A classic American breed, the Boston terrier is the subject of today's group of photos and discussion: these black-white-and-brindle favorites made strong contenders at the Bennington County Kennel Club's 37th Annual All-Breed Dog Show on Sunday. See some of the best ones, along with their charming handlers, and read more details about this excellent breed at blog.amynelsonhahn.info
Boston
Stand your ground:
you have earned it.
You are a little old man,
defying the neighbors
in your black-and-white pajamas.
Who ever skinned a poodle
and gave you a bigger heart?
Was it a fire or a robbery
that made your dark eyes blaze
and start from your skull?
Who pulled your tail
so much that wore it out,
but never raised a growl?
Still you stand your ground
and well deserve it;
the blood of bulls,
thick yet under your hide,
denying that you snore.
Copyright (c) 2011 Amy Nelson Hahn
view with images 2188, 2133, 2115, 2121 and 2117 from photos.amynelsonhahn.info or visit blog.amynelsonhahn.info
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
It's a dog's life
Where can you find 127 different breeds of dogs including this one -- the Pharaoh hound -- which dates from 4400 BC when the ancient Egyptians brought it from Phoenicia? At the Bennington County Kennel Club's All Breed Dog Show, which was held Sunday, and where Andrew took lots of great photos. Read and see much more about these amazing breeds at blog.amynelsonhahn.info
Anubis
Ears at jet point,
never a moment lost
between the ancient set
of your hard brow to the task
or the now-pronounced vetting
of a prance around a ring --
it is the thing, from ages, from Asia --
all your cells align
in a rosy tinted arrow
penned in such a line
as to exonerate itself
mightily and justly,
thrusting itself lordly,
ears at set moment,
never an instant gone
from counting the rabbits lost
or rabbits won;
most characteristic
of Egyptians, your profile,
games you to the finish.
Copyright (c) 2011 Amy Nelson Hahn
view with images 2033, 2032, 2037, and 2038 from photos.amynelsonhahn.info or visit blog.amynelsonhahn.info
Anubis
Ears at jet point,
never a moment lost
between the ancient set
of your hard brow to the task
or the now-pronounced vetting
of a prance around a ring --
it is the thing, from ages, from Asia --
all your cells align
in a rosy tinted arrow
penned in such a line
as to exonerate itself
mightily and justly,
thrusting itself lordly,
ears at set moment,
never an instant gone
from counting the rabbits lost
or rabbits won;
most characteristic
of Egyptians, your profile,
games you to the finish.
Copyright (c) 2011 Amy Nelson Hahn
view with images 2033, 2032, 2037, and 2038 from photos.amynelsonhahn.info or visit blog.amynelsonhahn.info
Monday, August 15, 2011
You'll never get me alive
Tales of some errant wild turkeys, told through photos and poetry -- read it if you dare be challenged and amused. Beginning tomorrow: live from the Bennington Dog Show.Pooches amany. Visit blog.amynelsonhahn.info
The most awkward moment
The most awkward moment
is not when you are poised
to ask someone for a long-awaited date,
or when that long-awaited someone
on that long-awaited date has
sauce on their chin all night long
and you are afraid to say a word,
lest you break the spell;
it is not when you fail to make
the best performance of the month
reports, and then find out that all your
employees recommended you
to receive that particular honour --
no -- the most awkward moment
is when you leave the proverbial nest,
safe in the sense that, at age one and a half,
you can always return, but then you find:
damn and a half! It's a new world!
You could breed and grow but that
would fairly require
threats and minds
Unlike your own.
That's when you start to remember
how nice it was
before that awkward moment.
Copyright (c) 2011 Amy Nelson Hahn
view with images 2007, 2008, and 2009 from photos.amynelsonhahn.info or visit blog.amynelsonhahn.info
The most awkward moment
The most awkward moment
is not when you are poised
to ask someone for a long-awaited date,
or when that long-awaited someone
on that long-awaited date has
sauce on their chin all night long
and you are afraid to say a word,
lest you break the spell;
it is not when you fail to make
the best performance of the month
reports, and then find out that all your
employees recommended you
to receive that particular honour --
no -- the most awkward moment
is when you leave the proverbial nest,
safe in the sense that, at age one and a half,
you can always return, but then you find:
damn and a half! It's a new world!
You could breed and grow but that
would fairly require
threats and minds
Unlike your own.
That's when you start to remember
how nice it was
before that awkward moment.
Copyright (c) 2011 Amy Nelson Hahn
view with images 2007, 2008, and 2009 from photos.amynelsonhahn.info or visit blog.amynelsonhahn.info
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Pecking order
Why do birds fall out of the sky...no that's another song. But the birds in today's post are in big, big trouble. They just don't know how to behave. They're house finches, and they have a nasty way of teaching us the not-so-favorable side of being human. Read and see more about this consternating issue at blog.amynelsonhahn.info
Vapid thoughts on birds
It is not
that one is so much alone
as the lonely witless notion
that one could be together
and still not miss one jot
the effortlessness of being oneself --
that is what compels the concave breast
at last to clans,
to abandon a private bough
on a forgotten scape.
How is he brave,
how is he cindered
with the staves of piney wandering,
when all he concludes, in sighing, is,
one more?
