Dull like a brother-in-law in front of a TV

 I always enjoy being introduced to a new poet that is especially able to captivate my attention from the start.  Not every poet is like that, but I often find that an excellent place to go looking for such inspiring wordsmiths is New Letters on the Air.

I’ve had two recent discoveries from New Letters interviews.  One is C. Dale Young who was interviewed by Robert Stewart and the other is Martha Serpas who was interviewed by Angela Elam. Today I want to talk a bit about Serpas because her interview especially hit home with me on several levels.

Serpas grew up in the bayou country of Louisiana. Many of her poems poignantly cut to the heart of the crisis of survival of the very land that she considers her home.

One of her books, The Dirty Side of the Storm was written prior to Katrina with the exception of one poem. But what I heard of the poems from the interview give a personality to the nature that makes up the complex Louisiana gulf basin. Serpas visits the erosion land in the basin with an eye on the threats to its very existence from a variety of man made encroachments including but not limited to the many canals that have been cut through the area for ease of access to the many oil operations.  Of course, if these poems predate Katrina, they also predate the existing BP oil crisis.

In her poem The Water, she has so many minglings of words that I just love. You hear them and they are have an almost living & breathing quality upon the page.  One such example….  “like a dull brother-in-law in front of a TV. He means something to somebody— but not you, not just now.” The poem can be seen in its entirety here and even better can be heard as well.
What I love about her poems is the way she seems to put man smack dab in the middle of nature with all the venerability the becomes both man and nature at the same time. The interdependence that cannot be denied. There too is a spirituality to her writing that is evident in seeking, finding, and losing.

In closing this post I’m sharing a link to the LA Gulf Response that Martha Serpas recommends and check out the video trailer for a documentary that will be released later this year titled Veins In the Gulf.

         















Technorati Tags: Martha Serpas,Veines in The Gulf,LA Gulf Response,New Letters on the Air,C. Dale Young,The Dirty Side of the Storm

My desk at the office

 

This would be one of my more organized mornings. You can actually see wood surface.

I’ve decided to start my morning at work reading a poem before I start the day. I’m trying this because I’ve found that before my writing sessions doing this gets me relaxed and in a creative mindset and figure doing the same before beginning my regular job may well have similar benefits.  I’ll let you know how I feel it is going in a few weeks.

 

Technorati Tags: poetry,creative mindset

Emily’s secret love - The Boston Globe

 

Emily’s secret love

 

Following her father’s death, poet Emily Dickinson did something unthinkable in his lifetime: She began to romance her father’s best friend.

Emily’s secret love - The Boston Globe

Check out this article – I’m curious what people think about the revelation against the backdrop of conventional view of Dickinson?

Technorati Tags: Emily Dickinson

Confession Tuesday – Anniversary Edition

   It’s Tuesday again. That means confession time. Come with me to the confessional…











Dear Reader:

Today is the 36th Anniversary for Cathy and I.  While 36 years can seem like a long time, it’s not long enough….

I confess that I wish I could tell Cathy that I won the Power Ball Lottery last night but alas I cannot.  I buy tickets because she asks me to. I’ve never been crazy about state lotteries. I imagine that many people use what is otherwise non-expendable cash to chase a win / dream.  I hear stories about people who win the lottery and their lives are ruined. Cathy works very hard… I know lots of people work hard but she works especially long hours and I confess I would love to say to her look, you don’t have to do this anymore.  She tells me if we were to win, we would not be one of those couples who watch their lives crumble around them. I confess that I believe she is serious about this.

I confess I made a run to the Evil Empire last night. I haven’t been to Wal-mart in a long time. I try not to take my business there. I was a Target earlier but realized we needed something much later at home after Target was closed.

Amid the World Cup hoop-la I confess to being a scrooge.  When I was about 13, I played soccer. My heart wasn’t in it. I wanted to play ice hockey and ultimately did get to for a time but I always found it hard to figure out why people would run around a soccer field for so long, expending so much energy to personally put the ball in play 3 to six times.  The other thing is that there was so much talk about how Soccer was going to take the US by storm. By Storm!?  Ok, that was  44 years ago. Hello!

I confess I’m not really in as sour a mood as this post likely sounds like. Really, this is a happy day!!!  I have the best wife who loves me in spite of my flaws. I confess I am so very fortunate.

Technorati Tags: Confession Tuesday,Anniversary

Unconscious Mutterings Week 386

 

 

You Say… I Think:

• Executive ::  decision
• Director ::  conductor
• Dress ::  rehearsal
• Studio :: apartment
• Accountant ::  business
• Unit ::  measure
• Engaged :: couple
• Safety ::  inspection
• Post ::  fence
• Dialogue ::  manuscript

Get your own list here

Technorati Tags: Unconscious Mutterings,words

Father’s Day Post

  It’s always a thrill to hear from my kids (if I can still refer to them as such) so on a day in which I’ve been able to see two and talk with the other two, the day is a blessing. Still, there is a sadness that comes with two of them living in other cities.  In the day of cell phones, text messages it does seem to shorten the distance a little.

As a father’s day gift I received a digital camera. It’s really nice, but I don’t understand why I can’t call or text on it since I can shoot photos on my cell phone.;)

Actually, I’m pretty sure that the fact that I took so many photos on my phone seemed quite pathetic to everyone concerned so it was decided I needed a camera.
I do enjoy taking photos. I think photography is a great tool for poets.  Going out on a photo shoot can be a way of looking for ways to see your surroundings in different ways. Isn’t that what we so often do in poetry? Look for new ways to see things, that we might broaden our minds?

