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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (June 8, 2012)
Street roots June 8, 2012 Psychology of Touch By Melissa Vliet Stormy skies In modern times A kiss, a hug A gentle good bye A touch, a mug To say hi A whisper to the day Night will be far away A crying baby, a toddler mild A mother panicked, a fatherless child Angel wings on my back To what I may say More pressure to my baby To heal, to hurt To feel, to burn To stop, to go From above, to down below The rain and the pain My heart is healing again My children, my teachers My classmates, oh so much To love and loss To hold and lose So much more To have hope and move To hold to the dying day To love when not away To hold from birth To the grave A love, a touch To the day A careful touch A healing hold A rubbing tummy A reassurance to my child A nightmare banished A love, compassion, healing touch To know that you’re needed much Mitigation Among the Sybarites By anonymous We were late and how it happened We could even see them: Outside, four boys from where, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Cornelius? Leaning against a chain link fence Keep them out of left field — Inside, fourteen thousand Stretching to catch foul or fly. We paid -for six general admissions, Then turned, walked back. Handed each a ticket: Here, happy Fourth of July. By the time Terrmal Sledge cleared Leather over the wall In the bottom of the fourth, We, who had just come from Fried chicken, fudge brownies, Handpicked golden raspberries (Ours a long history of self-serving), Stumbled over another way to score. How many celebrations are there We can crack open a wallet Until it sings O’er the land of the free In plain, hands-on English, Without demanding allegiance? Flower from Paloma By Leo Rhodes Times are hard Times are tough My life is very chaotic Seems like it’s getting stressful by the hour. I was talking to your mother I stopped a couple of times to say, “Hi.” When you, Paloma, noticed my distress You quickly looked into your stroller Then your little bag Your mom and I where watching you You fished around Then with a big smile You pulled your little arm out of the bag Facing me you smiled real big And said, “Here.” In your little hand was a small flower Surprised I looked at your mother She stood there with a big approving smile I leaned over to make eye contact Looking for words to say All I could muster was “Thank you” Waving to you and your mom as you were leaving All I kept thinking was how someone so small so young Made me feel all was right with the world To be through birth And death. To be there In the beginning to the end A love without end. Amen Answers on page 6 B y Cole Merkel Sudoku Crossword Across 1. Java-slingers 9. Underbred mongrels 14. Most suspicious 15. Surroundings 16. Take notes 17. Catch 18. Element 10 19. Handymen 21. Crow’s cry 22. Clandestinely married 24.1996 Olympic torch lighter 25. Whiner 27. Let off steam 29. Hard times 30. Peace Corps cousin 31. Chromosome part 34. “Nature” essayist; NE Portland sidestreet 36. Starts 37. Enter by force 39. Low, fast throws 40. Lives in harmony 43. Snitch 44. Cloth weave 45. Matterhorn, e.g. 47. Tropical, fruit-bearing evergreen 49. Informal greeting 50. Makes amends 51. A dissertation, perhaps 54. Mouse, for one 55. Most frightening 56. Clothe 57. Recklessness Down 1. Sauvignon 2. Lover of Dido, in myth 3. Wide acclaim 6 4 8 7 9 1 2 8 9 4 3 4 9 7 5 7 5 6 1 8 7 3 5 8 The objective of Sudoku is to fill all the blank squares with the correct numbers, from 1 to 9. Every row, column and square must include all digits, 1 through 9, in any order. 4. Caddie’s offering 5. Dog command 6. Oolong, for one 7. Horoscope helper 8. Tea ball 9. Subcompact 10. Beyond the legal power of a person, corporation or agent 11. Indefatigable 12. Attack 13. Dines 15. Honey drink 20. Continual steadfastness 22. Contents of Pandora’s box 23. Building block 26. Rocks for commerical extraction 28. “The Joy Luck Club” author 30. Having to do with Sanskrit relgious texts 31. Jump 32. User 33. Big-footed bird 35. Skirt for the modest 38. Highest ranking 41. Chiang Kai-shek’s capital 42. Most deceitful 44. Clenched fingers 46. Shindig 47. Reddish-brown gem 48. Animal shelters 49. It’ll grow on you 52. Beaver’s work 53. Before: Prefix Office Cat Rooty says thank you to all our volunteers who work so hard to keep us moving forward. You re the best! Thank you!
