Sedona flood photos by Misha Saez

Misha Saez, who works at Tlaquepaque, shot these two photos of the flash flood damage shortly after the waters subsided on Thursday 10 Sept.
"I caught Superman sitting, with a shellshocked look on his face... it all happened so fast, he didn't have time to act!"
"and this guy really went out of his way to avoid those pedestrians!"

Diocletianic Persecution Haiku

Diocletianic Persecution Haiku
How did I get here?
Girl said, "I don't date pagans"
Skirt chasing ... fatal.

As lion chews thigh
I wonder if Christian chick
will finds me as hot

My plan is simple:
Let lions eat dudes praying
hope they all get stuffed

Being eaten alive
seems more cruel when I find that
it's still pre-season

Try telling Christian
that his death will make Sportscenter's
"Plays of the Week"

In Coliseum,
Fans with popcorn and peanuts
think "how ironic"

Lions eat Christians ...
at least it's quick. I mean,
bulls eat Mithraists

I wonder who was
the Bill Buckner of lions?
There must have been one.

Slam Tutorial: Rely on Your Grandma

"Grandma's Got it Going On (Rise and Shine)"
By Shane Koyczan


Every day, Grandma would come into my room and I would hear her say-
Rise and shine, the world has a whole 'nother design, there’s
someone
out there
some where
young man.

So I rose and I shone put on my shoes and I was gone.

See, Grandma bought me my first phone, she said Don't bother calling the people who care, call the people who don’t.

Don't bother calling the people who have taken up the fight, call people who won’t.

And I learned at a very young age where my grandma’s rage came from: The entire congregation of God. Never ask grandma about God.

I'd argue with her everyday and all she'd say was, Go down to the store, buy some light bulbs. And when you run out, buy some more.

Because the light at the end of your tunnel needs to be maintained.

You can't let it be stained by "their beliefs are better than your beliefs" and you can't agree to disagree because they're fucking wrong!

It's not the strong who have gotten lazy, its just your vision is a little hazy- you're not sure what it is you want but what you've got is all you need.

It falls to greed.

For every hypocritical church-goer who won’t walk past beggars because they can't spare a dime, Grandma says fuck them.

I don't speak to God because I think God's a tyrant.

And yeah, it struck me as strange every time I walk past a brother that stops to ask me "Hey, can you spare some change?" because yes I can. You see, I don't carry change around in my back pocket; I don’t wear it around my neck on a chain in some locket.

I keep change on the tip of my tongue so I can climb the rungs of a ladder to a better place; I forgot about saving face, Grandma told me save your grace.

I keep change in the tip of my pen and it seeps out every now and then as bursts of anger that make me think, maybe the writing on the wall could use a little revision.

Grandma told me stop trying to calculate the difference between people, people don't need division. Gotta stick together, gotta love each other, father brother sister mother uncles sons and aunts, forget about the chants the cheers the jokes the tears after two thousand years you'd think we'd know by now!

Grandma said We will only find equality in our number of tears.

And she was right because I don’t know what injustices you've suffered based on size sex race religion or the political pigeon shitting on the shoulders of us versus them like in Bethlehem when a man said Hey, I could be wrong, but why can't we all just get along?

No.

So we nailed him to a tree. See?

Justice isn’t just isn't, it just is.

And I can't change it, you can’t change it, so we just gotta try to rearrange it and if at all this miracle got the chance to work would I see people the way they see me?

Because seeing is believing and if you see what I see you wouldn't want to see anymore. But I’ve got a little surprise in store.

For every man who looks upon me with judgement in his eyes, there’s a woman looks upon me with wetness in her thighs.

I'm the world’s greatest overweight lover.

And you might just laugh and you might just gulp but my bones are big for sticks and stones and names just piss me off and Grandma told me, Young man you cant be concerned with whatever it is that they've got the only reason they think they're beautiful is the same reason they think you're not. And Young man, you have beauty beyond measure you are a treasure entrenched in this earth, you can’t let strangers determine your worth, Rise and shine.

So I rose and I shone, I put on my shoes and I was gone.

See, Grandma bought me my first phone, she said, Young man from time to time I too need to smile, would you do me a favour and keep me on speed dial.

Yes grandma,

I will.

And still to this day I can call her up and can hear her say It’s a game, you play, you win, you play, you lose, you play.

Rise and shine the world has another whole design, there’s someone out there somewhere but young man if you are playing to win the first thing you have to do is apply within.

Slam Tutorial: Imagine Human Behavior During a Tragedy

This poem was inspired by seeing a single image replayed on video the night of Sept. 11, 2001. Two people, presumably a man and woman, holding hands as they fell from one of the World Trade Centers in New York City, N.Y. It haunted me more than other images from the attack because of its premeditated rationality as opposed to a reactionary act of desperation.

I haven't seen the image since and sometimes wonder if I just imagined it. If I knew their names and who they were, would it change the nature of the poem or my performance of it?