One way I’m looking at things from a different view this father’s day is by thinking about my own father. While that may seem seem odd to most, it is outside the norm for me.

My father and I had no contact during my formative years. It was not until I was around 19 that I recall seeing him. And in the few times we saw each other or corresponded after that it was generally an awkward association. Not something that I think either of us could be faulted for under the circumstances but sad none the less. He passed away in 2005 and I was unaware of it at the time. Our relationship or lack of one actually has profoundly impacted my life. In different times that impact looked quite differently to me.

But I will come back to father’s day now for a moment because it has always been about me (at least since I’ve had children) and prior to that it was just a day. This sadly makes me wonder would it would have been like to have that kind of day where I would have focused on a father.  To be the grateful son.

Technorati Tags: Fathers,Father's Day

Dickinson on love and life

I argue thee that love is life. And life hath immortality.  - Emily Dickinson

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Thought For Friday

"Uniformity, in its motives, its goals, its far-ranging consequences, is the natural enemy of poetry, not to mention the enemy of trees, the soil, the exemplary life therein."  — C.D. Wright

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Sometimes you have to find humor

 

Technorati Tags: BP Coffee Spill,humor,UCBComedy

Confession Tuesday - Indignant Edition

It’s lunch time on Tuesday and I’m off to the confessional. Are you following me?

Dear Reader:

During my years of active involvement in the Democratic Party I was exposed to an elected official who often said we must never lose the capacity to be indignant. I think it was likely a paraphrasing of someone else’s remarks but I thought about it then and again these past few days. At the time I first heard it, I believed it to a wise axiom, for when we become complacent with actions that are reprehensible we do ourselves a disservice.

I do confess that I have become tired of the bitter and hateful discourse that has come to pollute our daily lives. And it would be easy to say that enough is enough! Lighten up a little. But this axiom has come back to me recently and I confess that in particular that I am incensed by the recent remarks by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) about the oil spilling (still) in the gulf. It seems Representative Young believes (and I quote) "This is not an environmental disaster, and I will say that again and again because it is a natural phenomenon." Perhaps Rep. Young believes this but drilling a deep sea well from a platform in the Gulf and suddenly after an explosion, the gushing of some 39 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf (and counting) has nothing natural about it. It is not a part of nature.

I confess that I'm also incensed by a political ad run by Rick Barber, a candidate for Congress in Alabama’s second district. The ad is a representation of Barber ranting on the Internal Revenue Service, Health Care, etc., and shows an angry Barber pounding his point all the while a pistol lay beside him as he preaches to our founding fathers. In the end, we hear the rather threatening phrase "Gather your armies." Barber’s ad is incites insurrection. He too may be indignant. But I confess that even indignation must be tempered with responsibility. At a time when many openly carry firearms strapped to their side in plain sight, even as drinking their coffee at Starbucks, there is a responsibility that comes with our political system that asks of each of us the civility that makes peaceful political change a desirable end of our democracy.

I confess that I did not intend to sound preachy today, but I stand by everything I’ve said.

I also confess I will not preach next Tuesday. Unless I get indignant again. ;)


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Linking to Another Place or Time

 

 

I love this quote from Merwin… it’s sort of how I see poetry. A poem can be the link between another place or time. It’s a stone.

"The story of each stone leads back to a mountain." — W.S. Merwin

 

Technorati Tags: poetry in theory

Klaus Update

[Klaus on the ride home tonight]

K-man (one of the many names Klaus has picked up over the years) is doing better in his recovery process. In case you missed it, Klaus sustained serious injuries about three weeks ago. We were fearful that he had a spinal cord injury because he suffered paralysis in his legs. He had feeling in them but for the most part was unable to control any movement in them. He is using them now, the front more then the back. He struggles to upright himself and has some range of motion as we do physical therapy with him.  He has his sassy attitude back.  He gets lots of attention because he still requires much help.  It’s so good to see his determination and yes at times his frustration because that tells me that he is pushing his limits. One day he’s going to be able to stand again all on his own.  Soon the cats food dish will not be safe.

Few Journal Bits

I feel like we’ve already had more rain this year than all of last. I wake up mornings and I wring out my water logged brain and reinsert it in my head cavity and start the round all over. It has become insane!

At the left is a shot of the evening sky – the view westward from our neighboring Target. Yes it appears to be clearing. Long term however, we have showers in the forecast again tomorrow and Tuesday.  Who knows beyond that. It’s just like Chinese water torture only on a larger scale.

Some writing success during the past week. Some things I’m happy with as draft starts.

A few journal bits from this past week-

• 6-13-10  “eyes of emerald / a woman’s face / lashes like passengers / lined at the rail of an ocean liner / waving as she departs”
• 6-11-10 “Oh my God Klaus has improved. Last night he was trying to get up on his own. He cannot yet stand on his own but we can actually see this happening in due time.”
• 6-09-10 “I am watching my to-do list grow faster than I can attack it.”  :(
• 6-07-10 “it was well within the probability / you don’t think of / even when the thought occurs / a buzz that you wave off”
• 6-07-10 “that’s where you were— / the wild card I never used / the coupon that stayed on the refrigerator / well past the expiration”
• 6-07-10 “you remained an uncashed coupon / till the day you expired”

Couple of quotes I saw this past week that spoke to me:

"The first task of the poet is to create the person who will write the poems." -  Stanley Kunitz  Thanks to Susan Rich

