A Good Day

I wasn't going to write today....but sometimes life has other plans. Today I took the time to walk back from a meeting to my office, and that is where the fun came in.

I live in a small city, but I grew up in New York. Not NY city itself - but I spent enough time there to have some real impressions and formative experiences there. Today as I walked back, I was reminded of the film My Dinner with Andre. There are many who will poo-poo this film and say what crap it was - sorry you feel that way, but I was reminded of the last scene in the film. In this scene Wally is walking home to his apartment down streets he's walked down his whole life, and he is suddenly struck by all the memories he holds of these places that he constantly overlooks during his daily life.

Today as I walked, I was not reminded of my history on these streets, but of my history in New York. The homeless people I passed, the druggies rocking out when a car with a loud stereo went by, the lost woman wearing a set of gold that would have Mr. T. drooling looking for the Sheriff's Department, the closeness of the skyscrapers nuzzling me down the street - all of it felt familiar on a very visceral level. It all felt like home.

Then I heard something.......

Cockadoodle doooooooo

I thought "What the......."

Cockadoodle doooooooo

it was getting closer.

Cockadoodle doooooooo

An SUV went past and was obviously the source of this VERY loud rooster. I smiled. and the SUV stopped at a light. The rooster crowed several more times and was replaced by....

ribbet..ribbet

I laughed out loud at the juxtaposition of one minute being in New York, and the next being on this small street in my small city with an extremely loud rooster and frog singing in an SUV driving by. As I laughed a small blonde head leaned forward to see if her mischief had found it's mark. It had most surely as I walked down the street laughing out loud without care as to who saw me.

She and I locked eyes and smiled, the light turned green and she was gone.

So my life is good, and I've been to New York and back. It's been a good day me hearties! Time for a beer.

Why Mantis in a Teacup?

I've always been fascinated by the Praying Mantis. They are majestic, deadly (to other insects), inscrutible, and seemingly spiritual in their prayerful gait.

A few years ago I went to the china cabinet to get one of my "good cups" for my tea that day. I pulled out a cup and inside found a praying mantis.

Dead.

In my teacup.

I have no idea how he got into the china cabinet (I don't normally have insects running around my home), and I feel bad that he died there. However, the minute I saw him, the juxtaposition of a creature so inscrutable held within the confines of a symbol of polite society (a china teacup from Japan decorated with small blue and pink flowers and a gold trim) was not lost on me. It was something I instantly related to. I knew in that moment at some point in my life I would name something "Mantis in a Teacup". This place, where I plan to post poetry and occasional commentary, seems to be as good a place as any to bear that name.