They Held Hands
by Christopher Fox Graham

On a commonplace Tuesday morning,
not unlike that Sunday morning
60 years before, destined for infamy
they held hands
as they fell

It was a working Tuesday
a date on the calendar
a morning like the morning before
but now they found themselves
standing on the window sill
of the 92nd floor
overlooking the city
and they felt weightless

They were not thinking
about the cause-and-effect history
of textbooks and CNN sound bytes
they weren’t debating the geopolitical ramifications
leading up to that morning
he had decaf
she had a bearclaw and an espresso
and they talked about "Will & Grace"

then jets impregnated buildings with infernos
and now the fire was burning
and the smoke was rising
and it was getting hard to breathe
even after they smashed the window out
the inferno was swelling
it had reached their floor
their stairwells were gone
and the options now
were to burn

or to fall

when the human animal realizes death is inevitable
psychologists say we want control
over those final moments
choosing suicide over surrender is a healthy reaction
because we choose to accept our annihilation
rather than letting it choose us

So on one side
is unbearable heat
roaring flames
acrid smoke
and screams of the suffering

On the other side:
fresh air

suicide is the final act of free will
that keeps the consciousness intact
even as it is destroyed

but they were not thinking about psychology
they were not thinking about terrorism
the debate about responsibility,
retaliation,
wars, flags, and Patriot Acts
can wait until September 12th
this morning belongs to them
because they did not have a tomorrow

the true terror of that morning
is to know what they were thinking
as they decided then whether
to burn
or to fall
now, imagine having that conversation
with the stranger
sitting next to you:
The barricade at the door is on fire
the extinguisher is empty
we are blinded by the smoke
and on the windowsill of the 92nd floor
we wait until flames lick our clothes
before we lean forward
and choose that moment to fall
others who fell were scrambling
or screaming or on fire
but we held hands as we fell

survivors of falls from extreme heights report
that falls are slow-motion transcendence
and the experience is almost “mystical”

I don’t know if they felt “mystical”
I know it takes

1 …

2 …

3 …

4 …

5 …

6 …

7 …

8.54 seconds

to fall 1,144 feet

just enough time to say a prayer
or regret a memory
or ask forgiveness
or say goodbye
or wonder how the sky can be so perfectly blue
on such a beautiful morning

Rain gods wouldn't destroy CFG's Sedona, right?

Nothing like shamelessly taking advantage of a tragedy to further one's political career.

Vote CFG!

In 2012!

(Hope you all saw my photos up on NBC Channel 12 and Channel Fox 10 tonight).

Sedona Flood photo #48, map & video

Map of the damage to Tlaquepaque.

I shot this at the far end of Tlaquepaque near Plaza de la Fuenta. Sorry for the brevity, but I wanted to save batteries for the later photos.
Traffic begins to get back to normal. Anyone can use these photos. E-mail me at foxthepoet@yahoo.com for the full originals.

Sedona Flood photo #47

The entrance to the Tlaquepaque parking lot. Anyone can use these photos. E-mail me at foxthepoet@yahoo.com for the full originals.

Sedona Flood photo #46

Looking toward the Tlaquepaque employee parking lot beyond the caution tape. I heard one of the employees earlier state that she was quitting in a week and didn't have any insurance, so she's doubly out of luck.

Anyone can use these photos. E-mail me at foxthepoet@yahoo.com for the full originals.

Sedona Flood photo #45

Looking toward Los Abrigados. Anyone can use these photos. E-mail me at foxthepoet@yahoo.com for the full originals.

Sedona Flood photo #44

The car shoved against the side of Oak Creek Brewery. Anyone can use these photos. E-mail me at foxthepoet@yahoo.com for the full originals.

Sedona Flood photo #43 Oak Creek Brewery

Anyone can use these photos. E-mail me at foxthepoet@yahoo.com for the full originals.

Sedona Flood photo #42

About six inches of mud. Lots of art ruined. Anyone can use these photos. E-mail me at foxthepoet@yahoo.com for the full originals.

Sedona Flood photo #41 Ruptured gas line

The ruptured gas line, shut off at this point. Anyone can use these photos. E-mail me at foxthepoet@yahoo.com for the full originals.

Sedona Flood photo #40 Patio de Las Rosas

This is the center of Tlaquepaque's Patio de Las Rosas, looking north. That thing in the middle is the 7-foot tall elk on its side. The caution tape is up due to the gas leak, caused by the car. Please not the yellow "FLT" sticker on the upper left of the license plate: a tourist rental.

Anyone can use these photos. E-mail me at foxthepoet@yahoo.com for the full originals.

Sedona Flood photo #39

Anyone can use these photos. E-mail me at foxthepoet@yahoo.com for the full originals.

Sedona Flood photo #38

Anyone can use these photos. E-mail me at foxthepoet@yahoo.com for the full originals.

Sedona Flood photo #37 Three cars in a ditch

Note the third car, in the ditch, under the blue one. That's the one blocking the culvert that essentially backed up the water. Anyone can use these photos. E-mail me at foxthepoet@yahoo.com for the full originals.

Sedona Flood photo #36

Anyone can use these photos. E-mail me at foxthepoet@yahoo.com for the full originals.

Sedona Flood photo #35 Entrance to Los Abrigados

Anyone can use these photos. E-mail me at foxthepoet@yahoo.com for the full originals.

Sedona Flood photo #34

Anyone can use these photos. E-mail me at foxthepoet@yahoo.com for the full originals.