Red Mosquito

Carl Sandburg wrote:There is a wolf in me . . . fangs pointed for tearing gashes . . . a red tongue for raw meat . . . and the hot lapping of blood—I keep this wolf because the wilderness gave it to me and the wilderness will not let it go.

There is a fox in me . . . a silver-gray fox . . . I sniff and guess . . . I pick things out of the wind and air . . . I nose in the dark night and take sleepers and eat them and hide the feathers . . . I circle and loop and double-cross.

There is a hog in me . . . a snout and a belly . . . a machinery for eating and grunting . . . a machinery for sleeping satisfied in the sun—I got this too from the wilderness and the wilderness will not let it go.

There is a fish in me . . . I know I came from salt-blue water-gates . . . I scurried with shoals of herring . . . I blew waterspouts with porpoises . . . before land was . . . before the water went down . . . before Noah . . . before the first chapter of Genesis.

There is a baboon in me . . . clambering-clawed . . . dog-faced . . . yawping a galoot's hunger . . . hairy under the armpits . . . here are the hawk-eyed hankering men . . . here are the blonde and blue-eyed women . . . here they hide curled asleep waiting . . . ready to snarl and kill . . . ready to sing and give milk . . . waiting—I keep the baboon because the wilderness says so.

There is an eagle in me and a mockingbird . . . and the eagle flies among the Rocky Mountains of my dreams and fights among the Sierra crags of what I want . . . and the mockingbird warbles in the early forenoon before the dew is gone, warbles in the underbrush of my Chattanoogas of hope, gushes over the blue Ozark foothills of my wishes—And I got the eagle and the mockingbird from the wilderness.

O, I got a zoo, I got a menagerie, inside my ribs, under my bony head, under my red-valve heart—and I got something else: it is a man-child heart, a woman-child heart: it is a father and mother and lover: it came from God-Knows-Where: it is going to God-Knows-Where—For I am the keeper of the zoo: I say yes and no: I sing and kill and work: I am a pal of the world: I came from the wilderness.

tommy wrote:Nice work, tree.

Are you smoking more pot?

tree_ wrote:I’m actually doing pretty well besides the coffee. I think I’m quitting alcohol for good. Shit is bad and nothing good comes from it. Eight days sober today!

E.H. Ruddock wrote:I got a COVID booster yesterday. Still feeling ok this morning but worried as other RMers have stated it knocked them down for a day. WHEN WILL I KNOW

spike wrote:

E.H. Ruddock wrote:I got a COVID booster yesterday. Still feeling ok this morning but worried as other RMers have stated it knocked them down for a day. WHEN WILL I KNOW

Around 24 hours later

Bi_3 wrote:

tree_ wrote:I’m actually doing pretty well besides the coffee. I think I’m quitting alcohol for good. Shit is bad and nothing good comes from it. Eight days sober today!

Excellent choice. I limit myself to one drink a week unless on vacation and it's made a world in difference in everything but my damn hairline. ex-hairline.

tree_ wrote:

Bi_3 wrote:

tree_ wrote:I’m actually doing pretty well besides the coffee. I think I’m quitting alcohol for good. Shit is bad and nothing good comes from it. Eight days sober today!

Excellent choice. I limit myself to one drink a week unless on vacation and it's made a world in difference in everything but my damn hairline. ex-hairline.

Indeed. Wait, are you really blaming sobriety for your hair loss? Is this a thing?

tree_ wrote:

tommy wrote:Nice work, tree.

Are you smoking more pot?

Thanks. Probably about the same, but it feels better and I'm getting much more from it. I think I was confusing the high I got from pot with the feeling alcohol gave me, which makes me miss it less.

I have taken up a nasty ice cream habit though. Better nip that in the bud too.

Carl Sandburg wrote:There is a wolf in me . . . fangs pointed for tearing gashes . . . a red tongue for raw meat . . . and the hot lapping of blood—I keep this wolf because the wilderness gave it to me and the wilderness will not let it go.

There is a fox in me . . . a silver-gray fox . . . I sniff and guess . . . I pick things out of the wind and air . . . I nose in the dark night and take sleepers and eat them and hide the feathers . . . I circle and loop and double-cross.

There is a hog in me . . . a snout and a belly . . . a machinery for eating and grunting . . . a machinery for sleeping satisfied in the sun—I got this too from the wilderness and the wilderness will not let it go.

There is a fish in me . . . I know I came from salt-blue water-gates . . . I scurried with shoals of herring . . . I blew waterspouts with porpoises . . . before land was . . . before the water went down . . . before Noah . . . before the first chapter of Genesis.

There is a baboon in me . . . clambering-clawed . . . dog-faced . . . yawping a galoot's hunger . . . hairy under the armpits . . . here are the hawk-eyed hankering men . . . here are the blonde and blue-eyed women . . . here they hide curled asleep waiting . . . ready to snarl and kill . . . ready to sing and give milk . . . waiting—I keep the baboon because the wilderness says so.

There is an eagle in me and a mockingbird . . . and the eagle flies among the Rocky Mountains of my dreams and fights among the Sierra crags of what I want . . . and the mockingbird warbles in the early forenoon before the dew is gone, warbles in the underbrush of my Chattanoogas of hope, gushes over the blue Ozark foothills of my wishes—And I got the eagle and the mockingbird from the wilderness.

O, I got a zoo, I got a menagerie, inside my ribs, under my bony head, under my red-valve heart—and I got something else: it is a man-child heart, a woman-child heart: it is a father and mother and lover: it came from God-Knows-Where: it is going to God-Knows-Where—For I am the keeper of the zoo: I say yes and no: I sing and kill and work: I am a pal of the world: I came from the wilderness.

tragabigzanda wrote:Sobriety, hair loss, and ice cream. This is the ultimate Trag-Bat-Signal and yet I have nothing to add.

tree_ wrote:Trag, what is your favorite kind of ice cream?

Bi_3 wrote:

tree_ wrote:

Bi_3 wrote:

tree_ wrote:I’m actually doing pretty well besides the coffee. I think I’m quitting alcohol for good. Shit is bad and nothing good comes from it. Eight days sober today!

Excellent choice. I limit myself to one drink a week unless on vacation and it's made a world in difference in everything but my damn hairline. ex-hairline.

Indeed. Wait, are you really blaming sobriety for your hair loss? Is this a thing?

Nooooo. It's just everything else about my health got noticeably better after about 60 days except that. Can't win them all.