August 10: Catcher in the Rye, Weekly World News, New Poem, New Cartoon

"...That's all I'd do all day.  I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all.  I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be.  I know it's crazy."

That's Holden talking to his sister Phoebe about what he'd like to do with his life.  He wants to be the catcher in the rye.  That's paradise for him.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time tonight philosophizing.  I have a new poem.  It's about paradise, perfection, heaven.  It's my latest in a series of poems I started a few years ago.  I had this big idea to write a book based on headlines from the tabloid, Weekly World News.  I actually have twenty pages of a manuscript.  Then I discovered that another poet had already written a book of poems based on Weekly World News.  I scrapped the idea.  However, every once in a while, I get the itch to write another Weekly World News poem.  I got the itch this morning, so I scratched it.

I have a new cartoon, as well.

Saint Marty's been busy today.

Man Hang Glides to Heaven

(title taken from a headline in Weekly World News)

No map to follow,
fat black dots to find,
blue ribbons to trace
to thumbprints of sea.
Jungles full of breadfruit,
forests thick with coyote,
glacier and prairie under
a migraine of Perseids.
None of these places.
Find a cliff, a mountain,
where wind drives hay
through trunks of cedar, maple.
Strap on those arms
of wax, feather.  Step to the edge.
Close your eyes.  Think
of everything perfect.
Pineapple on a coral atoll.
Your wife's tongue pressed
to your moon shoulder.
Your daughter's pinking
breath, infant December oxygen.
An albino doe in snowy birches,
white in white in white.
Think of all this.  Think hard.
Take a step.  Take another.
Spread your arms.
Then jump.

Confessions of Saint Marty