Second-day moon

I am not waiting, no

The red thrush fathoms not our measures

Of days and stars, neither does

The boulder turn from falling

Off the precipice

I am no longer on the mountain

Nor in the plains below

 

 

White crest

There must be

a longing for adventure

There must be

a longing for the sea

I waited where

you never thought to enter

I ran the sun

around a trinity

So I leave you

a sand’s spill from the ocean

I leave you

your still and tidy wings

There is the sound

of drifting silver fountains

And with the dawn

a distant bell will ring

Let the night

renew a course and chapter

Lest the earth

grow warm beneath my feet

For there must be

a longing for adventure

There must be

a longing for the sea

~

Elizabeth Cook, 2015

Anniversary

Temple drums

and fragrant roses

lend their weight

to each grain of rice

on the batsudan

~

Excerpt from Orison

Elizabeth Cook, 2015

What I Learned From Wrestling with Confidential MicroData in a Pseudo-Bunker

127 pages, dozens of hectic emails, millions of observations, 4 Censuses of Population and 1 National Household Survey (NHS) later, and still I could give you the findings of my paper in a few points. Consequently, I somewhat resent this culmination of my degree, which ran to more than twice its recommended length.

In 1986, 36.9% of Canadian women did not have a high school diploma.

By 2011 only 8.9% of Canadian women did not have a high school diploma.

At least there are some interesting insights into how some things in Canada have changed between 1986 and 2011. I examined the individual files of women from these censuses and the NHS, and on their files, the number of children in their census family.

1. Among the total sample of women aged 25-50, higher education had a negative effect on the number of children present. This lessened over time.
2. Among women aged 35-50, after 1986 higher education had a positive effect on the number of children.
3. Lesser-educated women may have children earlier than well-educated women, but completed family sizes are turning out to be very similar.
4. Women aged 35-50 show higher mean numbers of children, an indicator of how women are having children later in life. But this is not true of immigrants. Foreign-born women are probably having their children earlier.
5. Women’s wages have a clear negative correlation with the number of children.
6. If a woman is in a common law union, this has a large negative effect on the average number of children in the family.

From 1986 to 2011, the portion of women with college degrees rose from 27.5% to 38.7%.

I’m going to spend some time on voodoo rituals to gain the goodwill of my unknown grader, who will suddenly receive 127 pages (a good 77 more pages than he/she would have likely anticipated) of unfamiliar tosh which simply works toward articulating those 6 points. And although those points form my Conclusion, I found the little facts in italics to be more interesting than the meat and potatoes of my work. It’s the small things, right?

Between 1986 and 2011 the portion of women with degrees above the Bachelor’s level rose from 3.5% to 10.6%.

I hope this essay chokes on my dust as I fly to Japan.

Will-o’-the-wisp

With the tail end of twilight, descent by chance

Down into my valley, I notice your steps

You a traveler footsore with your hem in the dust

 Seeking safe rest, in grass dry or lush

–

At the base of the slope, under the apple tree

You lay down your pack and drop to your knees

And from within my marsh I dart and I drift

In watching you, stranger, with keen interest

The first to pass through in a seeming age

A bell on your belt, and your cloak an array

Of patches and colours that speak of far places

Of roads well-worn and of roads that wait

For Achanae

Achanae, in sheer golds and greens

Do you still linger there for me?

Your palla the colours of your isle

Your promise to bide, if for a while

–

Whilst I wander ever south and west

At whim and wonder’s soft behest

With they two lovers, surely you know

Any return to your isle must be slow

–

Yet of you, Achanae, I often think

Upon rising and laying down to sleep

Of golds and greens amid olive trees

And of dark tresses left long and free

On the Wing

Chased through the day by Arabian knights

From the dunes to a dock, to a deck I alight

One of sweet solid beams and sails like gold

In the catching of the sun, noon-high and bold

And with a creak of the keel out we sail

As I dance up the rigging, a spiderweb trail