Rend: to rip, rive, tatter or tear
Rend
A mechanical Bobcat
growls on my neighbor's lawn.
Its maw, a baby T-rex in motion,
attacks a row of straggly lilacs
at their base. Lifting the bushes
up and away, it beetles back
to the dump truck, dangling
greens from its teeth, grass
flattened beneath its treads.
Not unlike today's talkshow
host chewing up a current
candidate holding an opposing
political position.
Marilyn Aschoff Mellor
Last week we were promised a meteor shower with a three night run. Come dark on the first day, not surprisingly, the city's lights veiled the show. And out in the country the next two nights cloud cover, likewise, hid the shooting stars. But every so often things align correctly, and the night sky becomes a spectacle to behold.
Sky Watching - after Rebecca McClanahan
Needing it still, she comes
when she can, this time
to a mountain top where her chatter
brims with excitement about the cloudless
night. Cassiopea, Orion, Ursa Major
and Minor shimmer light years away,
resplendent. And tonight the chance
to inspect the planets, see Saturn's rings,
mark the moons of Jupiter
with the aid of a powerful telescope
and its astronomer owner.
But even roses have thorns:
the cable car ride to the summit. Fear
of heights no help as the darkened
mountainside dropped away. Clutching
a pole, she fixated on the floor shrouded
in shadows, grateful for dimness hiding
her death grip. Halfway there a full moon
appeared from behind the peaks, flooding
the cabin with light, blunting her dread.
Colored bands surround Saturn
as promised, and the Galileo satellites
of Jupiter remain unchanged from 1610.
A skeptic steps away from the scope
muttering, "This stuff really exists,"
and the hours hurtle past.
The return passage forgettable
as the conference itself.
But the side trip to the heavens
worth the lifetime in the gondola.
Marilyn Aschoff Mellor
The blog has a new look and address: mfamellorpoetry.blogspot.com. When setting up this format and given a chance to insert a picture, I chose our cabin. And with the changes to the blog those of you who still wish to be considered a follower must sign on once more. Should you want to access old poems, you can find them at marilynmellorintothefray.blogspot.com. Hope you like the new layout.
The hubbub over schools reopening this fall led me to consider my own time in med school with 20/20 hindsight.
What You Missed That Day You Were Absent from Medical School - after Brad Aaron Modlin
In anatomy Dr. Fridley dissected
a broken heart after examining
a gut split by laughter, leaving
the radiologist time enough
to share the secret of x-ray vision.
A pediatrician stretched a latex
glove over his head. Shazam!
A cockscomb that be-bopped
in the breeze as he set off
for a meeting with the dean.
The usual lunchtime films
of procedures demonstrated seven
ways to watch it all go wrong.
In the afternoon we learned new
terms for old school bacteria
along with the changed names
of world cities. An orthopedist
explained how to disarm a trigger-
thumb, and unlock knock knees.
We chanted mnemonics for the XII
Cranial Nerves before ending
in biochem for a hyped-up ride
on the Kreb's Cycle.
Oh, and how to hold the hand
of a patient at the end of life.
Marilyn Aschoff Mellor
