Tragic Rabbit

Openly gay state senator tests Minnesota GOP BRAINERD, Minnesota (AP) -- State Sen. Paul Koering once fit neatly into the profile of socially conservative central Minnesota: abortion opponent, supporter of gun and property rights, outspoken supporter of veterans. But last year, Koering was the only Republican in the Senate to join Democrats in opposing an effort to force a floor vote on a constitutional gay marriage ban. That stirred up long-standing rumors at the Capitol about Koering's own sexuality, and within a few days he revealed that he was gay -- a move the area's GOP chairman called "political suicide." In Tuesday's primary, he will find out if that is true. "There's going to be a lot of people watching to see if the voters can look at my record and say, 'He's doing a good job,"' said the 41-year-old Koering. "Or, will they look at my personal life and say, 'I can't support him because of that.' If that's how they're going to vote, I may be out of a job." Kevin Goedker, a city councilman who's challenging Koering in Tuesday's GOP primary, says it isn't because his opponent is gay. But he's making an explicit appeal to voters whose values guide them in the voting booth. "People of high moral values and integrity must rally and support candidates who will work to bring ethics, morals and family values back into government," Goedker's father, Gene, his campaign treasurer, wrote in a fundraising letter. Patrick Sammon, executive vice president of the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay GOP group, said it's important to the future of the Republican Party that politicians like Koering can find support. "If the Republicans want to be a lasting majority party in America, they can't just shut out gays and lesbians," Sammon said. The Victory Fund, which raises campaign funds for gay candidates, said there are currently 325 openly gay elected officials in the country, out of about 511,000 elected offices. The group doesn't break that figure down by party, but "the vast majority of them are Democrats," spokesman Denis Dison said. "We are seeing more instances of openly gay Republicans, but there are still going to be significant parts of the country where that's going to be difficult to pull off," Dison said. Like Koering, most prominent gay Republicans came out only after they were in office, including U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona and former U.S. Rep. Steve Gunderson of Wisconsin. It doesn't help that a significant portion of the Republican base is dead-set against legal recognition of gay relationships, the leading front in recent years in the battle for gay rights. More than any other issues, those opposed to Koering's re-election cite his decision to break from the party line on gay marriage. Indeed, since that 2005 vote, he has changed course, siding with fellow Senate Republicans in more recent efforts to get a statewide vote on the definition of marriage. Koering said it's what the majority of his constituents want, though he won't say how he'd cast his own ballot if it ever comes to a statewide vote. Koering is not without his supporters among local Republicans, and in April he won the party's endorsement after seven rounds of balloting. Goedker decided to run in the primary anyway. The winner will face Democrat Terry Sluss, a county commissioner, in the November election. Goedker said he wouldn't vote for Koering in the general election. "In my opinion I think it'd be tough to be gay and to be somebody I'd vote for based on some of the life choices they make," Goedker said. "To me it's a more liberal point of view." Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/11/gay...e.ap/index.html

Beautiful, delicate, sad, lovely. I love it. Kisses... TR

Wow, thanks, Jason! I like trying new things and I'd tried the lyric story before, with The Midnight Chime, and liked the results. I like this better, though. How to write a lyric story: I think one thing is that you should approach it like any story, then tell it in rhyme, though a more old-fashioned style would probably be appropriate. Some of my regular prose is like that (eg. Some Enchanted Evening, and other tales) so I didn't find that a particular stretch. You just take a normal story idea, preferably something in the past or otherwise appropriate to an old-fashioned style, then set it to rhyme. I could have written this in regular prose, like Some Enchanted Evening, and still told the same story...that's just not what I wanted to do with it. Rhyme takes a lot more concentration and is a bit like solving a puzzle, you tell your story but within very, very specific parameters, constrained by rhyme and line. You also probably need a pretty big vocabulary, to be able to easily pull out words that fit these constraints. If not, use a thesaurus. Eighteen pages of rhyming does mean dredging up some obscure synonyms and descriptors. However, I don't think this is an 'epic' poem because it's not about legendary heroes or anything. Despite the tail on the mermaid, I think these are just two guys who couldn't make it work because they couldn't communicate well and were riddled with fear. They were different from one another, and their 'lifestyle' was unusual, and it worked, but it wasn't enough for the shipwrecked boy/man. He wanted a more 'normal' life... So, to write a lyric story, you'd first need a storyline. I'd be happy to help you if you have one but I can't give you a storyline. The Dude has suggested we all write something for Halloween, so there's an option. My other lyric poem was also for Halloween: The Midnight Chime is a romantic/erotic horror tale. I might write another for this year's Halloween. I also need to finish up Drama Club. Let me know if you want help writing in this form and I'll do what I can. Mainly, I'd say don't think of it as so very different, just tell a story in a different way. Kisses... TR

