tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70735146096731859932024-03-13T13:13:33.525-04:00Head & FifeRobert Head and Darlene Fifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14672804570562410629noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7073514609673185993.post-31074799558271183202011-06-17T16:33:00.002-04:002011-06-17T16:35:10.183-04:00Some of the poems on the Gulf oil volcano have been published in David Roskos's <em>Big </em>Hammer. $10 from David Roskos, POB 527, Point Pleasant, NJ 08742.<br /><em>those oil spill poems are damn solid important poems; urgent & expertly crafted</em>Robert Head and Darlene Fifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14672804570562410629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7073514609673185993.post-75505184502552748372011-01-28T13:10:00.011-05:002011-06-25T18:50:46.873-04:00West FloridaCedar Keys shares the attention of both<br />John Muir & Sidney Lanier<br /><br />Lanier was a poet hoo cast his lot<br />with the Confederacy so after its defeat<br />all he coud do was write about<br />the beauty of the marshes. <br /><br /> he rode the train<br />that Muir walkt.<br /> the track was laid<br /><br />by a Jewish slave-owner<br />& there is a man buried undr<br />every other railroad tie<br />to take out the cedar pine & cypress<br /><br />sum call it progress & others forever.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In the redlands of Jackson County,<br />particularly at the Marianna Caverns<br />State Park, Marianna limestone outcrops<br />abundantly. Here abounds a rich<br /><br />upland hardwoods flora, & containing<br />numerous shrubs and herbs otherwise<br />absent in Florida but more common<br />in similar areas northward.<br /><br />i had my seven-year-old birthday party<br />at Marianna Caverns.<br /><br />on the one side is the Chipola River flood plain<br />& there rise limestone cliffs<br />with caves hwer the nativ americans<br />hid out from Andrew Jackson.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />after leaving Blue Springs Jackson<br />marcht on & took Pensacola <br />ending Pascua Florida and<br />the following year the United States bought it<br />at a bargain price.<br /> before that he<br />had taken St. Marks & destroyd<br />Billy Bowlegs Town<br />way down upon the Suwannee<br />so he was a busy beaver<br /><br />he paid his soldiers in land around<br />Blue Springs. it would appeal to <br />mountain men because it was higher<br />& cooler than the rest of Florida<br /><br />my grandfather livd in a cabin<br />on the reservoir above the dam<br />& sat on the porch & sipt his hwiskey<br />& lookt at the walnut & the deer.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />i wundr hwat Jackson & his 1097 men<br />thot hwen they encampt at Blue Springs<br />on the evening of May 10, 1818.<br />well i don’t know. but i imagin they were imprest<br /><br />by the fountain that no longer exists<br />due to the dam.<br /><br /> perhaps a child<br />can remembr finding an arrowhead<br />underwater & that can link then<br />or before then, & now. here<br />hav a littl memory in the hartford night<br /><br /><br /><br />the Creeks hoo fled Georgia & Alabama<br />became known as the Siminoli the wanderers.<br />hwen Daniel Boone was stumbling around<br />in the swamps behind Pensacola & about to starve<br />the Seminole fed him venison & maize.<br /><br />my father taught Jackson’s men’s descendents<br />about sanitation & how to wear shoes<br />& organized the women’s clubs to look for<br />eggs in faeces under the microscope<br />& eradicated hookworm in Jackson County.<br /><br />in June of 1674 according to Franciscan priest Barreda<br />there were abundant buffalo at Blue Springs<br />but hwen i swam there i never saw a single one<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />in 1810 the Euroamericans in<br />West Florida were petitioning to becum<br />a state so Jackson’s report in<br />1818 of a savage war seems a littl <br /><br />obscure. am pleased to learn<br />that he didn’t hang anybody at<br />Blue Springs so it be not blood-stained.<br />he may hav been confusing his<br /><br />expedition to Florida with his annihilation<br />of the Creek with 2 cannon<br />hwich was indeed a savage war<br />& i think we all know hoo the savage was.<br /><br /><br /><br />my bible is the Travels of Wm Bartram<br />& no greater bibl be there<br />he visited Blue Spring but it is not<br />the Blue Springs hwer i grew up<br /><br />it is the Blue Spring at the head of<br />the St. Johns hwer my mother & aunt livd<br />& Darlene & i swam with manatee<br />at dawn in January hwen the water was warmer than the air<br /><br />thus be our memory before the tears<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Bartram’s description of the scald<br />or water-rot with hwich the Seminole horses<br />& cattl are afflicted as they say<br />by the warm waters of the savanna<br /><br />during the heats of summer & autumn<br />is or was i believe the cattl tick<br />if the temperatur goes below 40° at night<br />it suppresses it. it was common<br /><br />in my youth among the cattl of<br />the north Florida poor hoo let them roam.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />a 100 years ago in an Alabama<br />Negro asylum it was found that<br />everybody had pellagra<br /><br />pellagra it is now known is<br />a vitamin deficiency disease<br />caused by eating nothing but corn<br />hwich lacks niacin. this means<br />these pepl were very poor<br />contrary to the politicians claims.<br /><br />if beans are added to the diet<br />the pellagra is overcum.<br /><br />advanced stages of pellagra are<br />mental deterioration & deranjment<br />hwich is hwy they were in the asylum. <br /><br />& there is a suggestion that the poor hwites<br />racial dementia may hav been<br />their own selves afflicted with pellagra.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Florida is outside the cotton belt<br />so there was no rational reason for slavery<br />so hwat northern Florida did was create<br />a prison system to make pepl<br /><br />work on the turpentine plantations<br />for such victimless crimes as vagrancy.<br /><br />o andy, o andy,<br />how many men did you hang to-day<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />passing by the beautiful bay St. Louis,<br />into hwich descend many delightful rivers,<br />hwich flow from the lower or maritime <br />settlements of the Chactaws or Flatheads.<br /><br />we used to camp on the beach there<br />on the north shore & gather driftwood<br />for a bonfire & marsh mallows & wieners.<br />there was a hotel there that had been<br />bilt in the 20’s & abandond in the 30’s.<br /><br />Bartram was suffering from a severe<br />disorder of his eyes so he never<br />saw the many deliteful rivers.<br /><br />i do however hav a McNair<br />watercolor of Wolf River<br />that turns behind the pass Aux Christiáns<br />& runs into the beautiful bay St. Louis.<br /><br /><br /><br />the dangerous notion of honoring the Treaty of Ghent<br />ending the war of 1812<br />articl 9 said that all lands belonging to<br />Indians allied with Great Britain<br />must be returnd to those Indians<br /><br />General Electric has the contract <br />for all the land NASA seized <br />in Pearl River & Hancock County<br />history’s culmination in state capitalism<br /><br />Chief Chikala went to see Freeman Jones<br />& said, we’re not too keen on Oklahoma<br />& Jones said, there’s only going to be<br />one soldiers sweep thru here<br />so go hide out in Devil Swamp<br />& after the soldiers are gone you can<br />find a place to liv.<br /><br />we’re much too busy murdering pepl<br />on the other side of the world to honor<br />the Treaty of Ghent.<br /><br /><br /><br />“another important road was the old Jackson<br />military road which ran from over on Wolf<br />River by way of Center to Gainesville”<br /><br />Jackson left for New Orleans<br />via Mobile 22 November 1814<br />to be accompanied by Choctaws<br />hoo had sworn allegiance to the United States.