“The two most engaging powers of an author are, to make new things familiar, and familiar things new.” - Samuel Johnson

 

Technorati Tags: Journal Bits,Stanley Kunitz,Susan Rich,Samual Johnson

Unconscious Mutterings week 385

 

You Say…. I Think:

• Offense :: score
• Bench :: press
• Kissing :: lips
• Timely :: arrival
• Yellow ::  submarine
• Get up and go ::  got up and went
• Beer :: Ale
• Calories :: intake
• Blast :: from past
• Window :: platform

 

Get your own list here

Technorati Tags: Unconscious Mutterings,words

Confession Tuesday - Electronic edition

Sometimes it's not easy pulling together a confession a week. Not because I don't have anything to confess but because the things I have to confess these days are not the stuff tabloids are made of.  So if you care to, come along with me to the confessional.

Dear Reader-

I confess that after about a month, I love my Blackberry Tour. It was hard moving from a palm platform because I liked the platform. I also liked having a touch screen and I confess that up until about 10 days ago I would still try touching my screen which makes me feel a little goofy but I think I'm finally over that.

I like that it loads the Internet with greater speed than my previous phone. I like the assortment of applications available to me. Sprint Navigation is awesome! 

I confess there are some aspects of electronic things today that I am becoming more ambivalent about. I have been able to weed out a lot of my email with my phone before I ever get home to my laptop and I like that. But last Sunday I had a work related email that came in and I wanted to respond to it and at the same time I didn't. As a result I decided I'm not sure that I like getting my office email available to me 24/7.

I confess that in our family, I'm the text messaging weakling.  Each of my family member probably way out text me.  Two I know for a fact because I see their message counts on the bill. I don't even come close.

There have been multiple days that I have come home an not turned on my laptop during the past two months. That would have been unheard of not long ago.  I think three days in a row is my longest abstinence.

I confess that my blogging posts are down.  I also confess that I am less enamored by Facebook these days. It is mostly the privacy thing. I think their policy changes have been disingenuous and this really irks me. But there are other things as well. Still, I do appreciate the contact if even limited from many other artists and poets. So I'm not quite ready to pull the plug yet.

I think it is the Capricorn in me that likes electronic trinkets and phone applications. But I am somewhat restrained compared to some people I know.  As for my Blackberry, I can justify it by the functionality of its many features. The calender, camera, task lists besides phone itself are just a few of those things that provide value to me.

As we become more electronically conditioned as a society, I'm trying to pick and choose for what it's worth.

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It seems the train has pulled out... where are we going?

For several weeks now I have been thinking about the future of the printed word as we know it.  As the weeks have gone by I have collected in my mind a spider web of sorts of related thoughts that have attached themselves or become caught-up in in my flow of thought. Some of these thoughts have been fueled by things I've heard on NPR or read elsewhere but they all seem to collide with the issue of where the electronic age we are in is taking publication of creative material.

It stared with feeling that perhaps this latest wave of ebook apparatus has perhaps been gaining traction.  I've watched with interest the pricing of electronic books themselves seem to hover for the most part at the $10 mark. Given materials for electronic books are (paper, ink binding) are non-existent, this leaves a larger profit margin to work with up front. So a traditional publisher who has the electronic rights has nearly no production costs.  You put together the artwork and set up the file and zing!  Oh, right, it still has to be marketed. They won't be seen on traditional bookshelves in stores unless they have a companion print edition.  They will need to be marketed  (thought pause) electronically! It seems that there really is little expenditure needed in this process, so my question is, "will this be a better deal financially for the writers or the publishers/distributors?"

The ultimate cost that these books settle into like anything else will adjust themselves based upon the market demand.If ebooks become the norm of future publishing this really could change the scope of the economics associated with earning a living as a writer. It could vastly improve it, but I tend to think that will not be universal. Certainly those who've made a name for themselves could adequately market their product without a distributor and many others will have to accept what margins publishers offer or battle for attention amid what is clearly going to be an abundance material as anyone will be able to publish.

Yet where this is leading economically, epubishing that is, is not the only aspect of this that is on my mind. A recent NPR piece called to question what impact the Internet and utilizing  electronic devices is having on our reading abilities. The Shallows': This is your brain Online offers some interesting questions about our  reading habits and comprehension. Are we so accustomed to the Internet with pop ups and scrolling, throw in e-mail and searches; that we are dumbing up our reading skills and comprehension. Because we can say something in 140 words or less doesn't mean it is the best way to communicate ideas.

I have a lot of questions and concerns about the future of print in our society. Answers I'm lacking.



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Counting

What's going on
in his miniature mind
another day of rehab
by 10 pm he is as worn
as any of us

His eyes will acknowledge me
but they'd rather close
in fact were part way there
but grew bigger on my account

His front right leg is jittery
a nervousness pent up
in legs that have done little
since a brute attack

We hear estimates
two weeks - a month
he sighs and I do as well
it seems long
longer if counting
in dog years


Michael A. Wells © 2010 - All Rights Reserved

Saturday Morning - through a dog's ear

This morning I made a Diet Coke run to Quick Trip and then drove own down the way to a little lake area close by and shot a couple pictures just because the spirit moved me to do so. ( the phote left is one)

Back home, as I do his blog post, Klaus is near by - his recovery is coming along though slowly. We put on a CD of classical music (through a Dog's Ear) which he seems to be enjoying and and is kinda of funny because no one else in the household  (people wise) likes the music except me.  I'm not certain what that says about them or me but we'll leave it at that.

