Live 8

I have chosen to focus on LIVE 8 in my blog- so you'll be hearing about if somewhat routinely for a while. Live 8 get its name from the members of the G-8 summit members the USA, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia.

From July 6th - 9th Britain's Prime Minister, Tony Blair hosting the meeting of leaders from these 8 nations. Last year a commission began exploring the problems Africa faces in today's world. The summit will have an opportunity to focus on the African continent's past and present and the international community's role in its development path. The issues facing this continent are not surprising... unpayable debts, uncontrolled spread of AIDS, and unfair trade rules which keep Africans poor. Still, the major obstacles to the people of Africa developing any real hope for the future is one in which the solution lies in part with the countries that comprise the G-8 summit membership.

On July 13, 1985 - the world took notice when rock stars from around the world held unique dual concerts in London and Philadelphia, which saw millions of people watching as Live Aid, called on people to take action to help the sufferers of the famine hitting Africa. Live Aid raised over $100 million. Still, 20 years later poverty, famine and disease remains major problems in Africa. The public has shown this is important is to them, but now it is time to get our governments involved. LIVE 8 is not a fund raiser... it is about justice not charity. It is about asking our governments to take a responsible look at our policies to African countries.

I hope you'll check this message [here] from Bob Geldof about Live 8. Find out what it is all about. Join in support of creating HOPE for the people of Africa.

I'll be blogging some on this daily throughout the duration of the summit along with the rest of my blog routine. I hope other poets, writers and artists will do likewise. Sometimes I believe the creative minds of the world are also those people with the great sensitivity to those cultural and political issues that divide us. I think it would be great to see others in the poetry community to be on the front lines supporting the effort along with the many musicians who have made the commitment.

live8

Tough Issues Exposed In Poetry & Prose

I read A Houston Chronicle article with some excellent examples of poets and writers tackling tough issues in their work. It has for example people like Naomi Shihab Nye featured.

Ney is a highly talented poet who I have met and had the pleasure to experience her great passion for the troubled lives of so many on both sides of the Middle East spectrum. It is good to see such work getting exposure from mainstream media outlets. Such attention in literature can only broaden our opportunities for better understanding.

I'll take a shot of 80 proof poetry. Make that two!

I thought I'd take a moment to capsule some divergent thoughts about this week that seem to be flying about lose like stray arrows aimed at no one in particular or at least the hunter has had a few to many shots of 80 proof poetry.

Entering the week, there was lots in the international press and increasing references on the domestic front about the Downing Street Memo. The basic premise of course is that President Bush had his sights set on Iraq long ago and that the Administration manipulated intelligence information to build a case for attacking Iraq. None of this surprises me based on things we have historically already pieced together. What is significant is that it seems to point to the fact that British officials were aware of this as well ( as it was happening) and still Tony Blair became joined at the hip (or perhaps the brain) with Bush on this. It of course causes me to wonder why Blair fell into line so easily. Did Bush have pictures of Blair and sheep in compromising positions?

So here is a big surprise - Poll: Majority Says War in Iraq a Mistake 53 percent of Americans now say the war in Iraq was a mistake. 56 percent disapprove of how Bush has conducted the war. HOWEVER - good news for the President. If you are a suburban - male - Republican, there is a chance you may actually support the war. Well, that is the strongest base of support for it.

Now get this... Iraq-Like Regime not appropriate for Syria so says US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Wow... yeah, cause like where would we find the troops?

Speaking of troops... Poll Finds Most Oppose Return to Draft. A majority of Americans are opposed to reinstatement of the draft. Now, I don't think there was any ground swell of support growing for it anyway, but I'll bet a lot of people find the concept less palatable given how Bush has taken the United States into Iraq. Despite the recruiting problems, nearly 70% of Americans say they oppose reinstatement and almost half of those polled were strongly opposed. Notably, the poll also finds that a majority wouldn't encourage their own children to enlist - highlighting the problems faced by the military as recruiting is in a slump.

Rumsfeld claims US not losing Iraq war. American troops killed since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 rose to 1,731 with six new casualties today. Other casualties of Iraq.

My contribution to water cooler talk this morning was "only in America..." in reference to this headline: Justices Rule Cities Can Take Property for Private Development. Of course I quickly recanted that statement. There are plenty of totalitarian governments that will do this.

