Happy Inauguration, everyone.

It's That Day. The day we kiss the Bush years goodbye and good riddance. The day we truly turn the page and at least wake up with the hope that the rule of law will again govern. We have a scholar of the Constitution taking office; that can only bode well.

( measured anticipation and some misgivings )

text & video of Obama's speech

btw

Something that has really bothered me this past month? The Burris appointment making it through Congress. It will really bolster my spirits when self-serving people stop playing Cards. Burris and his friends played the same race card that Clarence Thomas did, right down to using the word "lynching" to intimidate otherwise reasonable officials and subvert the normal political process. It disappoints me to the core that this tactic was not widely seen and described as such. It shocks me that so many people were willing to consider the fruit of a tainted appointment as legitimate. It is an embarrassment to the Senate as a body and, as far as I'm concerned, a shame to all minorities.

Tipton

"Provocation" has been accepted by Tipton Poetry Journal for their Winter 2009 issue, which will be released this February. I am so pleased!

The poem has undergone several changes since I first penned it more than fifteen years ago. (For example, the word "blushing" is nowhere near the final draft.) It had been in the revision drawer so many times and for so long, I'd almost given up hope that it would find a home. I'm excited that the piece has been accepted.