Some work to do now-  but I do have writing on my radar for today as well.



                                                       

Gone

I saw this AP photo on Suzanne Frischkorn's blog and was struck by the simplicity of the message about what has become quite likely the greatest ecological disaster in our history. 

Sadly there is nothing simple about stopping the gulf spill. It continues to spew oil into the gulf creating a growing ecological dead zone.  If the spill were stopped today (which won't happen) the damage to the coastal areas are already beyond the imaginable.  No one knows when this will end and this is precisely because we have no fail safe remedy. The oil industry is unable to manage their own disaster.  Government agencies charged with regulating the industry for decades have been beholden to the industry. This should come as no surprise.  And all this time, there are people in this country who have argued in favor of more aggressive offshore drilling. Not only stated their case for it, but held rallies carrying signs and chanting, "drill baby drill."  What do these people have to say now? Perhaps they can put into words their justification in such a way that people along the coast that make their living off the region can understand. This is not going to be like a bad growing season to a farmer. This is not a year of drought. This is destruction. This is uncharted waters and indeterminable death to an ecosystem. Sometimes man sees himself separate from the ecosystem and thinks he is without repercussions. I'm not sure which is the greater ill, short sightedness or greed. They both seem to be are Achilles heel.

Confession Tuesday - Miracle Edition

It’s Tuesday though it really doesn’t feel like it to me so before it turns Wednesday already, let go the Confessional.


Dear reader…

I confess that for the first time in I don’t know, like almost forever I did not watch the Indy 500 this weekend. I love the Indy 500. I don’t care for NASCAR racing but I love the open wheel Indy cars. So how did this happen? I was pretty much overcome by an incident this weekend. I didn’t intentionally not watch it, it just completely fell off my radar till after it was over.

What was a horrific injury to one of our dogs that left him injured and unable to move his legs left a cloud over the entire household. He spent the weekend and right up till this morning in an animal hospital. The fear and I would add assumption was that he suffered a spinal cord injury. Diagnostics and treatment of such would be enormously costly and with guarded prognosis. This morning he came off the intense steroid treatment and pain killer IV and was transferred to a neurologist.

I confess that this weekend I pretty much lived on prayers that somehow there was a bit of hope for Klaus.

Around 10:30 this morning the news came that the neurologist felt he did not have a spinal cord injury but that he would make a recovery. Even two ribs that the animal hospital believed were broken did not appear to him to be broken. He has sent Klaus home to us with instructions for him to be allowed to move as much as he wants and if after two weeks he is not up and walking – he will talk with us about physical therapy.

I confess that I do believe in miracles.

Journal Bits

 

I’d like to say that this has been a relaxing and enjoyable three day weekend, but it hasn't.  I will spare the details but it has been very depressing and difficult to function for very long with succumbing to the sadness.

I am however going to do a few journal bits form the past, since I’ve neglected to do this for a while.

• MAY 26 – If my mind were a box, what would the corners be like? What would be in the corners? I think my mind might be a bit like my desk at work. I see the corners as a place things might gravitate to. Important things that are looking for a place to be found
• MAY 28 – How do you go about claiming a gut level feeling or experience that is clumsy in translation?  
• MAY 30 - “… it has been hard to write-“
• MAY 30 - frailty of trust's small black eyes / cut to the heart of the matter
• MAY 30 – J. D. McClatchy  from The Poets Notebook Pg 155   “On the overemphasis of clarity in writing: A. J. Liebling  said the only way to make clear pea soup is to leave out the peas.”

 

Technorati Tags: journal bits

Live from the Ocean Floor: New Oil Leak Widget Features 'Spillcam' | The Rundown News Blog | PBS NewsHour | PBS

Live from the Ocean Floor: New Oil Leak Widget Features 'Spillcam' The Rundown News Blog PBS NewsHour PBS:



Click Here to visualize the size of the PB oil spill in the context of your hometown

Unconscious Mutterings Week 383

You say, I think…

• Fresh air :: NPR
• Bodyguard :: Brute
• Wedding :: Planner
• Remind :: Elephant
• Wicked :: Step mother
• Crawling :: Ants
• Gasoline :: Alley
• Anyone :: Home
• Dancing :: Dirty
• Wall :: Facebook

 

Get your own list here

 

Technorati Tags: Unconscious Mutterings

A Flowering Tribute To Emily Dickinson : NPR

 

The poet Emily Dickinson lived a reclusive life at her family's home in Amherst, Mass., but while she rarely went out into society, she did spend a lot of time outdoors. Dickinson loved nature and was an avid gardener, and now an exhibition at the New York Botanical Garden called Emily Dickinson's Garden: The Poetry of Flowers is putting on display a side of the poet that is little known.

Gardening was a huge part of Dickinson's life and her art. "I was always attached to mud," she once wrote, and a sophisticated understanding of plants and flowers is reflected in her poetry. According to Gregory Long, the president and CEO of the New York Botanical Garden, Dickinson used to tuck little poems into bouquets of flowers that she gave to her neighbors.

{for full NPR story click below}

A Flowering Tribute To Emily Dickinson : NPR

 

Technorati Tags: Emily Dickinson,Botanical Garden

Emily Dickinson Video Game | WBUR

 

Who would have thought it? 

 

Emily Dickinson Video Game | WBUR

 

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Confession Tuesday

It looks really nice outside and given the amount of rain we’ve had recently that’s a good sign. I should head off to the confessional with lots of uplifting tings on my mind but I fear this is not so. Given my mood today, you might want to tiptoe softly to join me in the confessional.

