10 Minute Prompt: Write about Categories of Something

The 5 Categories of Water

Water of the House, that we drink in the middle of the night,
up from an anxious dream of piles of paper
that grow no matter how quickly we sort and work;
that we bathe in to wash away the stink of life;
that we use to cook pasta and beans and quinoa;
that we use to brush our teeth and prevent decay.

Water of the Land that greens the blades of grass
which thrust and parry with the sun;
that fills each tree with sap for spring rapture;
that, in excess, makes our tomatoes split their sides
and spill unripened seeds on the ground.

Water of the River that’s got no time
to say hello, good-bye it’s on its way,
cutting into the land,
shouldering aside sand,
rocks, and boulders, mountains even.

Water of the Lake that breathes with seasons;
shelters blue gill and trout;
offers itself to deer and cougar lapping
with eyes straight ahead,
fuzzy ears swiveling side to side.

Water of the Ocean that hides and reveals
a universe of toothy fish, alien string jellies,
inky octopus, and super hot jets of gas and lava,
entire mountain ranges;
reveals and hides the beach while rearranging
drift wood in a thousand year long game of dominoes.

Weighing in on the Target Boycott

OK, I haven't shopped at Target since this thing hit the fan a few weeks ago. I wanted to make sure I had more facts before I flouted a popular boycott. That's right, I don't support the boycott against Target. But hear me out. As far as I can tell, this boycott is a response from progressives to protest a political donation made by the company to help elect an anti-gay governor in Minnesota, right? But how many corporations have donated to that campaign, or the campaigns of any other anti-gay, right-wing,socially regressive politician in this country? Do we even know? According to the Chamber of Commerce corporate support of political campaigns is at an all time high in 2010: $75 Million, contrasted with the $35 Million in2008. So the $150K that Target spent is but a grain of sand on the bleak beach of donations to conservative causes. This increase in political funding is primarily thanks to two recent Supreme Court decisions that unleashed corporate spending in political campaigns. The first in 2007 "lifted the ban on political issue advertising close to an election, allowing corporations and unions to spend unlimited sums on these ads at the last minute."(1) The second in 2010 found "that corporations and unions could spend directly on elections, overturning a century of laws limiting such spending." (1)


Furthermore, it is well known in financial circles that gay people have money and, by and large, they want to invest and spend it wisely with corporations and companies that support progressive politics and social justice to some extent. The Human Rights Campaign fund keeps a list of the top 100 companies who support both their LGBT employees as well as the community at large. Target is one of those companies.
http://www.hrc.org/issues/best-places-to-work-2010.htm

Certainly no ranking system is uncomplicated by broader standards of human rights. The clothes we buy at Target (and pretty much everywhere else, unless otherwise labeled) are still made by underpaid, possibly under-age, workers in poor, underrepresented areas of the world. And, as we've seen, companies who support mostly progressive causes may also on occasion give to a conservative one.

So, in my view, the problem is not donations from an individual corporation (Target) as it is the overall campaign finance system that allows corporations to use unlimited funds to support campaigns. Target is not the only, nor the worst, culprit here. How many of you who are boycotting Target still order pizza from Dominos? Or shopped at Nordstrom, Best Buy, Krispy Kreme, McDonald's? According to BuyBlue.org, these corporations donate to ONLY conservative causes and campaigns. That's 100% of their donations going to anti-gay campaigns. Boycott them! You better believe the conservatives and religious right are supporting those companies. (http://rightwingtroll.blogspot.com/2005/07/support-conservative-companies.html)



The Huffington Post brings us a list of the 10 worst companies for LGBT worker which includes Auto Zone and Cracker Barrel. Don't spend your money there, folks! (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/09/the-least-lgbt-worst-plac_n_454745.html)



While it may be true that the money you don't spend at any of the companies you boycott won't amount to much, the Target Boycott promotion has shown us that simply putting media pressure on these companies, and threatening their bottom line, has an impact. So buy wisely, vote with every dollar, and,most importantly, tell your friends.





(1) Corporate Campaign Cash Floods US Elections

Conservative fundraising commitment has stunned Democrats

by Tom Hamburger


For more reading on the subject:

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46426http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bloggingstocks.com%2F2008%2F05%2F17%2Fgay-investors-support-gay-friendly-corporations%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fmoney.cnn.com%2F2006%2F04%2F25%2Fmagazines%2Ffortune%2Fpluggedin_fortune%2Findex.htmhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fheadline%2F2010%2F08%2F02-0

10 Minute Prompt: What your body refuses to forget

My body refuses to forget the day I went skiing, cross country, with my friend who I'd tried to woo as a lover, but who toyed with me, holding me all night on July 4th, neither watching nor making fireworks. That day was bright and cold and full of people on the graded slope access. My breath in the air was crystalline, my body was warm with hauling myself uphill. My body doesn't care much about how my friend became annoyed with me or how she left me behind. What my body refuses to forget is the first minute of the not-quite free fall of downhill -- my feet sliding, sliding forward, sliding out from under me, my right foot following the ski and my ankle bending and pulling things that would rather not be bent or pulled. How can my body forget being broken? Though it only took 6 weeks to heal the fine cracks in the bone, my ankle has never forgotten. When it rains, when I step just a little wrong off the edge, when I sit too long in one position, my ankle whines a little, winces, creaks, and spends a moment pining for the time before that day on the cold snowy slopes of Stevens Pass.

To Write Regret

I saw my muse today
and she filled me with regret.
She appeared in the bar
where I sat reading
and drinking alone.
I stared, I admit.
I know she knew I was there
though she never glanced at me
I watched her as she whispered
to her companion
who looked right at me then
(I met my muse a week ago
She filled me with regret
When I asked about her life
and talked about myself instead.
Had I listened to her then
would she have filled me up
with a smokey sky that turns the sun
a burnished bronze?)
Had I sat, uninvited at her table today
and asked to talk about herself
would she have thought of me
as worthy to inspire
with warblers, lapping waves, silhouette
or would she fill me
with derision and regret.

10 Minute Prompt: What do you never say?/Why do you write?

I never say what I want
I never tell you how I want you to love me
I never ask you to make me your queen
I never speak the bottom of my heart
I can’t bring myself to tell you
That our connection is more important to me
than breathing
I won’t ever say that, to you, not ever
What I will say is that I want family
I will tell you I love you sooner than you expect
I will ask you to touch me right there
I will speak about plans for the future
I can bring myself to tell you that how
I feel with you is damn good
I will always say that, to you, always
But I will never say what I want.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I write so that I can feel connected to as many people as possible without actually meeting them. I write because words clamor inside me and ask to be let out. I write because I get a huge kick out of making people laugh. I write to amuse myself. I write to pose problems and answer questions. I write to let you know that I am here.