1/23/2003

1/23/2003 - 12:00

LUNCH AND THE SAD LADY:

I was microwaving a can of beans for lunch, 1:50 (ten seconds under two

minutes and they're just right) and in those one minutes and fifty

seconds I turned on the T.V. in the lunch room. Birds of prey are dying.

The lady at the shelter said, "...It's like a cancer ward, we feed the

birds with tubes and make them comfortable, then they...die." Her voice

trailed off. "Die" had the inflection of facing a sad reality for the

first time.

The silk fibers of our existence straight, shining taut melancholy silk.

I'm sad for those birds. I'm sad for that lady who feeds the birds to

death. I want to cry. Sweet sorrow for the birds and bird ladies. Part

velvet, part silk, so sweet you could pour it over ice cream...and cry.