<br /><br />this is the old Jackson military road<br />that S. G. Thigpen is talking about. <br /><br />part of the equipment for Jackson’s army<br />was shipt down river on flat boats<br />from Tar Landing on the Pearl to Chalmette.<br /><br />from Center the old Jackson military road<br />went to Gainesville. Gainesville was wiped out by NASA.<br /><br />since the British had already been defeated<br />at the Battl of New Orleans we can only<br />conclude that the true object of the second<br />Jackson military road was the destruction of the Choctaw. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />in the battles of Baltimore & Plattsburg Bay<br />the British commanders decided that it would be<br />suicidal to storm the American works<br />without the support of their warships guns.<br /><br />this tells us hwy Pakenham faild & again<br />shows Cochran’s error of disembarking<br />troops in Bayou Bienvenu hwer they <br />coud not be supported.<br /><br />can you imagin rowing 60 miles<br />from Cat Iland to Bayou Bienvenu?<br /><br />i had a friend in the fourth or fifth grade<br />that drifted out into Mississippi Sound<br />& was dead in one night.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />the soldiers all the way up to the general<br />hav been treated so poorly by the Admiralty<br />that they are cold & wet & ill & hungry<br />before they even get to the miserabl battlfield<br />hwer there is zero room for maneuver.<br /><br />Lake Borgne is not a lake<br />but a tidal bay of the Gulf<br />so going in & out of Chef Menteur Pass<br />requires a knowlej of the tides<br /><br />& Pea Iland in the mouth of the Pearl<br />is a swampy sandbar & i’d think twice<br />before i spent the night there<br /><br />& Pakenham already sailing late<br />is jammed up in a cabin with 4 other pepl<br />& there are 30 civilians on board<br />the Admiralty should hav put him on an express<br />& he might hav had a chance<br /><br />hwy didn’t Admiral Cochrane requisition<br />sum West Indies schooners?<br />he coud hav left his 80-gun flagship<br />that coudn’t possibly go into Lake Borgne as collateral.<br /><br /><br /><br />this hol plan was Admiral Cochrane’s <br />to take New Orleans & link up<br />with Canada & isolate the United States<br />but mouth times brain equals one.<br /><br />an amphibious landing is never easy<br />it depends upon surprise! & minute<br />attention to detail<br /><br /> the British<br />attempted to suborn Lafitte to lead<br />them up the back way to New Orleans <br />& he said he needed 2 weeks to think about it<br />& turned the papers over to Claiborne<br /><br />no he didn’t smuggl marijuana<br />this was long before the illegal law<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />it has been suggested that Pakenham<br />should hav made a more serious attempt<br />to outflank Jackson on the west bank<br /><br />the river is three quarters of a mile wide<br />the gunbarges were swept a thousand <br />yards downriver & Pakenham was impatient<br /><br />it was two weeks he’d been in the field<br />& his artillery was ineffectiv<br />& his men were going hungry & getting pneumonia<br />hwile Jackson’s men were eating hot gumbo<br /><br />& manhandling those gunbarges was no picnic<br />& behind the 4’ levee is a swamp<br />the only place i ever got lost<br />(in a pirogue) & Jackson had<br /><br />invincibl faith in his position<br />it was way too late & far too gone<br />to ferry the British army to the west bank.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />how did Jackson manage to get to New Orleans?<br />i know this sounds obtuse but none of<br />the texts tell us. from Thigpen we know<br />that he past west along the Choctaw trail<br /><br />thru Center (now called Caesar) the larjest<br />Choctaw town in southern Mississippi<br />from there across the Pearl? then down<br />across the Rigolets? & onto Chef Menteur?<br /><br />& across Chef Menteur Pass & thence<br />to New Orleans?<br /><br />i don’t suppose it matters because <br />Cochrane was two weeks too late<br />to attack him at the Rigolets<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />anything is bettr than direct frontal assault<br />& Pakenham should hav sent troops from Fishermen Village<br />as fast as they coud move on the prairies<br />to Chef Menteur road and/or<br /><br />from north Lake Borgne to Chef Menteur<br />via Bayou Sauvage or the Pass <br />is but a hop skip & a jump<br />& if i had a decent map i coud<br /><br />explain it to the ded general<br />Gen. Keane coud hav committed his avantgard<br />exactly as he did & force Jackson<br />to commit himself exactly as he did<br />& then send the other 2/3s via Chef Menteur<br />the plain of Gentilly afforded firm ground<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />you know if you get too involvd in the battl<br />you might not ask, well, hwer is the right wing?<br />well there isn’t any right wing.<br />well do you think maybe we shd ask hwy?<br /><br />the right wing coud hav gone up Bayou Bienvenu<br />& the Piernas Canal & cum in behind<br />Jackson’s position. for that the British would need<br />pirogues. cypress swamps all around<br /><br />& not pirogue one. Columbus said <br />it was a pleasure to see the Taíno’s<br />pirogues workmanship & beauty.<br /><br /><br /><br />Pakenham saild to his death from Spithead<br />on Novembr 1 aboard the frigate Statira.<br />he was jammd up with his staff in the Captain’s cabin<br />& thirty passengers “oh, so crowded!<br />. . . slept in cots in the steerage.”<br /><br />53 days jammd up above the effluvia<br />i’m getting sick just thinking about it<br />& how the Captain managed to take<br />53 days to get to Lake Borgne. . . .<br /><br />Pakenham shd hav told the passengrs<br />to take a walk & Colonel Dickson<br />shd hav filld up the hole with<br />six- & twelve-poundrs<br /><br />& Pakenham & Dickson might hav sat<br />amids the cannon & dreamd of victory.<br /><br /><br />Elizabeth Longford formerly Lady Pakenham<br />faults Admiral Cochrane for saddling Pakenham<br />with such a poor position hemd in<br />between the bayoux & the Mississippi<br /><br />but the position wouldn’t hav been so bad<br />if Cochrane hadn’t wasted so much time<br /><br />Jamaica was Cochrane’s station. surely<br />he knew that Lake Borgne coudn’t <br />take deep-draft warships.<br /><br />if Cochrane had gone forward as fast as<br />he coud raise West Indies schooners<br />he coud hav cut off Jackson at the Rigolets.<br /><br /><br /><br />Cochrane’s original plan was to take<br />Mobile & then send shallow-draft boats<br />up the Mississippi Sound with heavy<br />cannon thru the Rigolets & into<br />Lake Ponchartrain & up Bayou St. John.<br /><br />first the frigate Hermes faild to take Fort<br />Bowyer at the entrance to Mobile Bay<br />& second London faild to send light-draft<br />boats with heavy cannon. hwy<br /><br />Cochrane thot London would hav light-draft<br />boats with heavy cannon i do not know.<br />Jamaica hwer he was would hav light-draft boats<br />if not with heavy cannon at least 3-poundrs.<br /><br />Cochrane wasted more time<br />putting in the 80-gun Tonnant at<br />Apalachicola & Pensacola<br />to distribute a proclamation to the defeated Creek.<br /><br />he coud hav loaded up the Tonnant with<br />light-draft boats with heavy guns<br />& blasted Fort Bowyer to smithereens.<br /><br /><br /><br />i had assumed that Jackson with his 2000<br />men at Mobile came via the old Jackson<br />Military Trail thru Center now Caesar<br />Mississippi but C. S. Forester<br /><br />says he didn’t order up his men until<br />December 15th so he coud hav cum<br />by water via Mississippi Sound<br />& arrived December 1st a week before Cochrane<br /><br />but i don’t see how his troops coud hav<br />floated cannon & heavy equipment<br />down the Pearl because by then Cochrane was already at Pea(rl) Iland<br /><br />according to Michael B, Jackson campt<br />along Fish River, Alabama,<br />before he moved towards New Orleans.