Dear reader, yes it’s Tuesday again and so what! That’s kind of how I’m feeling today. I’m waiting to hear from my doctor’s office, and waiting, and waiting, and if you can’t tell I’m really not a very patient confessor today.
 I called my doctor’s office on Friday and left a message about some blood work needed following a test that they scheduled. They knew full well that I would have to go off a medication that is rather important and that I would need a drug screen before I could start it up again. I needed to be off the medication for 48 hours after the test and then resume after a new blood screen cleared me to start again. I’m still waiting for the ok some 130+ hours later.
 I confess that I also have a colossal headache right now. I’m tired and grumpy as well. Did I mention I’m not in a very good mood?

For some reason I’ve been pretty emotional this week. I confess that I’ve been feeling a little nostalgic about a few things this past week. Nostalgic for music, especially the 1960’s and 1980’s tunes. Don’t ask me why those two decades and not the seventies too.


I confess this nostalgia carries over to other things as well. Like when the kids were younger. For that matter, when we all were younger as well.
I talked to my wife earlier and she said they her office was having lunch from Spin Pizza (including Gelato) and I confess to being hungry and jealous at the same time.
 Lastly, I confess that my lunch hour is about over so I am through with my confession.
 Till next week~

From my journaling today...

"I cannot expect to grow as a  writer
 staying in areas of comfort.

One does not explore in comfort,
one soaks in it like a leasurly bath."

Waffle Time

Some of you may have noticed the delicious looking waffle on the right sidebar and I've been meaning to comment on it for weeks now. Not sure how long I'll leave it up, things are getting a wee-bit busy on the blog, but it's a button for the sight The Chocolate Chip Waffle.  This is a blog written by the very multi-talented writer Terresa Wellborn.

What I most like about her blog is the photo images and the word images her writing paints. Her poetry is refreshing, earthy, and uplifting. It's no wonder is has over 800 followers between networked blogs and google follow. With those numbers, there is a good chance you've already discovered her blog, but if not, what are you waiting for? 

Now if I just had some waffles....

Unconscious Mutterings - week 382

You say... I think:

• 1.Cream :: corn
• 2.Be with you :: I wanna be
• 3.Pancakes ::  I hop
• 4.Believe ::  make
• 5.45 :: less than 6
• 6.Eat :: out
• 7.Background :: check
• 8.Pane :: window
• 9.Aim :: messaging
• 10.Collapse :: dead tired

Get your own list here

Penvy?

I have so not blogged much in the past couple of weeks and I'm going to catch up today, so look out!

For starters, I want to thank Suzanne Frischkorn for adding a new and amusing word to my vocabulary. Suzanne linked today to a blog post at Tough Love From Tayari and Tayari linked Urban Dictionary and the word is penvy.  Definition number one is my favorite...   the wave of nausea that hits you when you read about forthcoming books by people you went to college or even once slept with that came out to great acclaim while you haven’t written anything in….ever. Coined in a contest at The Old Hag and picked up with days by the online writing community.



While perusing the trades for new releases to stock her bookstore, Janine was overcome with penvy at the sight of her ex-boyfriend's picture next to what would probably be his second bestseller.
 

~0~

 

I noticed that Beth Ann Fennelly (extraordinary poet) will be one of several  instructors at the Sixth Annual Clarksville Writers’ Conference ...  July 28 – 31, 2010  Her presentation is titled “4 Ways Writers Can Use Sound to Make Meaning."  That sounds so fascinating.  I wish I knew someone going and taking notes, or better still, going myself.
 

~0~

 

 

Poetry for A Sunday Morning

 

A Few Thought Not on Poetry

At the left is a photograph of just a small portion of what the recent oil spill in the Gulf region is like.  It's evidence of a much larger - might I venture catastrophic accident from an off shore drilling site. 

I'll make my case for catastrophic on this basis.  We know factually that the Exxon Valdez oil spill in spring of 1989 was small potatoes compared to the current Gulf spill. Some 20 years later The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council continues to monitor the impact and reports that some areas remain as toxic to wildlife as they did just after the spill.  By size comparison, Exxon's spill was surpassed in size by the BP Gulf spill by the end of it's first week and it remains an active spill in spite of all efforts to control it and begin the cleanup. 

I've heard criticism in the past week or so that the government response is not unlike that of the government's response to Katrina.  I'm not sure I believe that is a fair comparison because we knew how to lift people from house tops. We know how to distribute food and water. To mobilize and move people. You see, no one seems knowledgeable about how to stop this spill for certain.

One might expect that if government is going to authorize and regulate off-shore drilling, they would first have a clear idea what to do in such cases. That also implies that the industry itself knows and convinces the government that there are methods to deal effectively with accidents such as this. We know now that even BP is using the trial and error method of abating the spill. I will assume that other industry giants are no more knowledgeable or they would be sharing their knowledge, after all the outcome of this spill cleanup will impact the future drill prospects for them. There should be no industry secrets here.

Yes, I believe the government is ill repaired for regulating the oil industry, but it is also clear they require regulation. Such a problem is however not simply a problem of the Obama Administration, but clearly a systemic problem that spans many administrations and places far to much reliance on the oil companies to "do the right thing."

The damage to the economic, ecological, and health of the Gulf Coast states is immeasurable. Not for the short term but for decades maybe centuries. No plan for dealing with such accidents is no different from licensing nuclear power plants with no thought given to how you decommission one or what you do in the case of an accident.