And after a group of neo-conservative Republicans try to do a hatchet job on funding for public radio and television broadcasting - the House beat back the cuts with a 284-140 vote to restore $100 million in funds.

Thursday, former Republican National Committee co-chair, Patricia Harrison, is named president and chief executive of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.... gee, it gets pretty clear where all this was coming from. By the way- there was still a loss of some funding the budget even with $100 million restored.

And don't you just love it. We have a economic issues - a war - a national deficit out the wazoo and some in Congress want to spend time on votes to ban flag burning. A vote that is nothing more than GOP members trying to get record votes on something so that can point fingers at others later and question their patriotism.

What a week... I need a shot or two of 80 proof poetry.

Holy Batcave... The weekend is almost here!

Went to see Batman Begins last night. I did not see the previous Batman movies and only did a smattering of the comics as a kid. The storyline is great, I don't know if the basis for it existed in the comics or not. My wife enjoyed it as well. We both agreed this is on to see at the theater and not wait to bring home and see. I think it needs the large screen experience to really make it work right. Lot of dark screens that just would not work well on a smaller TV screen.

So glad it is Friday... This has not been a good week for writing. Not that I haven't tried. Just the results have been disappointing. Monday, June 27th - 8pm is Open Mic at Writers Place. Need to decide what to read.


batman
poetry
open mics
movies

Smooth with a bit of an after-kick

Last night I experienced Starbucks new Coffee Liqueur. It was a real thumbs up experience. Surprisingly so because it's base coffee is the House Blend. Of all the Starbucks Coffee blends, it is perhaps one of my least favorite. Alas, they've found a way to improve it!

I had a shot of it over steamed milk with a shot of espresso. It is rich and smooth. Frankly I think I'd enjoy it over rocks. Well, we'll know about that tonight after I get home from work. I'm thinking a shot of it and Irish Cream - over rocks would be good too!

It is funny, because while I like coffee, there are not a lot of coffee flavored products that I do like. Coffee flavored candy is like gag-city. Some of the Starbucks Ice Cream flavors I like - but some I'm not fond of. In general, I do NOT buy coffee flavored desserts. I think this is a throw back to the fact that for years I could not stand coffee and sweets together. The marriage of cream and coffee was a Starbucks thing for me. I normally would only drink black coffee. I think the successful union of the two works only because most of Starbucks coffees that I like are city-roast (dark roast) and have a deep flavor that bleeds through dairy products to keep the rich flavor of the coffee alive.



Starbucks Coffee Liqueur

Express News to step up vigilance after poetry plagiarism

When Sandra Monica Rincon sent a poem to a newspaper who publishes poetry, it is perhaps not surprising that they felt it good enough to publish. After all, the poem was principally the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet Marianne Moore. After realizing this, (subsequent to publication by the paper) Rincon was reached was by phone for comment, only she hung up.

In the biography submitted to the newspaper, Rincon described herself as a poet and actress. Well, I guess she thought she could play Marianne Moore.


poetry

31st Wedding Anniversary....

Cathy ~ I love you!

Lowell, inside out - The Boston Globe - Boston.com - Books - A&E

My reading list just took on another massive expansion. This time in one book - 852 pages long.

The Letters of Robert Lowell I suspect is worthy of a read. The William H. Pritchard review in The Boston Globe certainly wet my thirst for such. Though I'm not likely to shell out the $40 retail price, I will be hoping it comes to a library near me soon.

poetry
books
poets

Distractions

I took my eyes off
The monotony
Of asphalt ribbon.
For a moment,
Easter-green frosting
Amply spread about
The roadside landscape
Satisfied a hunger
In my belly
For something
Besides the mundane.

Fathers

A few thoughts on Father's day in the aftermath...

First I was fortunate enough to spent the day with my wife and three of my four children. We went to the ballgame- which was sunny and quite hot. The experience was overall an enjoyable one but the game was really secondary to the family time. I know they would have preferred being in the a/c but it was nice being with them. My oldest daughter is in the God-forsaken state of Arizona, but with the modern marvel of telecommunications (minus the multiple times her phone dropped the call) we talked last night. I think that only made me miss her more though.