<br /><br /><br /><br />am more & more coming to see<br />the battl of New Orleans as<br />a naval problem. Wellington’s veterans<br />were the best troops in the world.<br /><br />we tend to see the annihilation of the Creek,<br />the defense of Point Mobile & the attack on Pensacola<br />& the battl of New Orleans as separate<br />but Jackson saw them as one.<br /><br />no point in wasting Wellington’s veterans<br />if Cochrane can’t take Point Mobile<br />all it was was pine logs & sand<br />with no casemates for protection<br /><br />& the French turnd it over to the British in 1763.<br />1773, 1783 you’d think they’d had time<br />to take soundings & make a chart<br />he might as well pack up & go home<br /><br /><br /><br />Fort Bowyer gards Mobile Bay<br />and Mississippi Sound<br />if Cochrane coud hav taken Fort Bowyer<br />he coud hav parkt his deep-draft warships<br />& transports in Mobile Bay, acquired<br /><br />supplies at Bon Secour Bay<br />& transferrd troops to light-draft boats<br />for the voyage up Mississippi Sound<br /><br />i spent the night on Cat Iland with<br />my marine friend with the forty-five<br />i slept in the water on the lee side<br />so bad were the mosquitoes<br /><br />Cochrane coud hav rounded up<br />every sloop of war in Mobile Bay<br />drawing less than 5 feet<br /><br />Mobile is corruption of extinct<br />tribe mobilia, spirits hovering over the waves,<br />hwen HMS Hermes was sunk at Fort Bowyer<br />Jackson heard the explosion & thot the fort had fallen. <br /><br /><br /><br />the reason Jackson stayd at Mobile to the last minit<br />was he thot Cochrane would attack Fort Bowyer<br />& march to Walnut Hills (Vicksburg)<br />& cut off New Orleans.<br /><br /> <br /> the failed attack<br />on Fort Bowyer of September 15<br />had been made by a frigate from Pensacola<br />acting independently without<br />Cochrane’s knowlej. Cochrane would hav been<br /><br />enroute to Jamaica from Chesapeake Bay<br />after burning Washington & failing to take<br />Baltimore. General Ross was killd<br />& had to be replaced at the last moment<br />by Pakenham hoo was not happy.<br /><br /><br /><br />hwen Jackson marcht to New Orleans<br />he left Winchester in charj of Mobile.<br />Winchester’s wounded had been massacred<br />on the Raisin River in Michigan territory<br />so he wdnt hav had much of a sense of humor.<br /><br />as much as you might not care for Jackson’s <br />racial policies he’s one hell of a general.<br />for him to think that the British cd march<br />from Mobile to Walnut Hills (Vicksburg)<br /><br />he must hav had a great deal of faith<br />in the British marching ability<br />they did march up the St. John Valley<br /><br />you know i keep thinking that pepl<br />got killd in that war.<br /><br /><br /><br />hwen admirals start talking abt<br />hwer to land the men that means<br />a lot of men are going to die<br />because admirals don’t know<br /><br />ding dong abt hwer to land the men<br />Jackson & Lawrance had just gotten<br />the fort functioning the day before the British attack<br /><br />there were 4 warships & indians & marines<br />it’s a miracl that Fort Bowyer won the battl.<br /><br />the men that held the fort<br />showd remarkabl disciplin & courij<br /><br /><br /><br />Jackson marcht like Napoleon<br />modern pepl don’t appreciate<br />the speed of his marches.<br />i hav a photograph of the ferry<br />west of Center modern-day Caesar<br />& moving 2000 men across<br />Pearl River wd take all day<br />so the march had to be<br />faster than it appears<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Jackson sent an express ahead<br />to Lawrance at Mobile Bay<br />to defend Fort Bowyer<br />the British atackt on September 15<br />& were defeated.<br /><br />Jackson then marcht to <br />take Pensacola that the <br />British had used as a base.<br />500 feinted from the west<br />& 1500 attackt from the east<br /><br />he then marcht back across<br />the Perdido to Mobile Bay<br />in 3½ days &<br />then across Mobile River<br />& then across Pascagoula<br />then across Wolf<br />then across Pearl<br />all this is unbelievabl<br /><br /><br /><br />he left Mobile Novembr 22<br />& was on the outskirts of New Orleans<br />December 1. <br /><br />i hav no dout men died on that march.<br /><br />Darlene askt me if men coud hav<br />forded the Pearl. i said, i didn’t <br />think so.<br /><br />well, there’s sum folks that think<br />death is a laugh<br />& there’s sum folks<br />that are going to march all the way.<br /><br />& Coffee’s riding to Baton Rouj<br />to meet the militia coming down <br />from Tennessee & Kentucky.<br /><br />Mobile & Pensacola were best thot of<br />as ilands in the Carribean.<br /><br />i hav to assume that Jackson crost<br />sumhwer between Picayune & Carriere.<br />hwer my great great grandmother<br />Pearson livd. this wd bring him west<br /><br />across Honey Island hwich is not an iland<br />but a swamp between East &<br />West Pearl hwer you don’t want to<br />spend the night. <br /><br />i don’t believe in saying sumthing abt<br />a ded man that i wdn’t say to his face<br />so there’s very littl i’d say<br />to Andrew Jackson.<br /><br />after the repulse at Baltimore on September 14<br />Cochrane saild for Halifax<br />that was a damn dum thing to do<br />if he’d saild for Jamaica he cd hav beat Jackson<br /><br /><br /><br />according to Jackson’s topographer<br />Major H. Tatum, the Commanding General<br />had the troops that descended the river with him<br />encampt at a healthy situation on<br /><br />Portage Creek, 3 miles northwest from the Town<br />from hwence they coud be expeditiously marcht<br />to any point on that side of the Mobile Bay<br /><br />this is late August. Major Lawrance<br />to descend the Bay wtih several sloops, <br />schooners, & barges laded with Troops<br />cannon & military supplies to make ready<br /><br />Fort Bowyer by the 14th day of Septembr<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />the Creek massacre at Fort Mims<br />was unfortunat for all concernd<br />from Fort Jackson hwer he imposed the Treaty<br />to Mobile Bay is 420 miles<br /><br />down the River of the Alabamas<br />& then across the River of the Pascagoulas<br />there is the legend of the princess hoo fell in luv<br />with a frenchman & waited for him to return<br /><br />& you can still hear her singing<br />& my great great grandmother<br />saw Jackson pass thru Center<br /><br /><br /><br />vessels enter Mobile Bay on either<br />side of Dauphin Iland. the channel <br />on the west side of was then 5’ deep,<br />the east one twice that.<br /><br />so Hermes grounded. otherwise Fort<br />Bowyer would hav been demolisht.<br />& the Creek would hav et em for supper<br />West Florida is the only place i ever want to liv<br /><br /><br /><br />now here’s a book abt the war of 1812<br />& Pensacola is not even in the index<br />do you believe that?<br />I guess Jackson didn’t make that march<br /><br />& thousands of West Tennessee volunteers<br />didn’t march 100’s of miles<br />to stand beside him<br />nope it never happend<br /><br /><br /><br />Jackson was far more careful of the lives of<br />his men than Napoleon.<br />Jean Lafitte & Andrew Jackson<br />boy that’s a pair of pirates<br /><br />Michael A. Bellesiles describes Andrew Jackson<br />as a psychopath hoo saw dueling as<br />a way to murder opponents.<br /><br />he also describes the preliminary battl<br />of Chalmet on Decembr 23rd.<br />the Louisiana militia took off <br />at the sight ofthe British<br /><br />& Coffee’s dismounted gun-men<br />saved the position.