Torn Calf Muscle

Ok, this is really boring for most of you, but I've had to cut my nightly 3 mile run to a 1.5 mile run and 1.5 mile fast walk. Why? Well, according to my MD, I tore a calf muscle when I tripped on one of those horizontal street-level cellar doors that many small businesses in the NYC area use for product deliveries. This pisses me off...

Beyond that, I now know that the first of my two diplomas from Rutgers is already printed (YAY!): a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Philosophy from Cook College of Rutgers University - commencement is 23 May. The second diploma comes next year and will be a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Policy, Institutions, and Behavior.

The next big step is my sojourn in Morocco this summer, where I'll be studying Arabic intensively, via immersion, for six weeks, beginning in late June.

Not even Guilty of a Misdemeanor after more than 50 shots kill an innocent man without warning...

3 Detectives Acquitted in Bell Shooting - New York Times
The detectives were found not guilty on all felony and misdemeanor charges in the November 2006 death of Sean Bell, who died in a hail of 50 police bullets outside a club in Queens...

All I can say is it's simply incredible. But it highlights two sobering facts.

Proof, as if we didn't have enough that:

1) America has been, since 9/11, a shadow of what it once was and represented. Today we are a Police State, where: illegal wiretaps, falsifying evidence, torture, and shooting without warning are endorsed by the highest ranks of government. That "shining city upon the hill" has gone dark, while the echoes of air raid sirens and combat boots are the only sounds to punctuate the oppressive silence.

2) racism is still alive and well in America. Sadly, one everyday black man's life just isn't worth anything in the eyes of many in this society.


"This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy... ..Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children." MLK (1963)


For those of you in New Jersey, here are two New York Times pieces collectively demonstrating that racism has been and remains prevalent in our own New Jersey State Police (yes, I am saying that many NJ State Troopers are racist a**holes - the TRUTH HURTS):

A Troubling Encounter With the State Police

U.S. WILL MONITOR NEW JERSEY POLICE ON RACE PROFILING


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A New Petrarchan Sonnet

The Night Swan Bed & Breakfast

Well, THAT'S a subject heading one doesn't see everyday!

Ok, so when I'm REALLY stressed out to the max, I generally have only two options that work:

1) I go jogging. Which, for reasons that are irrelevant here, I began doing again for the first time in six years, this past weekend. I'm running 3 miles every other day. I was doing it every day until a persistent cramp in one calf made clear I was overdoing it after the long hiatus.

2) I write something REALLY structured - like a Petrarchan Sonnet. Two weeks ago a friend was stressing out and, given my ridiculous tendency toward empathy, my friend's emotional state impacted with mine.

The point of all this is that I ended up writing a new piece which several people are pushing me to publish, so I'm tossing it in the proverbial bottle and letting it float on the waves of the internet.

The octet's a bit of a combination of the kind of disconnected visual imagery, written in a stream of consciousness style, one might find in an Alan Ginsburg poem, like those found in The Fall of America (I was fortunate to attend a reading by Alan, speak with him, and get him to autograph a copy of that very volume a few years prior to his death). While the turn and the sestet adhere to more traditional Petrarchan elements and rules.

For those who might wonder, the octet imagery is drawn from actual events in the State of Florida, related to one another, over a short time period.

Hopefully, I'll get some feedback on this piece and perhaps the photos as well (if you click on any of the images, you will get a much larger version).

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The Night Swan B&B in Black & White InfraRed

Cantus Catalina

Lithe spirited Muse proves moonlight so pale,
Viridian eyes shame gold lighthouse beams,
Feline its essence, with Lorelei themes,
Beckons the Venti to billow white sail.

Gold morning sunshine adorns porpoise tails,
Open top driving in Florida’s gleams,
Sapphire twilight revives polka-dot dreams,
Night’s clingy black dress calls soddening gales.

One word from her lips brings life to dry earth,
Giggles unbidden melt ice from cold stone,
Odysseus’ Siren kindles new art.

Brief moments shared are a priceless rebirth,
de Leon’s fount midst fair Venus’ mons,
Love unexpected has purloined this heart.



© Copyright, Keith Krebs, 2008, All Rights Reserved

Polka Dot Dreams in Sapphire

Captain Gary of SunDial Sailing & Charters

The Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse
(tallest in Florida)

Wind in our Sail

The Gin Hammock Beach Resort vista from an Ocean View Suite