Odds and Ends

I'm grateful to those who answered my request for comments on the poem I posted yesterday. It has helped me to clarify the way I read it. And the comments were good, and thoughtful, and a pleasure to read.

Hindi movie fight line:

I'll beat you into such a death that death itself will become exhausted!

A couple of links:

Moleskinerie slideshow, on Flickr
The Squared Circle slideshow, also on Flickr
Make Your Own Snowflake (because I haven't seen a snowflake for almost 20 years)

A little girl, begging with an even smaller boy, approached me as I was coming out of a shop. I told her to go away, but she stuck to me as I walked to the car, deliberately getting in my way so that I had to swerve to avoid knocking her down. Then she actually began to slap my arm lightly -- not very hard, just enough to provoke me. She didn't say a word. When I got into the car, she pulled on the door handle just as it was about to shut, so that it opened again and I had to slam it, and lock the door. Then she stood at the window staring at me, and slapping the glass. This is unusual: when beggars see that you aren't going to give them money, they usually move on to the next person. But this girl wanted to get a reaction out of me. And she did -- I can feel her hand slapping my arm as I write about her now. (I am inside the car, and she is outside hitting the glass, because God wants me to be happy.)