Dunderking Regnant / J.V. Cunningham: Montana Fifty Years Ago / Russell Lee: Bean Day Rodeo, Wagon Mound, New Mexico, September 1939

Hopper street [DTLA]: photo by Andrew Murr, 29 January 2018

Times Square cops: photo by Andrew Murr, 27 January 2018

Street | Seen through a wet windscreen! [Larvik, Vestfold Fylke, Norway]: photo by astrid westvang, 22 January 2018

By ship board, winter evening

aneurysm or mine? Blizzard conditions, all but blinded
Went then to her place, the thane downhearted
Old Edgethrow by dockside wandering and sobbing there
battering upon boat hull with bent and broken buckler

bared the bench-boards abroad
spread beds and bolsters, poured wine for the warriors
Wyrd they knew not, they banging on the board
wyrd they anyway were already, ever since boarding.

Hurry on Hrothgar, homeward hasten away, one too many high gravity lager
past your bedtime old buddy, rest that heavy old dome, as erst was done.
They were clansmen good. One beer-carouser, frozen solid
beneath Steel Reserve burden, bound to their sovran king under drifted snow

in danger of doom lay down in the oarlock, destiny unmissed,

paid the price. Else no worry, four bells all calm out upon the tall fjord.

Old mural, fresh threat [eastside, LA]: photo by Andrew Murr, 28 January 2018

Trumpgate [LA]: photo by Andrew Murr, 28 January 2018

New Orleans: photo by Andrew Murr, 29 January 2018

From the series 'On And Around The Volcanic Plateau'. | by bobsan88

From the series 'On and Around the Volcanic Plateau': photo by bobsan88, 12 September 2017

Containers [Larvik]: photo by astrid westvang, 5 January 2018

Container harbour [Larvik]: photo by astrid westvang, 19 January 2018

Albuquerque, New Mexico: photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, 19 January 2018

West Mesa, Albuquerque, New Mexico: photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, 21 January 2018

West Mesa, Albuquerque, New Mexico: photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, 17 January 2018

A stand of White Alders along the Central California Coast[Nisene Marks State Park]: photo by Thomas Willard, 27 December 2017

Oildale, CA: photo by Mike Murphy, 29 December 2017

Orland, California: photo by Andrew Murr, 14 August 2017

Viking was a Common Germanic word which appeared in Old English even before any Norse invasions could have taken place. The Old English form of it was wicing (from wic'a settlement' and the termination -ing meaning something like 'pertaining to'), and the earliest sense, found in the early eighth century, was 'robber' or 'pirate', for settlements in those times were commonly brought about by force, and to the inhabitants displaced by them the new settlers seemed much like robbers.

-- C.L. Wrenn, The English Language (1949)

Shetland Isles, Scotland. Members of the Jarl Squad pose after marching through the streets in Lerwick during the Up Helly Aa Viking festival: photo by Jane Barlow/PA, 30 January 2018

Notice to road users: Always give way for a #Viking @UpHellyAa @Shetland #Lerwick #highwaycode: image via Bob Kerr @bob_kerr, 30 January 2018

Wishing we were at the Up Helly Aa celebrations tonight in Lerwick. A magnificent celebration of Scotland's wonderfully diverse culture. All the best to those involved from CABLE Magazine! #UpHellyAa #Shetland #Lerwick #Scotland #NorseUp #Viking #Nordic: image via Cable Magazine @Cable_mag, 30 January 2018

Check out my Viking helmet in @Sketchfab #Viking: image via PhantomFox @Gerbeedee, 30 January 2018

Monday! No worries, just Hammer Down! #MondayMotivation Shirt exclusively at #menswear #PVG Photo: @bdckool #HammerDown #viking: image via Pain vs Guilt @PainvsGuilt, 29 January 2018

Who Was the Exceptionally Powerfully Built #Viking Buried in the Gokstad Ship?: image via ancient-origins @ancientorigins, 26 January 2018

Supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga, one wearing a mask, attend a mock "swearing-in" ceremony today at Uhuru Park in downtown Nairobi, Kenya. | Photo Ben Curtis: image via AP Images @AP_Images, 30 January 2018

SYRIA - Turkish air strikes pound Kurdish fighters in Syria. Syrian Kurds who were injured by Turkish airstrike on their village receive treatment at the hospital in Afrin. Photo @Delilsouleman #AFP: image via AFP Photo @AFPphoto, 30 January 2018
Afghanistan

