Monday, April 29, 2013

lions and tigers and bears...oh my!

"someone told me it's all happening at the zoo"...saturday at the bronx zoo...me, and mike, and lauren...originally billed as a "please go with me so i can finish my damned anthropology paper" by lauren, the day actually became a nice "family" moment...as we crossed the entrance we realized that the last time we'd been there was about 14 years ago...too long...map in hand, we plotted our course...first stop...the lions...basking in the warm noon sun were simba and nala...the fence was jam-packed with families...toddlers on shoulders...phone cameras, and some real ones too, clicking furiously...and then it happened...the lion sniffed the lioness and within seconds...little voices yelling..."mommy...daddy...what's he doing"...sex-ed 101...next zebras...up around the bend...all the while my silent prayer that all my body parts would survive the uphill walk that is a large section of the zoo...then more assorted large animals, and then a beautiful giraffe, oblivious to the world...devoted to his lunch...which made us realize how hungry we were...after our lunch it was the congo and the gorillas...as i leaned to watch this group...the large "alpha" male, who gave us quite a show with his up to the glass grin, and then retreat to his rock, and his family...i thought back to "gorillas in the mist" and sigourney weaver's brilliant portrayal of dian fossey...and of course my mind wandered...who the hell beat her that year at the oscars...and i had to google it..ah, jodie foster, "the accused"...where was i?...ah, yes...the gorillas...when they all looked like they were collectively doing the "we're bored performing so we are going to pretend to sleep" routine...we moved on...the reptile house...snakes...safely behind glass...me, imagining shoes and pocketbooks...a smiling turtle...then outside...a majestic tiger...so few left on this earth it makes you cry...beautiful snow leopards...a lone polar bear...pacing in boredom or perhaps hoping for a moron to scale the fence...an afternoon bite...we were getting punchy...we were approaching the 5 hour mark...we sauntered the downhill descent to the exit and our car...a nice afternoon and a pleasant time as a family...with college graduation a mere three weeks for lauren i got a bit wistful...and secretly was glad for that anthro paper...it's all happening at the zoo...i do believe it...i do believe it's true...

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Running on empty...

i am sure if you're reading this you would agree...maybe t.s.eliot was right when he started "the wasteland" with "april is the cruelest month"...i usually feel this way when i wear snow boots and a parka one day...and then shorts and a tee the next...but this april is raining new kinds of crazy on us...the boston marathon...do i have to say anything else?...during a discussion with a rather nice cab driver yesterday en route to the lirr, we talked about the bombings...and both sadly expressed our horror when thinking of the world we are leaving to our children...sandy hook...countless college campus lockdowns since...i keep thinking about a brilliant independent film, "take shelter", in which the lead character cannot distinguish between insanity and the conviction of the approaching end of days and his need to build shelter for his family...i find myself avoiding the news this week...i don't know which revelation will let me sleep at night...that the bomber is a foreign terrorist...or homegrown...where does such hatred and lack of humanity come from?...it gnaws at you...last night i was fortunate enough to attend an event that reminded me of all that can be...i went to alice tully hall at lincoln center for "poetry and the creative mind"...a celebration for national poetry month sponsored by the academy of american poets...12 "celebrities" from very different paths - dick cavett, mario batali and patricia clarkson to name a few... read a few poems each...old classics...and new gems...and for the first time since the marathon story broke i felt myself breathe...smile..and laugh...and for that i was grateful...and then back to the subway, and reality...running forward...trying to keep going...but when i close my eyes i see the image...that runner falls...and i too am running on empty...

Monday, April 8, 2013

Elvis has left the building....

vegas...adult disneyland...i have just returned from a long weekend in sin city...no poorer...but no richer either...but it is a writer's dream in many ways...if just for people-watching...we stayed at caesars of "hangover" fame...although rather sedate on wednesday and thursday, thanks to some incoming conventions, california weekenders, and a thousand bachelorette parties, the place was filled to capacity by friday...the seismic shift in type of guest was first noted poolside friday afternoon...on one side there was a male redneck convention...each testosterone-fueled jerk topping the other in loudness, splashing and an apparent inability to keep a beer from spilling into the pool...on the other side, the objects of their affection...the overly faux-tanned, shouldn't be wearing that bikini, chain-smoking and dropping cigarette ash into the pool girls...and next to us, a well-intentioned young dad with his toddler son in tow...the ill-concealed pamper swelling...i thought i was doomed...choking from second-hand smoke...swimming in budweiser and whatever that pamper couldn't hold...that night we took a cab over to the hard rock hotel...taking a trip down memory lane to the big-hair eighties with def leppard...in the crowd were several men on the other side of 50 donning long-haired wigs...a nod to their youth...the band was incredible...the spoils and excesses of their stardom far behind them leaving their talent front and center...when it was over and we joined the long and winding line for a taxi i noticed one of the men with a wig surrounded by some young women...one who was about a minute from being sick in full view...so the man opened his mouth to talk to her...and there it was...not the swag of long-haired eighties rock...but the nasal drone of william h. macy via "fargo"...."ya, we've all been there"...i turned away trying not to break down in a full-blown laugh attack...then to my right i saw an ambulance and stretcher rushing into the hotel...yeah...back to the eighties...and finally, back to caesar's...and wouldn't you know...as we walked through the casino i spotted those girls...the sick one being dragged to an elevator by her friends...hey, at least it wasn't our elevator bank...ding ding ding...listen to the slots...the fall of the roman empire...