Remembering

Can you hear the silence
in the chilled winds
after the feast and fat bellies
brought us to a crawl

The moist eyes lubricate the memory
the heart weakens a bit in pain
loss can take from you like that

You are not forgotten
nor have you been replaced
the roots of such love run deep
and cannot simply be replenished


I choose to remember you in life...
the click of your happy feet upon the floor
the perpetual tail motion
the beauty of your long red hair that anyone could envy
but I cannot forget how you left
in my arms a year ago
our eyes silently saying goodbye
knowing neither had the power to stop your departure
though both our frail hearts so desperately desired to



[On this evening - 1 year ago, Barron - our beautiful long haired, red dachshund died in my arms. The last year and a half of his life, he was being treated for heart problems. He is missed daily.]

Poetics of Space

This Thanksgiving holiday - many will be entertaining extended family in their homes, or perhaps traveling to another's home for the holiday. We'll each experience various levels of comfort or uneasiness depending upon the environment in which we find ourselves. The Poetics of Space is an intriguing attempted to show how our perceptions of houses and other shelters shape our thoughts, memories, and dreams. From an office cubicle to our own home - creating feelings that impact our levels of personal comfort provided French philosopher, Gaston Bachelard the subject matter of a book on this topic.

The Michaela Tease

It appears Michaela is doing another road show. She pretends she won't leave her faithful readers lamenting her quieted blog while she is away. Ha! Another lap dance!

Mommy Dearest

Carol didn't want to be my mother.
Those were her words, I heard them
quite often in fact. I believed her.
The scowl on her face added sincerity.

Carol bids me to turn the entry light off on our way out.
I had it covered. I opened the car door for her first than
seated myself in the drivers seat, we pulled away.

I turned the radio station to NPR. Are we listening to that?
The question mark was missing from her voice. I changed
the dial as I turned onto Elm street. You were going through town? I smiled, oh the expressway would be best I guess. Why would I need a mother?

Sullivan

Well Kasey caught my attention this morning. Pointed me to Chris Sullivan's Slight. It's worth the trip over to see what it's all about.

This Woman Needs Help!

I just read a wonderfully insane poem and am convinced that the writer needs help. And I hope she gets it!

The help she needs is the fulfillment of her desire to get into the MFA program at the University of Houston. I adore her poem titled This is Not the First Time You can get both the poem and her blog about the style in which she aims her writing at the link.

Katey... I wish you every success in achieving your aspiration.

11.22

arthur, my arthur,
why and by whom?
your table split asunder in one afternoon
your blood splattered upon your queen
did so clash with pink.
grown men like babies bewailed;
moaning and weeping spread
beyond the grassy knoll
a tear touched my cheek
and froze in time

Thursday - This and That

My thanks to Michaela Cooper for sharing the link to Samizdata.net which has a wonderful Lexicon of blog related words you likely have never heard of. I found looking at some of the terms very entertaining.

Silent Lucidity has moved sites. I've updated the link in the sidebar too.

Annie Sexton tribute this Sunday in Boston.

Exposing Injustice Through Poetry -- New poetry compilation seeks to highlight brutality of society

and the saddest, but hopeful thing of all...

Aimee's - What the Cabbies Said to Me Is so not bad... Unless perhaps you are using my teenage daughter's vernacular.

Bad Art

When I am finishing a picture I hold some God-made object up to it-a rock, a flower, the branch of a tree or my hand-as a kind of final test. If the painting stands up beside a thing man cannot make, the painting is authentic. If there's a clash between the two, it is bad art. -- Marc Chagall


His work was that curious mixture of bad painting and good intentions that always entitles a man to be called a representative British artist. -- Oscar Wild

Baculine Poet

Relegated to the corner stool
I contemplate my crime
Maybe it was meter, No
I bet it was my rhyme.

Felt ashamed and isolated till I realized
There are four corners and others too
Who are plagues against humanity
War mongers, ax murders and a slum lord I once knew.

Still, deviating from form at times
On others I did inflict
Malfeasance, but not without passion
Bad poems are my crimes.

2004 Poetry Market - - It's Here!!!!

2003 War Poetry Contest - Winners

Winning Writers, founded in 2001 has announced this years winners of their War Poetry Contest. A total of 734 entries were received from around the world and the winning entry received a $1,000 cash award.

A Texan, Robert Randolph won first prize and $1,000 for his poem, "Floating Girl." Mr. Randolph entry was praised by Janet retire, contest judge for being, "delicately beautiful and strange imagery, its musical cadence that never falters."

Second place winner, Joel Long of Utah, received $500 for his poem, "Broken Windows at reins." The third place winner was Patricia Monaghan of Illinois, received $250 for her poem, "Soldier's Heart." In addition there were five other honorable mention poets receiving $50 each.

The poems are published online and can be seen at this site.

Sylvia

I've not yet seen the recent release movie Sylvia, but I have it on my growing list of things to do. In the meantime I note a negative assessment of the movie in a recent Slate piece by Meghan O'Rourke - Poetry's Lioness: Defending Sylvia Plath from her detractors.

There seems a resurgence of material being done on Plath on the 40th anniversary of her death. I have in fact milled through quite an array of material recently and still have more reading to do. I'd like to devote some more time on the subject of her life and her work - though I am not prepared to do so just yet. If anyone else has seen the movie and has comments, I'd like to hear from them.

Friday Brief

This is classic - "The the impotence of proofreading" - I actually thought it a hoot! Evidently Poetry is not setting well with others as reported here - Islamic Clerics Ban Poetry for Women

Humpdays Are Our Friends....

Alli's caught my attention again.


"A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past; he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future." - Sydney Harris

I fear we have become too disappointed in that which has not yet arrived.
Do we all posses such clairvoyance or are we just too damned cynical in our belief that the future holds any hope?

