Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Horse Latitudes

So it's done. The inauguration. The pomp, the circumstance, all that hailing to the Chief and Michelle's gorgeous yellow ensemble, Obama's steadied focus, the lump in your throat, the hope. It's here now. Like the day after Christmas when you stare at the tree all mucked up with tinsel and realize, oh, yeah, now life returns to normal and you're left to wonder if the tinsel will burn out the motor in the vacuum cleaner, if you're better off picking up the pieces one by one. This is it. The Horse Latitudes.
Or the My Pretty Pony Latitudes, whatever. The tide has turned, the seas are still, and now we must wait for the wind to pick up, for change. And I, for one, am ready, having already tossed a few horses overboard, watched as their big eyes bulged forward in fear, listened to the splash and then the sickening wet sound of the struggle. I am ready for a new America, for movement, for a country toward which I've been tacking endlessly back and forth for 36 years.
When the still sea conspires an armor

And her sullen and aborted

Currents breed tiny monsters,

True sailing is dead.
Awkward instant

And the first animal is jettisoned,

Legs furiously pumping

Their stiff green gallop,

And heads bob up

Poise

Delicate

Pause

Consent

In mute nostril agony

Carefully refined

And sealed over.
--The Doors

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

susannah,
you need to stop posting naked photos of your daughter on your blog. it's not okay. and related to this post, also totally irrelevant.

seriously, stop it.

Petunia Face said...

Anonymous,
I didn't think you could really see anything at all--just the top of her head and her legs. But I cropped it further so really you can't see anything at all.

I know your comments was meant to protect my daughter, so thank you. But please know that I would NEVER do anything to harm my daughter.

-S

Unknown said...

Anonymous sees naked photos? Mmmm.

Anonymous said...

In other news...

You thought the dress was yellow? It looked green to me.

;)

Erin said...

What a strange comment. That photo certainly did not scream "naked" at all. A couple of chubby toddler legs and the back of a head = naked?

Anyway, great post on an exciting day, Susannah!

Aartee said...

I'm so excited for what the next four years hold...here's hoping to better days!

Erin said...

Hmm, I think I'd agree that Michelle's dress was yellow. Maybe gold. Regardless, it looked gorgeous with the green gloves and shoes!

Judy said...

WHAT naked photo? If I look very, very carefully-and I know what I'm supposed to be looking for, I can barely make out a portion of a childich leg and what might be some hair on a head-each in different parts of the photo. WHAT naked photo??? I have NEVER seen you post any naked photos of Zoey ever, anywhere.

And I completely missed any viewing of the Inauguration today as well. But, here's to change! And a better future.

BTW, if I were ever to ask for a naked photo of me, would you do it....because, well, because it would be so artistic and so completely abstract that no one would ever know it was me, or know I was naked,,,or even know I am a human...not to mention, I wouldn't even have to be naked at all....or even IN the picture!
Love,
Mom

Petunia Face said...

Mom and everyone--
I have since cropped the photo. It did show a view from the top of her head down. You could see a bit of toddler belly and legs, nothing more.

Just to clarify and all.

What's important here is the safety of my daughter, of children everywhere. If the the original photo was in any way "not okay," then it's gone.

I want to preserve the innocence and purity of my child all while celebrating the unabashed joys of childhood. But above all I want to protect my child.

xo to all,
S

Anonymous said...

at the risk of sounding crazy, i saw the photo this morning and then again this afternoons cropped version. i was sort of shocked, not that anything was intended or implied by the photo (or the other photos of zoey topless a few days ago) but to the wrong person, other peoples naked children are intriguing, to put it mildly. as a parent, i would think a naked or semi naked photo on the internet of your 3 year old is pushing it.

i understand that as a parent it's easy to get caught up in how gorgeous our children are, but the internet is wide open to all the freaks in the world, not just friendly moms.

Anonymous said...

"Weird scenes inside the goldmine..." in reference to both your Morrison quotation and, well... what this post has become.

bro

krista said...

ack.
anonymous is right and that makes me sad.
although, i gotta say, the cropped photo is quite beautiful and artistic.
kinda like you, lady.

Janet said...

Props to the Doors! Well done. ;)