I was surprised by the gift 0f a satellite-radio which will allow me to get the San Francisco Giants ball games... among other things. The real gift however, was my family.

I thought I'd take a moment to post a few quotes about fathers I have rounded up from various people. They present an interesting perspective.

"A king, realizing his incompetence, can either delegate or abdicate his duties. A father can do neither. If only sons could see the paradox, they would understand the dilemma." ~ Marlene Dietrich

"When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years." ~Mark Twain, in "Bringing Up Father," Reader's Digest, September 1937

"If the new American father feels bewildered and even defeated, let him take comfort from the fact that whatever he does in any fathering situation has a fifty percent chance of being right." ~ Bill Cosby


"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." ~ Sigmund Freud

"It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was." ~ Anne Sexton


My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up the grass." "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We're raising boys." ~ Harmon Killebrew

"A father carries pictures where his money used to be." ~ Author Unknown

"Sherman made the terrible discovery that men make about their fathers sooner or later... that the man before him was not an aging father but a boy, a boy much like himself, a boy who grew up and had a child of his own and, as best he could, out of a sense of duty and, perhaps love, adopted a role called Being a Father so that his child would have something mythical and infinitely important: a Protector, who would keep a lid on all the chaotic and catastrophic possibilities of life. " ~Tom Wolfe, The Bonfire of the Vanities

and last but not least....

"Spread the diaper in the position of the diamond with you at bat. Then fold second base down to home and set the baby on the pitcher's mound. Put first base and third together, bring up home plate and pin the three together. Of course, in case of rain, you gotta call the game and start all over again." ~Jimmy Piersal, on how to diaper a baby, 1968

Courier News Online - Poetry fest won't be coming back to Duke Farms

It's big- and has been successful. However,The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation's biannual poetry festival will not be back at Duke Farms next year. Duke Farms could not guarantee permanent facility improvements would be made in time for the next event in fall 2006 and so the largest poetry festival in North America will return to the pre-2004 site in Waterloo Village in Sussex Count, New Jersey.

Awakenings

Poets & Writers came this week. On of the more exciting postal service deliveries I receive. Niece piece on W.S. Merwin written by Christopher Merrill. Merwin explains that a poem results from a sudden awakening of attention and goes on to say, "It probably took your whole life to arrive at that moment when you here it." Ah, I suppose that is what makes it so pleasurable.

Without a doubt I can attest to such awakenings. I've had a number of then, so I can certainly identify with the overall feeling. I would not categorize them as rare, but infrequent. I'd like to say I have them daily... weekly even. While they may well occur perhaps two in a week, there can be lots of open green space between them. Sometimes weeks pass without one at all.

I don't think that one even has to have a great poem for such awakening to occur. But the foundation for a great poem has to be there. I have one for example that I had such a feeling about some time back. I was preparing it to submit recently and decided that it that to change. I have tinkered with it for days now, but I still believe in the concept that was a part of that initial awakening. I just know that something, some tiny portion of it can be fine tuned for betterment of the overall work.

I have another poem that is new and I believe attests to that awakening feeling. It is a short three stanza piece but nearly twenty-four hours later I am looking at one line of the poem and listening to others and- well, I am stalled. I have sent it out to a number of other writers that I often workshop material with and I am awaiting their comments. The best thing that can come out of such action is that I will get a better feel for how the original text is working or not working. Of course the hazard of seeking the advise and council of twenty people is getting twenty different answers.

You can't believe how grateful I am that it is Friday. Being the end if the work week is almost like a salvation of sorts. Like a cell phone or something I really need to be recharged and I am hoping this weekend can be that.

My quote for the day is on Critics....

A critic can only review the book he has read, not the one which the writer wrote. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

BWT - Stickpoet passed 14,000 hits! Yeah! Thanks to all the peeps!

House Votes To Restore Reader Privacy

Yesterday, in spite of a threat from President Bush for veto, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment to prohibit funds in an appropriations bill from being used to implement provisions of Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act which permits searches of library circulation records, library patron lists, book sales records, or book customer lists under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The vote was 238 [199 Democrats and 38 Republicans] to 187 voted to [1 Democrat and 186 Republicans] Of course this would require Senate action too... and still would face prospects of veto, so the sight is not over.

You can find out more about the implications of this portion of the Patriots act here at the Campaign for Reader Privacy or sign an online petition here.

