Category: General Interest

A friend came to my house for coffee, we sat and talked about life. At some point in the conversation, I said, “I’m going to wash the dishes and I’ll be right back.”

He looked at me as if I had told him I was going to build a space rocket. Then he said to me with admiration but a little perplexed: “I’m glad you help your wife, I do not help because when I do, my wife does not praise me. Last week I washed the floor and no thanks.”

I went back to sit with him and explained that I did not “help” my wife. Actually, my wife does not need help, she needs a partner. I am a partner at home and through that society are divided functions, but it is not a “help” to do household chores.

I do not help my wife clean the house because I live here too and I need to clean it too.

I do not help my wife to cook because I also want to eat and I need to cook too.

I do not help my wife wash the dishes after eating because I also use those dishes.

I do not help my wife with her children because they are also my children and my job is to be a father.

I do not help my wife to wash, spread or fold clothes, because the clothes are also mine and my children.

I am not a help at home, I am part of the house. And as for praising, I asked my friend when it was the last time after his wife finished cleaning the house, washing clothes, changing bed sheets, bathing her children, cooking, organizing, etc. You said thank you.

But a thank you of the type: Wow, sweetheart !!! You are fantastic!!!

Does that seem absurd to you? Are you looking strange? When you, once in a lifetime, cleaned the floor, you expected in the least, a prize of excellence with great glory … why? You never thought about that, my friend?

Maybe because for you, the macho culture has shown that everything is her job.

Perhaps you have been taught that all this must be done without having to move a finger? Then praise her as you wanted to be praised, in the same way, with the same intensity. Give her a hand, behave like a true companion, not as a guest who only comes to eat, sleep, bathe and satisfy needs … Feel at home. In his house.

The real change of our society begins in our homes, let us teach our sons and daughters the real sense of fellowship!

—Hawk—

I will miss the smell of books.
Bound paper. Ink on a page.
And their coffee.
A place to sit, on Pacific Avenue
out of the rain
and write.
It was my version of
Hemingway’s “clean, well-lighted place”
(without the despair, loneliness
or nihilistic taint.)
There is something that feels sacred
about a repository of books
for sale or not.
And Borders was one
of the places where
from time to time
I went to write, to peruse
and to wonder at
the thoughts of others.
Stacks of friends-in-paper
of like minds
or not.
A place to go, and touch pages.
To stand in the lighted space, and feel
smooth
paper beneath my fingertips.
And feel the words
of others
in my eyes.
It’s not that I mind Amazon
or Kindle or Nook
and the like.
I’ve shopped the pixel places
but
there is something holy about
“the bookstore”
as an intersection of intellectual
pathways.
A nexus.
A springboard of
dimensional collaboration.
Its occupants were literate.
Thirsty for
words.
Capable of considering
the ideas of another in order to
reach the lofty places – the great open places in
their minds.
Or simply to scratch the itch
of curiosity.
I wonder if the Library at
Alexandria
was like that
before it was sacked.
— Graves 10/18/14

I am happy to announce that my book “Messages in a Bottle: Communications to My Future Self” took one of the top awards given by the Colorado Independent Publishers Association in 2018. Find out more about it, and about my book “Reflections on a Crystal Wind” (which is also pretty good) at:
https://www.michaelgravespoet.com/

DOWNLOAD A FREE E-BOOK OF MY POETRY! (it’s easy):
1) Just click this link. https://hugohousebookstore.com/product/messages-bottle-paperback/
2) Then, click on the button that says: Free E-Book “A Glimpse Beyond”.
3) Download onto your phone, iPad or computer. “A Glimpse Beyond” downloads in Kindle, iBooks and other formats for your convenience.

Copyright © 2014 by Michael Graves, All Rights Reserved, except the right to forward and to share with friends – with credit — which is held to be a good idea and is thus encouraged.

Find more of Michael Graves’ poetry on MeWe at:
https://mewe.com/p/michaelgraves-poet

And on Instagram at: #mg_poet

The image is of one of the tiny detailed dioramas that artist Lori Nix designed for her post-apocalyptic vision. She built the 3-D scenes in her living room on nights and weekends with the help of an assistant, with each one taking anywhere from two to fifteen months to complete. Nix then shot the dioramas on normal 8×10 film, making her minuscule creations — measuring about 20 x 24 x 72 inches — appear nearly indistinguishable from full-size scenes.

More information here:
https://www.fastcompany.com/1662890/lori-nixs-stunning-tiny-dioramas-depict-an-abandoned-world-slideshow#9