inhale.
Air cold in the forest, the sun cooks pine needles and smells right.
Sweat in the sun, shiver in the shade,
‘It’s a damn fine day today’.

Almost there now, ten more to go,
Across a final river I find to ford,
Pass the field the night I first laid,
‘It’s a damn fine day today’.

One more now, I forget the date,
My boots alone seem to know the way,
I see the car, but my shock defrays,
‘It’s a damn fine day today’.

Here are some more pictures from the IU Art Museum. I like this painting a lot. It's really striking. Sharp lines. Very bold. Also interesting from an art history perspective. This was done by an artist who was rebelling against the anti-realism of the 20th century. While this painting isn't "abstract", it's not exactly realist either. Very expressive. Also, this is the artist's wife and she divorced him shortly after this painting was finished. I wonder if that's just coincidence?



This is one of TC Steele's more famous paintings. From his early works, it was painted when he attended school in Munich and he one a very prestigious prize for this painting. I think it's my favorite Steele painting eventhough I think he fucked up the upper arm. It's too square. My mother disagrees. I don't have any pictures of his later, "impressionist" work that he is more famous for. It's pretty cool though, and mostly of Brown County.



There are lots of paintings titled 'the adoration of the magi', and they all look kind of like this, but this is my favorite. The red cape thing is just really exquisitely done. CLICK on the image for a closer view.



This how my father really looks. I hear Outkast's So Fresh and So Clean playing when I see this picture.



This is really cool. A stauette from an Egyptian tomb of a BREWER. Read the little caption. Pretty cool.



You know you're a beer geek when this catches your attention. New Belgium isn't distributed east of the Mississippi. What's it doing here in the IU Memorial Union parking lot?



I really am my mother's son in so many ways. She used to be a professional photographer you know. This is us in TC Steele's garden again. And again, my father doesn't actually look like that.