Donald Traxler's Poetry: September 2022

Friday, September 30, 2022

Aging Project - II

This photo, as well as the accompanying ones, was shot on September 30, 2022 (age eighty years and seven days).

Thursday, September 29, 2022

We Live in a World of Light and Shadow

Aging Project: Eighty years and six days.

Every Part of the Body / ᏂᎦᏛ ᎢᎦᏛ ᎠᏰᎸ ᎥᎿᎢ

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

I am continuing my Aging Project. The goal of the project is to photographically document my own aging process, until I can no longer do so. The photograph above was shot on September 27, 2022, corresponding to an age of eighty years and four days. The photograph below is from the same date.

Hurricane Ian

It appears that Hurricane Ian will make landfall in an hour or two, probably between Cape Coral and Ft. Myers. In that area they may have winds as high as 155 mph. Where we are, about 240 miles to the north and a couple of miles inland from the Gulf, we are much more fortunate. I will give an updated report after the storm passes, if we still have electrical power and Internet service. So far, I think we have dodged a bullet, or rather the bullet has dodged us.

Sunday, September 25, 2022

Hurricane Warning

When I went into the supermarket on this very warm Sunday morning, a woman coming out said, "Good luck in there!" And she wasn't wrong about that. There was only one shopping cart left in the foyer of the store. I headed straight for the aisle where the water lives: nothing, nada. I decided to try paper products next. But as I was on my way to that other aisle, I found something unexpected: a few 24-packs of half-liter bottles of Zephyr Hills spring water. A sign on the shelf-edge said, "2 per household." Fair enough, I hefted two flats of water into my cart.

When I arrived at the paper-products aisle, it looked like the section had been ransacked. Fortunately,

I was able to get a six-pack of facial tissues into my cart before they all disappeared.

Heading to the other side of the store, I bought another bottle of wine, just to be on the safe side. In retrospect, I should have bought some beer, because if we lose our electricity, the house will be unmentionably hot.

That "unmentionably" reminds me of some lines of dialog from the movie "El Norte." Maybe some of you have seen it. A young Guatemalan man had just started hitchhiking through Mexico, on his way to the US-Mexico border. A driver stopped for him, and he climbed into the cab of the truck. Once the driver took off, the young man said, "hace mucho calor" (it's very hot). The driver looked at him incredulously, and then it seemed that he was going to laugh his panza (paunch) off. "If you want people to believe you're Mexican," he said, "you have to say, '¡hace una chinga de calor!'" (it's hot as fuck!).

Pretty much what we'll be saying if Hurricane Ian causes us to lose our a/c.

The threat to our frozen food, of course, is why Sandy had wanted me to try to buy some ice. As it happened, though, I was driving the Solstice, and now had no room for ice.

I had, though, already been to the gas station, having heard that fuel was going fast, too. It cost me $41 for 3/4 of a tank (nine gallons) of gas. (I only put the good stuff in the Solstice.)

Don't Be Lazy

Friday, September 23, 2022

Today I am Eighty Years Old

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Languages

Stone Tool / ᏅᏯ ᎪᎱᏍᏗ-ᎬᏔᏂᏓᏍᏗ

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Juxtaposition of Millennia

"Juxtaposition of Millennia"

Monday, September 19, 2022

Eighty Years of Learning

Sunday, September 18, 2022

A Fistful of Aliases

His Eightieth Birthday

Seventy-nine point Nine Eight Years

Saturday, September 17, 2022

At the Threshold of Eighty Years

Thursday, September 15, 2022

This Body Is Only a Vehicle

הגוף הזה הוא רק רכב

לדרך אין סוף

Tämä keho on vain ajoneuvo.

Tiellä ei ole loppua.

דעם גוף איז בלויז אַ פאָרמיטל

דער וועג האט קיין סוף

ᎯᎠ ᎠᏰᎸ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᎤᏩᏌ ᎠᏦᏙᏗ.

ᏅᏃᎯ Ꮭ ᎤᎭᏎ ᎤᎵᏍᏛᏁ.

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Approaching Eighty

The photo above was shot in NYC on September 11, 2022 (last Sunday). Apart from being a historically fateful day, that was twelve days before my eightieth birthday. Sandy and I were in NY for the US Open (tennis tournament).

Lately I've been interested in documenting the aging process, which I mostly do photographically, using myself as a model. This trip, though, gave us another way to assess and document it. We had made the same tennis pilgrimage thirteen years earlier, in 2009, but all the way from California instead of from Florida. This time it was far, far harder.

But we survived. Aside from fabulous tennis, we had fine dinners, excellent visits with friends, and we saw a wonderful play. We are glad that we did it, and grateful that we were able to do it.

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

The Truth that You Seek

The truth that you seek, find, and know

is the one that will set you free.

The truth that you reject

is the one that will keep you in bondage.