Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh are driven by sex, money, and power. They are gangsters of the corrupted Supreme Court.

I am not adjusting well with warm weather. I am not looking forward to doing yard work around our property. Although I am enjoying rollerblading, I am missing skiing and snowboarding in the winter. To keep myself in the game, I continue to do snowboard training in my basement.

Base on the video clips of myself snowboarding last season, I still need to work on my stance. I need to remember to keep my whole body on the board and only my knees bent. I am OK with my toe stance, but I am still falling on my butt once in a while on my heel stance. Tring to sit on a chair without a chair is not as easy as I have imagined.

I am also working on my turns. Since my stance is goofy, I press down with my right foot first then my back foot would follow for my toe turn. For my heel turn, I roll my right knee first then my back knee would follow. The rhythm is 1, 2, 3, 4. Malcolm Moore has an excellent explanation on this technique.

I am also working on my 180-jumps to prepare myself for steep slopes. I always save this one for last because jumping is exhausting. It’s a great exercise.

I wonder what else I can learn snowboarding in my basement.

Evening falls
Leaves asleep by the hillside
She, a slender beauty in white dress,
Looks at Heaven’s Gate, shrouded in smoke and mist…

Night temple gongs waken peony flowers
Four misty seasons, filled with longings for the homeland!
The wind gently sways bamboo branches
Her dress gently flows like sunset clouds…

Evening passes by
White clouds drifting in loneliness…
Calling on Poetry Spirit
She’s absent!

The ancient moon of legends traverses across the sky
Voices of the hidden heart float in the night
Anything left in this remaining age?

Still there’s the moon on the mountaintop
Still there’s the clouds in the distant horizon
Quietly hearing from afar the echoes of the sea,
And Mother’s voice singing lullabies to me…

Since I had left that autumn,
My heart’s been calling out to Vibrant Spring,
to the Sunshine Season of United Hearts Gathering…
The Vietnamese people,
From all corners of the world,
Fragrant with scents of Buddha’s teachings,
Coming together in Love and Peace.
O April ! How I miss my homeland …
When will it be reborn again?

Evening falls
The temple gongs sounding from afar…
Watching clouds drifting at the seaside
Love for homeland ebbs and flows like the tides

Translated by Vương Thanh

Cửa trời sương khói, khói sương

Chiều nghiêng
Lá ngủ ven đồi
Em nghiêng tà mộng
Cửa trời
Khói sương…

Chuông khuya
thức đóa Hải Đường
Tiếng chim hót…
bốn mùa sương
Nhớ Nhà!
Gió lay cành Trúc la đà,
Áo em tà mộng…
thướt tha mây chiều

Chiều đi,
Mây trắng cô liêu
Gọi Thơ,
Thơ vắng!
Gọi chiều,
mông mênh…

Ánh trăng huyền thoại,
lênh đênh!
Tiếng lòng ai gửi…
Cuối ghềnh gió bay…

Còn chi cuối vận hội này
Còn Trăng đầu núi,
Còn Mây cuối trời
Âm thầm tiếng vọng trùng khơi
Mang mang…
Ơi tiếng, Ru hời,
Mẹ Ru…

Con đi từ đó Mùa Thu
Gọi Xuân Hồng,
Gọi Nắng Mùa Đoàn Viên
Trời Việt Nam Ngát Kinh Hiền
Lời Kinh tha thiết Bình Yên quê nhà
Bốn phương về hội Thái Hòa
Tháng Tư! Lại nhớ xót xa quê mình
Bao giờ Quê Mẹ hồi sinh
Tháng Tư Khẩn Nguyện An Bình Quê Hương

Rưng rưng… Lá Nhớ,
chiều sương
Kinh Chiều âm vọng bốn phương, Nắng Hồng

Chiều nghiêng
Chiều nghiêng thu không…
Tiếng thơ rơi rụng! Bụi hồng gió bay
Tình Quê, Ý Bút vơi đầy…
Có người ra Biển nhìn Mây… Nhớ Nhà!

