Down and out semi poet who is down and out in the Low Country of South Carolina after living in Atlanta which is not to be confused with the south, the old south or the new south. Atlanta was a global metropolis with all the pluses and minuses that comes with that. The low country, low because it is low, 8 feet above sea level, is not Podunk but once you get to Podunk, turn left. I try to chronicle a small part of all that through my daily haiku for you.
head down to the sea goin’ shout out at ocean Hey … Hey! it’s me
Apologies to the often imitated but never duplicated, Ann Arbor’s own, Bob Seeger, but feeling like a number, I cruised out of the city and went down to the sea and shouted at the ocean, hey … HEY … it’s me!
And boy, did I get a lot of looks.
I have to ask, do folks still refer to phone company as Ma Bell?
What the beach looks like with a 20 knot breeze along with high tide right at the peak of the afternoon.
Here are the lyrics to Mr. Seeger’s song, Feel Like a Number.
I take my card and I stand in line To make a buck I work overtime Dear sir letters keep coming in the mail I work my back till it’s racked with pain The boss can’t even recall my name I show up late and I’m docked It never fails
I feel like just another Spoke in a great big wheel Like a tiny blade of grass In a great big field
To workers I’m just another drone To ma bell I’m just another phone I’m just another statistic on a sheet To teachers I’m just another child To IRS I’m just another file I’m just another consensus on the street
Gonna cruise out of this city Head down to the sea Goin’ shout out at the ocean Hey it’s me
And I feel like a number Feel like a number Feel like a stranger
A stranger in this land I feel like a number I’m not a number I’m not a number
Dammit I’m a man I said I’m a man
Need more?
Watch the song as you listen to one more time.
As I said, often imitated but never duplicated, Ann Arbor’s own, Bob Seeger.
all deeds of men are dreams at first, in the end, deeds dissolve into dreams
Based on the Epilogue to the book, Old-New Land by Theodor Herzl (Bloch Publishing: New York, 1902), where Mr. Herzl writes:
When, however, you come among friendly folk, give them greetings from your father.
Tell them that he believes Dreams also are a fulfillment of the days of our sojourn on Earth.
Dreams are not so different from Deeds as some may think.
All the Deeds of men are only Dreams at first.
And in the end, their Deeds dissolve into Dreams.
Rain squall clearing the beach over Hilton Head Island, 9/13/2026.
In the book, Old New Land, Mr. Herzl dreams of a Jewish Homeland and dreams of a new nation in Palestine.
According to Wikipedia, when the book came out, “The book was immediately translated into Hebrew by Nahum Sokolow, who gave it the poetic title “Tel Aviv”, using tel (‘ancient mound’) for ‘old’ and aviv (‘spring’) for ‘new’.”
The Hebrew title of the book was chosen by Jewish residents as the name for the newly purchased twelve acres of sand dunes, north of Jaffa, established in 1909 under a company name “Ahuzat Bayit (lit. “homestead”) society”, and with the financial assistance of the Jewish National Fund. The town was originally named Ahuzat Bayit. On 21 May 1910, the name Tel Aviv was adopted. Eventually, Tel Aviv would become known as “the first [modern] Hebrew city”
It is explained that the epligogue I am quoting is addressed to the book itself.
Mr. Herzl writes, “Now, dear Book, after three years we must part.“
When he writes, When, however, you come among friendly folk, give them greetings from your father, he is referring to himself as the father of the book.
It is Mr. Herzl who believes Dreams also are a fulfillment of the days of our sojourn on Earth.
And, as the epigram opens the book …
“If you will it, it is no dream.”
Deep stuff for a Tuesday morning.
Dreams.
Deeds.
Old for New.
Maybe we are watching the dreams of those founding father fellers that they turned into deeds are once more, becoming just a dream.
price of every thing … real cost is toil and trouble of acquiring it
Based on the passage:
The real price of every thing,
what every thing really costs to the man who wants to acquire it,
is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.
From the book, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations … better known as, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1776).
Way back when I was in high school at Grand Rapids Creston, the high school that my Dad graduated from and the high school that my oldest son graduated from and a high school that no longer exists, I got in trouble for something.
This was odd because by the time I got to high school I pretty much knew where the line was and I rarely and I mean rarely crossed that line to where I got into trouble.
Sure there was the bucket of water out the window on to the band in the parking lot and the firecracker in the apple but those were isolated incidents of opportunity.
Anyway, I cannot recall why, but I was required to show up after school and with all the other students guilty of low level crimes, I was given an empty box and sent out to police the school grounds.
The school security guards were out there keeping us at until the time was served and we were all called to the back parking lot to empty our boxes of trash into the bins behind the school.
Along with the trash I picked up, I came across a pop bottle which in Michigan, could be turned in for a 10 cent deposit.
As I emptied by my box, the bottle got away from me and dropped into the bin.
“Oh nutz! ” I yelled and dropped my box and hauled myself up on the lip of the bin and started to dig through the trash, looking for the bottle.
I slipped off the edge of the bin and landed back on my feet outside the bin and I grabbed the edge, ready to try and hop up again when one of the security guards caught my eye.
He gestured to the bin.
“Think about it,” he said.
And paused.
“Is it worth it?”
When you consider the cost, the real price of every thing, what every thing really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.
I left the Coke bottle behind.
There are folks today who will list all the benefits that we as a Nation enjoy thanks to the efforts of that man currently in office.
All the benefits.
All of them.
Sorry I am still working on it.
Back in history, President Eisenhower was asked to the list the contributions and accomplishments of Vice President Richard Nixon that had been made as a member of Ike’s administration and Ike responded … “well, if you give me a week or two.“
But as I said, there are folks who CAN list the accomplishments of that man currently in office.
And I will ask.
At what cost?
And when you consider the cost, the real price of every thing, what every thing really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it.
I have to ask.
Was it worth it?
Think about it.
Just one aspect of the benefits of the current administration.
windrow formations long floating objects shaped by winds and currents
Start with low tide.
Add a 20 knot breeze off the ocean that sends the sand flying over the still damp tidal beach and you get windrows.
According to the online Merriam-Webster, a Windrow is a noun meaning a row heaped up by or as if by the wind or long formations of floating objects shaped by winds and currents – are well known to sailors and oceanographers and are common in both oceans and lakes.
Windrows.
Long formations of floating objects shaped by winds and currents.