<br />they fought with knives & rifle butts against bayonets<br /><br /><br /><br />so Jackson didn’t cross the Rigolets<br />he embarkt at 10 A.M. on board<br />of Collin’s Packet from Madisonville<br />on the west bank of the Chefonta<br /><br />& proceeded across Lake Ponchartrain<br />to Fort St. Johns & up the Bayou<br />6 miles to the Bayou Bridge<br />2 miles in the rear of New Orleans,<br /><br />& arrived at that place between<br />10 and 11 o’clock that night,<br />& landed at 28 miles.<br /><br /><br />Proceeded this day at 7 o’clock A.M.<br />Crost Bogue Homo, Red Creek,<br />at 7 miles. Crost another creek at<br />27 miles & Pearl River at 28.2 miles.<br /><br />Major Tatum states that Red Creek<br />is a branch of Wolf River. i believe<br />that to be an error. Red Creek <br />is a branch of the Pascagoula. Crost<br /><br />Pearl River at Fords Ferry & traveled<br />2 miles to John Fords Fort, in all<br />31 miles & halted for the night.<br /><br />Pearl River derives its name from the<br />numerous pearl shells that cover<br />the bottom of this river, & giv it<br />a handsum appearance in low water.<br /><br />Proceeded from Fords on the route to<br />Chefonta /Tchefuncta/. Crost<br />Pearsons Creek at 10 miles. that wd be<br />my ancestor on grandmother Rose Pearson’s side.<br /><br />then crost Bogue Chitto. that means<br />they crost the Pearl above hwer<br />Bogue Chitto unites. thence<br />24 or 25 miles to Madisonville<br />2 miles above the mouth of the Chefonta.<br />on this day the party had to swim three creeks.<br /><br /><br /><br />the way to go on the gulf is sloops<br />& schooners drawing not more than 5’ water<br />you can get all the way up to Buckatunna<br /><br />Madisonville ust to be calld Cocquille<br />cockles & mussels, alive, alive o!<br /><br />my grandfather past at Bayou Lacomb<br />hwer the last Choctaw livd<br />they did the drunken-man dance together<br />in three-four time<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> yu wa le he yu wa le he yu wa le he<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> yu wa le he yu wa le he yu wa<br /><br />original man rise up<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Wilkinson was the one hoo took Mobile<br />acting undr ordrs from President Madison<br />he sent in men from the north<br />& gunboats into the roadstead between<br /><br />Pelican & Dauphine Ilands &<br />the Spanish agreed to evacuate to Pensacola<br />this was before Jackson. it’s a littl <br />bizarre because Wilkinson reportedly<br /><br />was on the Spanish payroll.<br />perhaps a historian can undrstand it.<br /><br />it seems a littl mean for Jackson<br />to take all the corn he needed<br />& then destroy the rest.<br /><br />& then after the victory at New Orleans<br />he had six men executed. they<br />were three-month Tennessee volunteers<br />hoo had marcht with Jackson to Mobile<br /><br />& now their time was up but<br />their commanding officer did not agree.<br />it cast a pall over the peace treaty.<br /><br /><br /><br />the painting i saw, “Captur of American<br />Flotilla near Lake Borgne, New Orleans”<br />they were warships with three or four<br />guns on each side<br /><br />they had springs on their cabls to enabl them<br />to turn broadsides to the British.<br /><br />Borgne means obstruction (because of the shallowness).<br /><br />i don’t see how the British marines in their long<br />boats under oar were abl to board.<br />it must hav been a nasty battl.<br /><br />Lieutenant Thomas ap Catesby Jones<br />vessel was Jefferson “Number 156”.<br />a Jefferson gunboat wd normally carry<br />one to four guns so the ships in the<br />painting are heavier.<br /><br />the British had forty-two launches<br />& three light gigs & took seventeen<br />killd & seventy seven wounded.<br /><br /><br /><br />hwy we may ask after the defeat of<br />the American gunboats in Lake Borgne<br />was Jackson without intelligence of the British<br />movements for ten days?<br /><br />their defeat was known to Jackson.<br />how can such be possibl?<br /><br />so the sailors were rowing the soldiers to<br />Pea(rl) Iland as a half-way station to<br />Bayou Bienvenu. it was Decembr<br />& the alligators were dormant<br /><br />but they weren’t dormant hwen the sun came out in the morning.<br />by that time the West Indies troops<br />were stone-cold dead, having no wool<br />shirts because Louisiana was nice & warm in Decembr.<br /><br />i started to say Jackson suckerd em in<br />but it wd be more accurat to say<br />that they suckerd themselves in.<br /><br /><br /><br />Captain Harry Smith reacht Spithead<br />with dispatches in twenty-one days<br />& with him news of Ross’ death at Baltimore<br />& so generalship devolvd upon Pakenham.<br /><br />i hav been concernd abt how long it took<br />to get to England. it takes a hwile<br />to learn these things.<br /> if Ross fell on the twelfth<br />that means Captain Harry Smith reacht<br />Spithead October 4th at the earliest.<br /><br />that Pakenham had a 1763<br />Spanish map & mist the rendezvous<br />at Negril Bay & lost control of<br />the landing indicate that he didn’t hav time<br /><br />to properly prepare<br /><br /> on October 17<br />the news of Ross’ death arrived.<br />Major Harry Smith was orderd to sail with<br />Pakenham on Novembr 1.<br /><br /> according to George Napier,<br />hoom Pakenham saw the day before he saild,<br />he “much douted the policy of the expedition<br />or the correctness of the information upon hwich<br />the Government had decided to make an attempt at that place.”<br /><br /><br /><br />the portij from Perdido Bay<br />to Bon Secour i think abt a lot.<br />it was the way my ancestor went<br />hoo was kidnapt by the Pensacola<br /><br />& escapt to go to Pearl River<br />i like it to this day. it avoids<br />all those hotshot naval pilots<br />& the smell of Mobile in summer & fall<br /><br />& it is in between two states<br />so they may not notice you.<br /><br /><br /><br />there’s a famous book written by Thomas<br />Abernethy, From Frontier to Plantation in Tennessee<br />tho not as well known as it shd be<br />abt Wm Blount & Andrew Jackson<br /><br />wd Jackson be considerd the foundr of<br />Memphis on the Nile? well, he bot<br />Chicasaw Bluffs with sum promissory notes<br />that went bad but Overton<br /><br />his campaign manager developt Memphis.<br /><br />his first purchase was a slave girl<br />we won’t inquire too deeply into that.<br /><br />Wm Blount was a North Carolina legislator<br />hoo hired James Robertson to survey<br />& mark vast tracts of land in hwat<br />is now Tennessee & then Blount duly<br /><br />registerd & paid for the land with<br />newly minted North Carolina money<br />& Jackson became public prosecutor<br />& in his first month in office brought 70<br /><br />writs for creditors against detors hoo<br />cdn’t pay for their land. <br /><br /><br /><br />they say that evil spirits gard the Mississippi<br />& i believe em. De Soto, Moscoso,<br />& La Salle too. of course De Soto<br />so casually slayd the inhabitants<br />that he was an evil spirit himself.<br /><br />La Salle was a more careful man<br />& endurd the unendurabl. the idea of<br />going back up the Mississippi<br />after he had found its mouth is madness.<br /><br />if he wanted to found a colony<br />he shd hav done so at Baton Rouj.<br /><br />my father’s brand-new car that the tree fell in on<br />& salt water got up in the engine block<br />in the ’47 hurricane in Pass Christian was a De Soto.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Turner & Abernethy were both studying<br />the west, frontier democracy,<br />but they came to different conclusions:<br />Turner, a hardy democracy;<br /><br />Abernethy, William Blount<br />gobbling up the land along the rivers<br />& if you don’t pay him on time<br />detor’s prison if Andrew Jackson has his way.<br /><br />in keeping with the Memphis of the Nile theme<br />Wm Blount was also buying up land<br />on the Tennessee River to be called Palmyra<br />but all this to yourself for as yet<br />i hav not purchased all the land for this city.