What do you mean by 'script', Camy? I don't write anything out, though with some stories I make notes and do research. For this one, I did a little research on mermaids but found only one thing that stuck in my mind, to use without mentioning: that some Japanese believe that mermaids used to live off the coast of Japan but now are extinct, though their 'mermaids' are not the ones of legend (normal human upper bodies, human-sized and with porpoise-style tails) but small, fish-y, vicious creatures. There are some bodies on exhibit in Japan, preserved many hundreds of years ago when mermaids were, supposedly, common off the coast. I knew who the two characters were, I told the Dude about a week or ten days ago that I was going to write a love story about a lonely mermaid and a shipwrecked orphan. I knew they'd be lovers but not be able to live together happily ever after. I toyed with a somewhat different ending but found this one to be more believable to me, more like relationships I've known and observed where differences, miscommunication and fear led to love lost. I also knew I wanted to tell it from the mermaid's perspective because he's the one who is willing to accept all his lover's differences, it's the human boy/man who finally chooses community and children over Love. He's right by his own lights but wrong by the mermaid's, and likely the reader's, too. Still, I think we do that all the time, make choices out of fear and fail to communicate enough to salvage 'true' love. I know I have. I knew I wanted to tell it in rhyme (short couplets & had the desired rhythm in my head), have it set in an unspecified past (eg. ocean-going ships had sails), and make it somewhat lyric and fantastical, though keep the relationship rooted in what I saw as 'real' issues between lovers, esp male lovers. How many gay/bi men are married to women right now, for the reasons the shipwrecked boy/man gives, and who left former male lovers or potential loves in order to live that mainstream life, to have children? How many of us have been left by men who feared living a strange or isolated (gay) life 'in the sea foam'? Even the age difference, here a difference in ability to age, is one that can lead to misunderstanding and breakup. Too many, I'm sure. It made me sad and I was hoping it would strike a chord with others, memories of love and love lost, of things that might have been, of our own private 'lonely ocean'. Kisses... TR