Copyright (c) 2011 Amy Nelson Hahn
view with images 1998, 2002, 2003, and 2004 from photos.amynelsonhahn.info or visit blog.amynelsonhahn.info
Vapid thoughts on birds
It is not
that one is so much alone
as the lonely witless notion
that one could be together
and still not miss one jot
the effortlessness of being oneself --
that is what compels the concave breast
at last to clans,
to abandon a private bough
on a forgotten scape.
How is he brave,
how is he cindered
with the staves of piney wandering,
when all he concludes, in sighing, is,
one more?
Copyright (c) 2011 Amy Nelson Hahn
view with images 1998, 2002, 2003, and 2004 from photos.amynelsonhahn.info or visit blog.amynelsonhahn.info
Friday, August 12, 2011
Water babies
What do watermelon and cabbage possibly have in common? Well, their lovely green and round exteriors, for one thing -- but for another, a great nutritional profile and a humble heritage. Savor some sights of these delectable fruits and veggies, and read more about their bond, at blog.amynelsonhahn.info
Cousins, parlaying
Such glowing globes
not yet for the salver,
not yet for the soup,
these celadons beckon
and long to be enfolded
by the gentlest caress
of mouth and spoon.
A smidge of salt,
so little sweet needs to margin
in the balance of these perfect
natural commodities --
sinew and liquor,
these baste and brew
individual unctions,
verdant with promises --
the past was never bitter, they construe,
what comes next will croon
the sugar from your song.
Copyright (c) 2011 Amy Nelson Hahn
view with images 1988, 1990, and 1992 from photos.amynelsonhahn.info or visit blog.amynelsonhahn.info
Cousins, parlaying
Such glowing globes
not yet for the salver,
not yet for the soup,
these celadons beckon
and long to be enfolded
by the gentlest caress
of mouth and spoon.
A smidge of salt,
so little sweet needs to margin
in the balance of these perfect
natural commodities --
sinew and liquor,
these baste and brew
individual unctions,
verdant with promises --
the past was never bitter, they construe,
what comes next will croon
the sugar from your song.
Copyright (c) 2011 Amy Nelson Hahn
view with images 1988, 1990, and 1992 from photos.amynelsonhahn.info or visit blog.amynelsonhahn.info
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Green goddess
Ahh, summer vegetables -- aren't they gorgeous? Aren't they the tastiest of the year? See some of the most adorable of the lot, as they poke their noses out of boxes on their way to market at today's photospot, and read about how vegetables -- especially summer vegetables in season -- make everything a whole lot nicer: blog.amynelsonhahn.info, brought to you again today from J. Aiello Produce in Albany, NY.
Belles d'ete
Reach one hand --
smooth and easy, live,
along the rising side
and catching in a mouthy groove --
perhaps a snip of prickly burr,
just where the fruit grew closest
to the root.
Look how these actors were:
they fashioned themselves for you,
and arched their nimble shoulders
day upon harvest day to strive
into the picking
so you should like them better
with your wine;
now reach for them
endure their lithe forms;
cajole with them,
before they slip away, laughing,
and almost entirely forgotten.
Copyright (c) 2011 Amy Nelson Hahn
view with images 1985, 1989 and 1993 from photos.amynelsonhahn.info or visit blog.amynelsonhahn.info
Belles d'ete
Reach one hand --
smooth and easy, live,
along the rising side
and catching in a mouthy groove --
perhaps a snip of prickly burr,
just where the fruit grew closest
to the root.
Look how these actors were:
they fashioned themselves for you,
and arched their nimble shoulders
day upon harvest day to strive
into the picking
so you should like them better
with your wine;
now reach for them
endure their lithe forms;
cajole with them,
before they slip away, laughing,
and almost entirely forgotten.
Copyright (c) 2011 Amy Nelson Hahn
view with images 1985, 1989 and 1993 from photos.amynelsonhahn.info or visit blog.amynelsonhahn.info
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
History shmistory
Avery special composition to the photographs of a large produce scale urges the consideration of the American obsession with measuring, some thoughts on Melville, and some observations on immigration: to see what other ideas hang in the balance, read and view today's blog at blog.amynelsonhahn.info
Pensando
Land, land,
you have portioned out your life
these many years since ships,
since decrees,
always with the weight
of urgency cropping at your spine.
Colors fence your crime;
if you don't salute, on land
it is a capital issue
but at sea you are more free --
only blue and more blue:
who can tell
a person what is more
or less?
what is reasoned and what
is best?
Land, land
you are a deceiver by points,
by halves sometimes,
by colors,
by all that's right.
Copyright (c) 2011 Amy Nelson Hahn
view with images 1979 and 1995 from photos.amynelsonhahn.info or visit blog.amynelsonhahn.info
Pensando
Land, land,
you have portioned out your life
these many years since ships,
since decrees,
always with the weight
of urgency cropping at your spine.
Colors fence your crime;
if you don't salute, on land
it is a capital issue
but at sea you are more free --
only blue and more blue:
who can tell
a person what is more
or less?
what is reasoned and what
is best?
Land, land
you are a deceiver by points,
by halves sometimes,
by colors,
by all that's right.
Copyright (c) 2011 Amy Nelson Hahn
view with images 1979 and 1995 from photos.amynelsonhahn.info or visit blog.amynelsonhahn.info
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