This poem is so incredibly lovely that I had to reblog it. I hope you love it as much as I do.
Not many could make stone into illusion.
She could.
Her hands carved softness into unyielding rock. Made age appear into the moss as if the stone itself shed velvet, hewed damp to seep from underneath the surface as if through the core of sighing cushions, long forgotten, left to rot.
Only it was not.
Instead of a discarded chair, it was a throne. A headstone.
A memorial to the man who’d scooped her out of orphaned desperation, who brought her here, who led her to her heart’s forgotten home.
She held the memories of his calloused hands atop her shoulders. Steadying her mallet, guiding her chisel, letting her learn. Letting her fail. Letting her know she was worthy. As was he. Just because she was.
His masonry was practical. Fences. Houses. Walls.
Hers sang to the forest floor as she carved. His armchair, reincarnated.
For eternity. Her parent of…
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Maternal, Guarding, Cohabitation, Groundless, Variegated.
Click on photos to enlarge.
Nesting
Boxes fit in boxes and rings fit inside rings.
In this world no end exists to these nesting things.
Other things just roll around looking for their place.
They fall out of one thing into another space.
There is some serendipity to when they finally fit,
but all of these repeating shapes will find a place to sit.
And though the more astute among us may find places faster,
those who roll around a bit may find a world much vaster.
The daily prompts today are repeating shapes, fallout, serendipity and astute.
Photo by Engin Akyurt on Unsplash
Why?
It’s possible that taking a painkiller before getting a vaccine will result in a “decrease in antibody response,” explained Dr. Gregory Poland, director of the Vaccine Research Group at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Although the odds of a diminished immune response aren’t really known, Poland said it’s better to suffer the side effects than take the chance of making the vaccine less effective.
“After receiving the vaccine, if one develops symptoms that they feel they want to treat, it’s fine, but ideally not before,” he said. “Now, that’s a recommendation by CDC, out of an abundance of caution.”
There are exceptions, however: People who usually take pain relievers, such as migraine sufferers, should of course take their medication, he added.
“Go ahead and take it rather than end up with a full-blown migraine and end up in the ER having to get much more intensive or expensive therapy,” Poland said.
He also noted that the aftereffects of the vaccine can differ between the two doses, with the effects after the second dose typically being worse.
“I’ll tell you after my first dose, I had a little bit of a sore arm. After the second dose, I had a moderately severe sore arm, and I had four hours of shaking, chills with a 101-degree fever along with fatigue, headache and ringing in my ears. I took one dose of Tylenol, went to bed, woke up the next morning and was 80% to 90% better, and within that half-day, back to normal,” Poland said.
These side effects are caused as the body’s immune system revs up to fight the invader, which is just what’s needed to produce the antibodies to blunt the virus.
“Let your immune system do its job,” Offit said. “The second dose was pretty rough. I had fatigue and fever, but I handled it by whining. Whining was my way of handling it.”
More information
For more on the COVID-19 vaccines, head to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
SOURCES: Gregory Poland, MD, director, Vaccine Research Group, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.; Paul Offit, MD, director, Vaccine Education Center, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, member, U.S. Food and Drug Administration Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee
Worst Poem Ever
Since today’s theme is brevity, it’s time that I must beat.
I’ll write my poem and then I will stage a fast retreat.
I must do the task alone and be focused and stalwart,
because you cannot simply go and buy a poem at Walmart!
Prompt words today are brevity, retreat, theme and stalwart. Photo by Manny Becerra on Unsplash, used with permission.
Sorry, couldn’t resist, given my poem of the day: 
The Sponsor
He’s the mafia of sobriety with eyes in every bar.
If you try to buy a six-pack, you won’t get very far.
You’ll be waylaid at the corner and he’ll confiscate your glow.
When it comes to who is tippling, he is always in the know.
His methods may be dodgy, but they seem to work.
His strategy’s to follow you—to tattle, spy and lurk.
You won’t see him in the the shadows. He is tricky and uncouth,
but your sponsor’s only doing it for you, and that’s the truth.
Do unto others only what you’ve wanted done to you.
He’s had it done to him and now he’ll do and do and do.
The path that you have taken is one he knows too well.
He knows this particular demon that you have to quell.
The bottle has long been your friend, but now here is another.
One was a two-faced comrade, but this one is a brother.
Two hands held out to you and it is up to you to choose.
Will you choose the brotherhood or will you choose the ruse?
Here are photos of the current state of the little park I am building in the lot below my house. I just purchased the carved stone snake head and will form the body out of the small bushes that are currently laid out behind it. As the bushes grow, the body will flesh out more to scale. I’ll have a stone tail sculpted later after my bank account recovers from past projects. I bought one more sculpture as well, but you just see the uncarved back of it in the photo. The four Dr. Seuss trees will be planted elsewhere in the lot, not in the positions where they currently are. Bit by bit, the neighborhood weed forest and dumping ground is turning into a thing of beauty. Stonework by Jose. Planting by Pasiano. Financing and art direction by Judy.
