NAPOWRIMO #29

Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Prompt #29 - Front Page News

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MIXED BLESSINGS

I know not Nantucket other than walking my fingers over the paper-and-ink topography of a well-worn map purchased from a second-hand bookstore. Geography eludes me, as does elevation.

I imagine an oil-slicked harbor, an iridescent sheen of whale extracts, whale excretions, drifting molecular upon water pink with diffused and diluted blood. Physiology distracts me, as does emotion.

I dream cannibal dreams as Marquesan headhunters heft their harpoons, sauntering through the cobblestone streets, trying to sell cantaloupe-like shrunken heads. Pigmentation confronts me, as does immigration.

They seek the wind they have always sought.

They seek the oil they have always sought.

They seek the people they have always sought.

I set sail, sharpened weapons at the ready, larders stocked with cured meats and hardtack and the freshest exotic fruits, alone, longing for company. Isolation becomes me, as does the sea.

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White House takes a bigger role in the oil spill cleanup

Welcome to Arizona, outpost of contradictions

Obama says passing immigration bill may be difficult

F.D.A. approves vaccine for prostate cancer

Volunteers report on treatment of immigrant detainees

Breaking down a 3-way race in Florida

Big wind farm off Cape Cod gets approval

In area with few options, rigs are mixed blessings

A selection of headlines from the snapshot of
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/national/index.html
1:25 p.m. (PDT) on Thursday 29 April 2010

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NaPoWriMo #29 selections from the headlines:

*Contradictions, mixed blessings

*Approval

*Immigrant, immigration

*Vaccine, cleanup

*Cape Cod

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Time for the ideas to stew, further reflection, and then the poem writes itself. Thank you, Muse.