<br /><br /><br /><br />George Washington Harris was the most famous<br />american humorist before Mark Twain<br />his character Sut Lovingood was a riverboat man<br />& am beginning to think he may hav sumthing to do with<br /><br />Cormac McCarthy’s Suttree.<br />George Washington Harris was a secessionist.<br /><br />Sevier, Blount, Burr, Wilkinson were secessionists.<br />this was the overmountain men secession.<br />hwat they wanted was to overthrow<br />Spanish control of New Orleans, Mobile<br />& Pensacola so they cd get their produce to market.<br /><br />Andrew Jackson was the culmination.<br /><br />if the devil evicted Sut Lovingood<br />i don’t imagin he was too thrilld to get Andy.<br /><br /><br /><br />Baton Rouge, Natchez, Walnut Hills &<br />Chickasaw Bluffs hwer i was born.<br />hwen James Robertson died in 1814,<br />the last friend of the Chickasaws<br /><br />in Tennessee was gone. that was<br />the same year as the battl of Fort Bowyer<br />there’s no dout that the Iliad & the Euro<br />americans are similar.<br /><br />once Jackson destroyed the Creek at Horseshoe Bend<br />the overmountain movement began in earnest.<br /><br /><br /><br />consequently, the political leaders of the cuntree<br />never brought themselves to inform mili-<br />tary leaders clearly hwat they were<br />suppost to be doing. there was no<br /><br />strategy for the war beyond general agreement<br />that Canada ought to be attackt.<br />this brings us up to the present tense<br />such as it is merrily bombing away<br />billions of dollars.<br /><br />we seem to be in the grip of sum<br />great irrationality.<br /><br /><br /><br />hwen the British acquired Mobile<br />the Creek told em they hadn’t<br />given it to the French<br />they had lent it to em.<br /><br />there’s sumthing abt the maritime trade<br />that entrances me.<br />from Dauphine Iland to Pass Manchac<br />that’s how i make my living.<br /><br />yep that’s the way to go &<br />avoid the port authority wanting kickbacks<br /><br /><br /><br />the Tidewater gentlemen are living beyond their means<br />so one way to solve the problem is revolution<br />there were ten gentlemen hoo owed over<br />5000 pounds sterling.<br /><br />Washington & Jefferson were in the<br />1000 to 4999 det category.<br /><br />i am in the fortunat position of<br />being a bookseller so hwen i order a book<br />it is an investment not a luxury.<br /><br /><br /><br />to-day i had a customer<br />i askt her hwer she was from<br />she said, Pennsylvania. i askt her<br />hwat kind of work she did there.<br /><br />she said, bank examiner. i work<br />for the FDIC. i said, that’s a good job.<br />she said, yes but she’d been there 20 years<br />& was tired.<br /><br />i said, S&P lowerd the United States<br />credit rating. & rightfully so,<br />she said.<br /><br /> can’t get the deficit down,<br />cost a lot of money to kill all those pepl,<br />doesn’t make a bit of sense to me,<br />i said, not the best sales person<br />in the world. <br /><br /> but she bought<br /><em>Mysterious History of Columbus,<br />Letters of Abelard & Heloise, & Eve of Reformation.</em><br /><br /><br /><br />Iberville River is not navigabl to<br />modern ships but once upon a time<br />it was the passij way for canoes<br />from the Mississippi to the Amite<br /><br />to Lake Maurapas to Lake Pontchartrain to<br />Mississippi Sound. there the deep-water<br />ships wd anchor in the roadstead<br />between Pelican & Dauphin Ilands.<br />21’ at the bar.<br /><br />in the Amite Lieutenant Philip Pittman<br />found no less than five feet.<br /><br /><br /><br />if i were to live in the Mobile<br />i think i wd move up to St. Stephens<br />in the summer & fall.<br /><br />the east-west interstates hav made<br />it impossibl for animals to migrate<br />so they will shrivel up & becum immobil.<br /><br />if i shd disappear<br />look for me<br />in Perdido Bay<br /><br /><br /><br />Jackson moved the capitol from Pensacola<br />to Tallahassee on the fall line<br />to commemorate his conquest & to show<br />that he was having no more truck<br /><br />with those Spanish from Havana.<br />& that now the inland overmountain men<br />ruled to the flood plain.<br /><br />i went past there to St. Marks<br />hwer Jackson conned the Spanish<br />& hanged the prophet<br />capturd by flying the British flag.<br /><br /><br />it’s not showing up on the 1999<br />AAA map but the intracoastal<br />waterway has been dug between<br />Bon Secour & Perdido Bay.<br /><br />i’d say that’s the place for me.<br />Bon Secour is hwer the shrimp boats dock<br />& my sadness might be attenuated.<br /><br />on the east side of Perdido River<br />is Muscogee hwich may be the remains<br />of the State of Muskogee.<br /><br />William Augustus Bowles was a Tory<br />hoo tried to make an american indian state<br />after the end of the american revolution<br />& lay in wait in Choctawhatchee Bay<br /><br />for Spanish treasure ships following the coast.<br />an american indian state was a good<br />idea but declaring war against Spain<br />was not the way to go about it.<br /><br />i spent my childhood summers on his beloved<br />Santa Rosa Iland without knowing it.<br /><br /><br /><br />i hav seen a painting of a Seminole family<br />catching & drying redfish on Santa Rosa Iland.<br />George Catlin says they are to be pitied<br />because they are half-civilized.<br /><br />i caught redfish with my father.<br /><br />1834 was 16 years after<br />Andrew Jackson destroyed Bowlegs town<br />& 4 years before that he had had the<br />cavalry hunting down Creek & Seminole<br /><br />in the pine & palmetto around Pensacola.<br /><br /><br /><br />i don’t believe in the original sin of Adam<br />but i do believe in the original sin of Jamestown.<br /><br />hwen i look at the painting of the Seminole<br />drying fish on Santa Rosa Iland<br />i see a center of spiritual gravity<br />that i don’t see in the great planters<br /><br />or the poor pepl marching west<br /><br /><br /><br />we may well considr Jackson a great<br />general but this Jacksonian democracy<br />is a bunch of hogwash. the only <br />person Jackson was interested in serving was himself.<br /><br /><br /><em>Biography of a River Town</em><br />by my father’s dearest friend<br />Gerald Capers<br />tells us how<br /><br />Jackson was abl to acquire<br />title to Chickasaw Bluff<br />years before the Chickasaw ceded it<br />is too complex to relate here<br /><br />but bear it in mind<br /><br /><br />Narváez’s men cdn’t walk any further<br />& tried to make boats at St. Andrew Bay<br />next to Panama City Beach<br />hwer i spent my summers<br /><br />they made their way miserably west<br />to Dauphin Iland hwer the pepl<br />gave them water & food<br />& then there was a fracas &<br /><br />the Spanish broke up thirty canoes<br />& then went on west in their worthless boats<br /><br />we did not know how to bild them,<br />nor did we hav tools or iron or forge<br /><br />or oakum or pitch or tackle,<br />Cabeza de Vaca said<br /><br /><br /><br />Pensacola was once the port of<br />a larj red snapper fleet<br />hwich used fishing smacks brought from<br />Gloucester, Massachusetts. one of those<br />vessels remains, saved for restoration.<br /><br />one wundrs about the world<br />we seem to be passing away<br /><br /><br /><br />Anton de Alaminos chief discoverer<br />of the Gulf Stream had been with Columbus<br />at the Bay Ilands of Honduras hwen the admiral<br />faild to appreciate the significance<br />of the great piragua trading vessel<br />from the north bringing a cargo of<br />products of an unknown civilization.<br /><br />according to Paolo Emilio Taviani<br />the pepl in the pirogue were Chontal Mayas<br />from the southeastern corner of Campeche Bay.