Chimera Song Mosaic
Sunday, May 23, 2004
Let me know if you've seen this before--I thought it was lost. I place it sometime around Christmas, but who knows? I never did post all those found postcards . . . I'll dig them up sometime.]
Speaking of When the Messenger is Hot . . . the last story in that collection is about a woman who sends out a Christmas card all by herself--no kids, no husband, just self. Her friends call her up in embarrassment--isn't this a mistake? But no, she just wanted in on the praise-for-your-very-existence-action.
Recently I bought (or "won") a bunch of fabulous antiques for very little money at an Hrydril's (pronounced "Hrad-yo's) auction in Sealy, Texas. Some of them had stuff inside of them, which you also get to keep. One old radio cabinet/ pie chest had someone's poetry manuscript in it. An old victrola case (just the case, not the victrola) had a bunch of yarn and embroidery thread--spools and spools and wads of it. Also, it had a crocheted barbie's dress, miscellaneous doilies, and some other great stuff--including a Christmas card that reads: "Merry Christmas; Happy New Year; Thomas D. Hines." You, Thomas, are you out there? It features the sole picture of a man with a side glance, a wee mustache, and a Johnny Cash shirt.
Also, I found some kid's drawings--the ones your mom keeps, but just a few of them. I've always wondered about the ones moms decide to keep. Not all, just a few. They have good intentions. Anyway, this one features some mimeographed sentences with blanks and some boxes where the kid is supposed to write in the right word. But this kid didn't know what was up. It reads:
I am a _____________. I stand out in the yard.
[I AM NOT HAPPY]
I am not happy when the _________ shines.
[SHINES]
Do you know why? Sometimes even after the night has come the _________ shines in the sky.
[SHINES IN]
Often there are many bright ____________ too.
One night when ____________ [THE MOON] the moon
was shining a ____________ hopped into the yard.
[HOPPED INTO THE]
He did not know that there was an __________ in a
nearby.
[IN A] [NEARBY.]
Can you make something else out of snow?
*Down at the bottom of the page, these words appear:
moon tree sun rabbit stars
owl snowman
And there's more: 5 postcards sent to Carnegie, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 1954. Here's the first one Lance read to me:
Dear Mrs. Jester
Trust you are having as
nice a time in the Sunday
School as I am having here
in the c****{illegible} it is
wonderful here you ought
to be along.
Sincerely
Your School Teacher
S. I. G--
It is addressed to Mrs. Dorothy Jester, Elk St., Carnegie, Penns--. The month is August, but I can't make out the year or the time, although since it is from the same office as the others, I think it is from 1954. It is postmarked from Waukesha, Wisconsin. It was sent with a red John Adams "2 cents 2" stamp. The front of the card depicts a drawn likeness of the post office in Waukesha, Wis., although I first mistook it for Monticello. It is a beautiful post office.