Poem/Story is at http://www.awesomedude.com/tr/On_the_Lonely_Ocean.htm Thanks for all the nice comments! This thread began in the Poetry Forum, Gabe, but was moved to Readers' Rule, I assume because Dude lists my rhymed stories as stories, not poems. They are both. The other long, story-type poem I've done is The Midnight Chime , a tale of erotic horror. In answer to your question, Camy, it took about the same amount of time a much longer, unrhymed short story would take. OTLO is under 4000 words and took as long as a 15-20, 000 word unrhymed story. I'd guess that either takes me something like a total of 24-48 work hours? I'm not sure, especially when I take extended breaks. I think I once clocked myself at around 500-1000 usable words average, per day (or per writing session/spurt). Rhymed stories can be far shorter, I've noted, since you pack more punch into each word or line than regular prose. OTLO probably took under 24 hours total work time, working in caffeinated, high-nicotine spurts of about six hours at a time. I don't know if that's average or short or a long period of time but it's VERY draining, I have to say. After this one, my head was full of words running around rhyming one another and I was exhausted for quite a while. It takes some time to reenergize after finishing any story or chapter, as well as to sort of clear my mental palette. Rhymes can be worse, in some ways, because they tend to ring around in your head much longer. **SPOILERS** I'm curious about which seemed the saddest parts of this story to readers. To me, the sadder parts were: **SPOILERS** when the mermaid found the boy, when the boy starting ignoring the mermaid and the mermaid tried to woo him with gifts and finally tried to help him 'escape', when the mermaid cried out "Don't go!' to the ship sailing off (saddest part, probably, to me), when they discussed their breakup years later, and when the mermaid realized he'd lost the boy long ago and swam off to live alone again. **SPOILERS** Which part or parts made you cry, if you did? Myself, though I'm the author, I do tear up a bit at the mermaid's 'Don't go!' as the ship sailed calmly on AND when the mermaid says, 'What care I for gray hair?' etc. I'm not sure what kind of judge I am of my own stories, though, so I'm asking what parts were saddest or, if different, what parts were best (or worst) in OTLO. QUESTIONS: Did the fact that neither had names matter to anyone, or was it even noticed? Was the term 'mermaid' confusing when applied to a male of the species? Was the story believable? Entertaining? Sad? Romantic? Was the ending believable, did it proceed logically from the story? Was the rhyme a distraction or did it add to the mood and feel of the story? Would you have preferred more graphic sexual descriptions (I considered doing that, then finally decided not to this time--The Midnight Chime is a bit more graphic, as well as shorter)? Was the ending too abrupt, or the romantic 'happy' period too briefly described? I'm no expert on rhymed stories, this is only my second unless you count a couple longer poems(eg. Ten Fun Things To Do Before You Die or Sunshine by Starlight ). Thanks for posting and reading, and thanks in advance for answering any of the above. Love and Kisses... TR

I don't think you mean 'spin', I think you mean Brad is lying. I don't know whether he's lying or not, but I like the idea that he's thoughtful, as well as cute. Kisses... TR In public relations, spin is a usually pejorative term signifying a heavily biased portrayal in one's own favor of an event or situation that is designed to bring about the most positive result possible. While traditional public relations relies more on creative presentation of the facts, "spin" often, though not always, implies disingenuous, deceptive and/or highly manipulative tactics to sway audiences away from widespread (and often commonsense) perceptions. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spin_(politics) Graeme, will you be my Daddy? Kisses and hugs... TR

And, again, I like this line. I enjoy fun poems and pithy, punchy lines. You know, you could connect these two Sept 5th poems, it seems to me. They have the same pattern and msg, right? Kisses... TR

Well, I like this line. And I like the first two lines almost as well. Cute, short, fun...nice. Kisses... TR

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060908/ap_en_...eople_brad_pitt Brad Pitt: I'll marry when everyone can Fri Sep 8, 3:10 PM ET Brad Pitt, ever the social activist, says he won't be marrying Angelina Jolie until the restrictions on who can marry whom are dropped. "Angie and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able," the 42-year-old actor reveals in Esquire magazine's October issue, on newsstands Sept. 19. In the article he reflects on "fifteen things I think everyone should know." Though Shiloh, the world-famous daughter of Pitt and girlfriend/earth mother Angelina Jolie, hogged much attention upon her birth in May, Pitt says he "cannot imagine life" without adopted children, Maddox, 5, and Zahara, 1. "They're as much of my blood as any natural born, and I'm theirs," says Pitt. "That's all I can say about it. I can't live without them. So: Anyone considering (adoption), that's my vote." Pitt, who plays a world traveler in the upcoming drama "Babel," subscribes to a laid-back parenting style. "I try not to stifle them in any way," he says. "If it's not hurting anyone, I want them to be able to explore. Sometimes that means they're quite rambunctious." Lucky kids. "I feel it's really important to have that time to sit and talk to them," he continues. "I really like that last minute before they fade off. And always give them a heads-up before you jerk them out of something. You need to tell them, like, `You have three more minutes.'" ___ Copyright ? 2006 The Associated Press.

