23rd & 24th November, 2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Photo by Edward Habib McKuen. ©2006 by Stanyan Audio Video Archives

A Thought for Today

Be thankful for the small things in life, they always make the difference.

 

FROM the¨BOOKS

THANKSGIVING

I appreciate your time 
and indulgence God,
because I give so little of my time to you. 
I thank you for an unstubbed toe this month 
and leaving me with no more bruises 
        on a tired and battered heart 
than those I started out with.

Sometimes tied up in traffic 
I'm grateful for commercials on the radio 
that take me from the just-announced war dead 
and carry me back home to other murders 
(those of animals and men 
     who've not yet had a chance 
       at aping angels). 
It is then I wonder where my God is lurking, 
that savior of senior citizens and seals.

The traffic breaks.
The news is over to the tune of Mendelssohn.
Only then do I remember that you're not my uncle
        just my God.
I thank you for your kind indulgence
        and your time.

-from "The Carols of Christmas," 1971.
This poem first appeared in Woman's Day, 1969.

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notable birthdays

Thursday 23 November
Thanksgiving Day USA & Canada

Abigail Adams o Susan Anspeth o Billy the Kid o Jerry Bock o Guy Bolton o Maxwell Caulfield o John Dehner o Ellen Drew o Ruth Etting o Manuel de Falla o Andrew Goodman o Merv Hughes o Victor Jory o Boris Karloff o Steve Landesberg o Johnny Mandel o Harpo Marx o Franklin Pierce o Shel Silverstein o Alberto Williams

Friday 24 November

William F. Buckley, Jr. o Dale Carnegie o Billy Connolly o Helga Sandburg Crile o Denise Crosby o Howard Duff o Dan Falzon o Geraldine Fitzgerald o Katherine Heigl o Scott Joplin o Garson Kanin o John Lindsay o Bat Masterson o Cathleen Nesbitt o Baruch Spinoza o Zachary Taylor o Toulouse-Lautrec o Teddy Wilson o o Steve Yaeger

Rod's random thoughts Kindness is the link between earth and heaven.

Let no one presume to write your history, live it.

Hope is the pilot light of life.

FOURTEEN / The Storm

 

How can we be sure of anything
                           the tide changes.
The wind that made the grain wave gently yesterday
        blows down the trees tomorrow.
And the sea sends sailors crashing on the rocks,
as easily as it guides them safely home.
                      I love the sea
but it doesn't make me less afraid of it
                      I love you
but I'm not always sure of what you are
and how you feel.

I'd like to crawl behind your eyes
and see me the way you do
           or climb through your mouth
and sit on every word that comes up through your
       throat.
Maybe I could be sure then
                          maybe I could know
as it is--I hide beneath your frowns
or worry when you laugh too loud.
                           Always sure a storm is rising.

     -
from the book "Listen to the Warm" and the album "The Sea", 1967
 
     
 
© 1970, 1986, 2002, 2003, 2005 by Stanyan Music Group & Rod McKuen. All Rights Reserved
Webmaster: Ken Blackie • Birthday Research by Wade Alexander • Poems from the collection of Jay Hagan •
Sound & Fury Dr. Eric Yeager • Editor at Large: Bruce Bellingham • Emeritus: Melinda Smith
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