<br /><br />in the Bay Ilands they had a trading<br />port on the Playa de los Soldados,<br />Guanaja Iland, to trade for<br />cacao from mainland Honduras.<br /><br />my pirogue was made of marine plywood<br />on a wood frame so two<br />pepl cd pick it up. there was<br />a canal at the end of our road<br /><br />in Metairie that wd lead you past<br />the oyster-shell mounds hwich were<br />a good place to spend the night<br />before bearing away in the morning.<br /><br />it was 8 day’s sail to Campeche.<br /><br />the last time i saw Ann Hess<br />was in Mobile Bay<br />the Union fired me because<br />i mist pay-off<br />hwy i didn’t ask her to marry me<br />then & there<br />i will never know<br />i might hav saved her life<br /><br /><br /><br />on September 19 Cochran after<br />his failur to take Baltimore turnd<br />his squadron from the mouth of the Chesapeake<br />& made sail for Halifax in order to<br /><br />superintend, he said, the making of<br />flat-bottomd boats for the siege of New Orleans.<br />now this is all very complicated<br /><br />he cd hav taken the Labrador current<br />south to Hatteras but then he wd<br />hit the Gulf Stream<br />wd he follow it to the Azores & then to the Canaries?<br /><br />that’s a long way to take flat-bottomd boats.<br />the evidence of his poor performance<br />in Lake Borgne indicates that he<br />never made any flat-bottomd boats.<br /><br />hwat he needed were New Orleans Luggers<br />39 feet long on deck<br />12 feet beam & 4 feet deep<br />two men are a crew. <br /><br /><br /><br />Ann & i took the train from<br />Metairie to West End hwer we<br />listened to music & made out<br />& you may laugh at teenagers<br /><br />but never in my life hav i known<br />such luv. & then Capt Grant’s<br />steamboat thru Mississippi Sound<br />thru Grant’s Pass to Mobile Bay<br /><br />& the end of the line.<br />& i woke up this morning with my<br />sphincter muscle throbbing for her<br />ded these 50 years.<br /><br /><br /><br />i found Perdido Bay before i knew<br />Lafitte was fond of it & if i had<br />half a brain i wd hav taken<br />Ann Hess there & livd happily<br /><br />ever after fishing but we thot<br />we had to go to college<br />& my stupidity assails me<br />& are departed into the eternal dark<br /><br /><br /><br />after the funeral her mother<br />wrote me in response to my sympathy card<br />that she knew Ann luvd me.<br /><br />so hwat was she doing joy-riding<br />on Saturday night with an amateur pilot?<br />baby, you bettr say your prayers.<br /><br />& since she was Swiss Catholic<br />she must hav known a few<br /><br />but i can’t think dying in the Lake<br />Ponchartrain swamp very near<br />hwer i livd was a hol lot of fun<br /><br />bettr she had been in my pirogue<br />& we might hav made it to paradise<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />pepl with any sense wdn’t try &<br />sail up the Mississippi. we’d cum in<br />the back way from Dauphin Iland<br />by way of Mississippi Sound<br /><br />thru the Rigolets hwen the tide was running<br />the right way & into Lake Pontchartrain<br />& dock at Milneburg. on the return<br />i’d sail Ann Hess to the girls college<br /><br />in Mobile. in her memory<br />let us play Milneburg Joys<br /><br />may her being rest in Bon Succour<br />& take part in the Blessing of the Fleet<br />hwen soul is uninhibited by death<br /><br /><br /><br />here we are suppost to be scholars<br />& we are using the Christian calendar<br />but otherwise we are lost <br />in the great infinity,<br /><br />hwen i calld your name in the cauldron of souls<br />i wundr coud we learn a tune<br />so we coud find each other in the underworld?<br /><br />i am sad to say abt the ded sea<br />that was the child of my birth<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />am forever sorry that we did not learn a tune<br />to find each other in the underworld<br /><br />Virginia Woolf said, the artist<br />after all is a solitary being.<br />& God forbid, is she right.<br />i might as well liv on the moon of mars<br /><br />hwer i hear tell there is organic matter.<br />Thera blew up 3531 years before the present<br />& Plato’s account is authentic.<br />Unamuno says we want soul<br /><br />of bulk & substance. well we are <br />of bulk & substance.<br />Castleden says that the women on Thera<br />didn’t normally go bare-breasted<br />but only for religious reasons.<br /><br />i believe that hwen we pass we ought to move<br />into one of those Etruscan-type tombs<br />with a bed & a bottl of wine<br />& a vase of flowers & a light well<br /><br />so the soul can make a gradual transition<br />into the soft, absorbent limestone.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />i don’t believe the soul can survive<br />an airplane crash. it has to hav<br />a gentl transition so hwen it feels the body failing<br />it can scout around for sumthing to liv on<br />like oysters need a clean bed.Robert Head and Darlene Fifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14672804570562410629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7073514609673185993.post-14798062256328536732011-01-24T13:37:00.003-05:002011-01-24T13:54:10.917-05:00Chemistryi don’t imagin Mikhail Tsvet was too thrilld<br />by having to move from Geneva to St.<br />Petersburg & take his degrees all over again.<br />& his throat wasn’t too thrilld by<br />the Russian wintr.<br />he invented absorption<br />chromatography but Willstätter in Germany<br />tried to repeat his work using an<br />overly aggressiv absorbent that denaturd<br />the chlorophyll & said his work<br />wasn’t valid.<br /><br /><br /><br />Gilbert Newton Lewis in his later years<br />investigated the excited electronic states of<br />organic molecules toward understanding<br />their color & phosphorescence.<br /><br />i would say that Lewis is our first great<br />american chemist if i may use that langwij<br />i hav been unabl to find his later papers<br />but you can see the direction he is going.<br /><br />i now learn that Lewis found the phos-<br />phorescence is due to an excited state<br />in hwich electrons that would normally be<br />paird with opposite spins are insted<br />excited to hav their spins in the same direction.<br /><br />but bettr he hadn’t done<br />that last experiment with hydrogen cyanide.<br /><br /><br /><br />Alfred Werner had just gotten his Ph.D.<br />in inorganic chemistry. chemists had<br />at this time made a larj numbr of<br />colord compounds containing transition<br />metals & ammonia or chloride ion<br />or cyanide ion. chemists were<br />unabl to explain these compounds. Werner<br />thot abt them night & day & one<br />night he dreamd the correct structur<br />& got up & wrote his coordination theory.<br />it was immediately recognized & he was<br />appointed professor at the University of Zurich.<br />highly unusual that sumone would read his<br />paper & act on it. i had assumed he was<br />German but he was Swiss. perhaps<br />that would explain it, Darlene said.<br />so he spent the rest of his life refining<br />his theory & giving brilliant lecturs.<br />happiness hold my hand.<br /><br /><br /><br />Paul Pfeiffer was Alfred Werner’s<br />brightest student & became his assistant<br />until they had a dispute. hwat<br />the dispute was about i do not know.<br /><br />perhaps Pfeiffer questioned Werner’s belief<br />that the Co-Cl bonds were a primary<br />valence at long distance, hwile the Co-NH3<br />were a secondary valence at shorter distance.<br /><br />perhaps he said that there was no<br />theoretical justification for their existence.<br />perhaps he said both electrons were<br />supplied by the same atom.<br /><br />perhaps he said that the chlorides are<br />ionized in solution & must<br />be bonded by electrovalence.<br />forgiv us our enmity.