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Thursday, October 27, 2011

We are limited...

“I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in life. And I am horribly limited.” 

 Sylvia Plath  - October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963


If you build a shiny new performing-arts center, will the creative class come?

The headline question above is asked by The Atlantic about the new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in my hometown of Kansas City.  Read what Hampton Stevens has to say about the expensive gamble by civic and corporate minds that has produced a one of a kind venue for preforming arts. Their may be no better place to hear music and it's here in Kansas City.



Above right an extior view of the center

left and below are interior views.


Read The Atlantic article here




Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Confession Tuesday

It's Tuesday and that means confession time. For some strange reason I feel really confessy today. Let's get down to business.

Dear Reader~

It's been a week since my last confession and I have to say sometimes I struggle with what to confess. I have no idea where this is going but I don't feel that way tonight.  I'm like a champagne bottle about to pop!  So you've been warned...

I woke up this morning realizing from my smart phone that I had a follow up eye appointment.  I gave it no thought all day yesterday and I anticipated getting to work and digging right in on several projects and the the smart-assed phone said something different. I confess that I did not want to go. I didn't want to go because I didn't want to pay another $50 co-pay. I didn't want to go because I had more then plenty of work to do and didn't want to be away from the office. I also confess that my self examination of my eye told me it was doing ok. I know,  I'm not an eye doctor but I did stay at Red Roof Inn last night. Ok, the last part is a fib. I was at home all night.  I used the first and the last excuse on my wife but she would not buy into my arguments so I went. Sigh!

My eye is doing much better. Healing is they way the doctor put it, but she also said I had debris in my eyes. Now when I heard that I thought of lumber... 2x4s and broken pieces of drywall. I confess this didn't sound good but she informed me that it is not unusual. She recommended that I flush it with artificial tears 4 x per day and use a damp compress on my closed eyes in the evening.  At any rate with the news my eye was healing fine I didn't feel any better about the copay.

My wife invited me to do lunch with her and a co-worker today and I confess I was thrilled at the invite, but I had to decline for which I was sad. It was really sweet if her to include me. I confess that even with the disappointment if having to decline - just being asked was an awesome feeling.

On another positive note, the mother-in-law's tongue was been evicted from out bathroom. It is safe to enter again. If you don't know what I'm talking about  read here. I confess I don't want to explain it again.

I confess that after last night's World Series game, in the unlikely event I ever become the GM of a baseball team I will not be hiring Albert Pujols to manage my team. Did he really call for a hit and run under the circumstances?

Another less then admirable side of me showed it's ugly face today. I became annoyed. At least twice that I can recall. Once because for some reason when I am driving and have a passenger in the car they are very often on the cell phone between 90 and 100% of the trip. I don't mind people getting calls or making calls but when you are driving for 20 to 30 minutes of more and they are continually on the cell I feel like a Taxi and dammit I don't even get a tip!

And the second annoyance came when I left the room to check on dinner cooking and came back to find that the TV program I was watching had been changed to some slash and dash vampite or scary show. Said party had just come home and decided to take up camp in my room.  I should have simply put the offender out but no, I tiptoed and let my annoyance grow. Maybe I've learned a lession. Time will tell.

Lastly, I confess that thanks to Governor Rick Perry I have a pretty good idea what desperation looks like.

Hope that wasn't too scary.  Until next week - I'm confessed out! 


Monday, October 24, 2011

Though for the Day

Life itself still remains a very effective therapist. ~Karen Horney

Space Reservations




And will they

                         have to

reserve space ahead of time

                there

in some future outpost

          dodging oblique junk

                                    no one picks up.


            Ever.



Sunday, October 23, 2011

This weeks Mail-Bag

Aside from the various assortment of advertisements, insurance EOB's, etc., arrived two poetry related items in my snail mail box.  One a a brochure from the Arts and Letters department at Rockhurst University announcing a number of items including Michelle Boisseau reading December 1 at the Midwest Poets Series, and the call for submissions for the Rockhurst Review - their annual fine arts journal. 

The Rockhurst Review has had some really exciting material in the past.  I had a piece accepted in it  several years ago and I suppose I should look through my material and submit. 

The other poetry related item was a contributor's copy of the fall issue of WestWard Quarterly with  my poem Foxtrot.  At some future point I'll add it to my published items in the tabbed section but for now it is only available in their print edition.
A ton of poetry related e-mails arrived this week as well. No new acceptances or rejections to report

Saturday, October 22, 2011

My Misfortune

As I am working on this I'm looking at my laptop screen through one good eye and one partially shut and otherwise oozy eye.  Couple days back I was shaving when I turned and found my right eye in the direct bath of a mother-in-laws tongue.  You might ask what said mother-in-law was doing in the bathroom while I was shaving. The answer is not much... just sitting on the edge of the lavatory,

This incident ended up necessitating a trip to the emergency room and subsequently eye clinic. Followed by bed rest all day today. This has driven me to the brink if insanity. Everyone but the dogs left the house early this morning. Sure I could say, wow a day all to myself.  Such days I do enjoy from time to time but not always and today wasn't one of them.  Yesterday my eye was too sensitive to light to open. When I did for the various drops that have been prescribed there was intense pain at the back of the eye and shooting paint upwards of my forehead above the eye. So I suppose you can say that progress is occurring.

The progress however has been of little comfort.  I've had a very busy week and had looked forward to this weekend for a variety of things but especially writing and reading. I missed the Robert Bly reading locally on Thursday because of this and that was before it turned worse.

If I felt I could have read for any length of time earlier today or effectively written I think I would not have seen the day as a loss. My wife reminds me that the doctor said yesterday that rest was the best thing for it so I was doing something productive. In spite if her many talents this sales job didn't work one me,

About three p.m. I took the dogs out and came back in and felt an anxiety attack brewing.  I managed to go back to bed for two more hours until then got up and fed the dogs and took them out again.

I've obtained a Diet Coke and am typing this all the while telling myself that things are normalizing. If I say it often enough I will perhaps believe it.  In the meantime I am contemplating a restraining order against the perpetrating Mother-In Law Sansevieria trifasciata.