{"id":10603,"date":"2009-02-13T19:27:13","date_gmt":"2009-02-14T00:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/?p=10603"},"modified":"2014-02-11T12:35:27","modified_gmt":"2014-02-11T17:35:27","slug":"valentine-flamingos-return-to-the-stockade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2009\/02\/13\/valentine-flamingos-return-to-the-stockade\/","title":{"rendered":"Valentine flamingos return to the Stockade [updated]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

.. they’re back: Lawrence’s Valentine Flamingos, 2009\u00a0 ..<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A<\/strong><\/em>s we reported in detail this time last year in “Lawrence and the Flamingos – a Stockade Valentine mystery<\/a>,” a flock of pink flamingos (genus “phoenicopteris ruber plasticus<\/em>“ <\/em>) has been returning each Valentine’s Day to the traffic circle home of Lawrence the Indian<\/a>, at the intersection of Front, Ferry and Green Streets, in Schenectady’s Stockade neighborhood.\u00a0 The f\/k\/a<\/em> Gang planned to be up at sunrise on Saturday, February 14th, to see whether our Valentine Flamingo miracle would continue in 2009, and to snap some pictures, if it did.<\/p>\n

To our surprise, while strolling the neighborhood at sunset tonight, February 13, the “flamboyance<\/a>” of fourteen flamingos had already landed at the feet of Lawrence.\u00a0 We don’t know if the blustery winds blowing the past two days across the Northeast accounts for their premature arrival, but Valentine romantics will have even more time to enjoy this Stockade Valentine tradition.<\/p>\n

.. \"\"<\/a> . . . . . . . . . . . . \"\"<\/a> ..<\/p>\n

.. sunset, Feb. 13, 2009, photos by D.A. Giacalone ..<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

.. \"\"<\/a> ..<\/p>\n

The light wasn’t great for this amateur photographer to capture the event this evening, but the photos above surely hint at the joy the big pink birds bring to Valentine lovers and Stockade residents each year (thanks to two flamingo shepherds who want to remain anonymous).\u00a0 We promise to take more photos tomorrow in full daylight and add them below, along with a flock of flamingo haiku and senryu. [follow-up: the tradition continues; see suns along the Mohawk<\/em>, Flamingo Visitation 2011<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

T<\/em>o whet your appetite, here are two haiku written specifically for this year’s Stockade Flamingo event by Roberta Beary, our lawyer friend and much-honored<\/a> haiku poet:<\/p>\n

peeking out
\nof his daughter’s blouse
\nflamingo tattoo<\/p>\n

sober now
\ndad uprights
\nthe flamingo<\/p>\n

… by Roberta Beary<\/a> for f\/k\/a<\/em>‘s Flamingo Flamboyance 2009<\/p>\n

[Click to read the Schenectady Gazette<\/em>‘s coverage<\/a> of the 2008 arrival of the flamingos.]<\/p>\n

Valentine stroll <\/em>\"\"
\n neither lover mentions
\nthe pink flamingos<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026. by dagosan<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

first warm day
\nshe plants
\nthe pink flamingo<\/p>\n

.. by ed markowski – Modern Haiku<\/em> (2008) \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

. . . . continued (Saturday morning, February 14, 2009)<\/em><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

.. \"\"<\/a> ..<\/p>\n

two pink flamingos
\n& a waitress named Sally\u2026
\nsummer begins<\/p>\n

… by ed markowski<\/p>\n

.. \"\"<\/a> ..<\/p>\n

frost on
\nthe flamingo’s beak –
\nValentine breakfast alone<\/p>\n

… by dagosan<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> S<\/em><\/strong>napping photos with near-frozen fingers around 8 AM this morning, I couldn’t help but feel a bit of Valentine empathy for poor old Lawrence, standing there like a prop among the flamboyantly romantic flamingos, and gazing longingly again today at the lovely clientele of Arthur’s Market<\/a>.\u00a0 You may recall<\/a> that our Lawrence statue was originally a carving done by wood carver Samuel Anderson Robb, about 1860, for cigar-store-Indian vendor William Demuth.\u00a0 In DeMuth’s 1872 catalog, Lawrence is listed as <\/em>\u201cNo. 53 Indian Chief<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Like the shy and proud Kaw-Lija (lyrics<\/a>) Lawrence “never got a kiss.<\/span>”\u00a0 As Hank Williams sung in 1952:<\/p>\n