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />there is a sadness or glory that envelops us<br />hwen we read the lives of the great chemists<br />much different from reading a textbook<br />& a continuity: Robert Bunsen to<br />Adolf Bayer to Richard Willstätter<br /><br />Bunsen’s burner was before my time<br />Bayer made indigo & discoverd<br />the phthalein dyes & we expect<br />the glory to be past on & so it was<br /><br />until at his height Willstätter resigns<br />because of increasing antisemitism<br />many questiond the wisdom of his decision<br />but he was adamant. & refused to go forward<br /><br />like my generation hoo refused to<br />work for a government that bombd the Vietnamese<br />& became common laborers<br />& so we remain without glory but with honor<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />o weep for me in the quest for my father.<br />he had wanted to be a chemist<br />& everybody said, oh, you’re so smart<br />you should be a doctor!<br /><br />he later told me that he regretted it.<br /><br />i remembr growing up in Pass Christian<br />hwer he was the only doctor. fishermen<br />would go floundering & step on a stingray<br />& he would cut out the bone. the fishermen<br /><br />didn’t hav any money so they would<br />pay him in fish. fish that would to-day<br />cost a thousand dollars. i thot<br />everybody had a seaport & an offshore breeze.<br /><br />you can’t always take hwat a person<br />says about himself at face value<br />there are no chemical notes. the notes<br />that hav cum down are studies of how<br /><br />the Commanche raised their children.<br />& that remaind his passion to the very end.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Calvin became interested in copper khelates<br />hwile working at Manchester with Michael Polanyi<br />& it would hav been natural for him to go on to Munich to work under<br />Hans Fischer had not the two cuntries been approaching war.<br /><br />Calvin publisht his main work on khelates after the war<br />so perhaps the loss of Fischer moved him to do so.<br />there he says that outstanding exampls of the contribution of<br />a strong resonance effect to khelate stability are<br /><br />the natural pigments, such as chlorophyll or heme,<br />in hwich a porphyrin derivativ is bonded to<br />a divalent metal. & shows the resonating<br />structur of the copper khelate of the parent<br /><br />unsubstituted porphin ring, originally<br />synthesized by Fischer. it is<br />the green blood of the horseshoe trilobite.<br /><br /><br /><br />reading Ihde, The Development of Modern Chemistry<br />i came across a reference to unpaird electrons in<br />the oxygen molecule. i drew the Lewis<br />structur & they look paird to me.<br /><br />so i read Sidgwick Electronic Theory of Valency<br />& he said there was no explanation for<br />oxygen’s exceptional paramagnetism.<br />i then read Ephraim & he says<br /><br />the fact that oxygen (O2) is paramagnetic,<br />in spite of an even number of electrons,<br />presents a problem regarding its electron structur.<br />he then goes on to say that according to Pauling,<br /><br />the oxygen atoms are linkt by one<br />covalent bond & two three-electron<br />bonds :O—O:, & that this<br />formulation violates the octet rule.<br /><br /><br /><br />o i don’t know hwat i am going to do.<br />spherical orbitals, dumbell orbitals,<br />& now am sinking into the morass of hybrid<br />orbitals, almost as ignorant as i was<br /><br />hwen i began my quest for the cause of color.<br />Henry Miller said that he had an advantij over<br />most men in that he knew he was his own savior.<br />yeah, well, Robert the self-savior romping on.<br /><br />here we are, all very happy now,<br />& in my dreams oxygen is blue.<br />& John Bartram said that the Valley was<br />the Eden of eastern north america.<br /><br />was, & weep waterfalls.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Calvin in his memoir says Lewis<br />had written a chaptr on color in his book<br />Atom and Molecule many years earlier,<br />in hwich the basic ideas are already exprest.<br /><br />i believe Calvin has conflated Lewis<br />paper “Atom and Molecule” (1916)<br />& his book Valence and the Structure<br />of Atoms and Molecules (1923).<br /><br />i believe in the paper Lewis said<br />the atom tends to hold an even<br />number of electrons in the shell,<br />& in his book he had a chaptr on color.<br /><br />i hav at last found out hwat Lewis said:<br />paramagnetism & color can usually be<br />associated with unpaired electrons.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />the Scots chemist A. S. Couper thought of<br />valence bonds & wrote the formula for methane.<br />then 16 years later the 22-year-old<br />Dutch chemist Jacobus Hendricus<br /><br />van’t Hoff said sum properties coud be<br />explaind by the four bonds directed toward<br />the corners of a tetrahedron with the<br />carbon atom at the center. that was<br /><br />the beginning of structural chemistry.<br />Cooper’s editor delayed publication of<br />his paper & Kekulé got priority<br />& Couper sufferd a breakdown in health.<br /><br />be grateful that Linus Pauling rememberd him.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />if we look at Hofmann’s progression<br />from methane to CH3Cl this means<br />that electronegativ chlorine has been<br />substituted for electropositv hydrogen.<br /><br />chlorine has seven electrons in its valence shell<br />this means that the one odd electron<br />is free so to speak & it is farthest<br />from the nucleus & so least bound<br /><br />& that electron forms a covalent bond<br />with carbon & attains to the octet of nirvana.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />i hav been meditating on the ammonium ion<br />for sum time now. it is represented as<br />four hydrogen covalent bonds with central<br />nitrogen atom & overall valence +1.<br /><br />this doesn’t make a hol lot of sense to an amateur<br />because nitrogen has five electrons<br />in its valence shell so if anything<br />the overall charj should be negativ but it’s not.<br /><br />i used to say that gunpowdr got me high<br />maybe it’s that positiv ion<br />i remember throwing ammonium nitrate<br />under the sweet potatoes watch out for copperheads<br />it was hot & sweaty & not nearly as much<br />fun as gunpowdr.<br /><br />apparently<br />a hydrogen proton combines with the lone pair<br />that is to say<br />both electrons are supplied by the nitrogen<br />so it isn’t strictly speaking a co-valent bond<br />it is a dativ bond.Robert Head and Darlene Fifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14672804570562410629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7073514609673185993.post-63670401505341850752010-07-06T17:34:00.010-04:002010-07-19T18:22:11.732-04:00Robert Head on the Gulf oil volcano<strong></strong><br /><br /><strong>GULF POEMS</strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong>the endangerd loggerhead turtls are<br />crawling up on the beach to die<br />at Pass Christian of my earliest memories.<br /><br />blood runs out their eyes & 20,000<br />cars a day drive past my bookstore.<br />i sit behind sum bushes across the street<br />upwind of it & i can watch my doorway<br />& hwen a customer enters i walk<br /><br />back across 219. i hav plenty of time<br />to meditate on our demise.</strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong>the magnitude of this disaster is hard to imagin<br />going into the third week now & they still can’t stop it.<br />it has already reacht Dauphin Iland<br />hwer Darlene & i spent a week in November<br /><br />long ago we were the only pepl there at that time of year<br />& we sat on the beach & the dolphins came up<br />& danced in front of us. i believe<br />this is the time of year they cum into<br /><br />shallow water to hav their babies.<br />& soon it will be at Panama City beach<br />hwer my father & i rented a motel.<br /><br />the birds may survive a hurricane<br />but not an oil volcano.