SJ Rozan

Crow flies below me

Chasing starling flock across

Steep hillside’s rooftops.

Sun glints off water

Like photographers’ flashes

As rowing scull nears.

Wind rustles palm trees,

Tousles nasturtiums, jasmine,

Annoys hummingbird.

More haiku for you.

In about twelve hours the Cardinals of the Catholic Church — all those under 80, with the exception of a very few — will walk in procession into the Sistine Chapel and sit in red-robed rows beneath Michaelangelo’s great ceiling. They’ve been debating and discussing — polite terms for politicking — for days now, and this is it. They’ll vote as many ballots as they have to, one each morning and afternoon, returning to their rooms at night, until they have a Pope.

“Conclave” is from the Latin for “with a key.” This is not the same as “with a clue,” but I digress. This term for the gathering of Cardinals that elects a Pope comes from the time in the 13th C. when after eighteen Popeless months the city fathers of Viterbo locked the Cardinal-electors in, fed them only bread and water, and finally removed the roof of the Palazzo di Papi and made them stay there until they had a Pope. That Pope, Gregory X, thought all this was such a great idea that he made it a law that henceforth the Cardinal-electors should be locked in until a Pope was chosen. They feed them better now, though, and no one’s removing the Sistine Chapel roof.

“Conclave,” the above notwithstanding, has a rather different meaning in BLOOD OF THE LAMB, where Sam Cabot uses it to refer to a gathering of… rather different people.

Much to tell you, but first, this is important:

Lights Out NY (for the spring migration)! Save 90,000 lives!

Spent yesterday in the redwoods in northern CA. First time I’ve seen them. Just want to say WOW.

You may remember the floating fruit caption contest, especially if you entered. I’m glad you remember, because I didn’t. But finally, here they are, the winners:

The gold goes to: ed king, for “Lifeboat: the Vegetarian Edition.”

The silver, to: Michael, for “Moses? Moses! Come out from under those grapefruit, right now!”

The bronze, to: Judy, for “There goes my New Year’s diet.”

And a four-way tie for honorable mention among:

Sal Towse and Kat Trompe for “Life of Pie.”

Marjorie of Connecticut for “If we can make it to Florida with the currents, we can just blend in with the rest of them. They’ll never find us then.”

and JL for “Fruit of the Foam.”

ed, Michael, and Judy, send me your mailing address (even if you think I already have it) and you’ll get a copy of my short story collection, A TALE ABOUT A TIGER. Thank you all, and watch this space for another contest soon.

My alma mater. Don’t know who the knuckleheads are making the trouble, but I’m loving the response.

I’ve found a Japanese-produced CD on which a Chinese erhu player, a gent named Yang Xing Xin, is backed by a band that includes a fellow called Fiorello, on accordion! Oh happy day!

…gets another good review and look! I’m “always-startling!” How cool is that?

>>We meet many characters who are amoral and in the last section, called “Borough of Broken Dreams,” we also encounter a character who is crazy. In “Lighthouse,” by the always-startling S.J. Rozan, the main character is ordered by aliens to commit certain crimes. This is not science fiction, however, and we soon learn that the aliens live in his head. Rozan pens a fine line between what is real and what is imagined and we find ourselves questioning our first impressions. The Tibetan Museum, a focal point of this story, is described with great clarity in all its musty strangeness, just as I remembered it from my childhood.<<

The currently Popeless situation of the Catholic Church will not continue. A new Pope will be elected soon, probably from among the “Papabili” — Cardinals considered by Vatican-watchers to have a good shot at the job. Among the Papabili are two Africans, five Latin Americans, and two Asians. (And two Americans and a Canadian, by the way.)

BLOOD OF THE LAMB, the forthcoming book by Sam Cabot, which is to say, Carlos Dews and me, centers, among other things, on the future of the Church (as well as its past), about which a conservative Cardinal and a young priest, in chapter 6, have this conversation:

“A fine young man, that,” Lorenzo told Thomas once Father Ateba was gone. “He has a future here in Rome. Or he could go back to Cameroon, and he’ll become a Bishop, without question. The future of the church lies in Africa and Asia. Do you know why?”

Thomas took the coffee Lorenzo handed him and added cream and sugar, marveling at the delicate porcelain. “You’re about to tell me, aren’t you?”

“To enlighten you, yes!” Lorenzo’s tone was self-mocking but he continued seriously. “Because they believe. It’s about faith with them — with us it’s logic, it’s reason, it’s rationalism. Other words for compromise. So-called fairness — accommodation! — they’ll be the death of this church. Oh, wipe off that smile.”

Is Lorenzo Cardinal Cossa right? Who is he, really, and what does he want? Stay tuned to the Vatican Conclave for the answer to the first question. For the other answers, you’ll have to read the book.

Waves rising, falling.

Black and white buffleheads bob

Like carousel ducks.

Seagull soars. High tide:

Not many piling perches.

Finally, one’s found.

Bright sun, but no warmth,

Cold wind rushing from the north.

Winter won’t give up.