Good Morning!

____________________________

Welcome to The Coffee Shop, just for you early risers
on Monday mornings. This is an Open Thread forum,
so if you have an off-topic opinion burning a hole in
your brainpan, feel free to add a comment.
____________________________

Experience is the only prophecy of wise men.
– Alphonse de Lamartine

____________________________

In December, 2016, I wrote about the coming New Year:

“New Year 2017 fills me with foreboding … While some people are out celebrating, I don’t think I’m alone in thinking there’s an ominous zing of ozone in the air.

Weather forecasts are unclear, but our headlights have picked out rockslide warning signs in the murk ahead. Roll up your windows, and check your seatbelts.”

Donald Trump had just been made U.S. President by the Electoral College numbers, not the popular vote. And things did get very bad. Especially in his last year in office when the global pandemic hit. His downplaying the seriousness of the Coronavirus, and foot-dragging in the face of the escalating COVID-19 deaths ultimately cost him re-election, even though he refused to acknowledge that he had lost both the popular vote and the Electoral College.   

Today, with Omicron cases surging across the Globe, I still think the weather forecasts are unclear, and there are warning signs ahead. So rollup your windows, check your seatbelts – and wear your masks.

____________________________

A Third Act at New Years

by Nona Blyth Cloud

I arrived late in a desert downpour,
Birthcord snugged to my neck –
The story of my life, a minor drama
Wintry but earnest with expectation
And far too difficult to stage

For audiences in the dark
Noise-distracted, hyper-eyed,
Expecting crashes and explosions
Interleaved with tumid sex and
Random angry cloudbursts

Last act curtain rises as,
Exiled in my native land
My Cassandra tongue unheeded,
Shouters flee past an empty horse
Toward the glitter-light engulfing Troy.

“A Third Act at New Years” © 2016  by Nona Blyth Cloud

____________________________

____________________________