Biblio-Mat

A bookstore in Toronto has a novel idea (no pun intended). They have installed a book vending machine.  At Monkey's Paw, for $2 you can take a chance at a book vending machine which dispenses a random used book book.

According to the store owner the response has been positive. Some people feel the random selection as somewhat serendipitous. What do you think?

[source]

Brandalism: Street artists hijack billboards

Street artists are targeting advertising billboards in a new movement nicknamed 'brandalism' for a Subvertising Campaign.  And what has this to do with poetry?   [READ THE STORY HERE]

Can you guess

Which 10 Artists Investigated By The FBI? 

Huffington Post Slideshow

Not the Cover I'd Choose for a Book of Mine

The book that is bound to horrify: 160-year-old poetry volume is covered in skin of hanged murderer


Details

Strange

At approximately 2:30 a.m. I was awaken and strangely my thoughts were of Sylvia Plath.  At first I thinking how strange this is the anniversary of her death until I realized that it was the morning of the 12th and she died February 11th, a fact that had escaped me yesterday.

Then it dawned on me how strange the poem draft I wrote last night (see below) and the ghosts of writers.

Feeling a little bit of twilight zone here.

Rest in Peace Sylvia...

A Voice of Our Own

Evidently Earth has a voice in space. According to astronomers, Earth emits an ear-piercing series of chirps and whistles that can be head in a recording here.

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"Today I am altogether without ambition. Where did I get such wisdom?" ~ Mary Oliver

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Unconscious Mutterings ~ link

Word & Thought Associations

here's mine:

Loneliness :: Empty
Traffic :: Cop
Chaos :: Fire drill
Burp :: Baby
500 :: Indy 500
Movie :: Karma
Coma :: Sleep
Bark :: Dog
Stare :: Down
Angelina :: Jolie

I'll tell you a secret.... I have a hang-up about poetry.

I sit here with my mind somewhere else... I'm thinking, can I be certain the lawn doesn't shrill in anguish at the sound of a mower? Okay, seriously I'm really thinking about the existence of words without sound. They don't require sound do they? Of course not... I'm plotting them out here on the computer and there is no sound, save for the clicking of the keys and you can't distinguish the sound I made for and from you.

When I was in high school our Latin teacher referred to Latin as a written language as opposed to a spoken language. I'm imagining if today English were strictly a written language how different communication would be. Certainly less spontaneous.

Poetry readings would take on a whole new meaning. Imagine a poet walking into a room of eager poetry consumers. Theater style seating. The poet passes out sheets of paper to the some 25 to 30 people who showed up. Then he stands back and watches the non-verbal reactions to what is read, and imagines what parts the people are reacting to and just what those reactions mean.

I don't suppose any of you are buying this scene. You probably are even questioning that we got more than two dozen people to any kind of poetry reading. Why am I even talking about this idea? Well, as much as I do enjoy doing readings (where I read aloud my own poetry) I am convinced that spoken word poetry still lacks something critical to language. That is to see the poem on a printed page. To see the words - the spaces between. The black and the white. The image and the lack of image and the whole visual that creates both. I guess simply put, I want all poetry to be viewed as concrete poetry. It's just a little hang-up I have.

long-haired sylvia looking for her ted....

What a gratifying way to start your Monday morning. You open you email and read:

"Thanks for submitting these. I'm happy to accept them. They will do nicely in the next issue... I hope these won't be the last I'll see from you"

I am so easily amused. I enjoy looking to see what kinds of searches bring people to this site. As I have reported in the past, there are some truly interesting things that pop up. Among the greats is this first timer that came up today:

• long-haired sylvia looking for her ted

followed by some others that often reoccur or at least come up in similar fashion...

• published superhero poem (multiple times)
• nude super heroes (multiple times)
• super hero poem
• i am a superhero quote
• superhero poems (multiple times)
• when life gets you down superhero quotes
• question of interview of super hero
• a superhero of kansas
• meaning of earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with god (don't ask me, I just report these)

So there are a few and I am sure you begin to realize as I have the common theme of superhero resurfacing over and over. In the past I've has some other interesting variations of Stick Poet. Thinks like beating poets with sticks, sticky poets, poet superheros, stick people poets... it goes on.

These searchers must be terribly disappointed not to find super hero poems here. I have never written one. Though I have been tempted, I have resisted. Perhaps feeling too close to the subject. So just for fun... ( remember I am easily amused) consider this a call for poems about a superhero. Not any superhero mind you, but "Stick Poet" superhero.

For the next week, e-mail me your best effort at a Stick Poet Superhero poem. I promise I'll post them all on here ( the good, the bad, and the ugly) and then you can all vote on the best one. In the end, those who keep coming here in search of super hero poems will at last feel there Google searches are not have been in vain.

Strange but true

Someone did NOT just come to my blog from a search for bush as superhero. OK, apparently they did.

That reminds me, this weekend my daughter and I were driving down the street and pulled up behind a car with a number of bumper stickers on the back, on gem read - FOOL ME TWICE, SHAME ON ME!