An Afghan woman leaves the site of an attack at the Marshal Fahim academy in Kabul, Afghanistan Monday, Jan. 29, 2018. Islamic State militants attacked Afghan soldiers guarding the military academy in the capital Kabul on Monday, killing at least 10 troops and wounding 16.: photo by Rahmat Gul/AP, 29 January 2018

Islamic State group claims attack on Kabul military compound #AFP Picture taken today by @kohsar at the site of an attack near the Marshal Fahim Military Academy: image via AFP Photo @AFPphoto, 29 January 2018

#Philippines Mudflow threat builds with more lava, debris from Philippine volcano #AFP Photo Ted Ajibe: image via AFP Photo @AFPphoto, 30 January 2018

Dunderking Regnant

President Donald Trump delivers his first State of the Union address: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 30 January 2018

Such a perfect version of this characteristic gesture. The act famously stands for what makes Trump Trump: trash and gutter talk, doublespeak, and taking back what he or the party just said. Largely unsubstantial, a man who overrepresents the aside. Photo @evanvucci #Davos: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 29 January 2018

Three justices and "the accomplishment." #SOTU: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

Trey Gowdy. Scary. #SOTU: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

Mrs. P working the mil. #SOTU: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

Hail to the limo. He's going with the (bipartisan) blue tie. #SOTU: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

Love these profiles. #SOTU: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

Buddy pic. #SOTU: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

2024, #SOTU: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

Heartburn. #SOTU: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

The opioid op. Still another intention devoid of policy or funding. #thewhitescourge #SOTU: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

Philip Perdue @PhilipPerdue

Looks to me like using the pain of others to score political points #SOTU2018

Reading The Pictures Retweeted Philip Perdue

Reading The Pictures added,
And take shots at all those violent illegal Hispanics.
image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

The Daily ShowVerified account @TheDailyShow

President Trump reads prepared remarks. #SOTU

Reading The Pictures Retweeted The Daily Show

Reading The Pictures added,

Sourcing.
image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

The cut-away profile on gangs #SOTU: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

Starting to do that annoying thing, staring over at Dems, or jutting arms as in: "what do you have to say?"#SOTU: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

Throws love at Gorsuch. The man eats glass. #SOTU: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

She never wanted this job. #SOTU: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

Something about tax cuts. #SOTUBLACKOUT: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

African-American unemployment has reached the lowest levels ever. #SOTU: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

"Looking for common ground." #SOTU: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

"Looking for common ground." #SOTU: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

Going to the guests early. And also mentions Melania. Peace. #SOTU: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

white, white, white, white, white, white #SOTU: image via Tom Zeller, Jr.@tomzellerjr, 30 January 2018

Something, something "the capital of Israel." #SOTU: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

Make no mistake, Trump is a good television actor. Love this screen shot as he appeals on high. Goes full Norman Vincent Peale. His narcissism blunts any story telling but someone sketched dozens of effective ones. And, they coached the anger out of him. Good for 2 hrs #SOTU: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 30 January 2018

J.V.Cunningham: Montana Fifty Years Ago

Northern Pacific Railway depot, Gardiner, Montana (postcard): Frank Jay Haynes, n.d., from National Park Service Photo Archive: image by Mike Cline, 2009

Gaunt kept house with her child for the old man,
Met at the train, dust-driven as the sink
She came to, the child white as the alkali.
To the West distant mountains, the Big Lake
To the Northeast. Dead trees and almost dead
In the front yard, the front door locked and nailed,
A handpump in the sink. Outside, a land
Of gophers, cottontails and rattlesnakes,
In good years of alfalfa, oats and wheat.
Root cellar, blacksmith shop, milk house, and barn,
Granary, corral. An old World Almanac
To thumb at night, the child coughing, the lamp smoked,
The chores done. So he came to her one night,
To the front room, now bedroom, and moved in.
Nothing was said, nothing was ever said.
And then the child died and she disappeared.
This was Montana fifty years ago.

Northern Pacific Railway depot, Livingston, Montana: photo by Frank Jay Haynes, 1894: from Northern Pacific Views, Edward W. Nolan, 1983: image by Mike Cline, 2009

J.V. Cunningham (1911-1985): Montana Fifty Years Ago, from The Collected Poems and Epigrams, 1971

RussellLee: BeanDayRodeo, WagonMound, NewMexico, September1939