Spring Equinox 2013

Spring Equinox 2013 - a reading (on YouTube)

In the springtide of the year as the trees are raining leaves, the oaks are crowned with a tonsure of amber, the pines with a halo of gold. With every gust of spring, clouds of pollen billow like swarms of wasp-colored midges rising to search the land for prey.

With each stir of wind, dried oak leaves flutter to the ground, sparkling and scattering like glitter suspended in the morning breeze. Flurries of oak flowers descend, forming drifts across the cobblestones like ropes of dirty snow. They swirl in the spring air before settling in brown drifts with a dusting of gold that accumulates on the walk and lawn. Men pile leaves so rich with pollen they smoke sulphurously as though their rakes were pitchforks wielded by a host of minor demons.

Each night, the whippoorwills melt a little farther from the window. Feet fade to miles until nothing is heard of their once powerful cries. We are tempted to mourn their loss, yet change is as inevitable as butterflies emerging from their silky winter life jackets to float away in spring.

© 2013 Edward P. Morgan III

An Open Letter to the President

"An Open Letter to the President" - a reading (on YouTube)

Dear President Obama,

I regret to inform you that I will be resigning my affiliation with the Democratic Party effective the first day of the my wife's impending two weeks of unpaid furloughs. I will no longer make contributions. I will no longer plant signs in my yard in this deeply Republican neighborhood. I will no longer defend your positions. I will no longer champion your ideas.

The Sequester that led to these unpaid furloughs was ill-conceived from its creation. Its structure did not account for the central tenet of Sun-tzu: Know yourself and your adversary. Those few of us with any foresight knew eighteen months ago that it would be only the civilian Federal workforce who were called to sacrifice.

My wife and I fared better under Bush and a Republican majority in Congress. We fared better under Reagan. We fared better under Clinton. He didn't always win but at least he knew how to fight. And he never allowed the Federal workforce to remain unpaid.

There is no plan, no discernible strategy, no clear path to victory. You assured us this would be Normandy. You've led us into Anzio. Or worse the Atlas Mountains through the pass at Kasserine. You promised to fight tyranny and oppression. You've delivered Vietnam. You've fled with your banner and abandoned us to the field.

I will reconsider only should these unpaid furloughs be unexpectedly reversed as you negotiate the remaining budget with your colleagues. If we are to be economic casualties in this ideological conflict, I would rather it be at the hands of an adversary than an erstwhile ally.

Sincerely,

Edward P. Morgan III