Journals28
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Employment in the time of COVID
1 min read
I scanned, cleaned up, and uploaded examples of my work for pay, preparing for an online portfolio to show potential employers.
The job opportunities I see show high demands at below-scale pay. I suppose it is corporations skittish about COVID conditions.
What I've uploaded may show my skills and talents. I created galleries for technical illustration and for technical writing. I also uploaded published poetry, in a college anthology, and my own creative writing. "Forgive, Amber" I've been working on for about a decade. It was time to let it out for air.
I may publish more manuscripts on DA.
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Out of Wisconsin
4 min read
Out of Wisconsin Jonathan Middleton 2/6/2016
Out of Wisconsin, the right sky is pastel clouded
Going south, puffs, pale magenta below
While above, dark lavender shrouded
The sun descends slow,
clouds not even pacing
The charcoal sedan straight racing
The radio on summing Friday news
Relax behind the wheel, sip liquid
Thoughts of work to lose
Still mulling what was insipid
Approaching an hour on highway 39
Idling into a slowing exit lane
Curving into Willow Creek stop, minute 59
Signs says a 30,000 acre swamp was drained
But I refill fresh water or drain my own
Into the greywater pond to evaporate.
Among groups of travelers, I’m alone
In going home, two hours at this rate
Posted 70, but keeping up with traffic at 75
Within ten miles of highway 80 turnoff
Slowing for the highway patrolman’s hive
Cruisers the speeders pulling off
For a ticket I couldn’t afford
So I measuredly pass big trucks
Laboring up hills I can ignore
And with luck
I cross Lincoln bridge across the Illinois River floor
Then at Oglesby crest, exit before a truck
With a low fuel needle I can’t ignore
Slow and exit for Love’s station
To pay less than my ration
For travel, saving 14 cents a gallon or more
Take a county road to get back on
The freeway for another 56 miles on
Interesting radio crackles and fades,
I choose silence, move the sun shades
Pass Minonk, El Paso, then Hudson
Merging into 55’s fast lanes past Bloomington
To exit east onto 74
Another hour more
But I slow and stop at Farmland Rest
Stretch, walk to an antique road grader, look around
Another 30 minutes and I can fully rest
Today at the stop, broken pavement is paint bounded
For maintenance and minor progress
There is still money, in a State budget-less
The State is still collecting many fees
Here melt water is standing, and there is chill
But not enough to stop runoff and freeze.
Back on the road, by force of will
I focus ahead, passing Farmer City, Mansfield,
Down the hill past Mahomet exit
Up the other side to Prairieview Road that’s it
Going straight south at the 150 light, instead of left
The county road narrows, paving bereft
Slowly chug over, the transmission resists going slow
The westward railroad crossing with only a sign
Bearing south, and left until Rising Road
Then south, stopping for heavy traffic that whines
On Highway 10 east and west, a county road
I cross and go over another railroad track
Driving past a sign for a future Judah Christian High
Houses going up in Jacob’s Landing’s back
Stopping, then turning east, Kirby by
Late sun shines on windows facing west
I wish for a camera to capture what I see
Of windows shining like the sun, though less
I cross the overpass over 57
And I’ll be home, my little heaven
But I stop for flowers, no long stay
At the market, finding a bright bouquet
After getting through a light on Duncan
Zig-zagging streets to find her van
Has gotten home before
I roll in the driveway between an oak and sycamore
The front door is unlocked and I quietly see
Up the stairs, by the stove, she
Says “Oh” when I give the flowers
She holds them and inhales deeply
Then mutually moving, kisses flow over
And lifting hugs, so close, like we missed we
Set aside the flowers
So they don’t interpose
“Did you see the sunset?” I ask
“I took photos,” she said, her creative non-task
She says, “I prefer seeing that beauty with you”
“We could look now,” night largely ensued
Outside, holding each other, light subdued
In the west to deeper porcelain blue
Through curtains spying, our children, too
Knowing, curious, out of view
We hold each other’s eyes, seconds few
Until they come out to join our greeting
Oh, to be home longer than fleeting
I’ll drive north again in less than 40 hours
They grow like so many flowers
When I return they change
While I am out of range
Out of Wisconsin, the right sky is pastel clouded
Going south, puffs, pale magenta below
While above, dark lavender shrouded
The sun descends slow,
clouds not even pacing
The charcoal sedan straight racing
The radio on summing Friday news
Relax behind the wheel, sip liquid
Thoughts of work to lose
Still mulling what was insipid
Approaching an hour on highway 39
Idling into a slowing exit lane
Curving into Willow Creek stop, minute 59
Signs says a 30,000 acre swamp was drained
But I refill fresh water or drain my own
Into the greywater pond to evaporate.
