mariness

Between the royal wedding, the irreverent Twitter commentary on the royal wedding, the inane and unintentionally hilarious Fox News coverage of the royal wedding, the planned space shuttle launch, the cancellation of the space shuttle launch, and an accident with the coffee maker, I am incredibly out of it.

I feel I should say something here about Joanna Russ, award winning science fiction writer who reportedly passed away peacefully this morning in hospice care, but I am finding myself at a loss for words.

So, poem:

It is this, you see:
the terrifying emptiness of the edge of stars,
the shattering of blossoms beneath the wind,
the gasping for breath at the doorway, and darkness --

-- and between you and that darkness, the scattered words
half heard and half caught, pulsing, pulsing
pulling at your breath --

an explosion of birds
shatters the pale blue of the sky.

The first newscaster I ever heard has died at the age of 92.