Want to know how your Representatives voted? This link will give you an opportunity to see the votes.

Freedom

Beginning Poets Workshop in Kansas City

I am posting this from an e-mail I received from Jose Cecil - Director of The Writers Place.

The Writers Place will host a 4-part workshop for beginning poets that will be facilitated by SHIRLEY RICKETT. The group will discuss what they read, favorite poet(s), look at sources of inspiration, and complete writing exercises. The workshop will take a close look at first lines and consider the audience for the poem and the poet. Participants will write poems during the workshop and have their own poetry reading. Shirley is a retired teacher and one of Kansas City's gifted poets.

SCHEDULE:

Session 1 -- Friday, June 10, 6pm to 7:30pm
Session 2 -- Saturday, June 11, 10am to Noon
Session 3 -- Saturday, June 18, 10am to Noon
Session 4 -- Saturday, June 25, 10am to Noon

FEES:

$40 for members and $50 for non-members.

Public Broadcasting Targeted By House

Public Broadcasting Targeted By House

Read This - Full House action anticipated as early as tomorrow.

Sign an electronic petition from Move On dot Org
Can you help us reach 400,000 signers by the end of the day?

Sign petition here


Once you've signed the petition, please pass it along to friends, family and neighbors who count on NPR and PBS.

Even In The Dark... Hope ~ Peace

THERE ARE PROBABILITIES and likelihoods, but there are no guarantees. Rebecca Solnit writes in her commentary: Acts of Hope: Challenging Empire on the World Stage [click here] a sobering representation of the new challenges of activism. [It], says Solnit,"is not a journey to the corner store; it is a plunge into the dark." She points out it is more like weather, not like a game of checkers that at some point will end. The weather goes on... you don't declare a winner and a loser, fold up the board and put it on a shelf.

For Solnit it is easy to see how a lot of the antiwar movement has done that in the wake of our second Iraq war. All the energy that was successfully generated in opposition, yet there was still war. It is only natural to look at it as a contest that ended with a winner and a loser. But that view ignores the larger or global picture. It is like weather... tomorrow the issue is still there... maybe not even in Iraq. Maybe someplace else.

Still, Solnit has looked for and found a silver lining in many of the events of the past couple of years. I found this particular assessment interesting food for thought:

We achieved a global movement without leaders. There were many brilliant
spokespeople, theorists and organizers, but when your fate rests on your leader,
you are only as strong, as incorruptible, and as creative as he -- or,
occasionally, she -- is. What could be more democratic than millions of people
who, via the grapevine, the Internet, and various groups from churches to unions
to direct-action affinity groups, can organize themselves? Of course leaderless
actions and movements have been organized for the past couple of decades, but
never on such a grand scale. The African writer Laurens Van Der Post once said
that no great new leaders were emerging because it was time for us to cease to
be followers. Perhaps we have.

If groping around in the dark is scary for some, Rebecca Solnit thinks it is a bonus for the cause of peace activism. I can see her point. After all, the Bush administration has already pushed the envelope in many areas, including a first-strike military action and questionable mis-statement of intelligence information. Knowing the level to which this administration is willing to operate, and the precedence it has established, give rise to more uncertainty and that should strengthen the resolve of millions to demand more accountability.

In a bit of self-serving pat on the back, I like that she acknowledged the contribution poets have made to the cause:

"American poets became an antiwar movement themselves when Sam Hamill declined an invitation to Laura Bush's "Poetry and the American Voice" symposium shortly after her husband's administration announced their "Shock and Awe" plan, and he circulated his letter of outrage. His e-mail box filled up, he started http://www.poetsagainstthewar.org/, to which about 11,000 poets have submitted poems to date. Hamill became a major spokesperson against the war and his website has become an organizing tool for the peace movement."

Even in these dark times... here's to reason, hope and peace.

Exclusionary

The wheel covers come off
Residuals taint the hands
Darkening the pep of fleshtone
A stain not easily overlooked
Limiting what can be touched
Excluding the most important

White House Chain of Command Once Again Fuzzy

I CANNOT RESIST making this observation in today's post....

Evidently when President George W. Bush spoke on Wednesday with Neil Cavuto on Fox News Channel, about the fate of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo, he failed to check with his boss first.

