It's such a relief to have a former constitutional law professor choosing our next Supreme Court Justice. I hope Sotomayor gets confirmed.

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Oxford University's first female Professor of Poetry resigned Monday after acknowledging she had helped publicize charges that her rival for the post had sexually harassed a former student.

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It's the end of an amazing Memorial Day Weekend. I can't remember the last time we had such great weather. We ate outside for lunch and dinner every day. A lovely BBQ at L & S's place yesterday afternoon. Seattle is heaven when the weather is like this. Who would want to live anywhere else?

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Saw the new Star Trek movie last night. What a hoot of a movie! It pays homage to the old TV show (with lots of inside jokes you would get only if you had watched the original). I loved the new Scotty, Chekov, Sulu and Uhura. Nero, the evil bad guy, is well played by some guy with Mike Tyson-like tattoos all over his face. My only question: why does the bad guy's space ship always have to look so ugly, dark, complicated and twisted on the inside?

Went with old friends from college days, and went out to Brasserie Margeaux after. So fun!

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On the Back Porch

The cat calls for her dinner.
On the porch I bend and pour
brown soy stars into her bowl,
stroke her dark fur.
It's not quite night.
Pinpricks of light in the eastern sky.
Above my neighbor's roof, a transparent
moon, a pink rag of cloud.
Inside my house are those who love me.
My daughter dusts biscuit dough.
And there's a man who will lift my hair
in his hands, brush it
until it throws sparks.
Everything is just as I've left it.
Dinner simmers on the stove.
Glass bowls wait to be filled
with gold broth. Sprigs of parsley
on the cutting board.
I want to smell this rich soup, the air
around me going dark, as stars press
their simple shapes into the sky.
I want to stay on the back porch
while the world tilts
toward sleep, until what I love
misses me, and calls me in.


-- Dorianne Laux, from Awake.
© Eastern Washington University Press, 2007

(thanks to V for sending this)