I like it. Interesting rhyme structure, also unusual word pattern with the elipses. Not sure about the elipses but did like the rhyme structure. The more understated phrases were, conversely, more powerful for me. TR

Condolances to those Forum members in Oz. TR Stingray kills 'Crocodile Hunter' SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Steve Irwin, the TV presenter known as the "Crocodile Hunter," has died after being stung by a stingray in a marine accident off Australia's north coast. Media reports say Irwin was diving in waters off Port Douglas, north of Cairns, when the incident happened on Monday morning. Irwin, 44 was killed by a stingray barb that went through his chest, according to Cairns police sources. Irwin was filming an underwater documentary at the time. Ambulance officers confirmed they attended a reef fatality Monday morning off Port Douglas, according to Australian media. (Watch scenes of Irwin, known for his his enthusiasm, support for conservation -- 2:49) Queensland Police Services also confirmed Irwin's death and said his family had been notified. Irwin was director of the Australian Zoo in Queensland. He is survived by his American-born wife Terri and their two children, Bindi Sue, born 1998, and Robert (Bob), born December 2003. Irwin became a popular figure on Australian and international television through Irwin's close handling of wildlife, most notably the capture and relocation of crocodiles. Irwin's enthusiastic approach to nature conservation and the environment won him a global following. He was known for his exuberance and use of the catch phrase "Crikey!" But his image suffered a setback in January 2004 when he held his then 1-month-old baby Bob while feeding a crocodile at his Australian zoo. (Full story) In a statement released to Australian media, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer expressed his sorrow and said that he was fond of Irwin and was very appreciative of all the work he had done in promoting Australia overseas. In 2003, Irwin spoke to the Australian Broadcasting Corp.'s Australian Story television program about how he was perceived in his home country. "When I see what's happened all over the world, they're looking at me as this very popular, wildlife warrior Australian bloke," he said, the ABC reported. "And yet back here in my own country, some people find me a little bit embarrassing. "You know, there's this... they kind of cringe, you know, 'cause I'm coming out with 'Crikey' and 'Look at this beauty.'" Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/09/0...rwin/index.html

You rock, Dude! Kisses, and more kisses... TR

Well, the stanzas are rhyming but thanks for saying they don't seem contrived. I contrived hard for that very effect. Thanks! Praise from on high...(and highly qualified, lol) Um, as far as I know, the last line of each stanza has six beats. Again, thanks, Gabe! Okay...you don't like contractions? I use contractions sometimes to give lines a more natural feel or flow, and they do often come at the end of a poem, or at least at the end of an idea. Thanks for the comments, I liked this poem best from yesterday, too, though I don't think it's my best effort. It does come from experience, though I've been on both sides of that behavior. My current beaux doesn't do this, thank goodness. In large quantities, it can cause gastric distress, aside from killing off the very love it tries to measure. Kisses... TR

artwork color me lonely in gray shades of blue color me longing for nights spent with you draw me with raindrops to darken my skies sketch in the sorrow that saddens my eyes color me empty a glass left unfilled color me broken a love unfulfilled paint me in heartache from palettes of tears impassioned pigments of blood, sweat and fears dip in your brushes and wash me in blues color me crying use misery?s hues color me lonesome in blue shades of gray sad are the colors when love fades away *

measure of love you ask me if I love you you measure each embrace weigh my words against your past distrust my smiling face examine close each offering for motive and intent parse apart my lines of love and ask me what I meant you price each loving present you bite to test my coin you question all my kisses hold back when we conjoin I wonder if you see me or hear the sounds I speak love is dying on the vine ill nourished by critique why can?t you simply swallow the sweets I feed to you distrust is hard and hollow love?s easier to chew *

honeysuckle in my dreams, I walk a path lined with blooming boys leaning down, I pluck the stems bring them to my lips scent of springtime, April blush buds against my tongue I tease apart the petals to taste each center sweet honeysuckle boyfriends blossom in my night on waking, I brush away flowered memories *

About a third of my posts are poems in the Poetry Forum, and a lot of others are admin notices about stories, etc. Still, I'm not quiet, I admit that. Kisses... TR