In the Wednesday interview with Cavuto, Bush left open the possibility that the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Closed down. The question was asked amid growing criticism of the way in which the facility has been used and the treatment prisoners have receive. Former President Jimmy Carter, being among many calling for closure of the facility.

Vice President Dick Cheney, however, says no... Gitmo prison isn't closing - ''The important thing here to understand is that the people that are at Guantanamo are bad people,'' he said in an interview for Fox News channels "Hannuity & Columns." adding, '"I mean, these are terrorists for the most part. These are people that were captured in the battlefield of Afghanistan or rounded up as part of the al-Qaida network."

MEANWHILE... Richard Everhart, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet died at his Hanover, NH home on Thursday. The 101 year old poet was admired for mentoring generations of aspiring writers. He was responsible for a dozen books of poetry and verse during a sixty-plus year career. He will be remembered for referring to poetry as, "...A natural energy resource of our country," in his 1977 acceptance speech for a National Book Award. "It has no energy crisis, possessing a potential that will last as long as the country. Its power is equal to that of any country in the world."

CHANGING OF THE GUARD occurred this weekend at the Northland / Maple Woods Writing Group where Scot Icom stepped down after moderating the group for the past two years and Chris Madonna accepted the torch - careful Chris, don't get burnt! :) Big thanks to Scot, and best wishes to Chris.

MY DAUGHTER MEGHAN, rode in a bike event this Saturday morning - going extra distance( missing the poorly marked turn-point) and still finished second overall and was the first female to complete. This is I believe only her second sanctioned event. I wish I could post a copy of her crossing the the finish, however I was not present, having taken the car to the dealership for service. When she came home she proclaimed herself the "beast" with arms triumphantly in the air... I was quite proud of her and wished I had seen her cross the finish line. I'm sure it had to be poetry in motion....

Finding Things

In what I suppose could best be described as a rare find, an aria composed by Johann Sebastain Bach was recently discovered in the back of a poetry book when a researcher at Weimar's Anna Amalia Library in Germany conducted an inventory of material salvaged from a blaze, which gutted the library last year.

The handwritten piece is said to have been written to accompany one of the poems in a book given to the Duke of Weimer by Bach in 1713. The book was thought to be simply poetry written by a local poet. Evidently, the Library all along has had this intriguing piece and was unaware of it. Strange how things work sometimes. They almost lost something they didn't know they had.

So this got me to thinking about the interesting things I sometimes tuck into book.
At random, I have pulled out four books and found the following:

1. A sheet of self adhesive commemorative Ogden Nash stamps. Ok, there are only 5 stamps left - the others have been used.

2. An officemax receipt from 2-13-95 with notes scribbled on the back relating to diabetic food exchange points.

3. A "real bookmark" - as opposed to one of those other items we insert to keep place in a book.
This on is a Shakespeare - from a Literary Luminaries series.

4. A business card sized cardstock that says "I carry a pager" and has a place for a number. ( What the "F" is a pager? Is that something like an 8-track?)


Well, none of those rises to the level of the Anna Amalia Library find. I suppose 292 years from now, five 37 cent postage stamps may be worth more. Likely at least a good laugh that we could even sent mail across the country for 37 cents... or maybe people will just bust a gut laughing at the thought of snail main period.

Poetry In Times Like These

Poetry In Times Like These

Philadelphia Inquirer | 06/09/2005 | Poetry is finding fans - even cash

Philadelphia Inquirer | 06/09/2005 | Poetry is finding fans - even cash

Jimmy Carter Asks Washington to Close Guantanamo Prison

Jimmy Carter Asks Washington to Close Guantanamo Prison

Amazingly...

I have never seen this quote (and I've seen a lot of JFK quotes) until today.

War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today. ~John F. Kennedy

thought on poetry

Painting is silent poetry. ~Plutarch, Moralia: How to Study Poetry

Strangest Place

The strangest place at which I've read poetry was on a bus. I mean, aloud. As in a poetry reading. It was a little bit guerilla, actually. Saw this on Ivy's blog and reminded me that poetess Gloria Vando related to me that she had done this during a poetry month event, I believe in LA. Seemed wild at the time. I enjoy doing readings... I think the idea of doing it on a bus to unsuspecting commuters would however un-nerve me.

