The Life Slant - Page 3

Another weekend of NFL football, another weekend filled with questionable officiating.  Another weekend of one team being convinced that they got screwed and another team accepting a win that they may know isn’t really theirs.  Another weekend of complete bullshit being spouted by Dean Blandino, the game’s Referee and the league office.  There is no need, nor is there enough time, to create a list of terrible calls and decisions recently made by those wearing the stripes.  We see and endure them almost every game and spend most of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday fixating on them.

Respected analysts like Mike Greenberg declare emphatically that “what is important is to get it right”.  That getting it right should be achieved at all costs, using whatever technology we have at our disposal to ensure that we do.  This widely accepted notion seems incontestable; a ‘conventional wisdom’ if you will.

Bahamas to California,
Crisp
Sweet
Tangy
Sun-kiss’d,
Dorsett goldens!

‘O Regal Ones
Prithee, don’t leave!
Since Two thousand sixteen,
One hundred seventy-eight
Perished
Majesties,
Forcibly disgorged,
Thirteen Atlantic states.

Samaria brutes
Inflicting agony
Mercilessly murdering
Peaceful Gigantics,
Royal Majesties!

Days old
North Atlantic Right,
An eye blink,
Gaunt “Sea of Darkness”
Big Oil’s
Ear-splitting cannons,
Horror-struck
Doomed whales!

Twenty twenty-two,
Carbon ignition
Fossil fuel, wood pellet, palm oil
Record burning,
Oceans stockpiling HEAT!

Her Royal Highness,
Youthful
Innocent 
Playful
Curious
Hungry
Entangled, 
Rodanthe, North Carolina.

Seeing as how it is January of a new year (2023), the winter sports are winding down, and the summer sports are just getting started with training camp. With a substantial percentage of the population remaining indoors, this becomes award season. I won’t bother naming them. The award season is where some very rich, lucky, or related to the right people, get together and congratulate each other. The rich and famous don lavish attire, the ladies in designer dresses (sometimes revealing) and sporting jewelry that it would take the average Jane or Joe decades of their salaries to buy. I’m not opposed to the filthy-rich recognizing good work; however, all artistic work is recognized in context. We’ll get to that in a moment.

‘O Enigmatic One,
Podless
Isolated
Fevered
Agonised
Lifeless,
Palm Coast, Florida.

Intelligent, self-aware
Playful, empathetic 
Curious, sad
Sophisticated speakers,  
Joyous, compassionate 
Loving grievers, 
Breathtaking radar
Echolocationers,
Incomparable climate solvers,
Delightful coexisters, 
The dolphins!

Horrible heatwave 
Ten to twenty
Celsius 
Beyond record-keepers,
Animals, trees
Dazed!

Dearest brothers, sisters
Crab-eating macaques
(SE Asian monkeys),
Matriarchal society,
Tool-makers,
Sacred mammals!

From the moment it was announced that Jeff Saturday would serve as the interim coach of the Colts, everyone – and I mean EVERYONE – in the media has been on his case.  “It’s a travesty.”  “It makes a mockery of the coaching profession.”  “It disrespects all the guys that have worked for decades to rise above and be considered for a head coaching job.”  Popycock.  What a bunch of whiners and complainers and sore losers.  I have two simple questions for you:

Mysterious friends
Flightless seabirds
Leaping swimmers
Sardine squid krill fishers
Cold experts
Twenty sun orbits,
Full lives.

Glorious Victorian Alps
‘O Mount Stirling,
Thank thee
Snow gums,
Ageless secrets
Revealed,
Numen!

Currawong calls
Cockatoo gangs
Elegant flaming robins
(My BFFs!),
Spring snow gum flushing
Regal red ribbons
Burly broad-leafed ascenders,
The High Country keepers!