Among groups of travelers, I’m alone
In going home, two hours at this rate
Posted 70, but keeping up with traffic at 75
Within ten miles of highway 80 turnoff
Slowing for the highway patrolman’s hive
Cruisers the speeders pulling off
For a ticket I couldn’t afford
So I measuredly pass big trucks
Laboring up hills I can ignore
And with luck
I cross Lincoln bridge across the Illinois River floor
Then at Oglesby crest, exit before a truck
With a low fuel needle I can’t ignore
Slow and exit for Love’s station
To pay less than my ration
For travel, saving 14 cents a gallon or more
Take a county road to get back on
The freeway for another 56 miles on
Interesting radio crackles and fades,
I choose silence, move the sun shades
Pass Minonk, El Paso, then Hudson
Merging into 55’s fast lanes past Bloomington
To exit east onto 74
Another hour more
But I slow and stop at Farmland Rest
Stretch, walk to an antique road grader, look around
Another 30 minutes and I can fully rest
Today at the stop, broken pavement is paint bounded
For maintenance and minor progress
There is still money, in a State budget-less
The State is still collecting many fees
Here melt water is standing, and there is chill
But not enough to stop runoff and freeze.
Back on the road, by force of will
I focus ahead, passing Farmer City, Mansfield,
Down the hill past Mahomet exit
Up the other side to Prairieview Road that’s it
Going straight south at the 150 light, instead of left
The county road narrows, paving bereft
Slowly chug over, the transmission resists going slow
The westward railroad crossing with only a sign
Bearing south, and left until Rising Road
Then south, stopping for heavy traffic that whines
On Highway 10 east and west, a county road
I cross and go over another railroad track
Driving past a sign for a future Judah Christian High
Houses going up in Jacob’s Landing’s back
Stopping, then turning east, Kirby by
Late sun shines on windows facing west
I wish for a camera to capture what I see
Of windows shining like the sun, though less
I cross the overpass over 57
And I’ll be home, my little heaven
But I stop for flowers, no long stay
At the market, finding a bright bouquet
After getting through a light on Duncan
Zig-zagging streets to find her van
Has gotten home before
I roll in the driveway between an oak and sycamore
The front door is unlocked and I quietly see
Up the stairs, by the stove, she
Says “Oh” when I give the flowers
She holds them and inhales deeply
Then mutually moving, kisses flow over
And lifting hugs, so close, like we missed we
Set aside the flowers
So they don’t interpose
“Did you see the sunset?” I ask
“I took photos,” she said, her creative non-task
She says, “I prefer seeing that beauty with you”
“We could look now,” night largely ensued
Outside, holding each other, light subdued
In the west to deeper porcelain blue
Through curtains spying, our children, too
Knowing, curious, out of view
We hold each other’s eyes, seconds few
Until they come out to join our greeting
Oh, to be home longer than fleeting
I’ll drive north again in less than 40 hours
They grow like so many flowers
When I return they change
While I am out of range
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Two Turtles in the Rain published
1 min read
Available on Amazon
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Spectacular. Not how I remember the book, but that is certainly all right. Lots of weaving with foreshadowing for Lord of the Rings. The writers made a great effort to capitalize on the background in Tolkien's other work.
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International films
1 min read
I've been watching a lot of international films lately, with English subtitles. After the fact, some stories don't translate to film well. Some attempted to be noble and philosophical, but just didn't end well and seemed to end with most of the story unresolved. My personal opinion is that after watching a lot of movies with death as the end, the death of the main character is not a satisfactory end to a film...
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