Anyone have a stranger place they have read?





Gloria Vando

Salon.com | Making Mehlman more comfortable

Salon.com Making Mehlman more comfortable: "Sunday's 'Meet the Press,' featuring RNC chair Ken Mehlman, was another classic example of why host Tim Russert is fast becoming journalism's answer to the E-ZPass, that electronic tag that allows drivers to go through toll booths without having to stop. On the show today, Mehlman was allowed to distort, twist, manipulate, obfuscate and 'disassemble' his way through every stop on the disinformation highway"

BUT that said, the Downing Street memo may finally be finding a home within the American dialogue about per-Iraq War intentions by the Bush Administration.

The story made USA Today - and Tuesday's Washington Post - though not for the first time.

The MEMO information can be seen here as it appeared in the Sunday Times online - May 1, 2005.

While the story is BIG new in London... and has been since it was disclosed, it may now be finding its way into the mainstream media here in the US and hunkering down till it is addressed by the Bush administration. No, I mean really addressed. Not dismissed.

The information really should be no surprise because there has been so much evidence to support the contention for some time. It however may actually represent the smoking gun so to speak that forces the Bush administration out of a pack of lies that it has circled around itself.

Meanwhile, Tony Blair has his hands full defending Cherie's profits from her lucrative speaking engagement while visiting the US.

Blair may have survived the most recent election in Britain, but his political baggage seems only to be getting heavier. Bush of course is a lame duck, but by many accounts his political "capital" as he likes to call it may be well overspent and his political health condition far worse than lame.

Newsday.com: China Rejects U.S. Appeal on Tiananmen

Newsday.com: China Rejects U.S. Appeal on Tiananmen: "China rejected a U.S. appeal to account for prisoners "

More on official Chinese response to requests to account for prisoners still detained after the violent 1989 crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement.

4465 PReSS Releases Fiery New African-American Poetry Primer

Springfield, MO (PRWEB) June 7, 2005 -- 4465 PReSS, a new, online publisher of multicultural fiction and non-fiction book titles, has just released Let a New Woman Rise; a poetry primer by the acclaimed poetess, Barbara Haskins.

Haskins, credited for bringing the Kwanzaa holiday celebration to Queens, New York over 25 years ago, has been heralded by legions of cult fans as the 'Nikki Giovanni' of the New Millennium.

The significance of Haskins' presence at the recent American Booksellers' convention in New York City was evidenced by the overwhelming demand for signed copies of her current book by distributors and competing authors, alike.

Let A New Woman Rise is featured in the concurrent edition of the New York Amsterdam News. Writer L. Nzinga Strickland has devoted upwards of an entire page of the prestigious African-American newspaper to discuss and revere this unique body of literary work; as well as expound upon the newsworthy achievements of Ms. Haskins.

In addition to being a poetess, Barbara Haskins (also known as Barbara Scott) is a public speaker and educator. Her commitment to preserve African-American self esteem is apparent through her countless array of cumulative, civic and political citations.

citation: the above is entirely from the prweb press release

Gendering Poetry

This weekend I read a review of Gendering Poetry: Contemporary Women and Men Poets, Vicki Bertram, Pandora Press - 2004 p. 256. The review, written by Renuka Rajaratnam, quotes the poet Elizabeth Bishop, "art is art and to separate it into two sexes is to emphasize values in them that are not art." The reviewer, in pointing to Bishop's quote seeks to establish this view as a traditional benchmark from which to start and suggests that Bertram with this book is challenging this assessment. Rajaratnam presents the potential for invention and interpretation as a point of Bertram's argument against such traditional view.

This seems fair enough to me as I fail to see how a person, writer or reader, can implicitly divorce themselves from life experiences, long held views and gender influences when it comes to poetry. You simply are going to bring these things with you to some degree and impact poetry with it both on the creation side and the consumer side, even if it is unintentional.

The review presents Vicki Bertram's work as a responsible look at gender studies and an attempt to put the issue on the map of mainstream criticisms. Of course, I would like to read this work first hand in order to adequately form my own assessment of her contribution to such.

In the grand scheme of things, I believe this is an element of poetics worthy of debate. What happens beyond that discourse becomes a whole different animal. I am always fearful that the outcome of such dialogue can lead to categorizations within poetry that can detract from the art itself. That may well have been what Elizabeth Bishop had in mind.