It was not that long ago people seemed to think it was somehow Unamerican to not be a part of the "Drill Baby Drill" crowd.  How is it that being stewards of our environment is unpatriotic?

Confession Tuesday on Wednesday

I confess I’m late! Hurry with me, I must get to the confessional.


Yes reader, I’m a day late with my confession, but I will argue with good reason.


My daughter has been in town and we did some things together yesterday which kept me away from the computer until late last night. So I confess that I did miss the mark on Tuesday but ask for special dispensation as I was doing a fatherly thing.


I have to confess that before we saw my daughter off this morning I was a bit teary eyed, though I kept myself together in here presence. I have the capacity to get like that at times. When my grandmother was alive, and lived out of the area, I would get misty eyed every time we left her place to return home. I could keep it together till we got on the road and then it would just hit me. ~0~


While Meghan was here, we went to see the exhibit Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race that is currently in Kansas City at our National Archives. The exhibit is a part of the United State Holocaust Memorial Museum and Meghan visited the Museum some years ago in Washington D.C. and has always raved about what a magnificent exhibit they have. Hence when I learned this was here through sometime in June we made plans to see it during her stay.


The exhibit was not quite what I expected but it was time well spent. I of course was aware of the concept of the “master race” that was a part of Hitler’s purge of Jews but I must confess I was not really aware of the extent to which this view was prevalent within parts of German society prior to Hitler assuming control. Equally of surprise to me was that there were societies even in this country that were subscribing to the ideology of eugenics or “good birth" (eradicating those deemed undesirable so as not to allow them to be part of the gene pool).


I was amazed at how much traction this ideology had gained in the public and how much widespread support it had within scientific communities. When I see how easy it is for individuals who collectively espouse such shallow views as say the “birthers” today to embrace and propagate their views and I compare that to the wide level of acceptance eugenics enjoyed by intellectuals and scientists, I confess that it sends shivers up my spine. Such blind faith in an ideology with no consideration of the ethics involved is scary.


I did not mean for my Tuesday Confession on Wednesday to be such a downer, but as the saying goes, it is what it is.


Thanks for listening.

Tonight I was thinking...

Dreams are connected circuits—

 a marriage of fantasy and authenticity;

 of fright and quietude.

Auld Lang Syne

On a lesser day
I’d be working with the masses
and you would not be privy
to what I am saying—
but a lesser day this is not.
Today I hopped a ride
over town and joined you
and others and was touched
by your laughter and smile.
The cloudy sky had broke wide
open by the time we parted.
As I dove into the east
I left behind the topaz ball
slowly descending
like the Times Square ball
on New Year’s eve and I thought
how I celebrate you each time
we are together—
and how departing is like
saying goodbye to the passing year.

Clever Fake BP T-Shirt: "We're bringing oil to American shores."

Oh my...how true.  This shirt is available from Dispair Wear

Unconscious Mutterings - Week 381

You say.... I think:

• 1.Labor ::  pool
• 2.Sweater ::  cardagan
• 3.Five minutes ::  drill
• 4.Treatment ::  center
• 5.Eyebrows ::  dark
• 6.Awake :: laying
• 7.Salmon ::  spawning
• 8.Red ::  snapper
• 9.Hospital ::  medical
• 10.Midwife ::  delivery

get your own list here

Poetry in the News

Gregory Cowles blogs in the NY Times on Poetry

 Does Poetry Matter?

Sometimes the planets align and you start seeing the same idea discussed by different people everywhere you look, as if your brain had stumbled late at night across a niche cable station broadcast by the universe itself. For me lately the show has been all about the relevance of poetry, as in: Is poetry relevant? Even among poets there seems to be a nervous consensus that it’s not.

~0~
 
I'm glad the poetry sidewalk public works venture is still thriving in St. Paul, Minnesota 
 
St. Paul Public Works officials Wednesday announced the winners of the 2010 Sidewalk Poetry Contest. The city annually replaces approximately 10 miles of sidewalk as part of its regular maintenance program. To date, 26 different poems have been stamped into 260 locations around the city


~0~


Ask the Experts: Carmen Gillespie on poetry

This week, we asked Professor of English Carmen Gillespie to talk about the importance of poetry in our daily lives. Essence recently named Gillespie one of its "Forty Favorite Poets" in honor of the magazine's 40th anniversary. Gillespie was recognized for her poem, "Lining the Rails," about her maternal family.


~0~

Just the Fact, Ma'am: The Statistics of a Manuscript shared by the poet author

The first poem mentions crumb cake and the penultimate poem mentions crumb cake. I cannot tell you the last lines in the collection as that will hopefully be a gift to you when/if you read it, but I can tell you the first and last poems mention "passion" (not the Mel Gibson movie) and have references to Alice in Wonderland in a couple ways along with Emily Dickinson if you're paying attention. ;-)

Spins

The knots are tight

laced lies that hug

her waist

she sees them
for what she wants
to make of them

one day blunders
another she blames
on her genes

Rainy Day

The rain slipped past us

like a line cutter

and puddles glare upward

frown and all

It was a day that stuck me

in the eye

with the tact of Donald Trump

and plagiarized my distaste

Across the Walkway

Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings - always darker, emptier and simpler.  ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Unconscious Mutterings - week 380

You say, I think:

• 1.Rock n Roll :: Hall of Fame
• 2.Be with you :: together
• 3.Richard :: Simmons
• 4.Hair ::  piece
• 5.Police :: Cop
• 6.Experience :: job
• 7.Father figure :: Cosby
• 8.Nice ::  day
• 9.Switch :: light
• 10.Appearance :: guest

Get your own list here

Confession Tuesday - White Fudge Almond Divinity Edition

Oh Dear…Another Tuesday has arrived and time to head to the Confessional… so let’s get started.