Tuệ Nga

I don’t fully understand Dekine’s poems—even a simple one like “Paris, 2019”:

I lost control
following cigarette processionals, in and out,
of a freedom-spatting
mausoleum head. I love

James Baldwin.

There are entire worlds
in his words. My heart became
a jade toad, croaking fire. I leapt—
followed e smoke.

I can’t figure out “e.” In any rate, I read through the collection once.

I love the elegant, book-inspired typesetting on Harvard Law Review.

Since Biden won the presidency in 2020, I have been liberated from politics. I haven’t paid attention to politics. I haven’t discussed politics. I haven’t blogged about politics.

Despite all the attacks, Biden has passed essential legislations. He got us out of the pandemic. His biggest victory was beating the whiny little bitch and he will do it again.

Biden has announced his 2024 reelection bid and both sides have criticized him on his age. I am sure Biden will make it to his 90s so let’s just stop the ageism bullshit. I will vote for him over that orange shit any time.

If, God forbidden, something will happen to him during his second term, Kamala Harris will be more than ready to step in. So let’s also stop the sexism. Again, I would pick President Harris over the piece of shit on the other side any time.

I must confess. I have many thoughts on my mind; therefore, I haven’t been able to focus. I read through Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué Madness, but I could not pay attention to the poems. Since the collection is selected from 1976–2035, the poems are too ahead of my knowledge.

Is the night gone yet, that the sky’s hurrying to show its lights.
A flock of birds carries the coming season on little wings in flight.
An autumn evening, I went to send her off…
Returning home, feeling sad and chilly…
Leaves on tree branches falling,
each leaf gets flown far, far away…

On the night of parting, what sadness keeps you silent.
I only hear you telling me ever so softly,
that it’s really late and time for me to go home.
The day was dreary, transporting the evening into night.
I force myself to smile, but my heart’s already in tears…

An ethereal night of moonlight and stars.
Stars filling the sky, each twinkling brightly.
A poetic mood comes upon me.
Taking my soul back to the road of memories…

Are we apart yet that my heart’s feeling desolate.
The road ahead, wide and windy, with just only me.
Drunken with wine, but my soul already in frost.
Leaves on tree branches,
the last leaf, falling, gets flown far away…

Translated by Vương Thanh

Chiếc lá cuối cùng

Đêm qua chưa mà trời sao vội sáng
Một đàn chim cánh nhỏ chở mùa sang
Chiều vào thu tiễn em sầu lạnh giá
Lá trên cành từng chiếc cuốn bay xa…

Đêm chia ly buồn gì sao chẳng nói
Chỉ nghe em nói nhỏ trở về thôi
Ngày buồn tênh cũng đưa chiều vào tối
Mím môi cười mà nhớ thương khôn nguôi

Mộng tràn ngập đêm trăng sao
Sao đầy trời từng chiếc lấp lánh
Rồi một chiều xuân thơ trinh
Cho lòng mình về với dĩ vãng

Xa nhau chưa mà lòng nghe quạnh vắng
Đường thênh thang gió lộng một mình ta
Rượu cạn ly uống say lòng còn giá
Lá trên cành một chiếc cuối bay xa

Tuấn Khanh

The title of this rom-com says it all. The romance between Sinh (plays by Scott Ly) and Amenda (plays by Rachael Leigh Cook) takes the backseat to the travelogue. It’s cheesy but beautiful, which is perfect for a Sunday rainy afternoon.

Steve Eder and Jo Becker write for The New York Times:

Since the rebranding, the law school has developed an unusually expansive relationship with the justices of the high court — welcoming them as teachers but also as lecturers and special guests at school events. Scalia Law, in turn, has marketed that closeness with the justices as a unique draw to prospective students and donors.

I am surprised that the NYT reporters take this long to discover the connections between Scalia Law and the Supreme Court.