Kira and Nava with Santa

1.  Rubber bands last longer when  refrigerated.

2.  Peanuts are one of the  ingredients of dynamite.

3.  The national anthem of Greece has 158 verses. No one

in Greece has memorized all 158  verses.

4.  There are 293 ways to make  change for a dollar.

5.  The average secretary’s left  hand does 56% of the typing.

6.  A shark is the only fish that  can blink with both eyes.

7.  There are more chickens than  people in the world.

8.  Two-thirds of the world’s  eggplant is grown in New Jersey.

9.  The longest one-syllable word in  the English language is

“screeched.”

10.  On a Canadian two dollar bill,  the flag flying over the

Parliament Building is an American  flag.

11.  All of the clocks in the movie  Pulp Fiction are stuck on 4:20.

12.  No word in the English language  rhymes with month, orange,

silver or purple.

13  “Dreamt” is the only English  word that ends in the letters  “mt.”

14.  All 50 states are listed across  the top of the Lincoln  Memorial

on the back of the $5.00 bill

15.  Almonds are members of the  peach family.

16.  Winston Churchill was born in a  ladies’ room during a dance.

17.  Maine is the only state whose  name is just one syllable.

18.  There are only four words in  the English language which end in

“-dous”: tremendous, horrendous,  stupendous, and hazardous.

19.  Los Angeles’s full name is “El  Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la

Reina de los Angeles de  Porciuncula.” And can be abbreviated to

3.63% of its size, “LA”

20.  A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

21.  An ostrich’s eye is bigger than  it’s brain.

22.  Tigers have striped skin, not  just striped fur.

23.  In most advertisements,  including newspapers, the time

displayed on a watch is 10:10.

24.  Al Capone’s business card said  he was a used furniture dealer.

25.  The only real person to be a  Pez head was Betsy Ross.

26.  When the University of Nebraska  Cornhuskers play football at

home, the stadium becomes the  state’s third largest city.

27.  The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named

after Bert the cop and Ernie the  taxi driver in Frank Capra’s

“It’s A Wonderful Life”

28.  A dragonfly has a lifespan of  24 hours.

29.  A goldfish has a memory span of  three seconds.

30.  A dime has 118 ridges around  the edge.

31.  On an American one-dollar bill,  there is an owl in the upper

left-hand corner of the “1″ encased  in the “shield” and a spider

hidden in the front upper right-hand  corner.

32.  It’s impossible to sneeze with  your eyes open.

33.  The giant squid has the largest  eyes in the world.

34.  In England, the Speaker of the  House is not allowed to speak.

35.  The name for Oz in the “Wizard  of Oz” was thought up when

the creator, Frank Baum, looked at  his filing cabinet and saw

A-N, and O-Z, hence “Oz.”

36.  The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by

a radar tube and a chocolate bar  melted in his pocket.

37.  John Lennon’s first girlfriend  was named Thelma Pickles.

38.  The average person falls asleep  in seven minutes.

Look at a city
with all its
human complexity.

Then look at
snowflakes falling,
all so
intricate.

Now watch
the city melt
in the warmth
of your hand.

which

yesterday hung-up

in a loose night sky,

reclusive,                remote,                removed,

today

to join

in constellations?

How did you get the humid wind

that last night

carried only mosquitoes

to leave its rain outdoors

and breeze its way

past curtains and cradle

just to butterfly

your skin with kisses?

How can your body,

so tiny,

fill up

so much of our house?

And with muscles too weak

to hold up your own head

make an ocean-liner wake

I will follow

the rest of my life?

How can your hand,

so little,

hold

so much

of me?

(written 9/10/97, for my daughter, Kaia)

Biting away at me

it rips

me off

bit by bit,

thought by thought,

in chore and bore.

Tomorrow slithers by,

drooling over today’s mistakes,

gorging on yesterday’s ideals.

Feeding in frenzy

sucking sweet seconds

milking my marrow.

If I don’t watch it,

it’ll gut me.

If I do,

it’ll drain me.

Now

I’m telling time:

“Go swallow your own tail

and get off mine!”

Once and for all,

As far as time goes,

one thing

(alone)

I know:

when it comes to my heart,

the clock stops here.

Paul Roman, aka Paul Rosenfeld

Willa, our kitty!