4th & 5th December, 2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catch Rod live in December -
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Photo by Edward Habib McKuen. ©2006 by Stanyan Audio Video Archives

A Thought for Today

God grant us kind contrition for our sins and our omissions
and most of all our contradictions.

 

FROM the¨BOOKS

PASTORAL

Finally the wind has finished
piling up November leaves.
          Now it turns
to drive the snow in drifts
        along
                   the
                            fences
of December farms.

The cattle come slow
            or not at all.
They scratch their backs
against the barnyard doors.
Their dialogue,
even as they chew their endless cud,
is low and mournful.

The lazy longhorns,
down the pasture
venture outside only
for a cooling taste of snow.
The wise among them
stay inside the shed
switching tails at what few flies
now survive the early winter.

Lie back.
The wind is on the move.
Till the bare tree limbs
stand still again
we’ve no need to move at all.

Turn not away from me.
But if you turn toward me,
do it in a lazy way
         and slow.

Let me sleep a minute more.
When the coffee starts to perking,
come to me with smiles.

- from "Fields of Wonder", 1971

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ROD McKUEN APPEARANCES

notable birthdays

Monday 4 December

Max Baer, Jr. o Tyra Banks o Pappy Boyington o Jeff Bridges o Horst Bucholz o Samuel Butler o Freddy Cannon o Thomas Carlyle o Ronnie Corbett o Dena Dietrich o Deanna Durbin o Fred Durst o Francisco Franco o Wassily Kandinsky o Wink Martindale o Alex North o Nan Peden o Lillian Russell o Jozef Sabovcik o Marisa Tomei o Dennis Wilson

Tuesday 5 December

Morgan Brittany o Margaret Cho o General George Custer o Joan Didion o Walt Disney o Morgan J. Freeman o Maggie Hayes o Larry Kert o Fritz Lang o Jim Messina o Grace Moore o Frankie Muniz o Jim Plunkett o Otto Preminger o Little Richard o John Rzeznik o George Savalas o Strom Thurmond o Calvin Trillin o Jack Valenti o Martin Van Buren

Rod's random thoughts It's a pity that brains take second place to will.

Duty is the stuff of man's existence.

Inside the midnight we all know I suspect another lurks more beautiful and with a closer moon.      

IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE

Bless the children first,
for they need help
just to get them safely
down the block.
With all the mazes
that we make for them
(like teaching them to hate
before they learn to spell)
It is a wonder that they ever find
the door that opens out to adolescence.

Bless the animals
hat sniff the kitchen floor
and those that prowl the hills
Animals, like angels, need protection,
because we use them only
as a substitute for love -
the kind that other people promise us
while they steal our evenings
and before they sneak away.

                                - from "An Outstretched Hand," 1980

 
     
 
© 1970, 1986, 2002, 2003, 2005 by Stanyan Music Group & Rod McKuen. All Rights Reserved
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