<br /><br />there’s 5000' of broken pipe<br />crumbled around the oil spout<br />so it’d be hard to lower a bag of<br />barite into the hole in the pichdark<br />without it getting tore up</strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong>the normal rules of evolution break down during<br />an oil volcano. the only evidence of<br />selectivity during extinction has been against<br />species with limited geographical ranj.<br /><br />the oil will circl in the gulf & get<br />in the gulf stream & go up the east<br />coast to Cape Hatteras & thence eastward.<br /><br />the carbon in the oil will combine with<br />oxygen to form carbon dioxide.<br />the sudden release of methane hydrate is<br />postulated as one of the causes of<br /><br />the permian-triassic boundry extinction.<br />the sudden release of oil has no precedent.<br />those species endemic to the Gulf of Mexico<br />will be extincted.</strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong>in southern Louisiana, Audubon recorded<br />the Mississippi kites arrival “about the middl of<br />April, in small parties of five or six.”<br /><br />“24 miles of Plaquemines Parish is destroyd.<br />everything in it is ded.”<br />a starfish washes ashore on the Chandeleur Ilands.<br />it is grey.<br /><br />the bluefin tuna spawn in the Gulf<br />west of the Dry Tortugas.<br /><br />my customer said,<br />they think it’s bigger than they thought it was.<br />yes indeed. the yellow rose<br />of the Gulf of Mexico.</strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong>Teddy Roosevelt establisht Breton Island<br />as a wildlife refuge but that was before<br />the Army Corps of Engineers channeld<br />the Mississippi River & the iland began sinking.<br /><br />it’s all oil. you’re never going to get that clean.<br />the crude oil burns skin & hwen inhaled in<br />high concentrations can cause central nervous<br />system damij, depression, convulsions & loss of consciousness.<br /><br />hwee wee wee wee </strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong>tomorrow is memorial day<br />in memory of the Louisiana delta<br />& the Mississippi flyway<br /><br />in memory of Grand Isle<br />in memory of pompano<br /><br />in memory of West Indies salad<br />in memory of the ferry across Mobile Bay</strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong>the man from the National Wildlife<br />Federation said there was a half inch<br />of oil everyhwer & that nuthin<br />coud liv in that.<br /><br />so that talk about cleaning up the oil<br />is nonsense. there’s no way to<br />clean up the oil in the Louisiana delta<br />that is to say the Mississippi flyway.<br /><br />birds funnel in & out to Alaska<br />& the east coast of Hudson Bay.<br />they hav no vois in their death<br />so it seems to be my job to speak for them.<br /><br />a lot of good it’ll do.</strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong>of the defunct gulf<br />from my friends near the gulf<br />i havn’t heard a word. they must be<br />rendrd speechless. hwat can we say<br />across the space that is almost impossibl to walk.<br /><br />my father turns over in his grave<br />& prays to the water, to a good<br />stream of water.<br /><br />i hate to tell him but the he-bass<br />in the Potomac are carrying eggs.<br />i will advise him to lay down in his grave<br />& wait a million years.</strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong>i think hwat it’s like there in the gulf<br />the heat & the oil vapor & can’t go swimming<br />i’m going to take a bath just thinking about it<br />to get the sweat off<br /><br />Plaquemines Parish has been in bed<br />with the oil companies for eighty-five years.<br />do you think maybe american grief<br />will ever end<br /><br />i used to go crabbing from the seawall<br />in Pass Christian & this morning i saw<br />a dead oil-soakt crab.<br /><br />Edward O. Wilson weeps for the pelicans<br />& Bruce Phelps wundrs how he is going to make a living<br />& the coastguard’s incompetence dooms Perdido Bay.</strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong>the Creek & the Choctaw did many things<br />but they never drilld a hole in the Mississippi Canyon.<br /><br />the oil is already at Oranj Beach Alabama<br />& is working its way eastward to Appalachicola Bay<br />hwer 90% of Florida’s oysters liv<br />& then on to St. Mark’s Wildlife Refuge<br />hwer my father took us to look at the birds<br /><br />St. Marks was talkt away from the Spanish<br />by Andrew Jackson hoo told the commandr<br />that they were on the same side<br />against the “Indians” & the “free Negroes”<br /><br />i believe it was about 1830<br />that the Choctaws signed away their land<br />east of the Mississippi to the “United States”<br />either that or a bullet in the head<br /><br />so mile by mile the united states<br />extended its sovrinty to the Gulf</strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong>it wouldn’t hav been safe walking alone<br />so perhaps the engineer let him ride<br />in the mail-car. well, i was wrong.<br /><br />“I started to cross the State by a gap<br />hewn for the locomotiv, walking sumtimes<br />between the rails, stepping from tie to<br />tie or walking on a strip of sand<br />at the sides. . .”<br /><br />the train had never<br />gotten running after the Federals<br />seized the two terminals in 1862.<br /><br />Muir was lucky to be alive</strong><br /><br /><strong>he walkt all the way to the Gulf</strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><strong>Mobile hwen Bartram visited was<br />a French city. & there were the Choctaw & the Creek<br />& Bartram walkt alone to look at the flowers<br />amidst the over-mountain Cherokee.<br /><br />that would hav been the iland in the sky.<br />i havn’t been that far but i hav been<br />as far as Boone. i like to imagin it<br />the way it was hwen Bartram was there.<br /><br />his writing enabls us to do that.<br />it may be said to hav enterd into<br />the memory of man happier than<br />the epic death now occurring. </strong><br /><br /><br /><p><strong></strong></p><p></p><br /><br /><br /><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>the second larjest extinction in earth’s<br />history not counting the present<br />defines the triassic-jurassic boundary<br />& the rift between west Africa & North<br /><br />America coincides. it would be also the opening<br />up of Pangea. perhaps hwen it<br />opend up & crackt the continental<br />crust it released methane hydrate<br /><br />& that might explain the generic extinction.<br />this rift strata outcrops at the Virginia<br />Solite Quarry hwer the oldest dinosaur<br />tracks in eastern north america are found.<br /><br />the intense late triassic-earliest jurassic<br />rift, deep enuf for the ocean to cum in,<br />coincides with the intense extinction of<br />marine, shelly organisms & amphibians.<br /><br />they are one & the same it must be<br />that the rift opend up the gates of hell.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>remember the torre canyon that crackt up<br />on the rocks in the English Channel<br />that were clearly markt on the chart<br /><br />well, British Petroleum had charterd the ship<br />& they said, oh, it’s not our ship, not<br />our captain, not our crew<br /><br />well, the oil going toward Cornwall<br />the English napalmd & they said<br />it was the most god-awful sight they’d ever seen<br /><br />& the oil going toward Brittany & Normandy<br />the French dropt chalk on it<br />& it settled to the bottom.<br /><br />before the ship broke in half<br />they pumpt sum oil into a quarry<br />on Guernsey & that oil is there to this day<br /><br />& said to hav the most god-awful<br />smell known to man hwich smell<br />is compounded by the tens of thousands<br />of birds that land in the oil</strong></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><br /></p>Robert Head and Darlene Fifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14672804570562410629noreply@blogger.com2