Perspective On The World...

"I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my eyes and all is born again." - Sylvia Plath

Plath expresses a view of subjectivity that causes me to wonder within the context of today's happenings just how many Americans are going about daily with closed eyes. And I always thought the problem was closed minds.

Toche!

Mystery

"An English poet, Philip Larkin, said that poetry doesn't start with an idea; it starts with a poem... You have t be open to mystery. If you are open to it, mystery will come. If you're not, why should it, actually?" - Lucille Clifton (b. 1936)

Report: Washington Rebuffed Iraq's Pre-War Overtures

Is the week half empty or half full?

Looking for an interesting read and haven't seen it yet.... then check out K. Silem post on meter. A very worthwhile read on the subject of writing metrically, it's relative ease or difficulty and the degree to which the competence of such writing can be ascribed.

Today's thought:

"I've never had a schedule. I go simply by impulse, whim. What I do try to do is to keep my life uncluttered when I am not teaching, and therefore be able to harden to the first whisper of any idea." - Richard Wilber

depression

i don’t pretend often.
where do you find these women who are
primitive creatures of habit? a different altogether
variety. and would that be silk flowers in the ming?
it’s not a real sport,
i seldom watch.
war i suppose. but the sweaty linebacker is
setting out the third quarter reading
sonnets and eating hot cheetos.
orange smudges frame the page corners. some
funky nickel play won the game. god,
football really has gotten cheap.

The Long Awaited - Overdue - Blog Sweeps Reviews

Yesterday was a very busy and frustrating day. I won't go into details other than to say that I lost it all when I lost my post as I was adding the links. No, with crossed fingers, toes, and eyes... I start the process over once again.

I will give you my overall ranking in descending order. Then My reviews/comments.

6. Super Deluxe Good Poems (No posts during this period and I will therefore not attempt to pass judgment on it's normal content. It is likely a very fine blog - but I had not posts to judge it by)

5. The Bloggedy Blog Blog - limited posts, but there was activity.

4. The well-nourished moon

3. the INGREDIENT

2. Mikarrhea

1. Love During Wartime



The Bloggedy Blog Blog is obviously a poetry blog that has developed a reputation which has warranted a following. Numerous others have quoted or made reference to Katie's Poet's Job Survey. During this past week, her postings were very limited. There was little to go on in comparison to the others. Three posts to be exact. One acknowledging that she won the Monkey Award for blog post of the year. I'm sure this blog is worthy of reading - and I plan add it to my reading list for a while anyway. There is nothing extraordinary about the blogs layout... a pee green background with very basic layout.

Stephanie Young's well-nourished moon is a combination of groupie updates, poetry and poetics. I enjoyed reading it. Like the graphics across the top - Stephanie's writing can be a little off the wall. This is not a criticism, simply an observation. I liked her sweeps blog with the run-in or stalking of the Parliament Light. The Gender Genie post was fun though not a first generation post.

I find value in reading Stephanie's blog though I am sure that it must have more meaning to those close poetry friends that make up a part of her social life.


Alli Warren's the INGREDIENT was delightful. Her poetry has depth, but I don't feel I need to excavate it to enjoy it. It's more like it's just below the surface. Under the skin.

"The Ingredient is ridiculous for countless reasons, of course, but the main source of its absurdity being a consistent lack of context?" Those are Alli's words not mine. Ridiculous? Not at all. She adds a "?" to the above sentence I suppose suggesting this is rhetorical. I found Alli's writing extremely pleasing to read and I liked her color scheme and the photo in the upper left just below the heading. She will occasionally change the photo, but it has always been something slightly off center, up close, out of perfect focus, etc. It has what I like to think must be a clearly "Alli" element to it. I think it says something about her.

I loved her post: "For sweeps do I pose nude - assuming even I "occupy" a nude to portray?" An undercurrent of sensual exposure while postulating societal implications.

Appearance wise, I believe this was my favorite blog. It is earthy and comforting to read even as the commentary may be deeper than the comfort level might suggest.


Michaela Cooper's Mikarrhea has been on my reading list for a while. I mean where else am I to get my "Random neuron firing, lame philosophy, literary pontificating, movies, sex, clothes & other femme stuff?"

Michaela is deep into social/political commentary as well as poetry and poetics. She can be hard, bitchy, direct, sarcastic and humorous. She can also be fun and flirtacious. She is well read and it shows in her blog. Her command of language is so obvious in her work. My favorite post of this past week was alarum. Of course her graphic in the upper right is her trademark.... the layout otherwise is pretty basic. Her content is clearly her strength.


Love During Wartime impressed me the most. The Poetic Powerpoint really caught my attention. Clearly James has taken it upon himself to accentuate poetry and poetics during Blog Sweeps week. That's fine, he got there. Still there are strong political under tones in his work. I found the GBII Poet to be enjoyable.

Mixing Warren Zevon, George Wallace (not the former governor), L.C., and Cassie Lewis's material with his own provided well rounded reading. Aesthetically the site is pretty hum-ho, but he made up for that with his content. Again I feel the Poetic Powerpoint stole the show.


There you have it. I hope no one is crushed, and no one's head is too swelled. It's only my impression not that of anyone important. I enjoyed the experience, and I think I will likely convert this to my list of top five blogs that I am reading in future weeks.

AUGH!!!!

When finishing up the links in my final review.... I lost the material. I will have to repost to publish. I will try to get this done later tonight. I simply don't have time to start over this afternoon. Sorry.

Blog Sweeps Week - Posting Reviews Today

Yes, the Blog Sweeps week reviews are due today & they will be posted before the day is out. I am putting my final touch on the post, so check back later. Have a great day! Oh, yeah... sorry. Forgot it's Monday.