Dear Reader I believe there must be another commandment that was somehow lost from the original stone tablets. The 11th commandment I'm pretty sure must have instructed us not to covet all of the Wells’ Blue Bunny White Fudge Almond Divinity Ice Cream. I must confess that I am very guilty of this 11th commandment. I not only covet all of it that comes into our household, but I want all of it that is produced. I want it… I want it… I WANT IT! I will confess this is a seriously sinful gluttonous want. (Unless this was not already obvious).

While we are talking about excesses… this month I managed to win six poetry books from the Poetry Month Book Give-a-way. I confess I feel a little guilty about this, like I should not have been so lucky… but they are poetry books. I mean can anyone get too many poetry books? Really?

This must be the week of excesses. Thanks for listening… may all your excesses this week be good ones.

Overdue Journal Bits

  I’m a little overdue for a for a posting of journal bits so here goes. The following are a sampling of my recent journal writings.

I keep a common journal. It includes journaling about life, writing drafts, quotes I find that strike my fancy. And occasionally one of my completed poems after many rewrites

May 8 – [observation]  While labels are necessary to the existence of language, they also have the potential to be a detriment to mankind.

May 6 - [observation] Last nights Mary Oliver reading got me to thinking about my place in the family of things.

May 5 – the room swings / an awkward stroll through the park / the windows dance on the walls

the bed is a boat afloat / that I am at a loss to reach

May 3 – I was not good to writing over the weekend. I neglected it and did not especially realize it until today.

April 29 – pushed back from the walls / an echo rebuking me / when I wanted to walk away but did not

April 26 – Macaroni and cheese must be the ultimate comfort food of my generation. I think there is a poem somewhere here.

 

Technorati Tags: journal bits

Times for Poetry to Thrive

 

‘The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be.'’  ~Paul Valery

When I was maybe 7 years old and thought about the future my recollection is I recall it involving space exploration. Not my personal future mind you, but in the broadest sense, the future of mankind. At that tender age, it even seemed believable. You see, as far away as the future seemed to me, there was a level of expectation involved in it.

Not all my expectations of the future seemed to be positive or exciting. At age 8 to 9 I also lived as many at the time did in fear of nuclear warheads dropping out of the sky. This fear of course had a far greater rational aspect to it at that time then my thoughts of exploring space and even visiting the moon. And this latter threat was at that time as much about the present even more that the future. As the Cuban Missile crisis ended, the threat of future nuclear war did not. It remains a possibility today and in fact seems even more likely from a rogue entity  then any foreign nation.

There are so many aspects of changes in society today that demonstrate the remarkable rate of new advances in medicine and technology that make thinking about future advances a mind spinning exercise. This gives credence to Paul Valery’s quote… the future is just not what it used to be.

It was not all that long ago that Sarah Palin was being introduced to a crowded convention hall in Denver, Colorado and the rest of the nation as the Republican Vice Presidential Candidate.  That night she brought the people to their feet with signs and chants of “Drill-Baby-Drill,” a slogan that would spill over into rallies around the country that lasted well past the election and continued until recently and now we only shake our heads over a different spill over into the gulf region that is slowly trying to regain some measure of what it was before hurricane Katrina blighted the region.

We are more interwoven into the economic fabric of the rest of the world that things can happen overnight on the other side of the globe and we find ourselves dramatically impacted by it.  You are no doubt wondering where if anyplace I am going with all this. If you were expecting solutions, I am sorry, I have none to offer. These  are painful times for many and sadly for many, they are paying the price of a greedy few. I could tell you that I believe I see some positive signs by our government, but as the Old Breton fisherman’s prayer that John F. Kennedy liked to quote goes, "Oh God, Thy sea is so great and my boat is so small." I do however believe that for the rest of us, these are the times best made for poetry. Times when we need things to bind us together. Things we hold in common like language.

It was at the Mary Oliver reading this past week that this remarkable lady who is not a world leader, not a legislator, not a religious figure, not even an editorialist, but rather a simple poet; quite likely unknowingly instilled a degree of peace and spirituality upon us that I’m sure made that short period of time together worth much more than any of us might have imagined in advance.

I hope throughout this year already filled with much uncertainty, poets will write and readers will read and we will all be blessed by poems that touch that place where our hearts and minds meet.

Technorati Tags: poetry now more than ever

What I'm Reading...

Presently I have two new poetry books on my reading stack. They are Circle by Victoria Chang  and Thirst by Mary Oliver.   I addition, I have several other poetry books that are coming my way so I will be busy with new material for a few weeks.

I've previously read Salvinia Molesta by Chang and I'm excited to be reading Circle . When I've finished I'll post my review of it.

Oliver Reading Wednesday Night

Wednesday evening I drove to Lawerence, Kansas after work to hear Mary Oliver read at the Leid Center for Preforming Arts. I suppose my only dissapointment of the evening was that I was unable to use the camera on my new Blackberry as it was announced that Ms Oliver had requested no photos be taken. Therefore, I cannot take credit for the photo at the left.


Leid Hall is a marvalous venue for arts. Modern, accustically sound, physically comfortable in seating. I have no idea for certain what the attendence was but it was easily 400 or more.


