Occasional poetry.

Here's an original poem I call Emergency Surgery.

I miss you like a tumor I didn’t know I had.

I never noticed the weight of you, suppressing delicate nerves,
until you were gone.

I took you out, a surgery to save my life,
now an enormous aching hole in my skin where once there was a familiar mass.
I miss the pain I had grown to know and even,
to love just a little.
I destroyed something that made me beautiful.

There’s room now for something healthy to grow there,
room for vitality to breathe and stretch.
Whatever is planted in that deep abyss will bloom, thanks to you being gone, no longer taking
nutrients and energy away from my beauty.

Until then, though,
I miss your poison, simply because
I was used to it.

Traveling!

I'm visiting my family this week! The plan is to jot as many notes as I can, write when I can, and smile a lot.

Feminism for the day!

A new blog, Contestations: Dialogues on Women's Empowerment, has a fabulous first issue about feminism and Islam. Rock on!!

Also dealing with feminism and Islam -a Saudi woman literally strikes back against the Hai'a, the virtue police. Time to remind Saudi Arabia that their limitations against women are unjust and against the basic Islamic tenets of mercy and justice.


Note: I have to mention that I'm not Muslim - just someone with a background in Middle Eastern history.

Doing some research.

In Dracula's Secret, one of my heroes works as a system administrator at CERN. Yes, that CERN, home of the Hadron Collider, five Nobel Prize winners, and the World Wide Web.

Why a system administrator? Well, first, my beloved Charming Man is, himself, a system administrator at a very large facility, too. I find the way his mind thinks about information management absolutely fascinating (helps that I used to be a librarian, too).

Why CERN?

Many years ago, The Charming Man listened to a sys admin at CERN speak at a conference. My honey brought home notes about how the information systems worked at such a unique facility.

And now, I hope to arrange the chance to tour CERN itself. I go to delve into the mysteries of arranging a tour!

Edited to add: I submitted my request form along with a little note about wanting to ask about information systems. I hope they are amenable.

Morbid thoughts.

Someday, I will write this dedication:

Thank you to all my ex's for all the excellent ideas.

And it would be in a story about all sorts of terrible mutilations and stabbings and particularly horrific deaths.

Wouldn't that scare the hell out of everyone??

Thanks to the Flaming Chef.

I need this! You need this!

Bronte Sister Writing action!