Running the Hurdles

Here it is (puff-puff) ... Friday, as this is written ... and I’m (puff-PUFF) sprinting again.

Sprinting?

That’s right, sprinting. Sorta. Most of you know how it goes with me. When I say I’m sprinting ... don’t worry ...

I’m not hot-footing it down the track. I’m not (puff-puff) speeding. Truth be known, I’m hardly moving.

What I’m doing, basically, is racing the clock. The clock always wins, of course, but I never give up. After I’ve (puff-puff) rested a bit, I always challenge it to another race.

These "races" ... and I’m not sure that designation would stand up under careful scrutiny ... do consist of short segments of activity (I was going to say "furious activity" ... but I never quite reach that pitch).

Actually, the segments are 15 minutes each. That’s about the amount of time I can spend hunched over the keyboard before I get a message from my back ... or my calves think they’re in a rodeo and start jumping and lurching ... or, well ... I think you get the picture.

Short intervals of sustained activity. That’s the secret ... and when the timer goes off ... hard-boiled egg that I am ... I take a break and cool down a bit.

-S&G-

SPEAKING OF cooling down ... I don’t know what it’s like where you are, but it’s summer here ... has been for several weeks now ... but we’ve been lucky (and spoiled) in that we’ve had unseasonably cool temperatures.

Until today. Today, Ol’ Man Summer (is there such a guy?) has turned serious.

I have a window fan going ... and I can almost feel the cooling effect of the air it’s shoveling in my direction ... almost. I guess I’ll have to imagine cooler temperatures ... no bubbling streets, no eggs frying on the sidewalk.

Water. I need water ... and some ice, please. Lots of ice. Some for my forehead, too, if you don’t mind.

-S&G-

MEANWHILE, if I’ve hit the right keys (not easy, while knocking on wood and trying to stay cool at the same time, you know) there’s another structured, rhyming poem (oh, how I envy that gift) by LOREE (Kansas) ... entitled "How Big Is Forever?" ... and you should find it just a click away, here:

http://www.poetrybyloree.com/415.html

-S&G-

YOU KNOW you’re a Floridian, if ... You never use an umbrella because you know the rain will be over in five minutes. - Courtesy of HELEN (you guessed it, Florida)

-S&G-

BOOK NOOK - I’m still working on that collection of Shakespeare’s sonnets ... and, oh, what an uphill climb it has become for me. In my spare time I’ve also taken up The Boat of What I Know, by Marian Schwilk-Thomas.

And what’s on your reading table?

-S&G-

SOMEONE turned up the thermostat in Kansas, writes LOREE, then there was a break, of sorts:

"Last night it was great sleeping weather, except for the thunder and lightning from storms just north and east of here, yet close enough that we got the fireworks!

"Wichita even had some baseball size hail ... I’ll bet the insurance companies had to put on more help to deal with the claims from up there. And no doubt my own premium will be called into duty to help pay for that also ... like being in the reserves of the military, and yanked into active duty!"

-S&G-

TODAY’S POEM ... Last week I was trying not to repeat myself ... and I’m not sure I succeeded in that. This week I’m trying not to be too wordy ... not an easy task for me, either (I was once told by a literary magazine editor that he liked a certain haiku I had submitted ... you know, those three-line poems with a limited syllable count on each line ... but he thought it was too wordy. He suggested that I cut out one word. I did. He accepted it ... and it was published).

But I digress.

I was trying to be brief, right? Here goes (this one originally published in Capper’s):

RUNNING THE HURDLES

Have you
ever noticed
how many more
things go wrong
when you're trying
to get away
early, or make up
for lost time?

-S&G-

COMMENT? Feel free ... below, if you like.
Or if you prefer e-mail, that's fine, too ... especially for more detailed observations, to

rbrimm@peoplepc.com...

and it helps if you put "Squiggles" or "S&G" ... something like that ... in the subject line (just remember, no religion or politics ... please!)

-S&G-

UNTIL NEXT TIME ... take care ... see ya!

-S&G-
© 2009