This was my first live contact with Mary Oliver and I came away with a few thoughts about who she is and how that informs her work.  She appears to me not at all a very complex person. She did not impress me as someone who carries the real her inside a fake facide but rather is transparent.  I think you pretty much get the genuine Mary Oliver right away.
I would describe her in these words:

• humble
• peaceful
• spiritual though not perhaps not religiously traditional
• a naturalist
• accessible (a word that causes me to cringe)
• private

Much of what Mary Oliver read to us was captivating in that she either prefaced each poem with a related story or the poem itself would tell a story. Not necessaraly with some deep moral or philosophical meaning, as was with the case of the poems she read about her dog Percy, but there were others in which the poems would raise questions... not necessarly answered.  So her poetry  tended to be bathed in subtle humor or invite questions... on or the other.


There was at the center of this reading, a person at profound peace with herself. So much so that I could not help but feel the presence of peace. I enjoyed the reading atmosphere which was quite different from what I normally attend. I picked up a copy of her book Thurst.  There were newer ones that looked especially interesting but this book had some poems that I felt my wife might enjoy as well. There is always hope. ;)


After I've finished it I will review it here.

Just a Thought...

I want to do to you what spring does with the cherry trees.  ~ Pablo Neruda

Confession Tuesday

Tuesday is here… time for me to unburden myself with all the stuff I need to confess, except I’m not especially feeling like a pack mule today so I’m not sure where this is leading. Anyway, to the confessional…

Dear reader…

I do have to confess that I have not really written this weekend or even last night. I’ve had only a few sentences of jottings in my journal, but nothing like what I am accustomed to. The weekend was busy though not especially in a productive sort of way. The lack of creativity has left my brain feeling a little numb on one side. I will have to nourish it better these next few days.

Last night as I pulled into the drive I saw two doves in our walkway between the drive and steps. I love to watch doves. I don’t recall seeing any in our neighborhood since we moved out here (about 10 years ago) but my daughter and I used to watch them from out door when we lived over in the city. It also seemed odd that they were out and about at 6 p.m. – we always used to see them in the early morning. I confess that as I attempted to capture them on my Blackberry camera I was totally inept. I’m still trying to get used to the change of phones and this has resulted in accidentally dialing my mother late at night, calling my daughter and confessing that I was not really trying to reach her, being stuck trying to close down Pandora on my phone, and sending an unfinished (like three word) email to another poet.

I must also confess that I have been lax lately in blogging. Aside from last nights quick post about the Mary Oliver last night I have not posted since the 29th of April and that is a big lapse for me. Even last the Oliver post was basically a quick cut and paste of information to quickly get the world out as it suddenly hit me that it had been rescheduled and was almost here. I will try and do better.

Last night I mowed our lawn which I swear I could hear growing this past week. The Iris pictured above was in our yard and was taken with my Blackberry phone. This is not a confession – just a statement of fact. ;)

I would be remiss if I did not confess my excitement and gratitude for winning some poetry books in the Poetry Month Book Give-A-Way.

Thanks everyone for indulging me - now go have a good day!

Mary Oliver Event Rescheduled for Wednesday…

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT

POET MARY OLIVER RESCHEDULED FOR MAY

LAWRENCE – The Hall Center for the Humanities is pleased to announce that Mary Oliver’s visit has been rescheduled. Celebrated poet and winner of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, Mary Oliver will visit KU as part of the Hall Center for the Humanities’ 2009-2010 Humanities Lecture Series. Best known for her poetry’s lyrical connection to the natural world, Oliver will do a reading and take questions from the audience on Wednesday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Lied Center. This free event, supported by the Sosland Foundation of Kansas City, is open to the public. Kansas Public Radio is a co-sponsor.

The public will have a second opportunity to visit with the poet during “A Conversation with Mary Oliver,” which will take place at the Hall Center Conference Hall on Thursday, May 6 at 10:00 a.m. The author of 18 collections of poetry, most notably the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Primitive (1983) and New and Selected Poems, Volume One (1992), which garnered a National Book Award, Oliver is firmly established among the most accomplished of American poets. She is especially renowned for her evocative and precise imagery, which brings nature into clear focus, transforming the everyday world into a place of magic and discovery. Her most recent collections are The Truro Bear and Other Adventures (2008), new poems and beloved classics about creatures of all sorts, and Evidence (2009). Red Bird (2008) was an immediate national bestseller.Mary Oliver has received the Lannan Foundation Literary Award, the New England Booksellers Association Award for Literary Excellence, and the Poetry Society of America’s Shelley Memorial Award, among others. In 1980, her creativity and skill were recognized with a Guggenheim Fellowship. Oliver attended Ohio State University and Vassar College, then a women’s college. Over the past two decades she has taught at various colleges and universities – Case Western Reserve, Bucknell, Sweet Briar College, the University of Cincinnati and Bennington College in Vermont.

Founded in 1947, the Humanities Lecture Series is the oldest continuing series at the University of Kansas. More than 150 eminent scholars from around the world have participated in the program, including author Vladimir Nabokov, painter Thomas Hart Benton and author Aldous Huxley. Recent speakers have included Samantha Power, Michael Chabon, and T. R. Reid. Shortly after the program’s inception, a lecture by one outstanding KU faculty member was added to each year’s schedule.

For more information, please contact the Hall Center at hallcenter@ku.edu or call (785) 864-4798.                   # # #

Technorati Tags: Mary Oliver,Poetry