Kaw-Lija, was a lonely Indian never went nowhere
\nHis heart was set on the Indian maiden with the coal black hair
\nKaw-Lija-A, just stood there and never let it show
\nSo she could never answer \u201cYES\u201d or \u201cNO\u201d.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> C<\/em>lick for a YouTube clip of\u00a0 “Kaw-Lija<\/a>” (performed by Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, Jr. at the Grand Olde Opry).\u00a0 Please, don’t be an “ol\u2019 wooden head<\/span>” like Kaw-Lija and Lawrence — take a risk and let her know you care.\u00a0 Maybe next Valentine will be a little less lonely, and you’ll be viewing the Stockade Flamingos hand-in-hand.<\/p>\n

signs of summer
\non the pink flamingo
\nan empty beer can<\/p>\n

.. by ed markowski<\/p>\n

\n

visit home
\nthe pink flamingo\u2019s
\ncracked wing<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026 by Roberta Beary<\/a><\/p>\n

parting her pink robe
\n\u2013daybreak<\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026 by Yu Chang, from A New Resonance<\/em> (1999)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

— hurry: you’ve only got ’til sunset to catch the Valentine flamingos —<\/p>\n

pink envelope
\nValentine hugs and kisses
\nfrom Mom<\/p>\n

……. by dagosan<\/p>\n

update<\/strong><\/em> (Feb. 15, 2009):\u00a0 The Sunday Albany Times Union<\/em> has an entertaining article about the Valentine Flamingos.\u00a0 See “Pink flamingos back in Stockade<\/a>.”\u00a0 Reporter Paul Grondahl says:<\/p>\n

“Nobody has claimed credit for spawning this quirky urban mystery. Of course, nobody’s trying too hard to crack the case and spoil the suspension of disbelief.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> “The sheer audacity and cockeyed romanticism of this random act of oddity inspired the first sing-along in front of the flamingos.”<\/p>\n

No one told the f\/k\/a<\/em> Gang to show up to participate or snap a few shots. Nevertheless, you can click to see a YouTube Stockade 2009 Valentine<\/a> video, with photos by Mabel Leon and Beverly Elander (produced by Jennifer Wells).\u00a0 Due to a technical malfunction, you won’t hear zany Stockadians singing Rogers & Hart’s “My Funny Valentine,” but will have to settle for a performance by Carly Simon and Frank Sinatra.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Another long-legged-avian Valentine tradition<\/strong><\/em>: The Heron’s Nest<\/em> Readers’ Choice Awards<\/a> (f\/k\/a<\/em> Valentine Awards<\/a>):\u00a0 Managing Editor John Stevenson announced this morning (Feb. 14, 2009) the winners of the Ninth Annual<\/a> Readers’ Choice Awards, for the best haiku in The Heron’s Nest<\/em> of 2008 (Vol. X, which is also available in a paper edition<\/a>).\u00a0 Congratulations to all the winners.<\/p>\n

Poem of the Year<\/strong>: Fay Aoyagi had the Poem of the Year, which can be seen here<\/a>.\u00a0 Runners-up honors for best poem went to Burnell Lippy, Christopher Herold, and Harriot West.<\/p>\n

Grand Prize, Poet of the Year,<\/strong> went to Burnell Lippy for his consistently fine haiku. Runners-up honors went to Carolyn Hall, Christopher Herold and Gary Hotham.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Carolyn and Gary are, of course, f\/k\/a<\/em> Honored Guest poets.\u00a0 Carolyn is a perennial winner of haijin awards, and Gary seems to be more active again writing his much-admired poetry for leading haiku journals.\u00a0\u00a0 For a little Valentine reflection, here are a pair by each of them from The Heron’s Nest<\/em> Vol. X:<\/p>\n

enough sunrise \u2014
\na small window
\nin an old hotel<\/p>\n

playground swings \u2014
\na strong wind replaces
\nthe children<\/p>\n

…. by Gary Hotham<\/a> – The Heron’s Nest<\/em> X (2008)<\/p>\n

an eagle sighting \u2014 \"\"<\/a>
\nthe frailty
\nin my father\u2019s hug<\/p>\n

needles of rain
\nthe talk show guest
\naddresses my problem<\/p>\n

…. by Carolyn Hall<\/a> – The Heron’s Nest<\/em> X (2008)<\/p>\n

.. \"\"<\/a> ..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

.. they’re back: Lawrence’s Valentine Flamingos, 2009\u00a0 .. As we reported in detail this time last year in “Lawrence and the Flamingos – a Stockade Valentine mystery,” a flock of pink flamingos (genus “phoenicopteris ruber plasticus“ ) has been returning each Valentine’s Day to the traffic circle home of Lawrence the Indian, at the intersection […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[555,2927],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-haiku-or-senryu","category-schenectady-synecdoche"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-2L1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10603"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11941,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10603\/revisions\/11941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}