Well, you should definitely take out the apostrophe. TR

night scents listening hard I lie awake looking at the shadowed ceiling open windows and nighttime breeze bring lonely scents of midnight blooms I listen for your soft footstep but only hear my own heartbreak *

Sometimes, as you say, seeing a picture or hearing a song, might make me write but more likely a whole album, as Elecivil says, or a film. Or another writer. Still, it's less common than an idea, person, line of dialogue, etc, that pops into my head without me knowing its genesis...the way Angel de la Torres at the Green Room mirror did. I listen to specific albums or groups for different characters in Drama Club, some of which is reflected in the lyric quotes interspersed throughout it. The correlation between a single song is, for me, more likely to be a poem...and probably extemporizing and expanding off of one image or word in it. Now, music inspires me and I listen to it when writing some things (like Drama Club)...for most, I turn OFF the music, esp when proofing. I can hear my own prose better if someone else's lyrics aren't in my head...nonlyric music is fine, generally. Still, I find silence helpful in writing some stories, like the recent A Moment in Memphis. If I'm creating a mood, I like silence so that I can better hear the internal voices and music, the rhythms of the prose being created. Sometimes I hear some snippet of conversation or see a face out in Real Life and that inspires me. Or gets me thinking. Same with a striking image, like the fresh-washed buildings of downtown Dallas after a rainstorm...though those inspire poems, not prose. Maybe the inspiration is different, less complex and more visceral for poetry? I'm probably more often inspired by someone else's prose, not to copy it but to take a single line or idea and expand it or create a gay version of it or...something. Sometimes just the rhythms of someone's prose put me in the mood to write something in particular...whether in that rhythm or not, I'm not sure. Maybe some authors remind me of my own prose rhythms? Am I making myself clear with that word 'rhythms'? Does everyone 'hear' their prose in their head, not just dialogue but narration, too? Patterns of sounds individual to particular stories, scenes or characters? I guess the cumulative rhymths would be an author's writing 'style'. I'd think everyone 'heard' their dialogue, else how are they writing it to sound right? Sometimes I even speak lines aloud when writing, to hear their spoken sound...though that's more for established characters from Drama Club or Oscar Wilde. Have I mentioned my own titles enough times yet? Kisses... TR

see you this morning, I stood staring blind into the eyes of the man shaving across the bathroom countertop from me and for the life of me, I couldn?t quite remember who he was, his name or even if he was a friend of mine that man, he shyly smiled at me as if he, too, were a bit confused; his puzzled face stared out into my own at last, as I just shook my head turned away to start the day anew, a whisper soft behind me said ?see you? *

One of the mysteries of the game of baseball is the origin of the term bullpen, the name for the area in which relief pitchers warm up. Several competing theories vie for the origin. About all we know for sure is the earliest recorded use of the term to refer to the pitchers' warm-up area was not until 1915, in Baseball Magazine, in Edward Nichols's "Baseball Terminology." Another 1915 use is from Lester Chadwick's Baseball Joe in the Big League: He took the ball, and nodding to Rad, who was not playing, went out to the bullpen. The theory that is best supported by the linguistic evidence is that the baseball use of bullpen is simply a specialized use of the term which already carried the meaning of a waiting area. Bullpen has a long use meaning an enclosed holding area, dating back a more than a century before the baseball sense arose. In 1809 making a reference to 1780, Parson Mason Weems, in his Life of General Francis Marion wrote: The tories were all handcuffed two and two, and confined together under a sentinel, in what was called a bull-pen made of pine trees, cut down so . . . as to form . . . a pen or enclosure. Bullpen was used throughout the 19th century to mean a jail cell or prison. By the beginning of the 20th century, the term was being used to refer to any enclosed waiting area. From O. Henry's 1903 Works: Unlock him . . . and let him come to the bull-pen . . . the warden's outer office. The association of relief pitchers with both big, strong animals and convicts undoubtedly had appeal for some as well. So the term would work on several levels. But there is also evidence of the waiting area sense being used in baseball in the 19th century as well, only not for the relievers' warm-up area. In some 19th century ballparks, spectators would be admitted to a fenced-off area in foul territory (where many modern bullpens are today) where they could stand and watch the game. This area was known as a bullpen. From the 7 May 1877 Cincinnati Enquirer: The bull pen at the Cincinnati grounds with its "three-for-a-quarter" crowd has lost its usefullness. Another popular theory is that around the turn of the century relievers would warm up near the outfield fence, where signs for Bull Durham Tobacco. The picture of the bull, associated with the pitchers, who were usually the largest and strongest members of the team, was enough to create the imagery for the term. Beginning in 1909, Bull Durham ran a promotion offering $50 to any player who hit one of the signs with a fairly batted ball during a game. That year there were 50 parks with such signs. The next year there were 150 such parks. The 1988 movie Bull Durham depicts such a sign in a modern minor league park and a prize of a steak dinner for a player who hits it with a ball: Catcher "Crash" Davis: Look at that, he hit the fucking bull! Guy gets a free steak! You having fun yet? Pitcher "Nuke" LaLoosh: Oh, yeah. Havin' a blast. Davis: Good. LaLoosh: God, that sucker teed off on that like he knew I was gonna throw a fastball! Davis: He did know. LaLoosh: How? Davis: I told him. Given the earlier uses of bullpen to mean a waiting area, especially the 1877 Cincinnati citation, it seems unlikely that the Bull Durham signs were the origin of the term, although it is easy to see how people could associate the name of the area with the sign and the signs may have played a role in popularizing the term. Finally, no less than Casey Stengel weighed in on the subject. Stengel's explanation is probably more indicative of his opinion of relief pitchers than of the term's origin. So we'll just leave off with Stengel's own words from 1967: You could look it up and get eighty different answers, but we used to have pitchers who could pitch fifty or sixty games a year and the extra pitchers would just sit around shooting the bull, and no manager wanted all that gabbing on the bench. So he put them in this kind of pen in the outfield to warm up, it looked like a place to keep cows or bulls. (Source: New Dickson Baseball Dictionary, Historical Dictionary of American Slang)

serenade for strings I look into your eyes and see, in their depths, another man- that bright image isn?t mine your hand, held, skin so warm yet there is a coolness to the air- frosty chill, winter of the heart and here I was, so sure that you, in your depths, belonged to me- I?m a fool, what can I say I saw you look at him vibrato, tremolo, shivering strings- harp in the wind, you are his * http://tragicrabbit.org/poems/serenade_for_strings.htm

Very good books, and they get significantly better after the first two. They also have an obvious appeal to queer readers. One of the first things I thought of was how like the GLBT community the magical community was: hidden in plain site, riddled with in-references and jargon, and subject to outsider harassment and prejudice. The entire Weasley family is adorable...esp the twins. Kisses... TR PS. The movies are okay.

http://tragicrabbit.org/poems/Kodak_Colors.htm Kodak Colors Dancing through the sprinkler, Making ice cream on the lawn; Summers last forever In those boyhood days long gone. Winters by the fireplace, Silver-tinseled Christmas trees, Cocoa in the kitchen: Such sweet yesterdays are these. Faded shades in Kodak Color childhood memories, Time tarnishes the tears Dulls down sorrow by degrees. Till you?re left with pictures And bright moments in your mind; All anguish of young years Left deliberately behind. If we let truth guide us And remembered how youth hurt, Would we see with clear eyes? Toss nostalgia to the dirt? Easier to recall As such simpler saccharine days, Painless just to think back Through a reminiscent haze. We shy from honesty, Hide hard truths up high on shelves, Keep closer to our hearts Tender lies we tell ourselves. From the breakfast table Until tucked in at bedtime: Each day?s paradise lost, Segued into sleep sublime. We say we would go back And be children if we could, How can years so bitter Become so misunderstood? Friends who say they hate you, Boys who never let you play; Punishment and penance, These all contradict clich?. Homework, chores and curfews Secret plots to run away, Yearning for acceptance Are what filled our childhood days. We banish remembrance All but dreamlike Kodak scenes, Cling to happy moments But stay blind to what they mean. *