Still, there seems to be some benefit to the acknowledgment - (if only a personal one for each of us) that we bring a part of ourselves to each poem that no one else carries with them. This is true of both the poem's author and reader.

literary review

Tiananmen Then & Now

Today marks the sixteen year anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre in which pro-democracy students who assembled peacefully, were met by troops and tanks that opened fire on them in the square at Tiananmen.

While the past 16 years have seen many cultural changes in China, one thing remains unchanged. The present Chinese government is still entrenched in a belief that what happened on June 4, 1989 at Tiananmen was necessary and not only maintains an unapologetic stance, continues a paranoia about the flow if information that might open up any dissenting view.

The rest of the world has enough information about the actions in Tiananmen that history will not allow it to be defined in such narrow terms as the Chinese governments presently clings to. While the government remains hopelessly committed to a policy of information containment as a way to deal with this sad piece of Chinese history, the truth and an internet age make shielding from such information from society almost an impossible task. Still, the fear that dictated such actions 16 years ago continues to fuel government actions. The most recent evidence of this is the detention of a journalist named Ching Cheong.

On April 22 of this year, Ching Cheong, a Chinese nationalist, left his residence in Hong Kong to travel across the boarder to the mainland to meet with a man named Zong Fengmin only 45 minutes way. He hoped to return with an unpublished manuscript titled "Conversations with Zhao Ziyang Under House Arrest" The work was that of Zong Fengmin, a retired Chinese official.

While the contents of the this conversation with Zhao (who died this January) are unknown, a central point of a recently published memoir of Zhao by Zong stresses that the demands by the students for greater openness and democracy was also shared by a great many mid-level and higher ranking party members in Beijing as well.

Ching Cheong however, has not returned from his 45 minute journey, but is being held on the mainland and this week was charged with espionage. There has been no evidence offered by officials to substantiate these charges. He has not been allowed contact with family, visitors, legal council or the Straits Times of Singapore, for whom he writes. This has prompted nearly every newspaper and press freedom group in Asia to call for his release.

Sources:

Reporters without boarders

NY Times - Thousands at Hong Kong Vigil for Tiananmen Anniversary

Singapore journalists petition Chinese embassy on detained correspondent

Much earlier this year I wrote a poem about the death of Zhao in the persona of Tiananmen Mother. An audio of the poem remains on the sidebar. I am posting the complete text here below on the anniversary of the massacre. I believe given the existing situation in China,the threat that exists at the hands of governments around the world to suppress the flow of information, literature, and ideas - including the United States, who currently is challenging some of our most basic civil liberties in the name of Homeland Security - by way of intrusive componnets of the Patriots Act... it is a good time to remember that the price people sometimes pay for those liberties is easily taken for granted.

~

Tiananmen Mother
for Zhao Ziyang

The Beijing breeze whispers
mournful strophes.
Tears like the mountain rains
follow slopes

to tributaries until they become one
with the rippling waters of the Yangtze.

I am a Tiananmen mother.
My eyes have swelled
with this sadness before.
The wetness follows a path
well rehearsed.

My nights are immense.
I am but a lone bare branch
in a cold, dark world.

They replicate
that June night
etched in my soul
over and over.

My son stood
in the Square
armed only
with a vision
and they came-
The People's Army.

My son stood
in Tiananmen Square,
amid a sea of other
sons an daughters
and they came-

armored tanks
clanking along the streets into Tiananmen
driven by fear, ordered by paranoia.

Our sons and daughters
toppled to the earth
at their hands.
Crimson crawling into every crevice
Of these ancient Chinese streets
A stain still upon us today.

I cannot count the nights
I've wept for my son since.
Today, I weep for another.

There is no official news
but the Beijing breeze whispers again.
This time for the death of the old man.
There are guards of fear
stationed outside my door.
The lump in my throat is big,
I cannot begin to swallow,
that is how I know the truth.

Guilt always gnawing at my heart.
I could not help my son that June night.
Again as I am helpless.

I want to pay my respects
to the old man who stood up
for my son and others
massacred in Tiananmen,
but the thugs watch
my every move.

I am a Tiananmen mother.
It is my duty to weep
for the lost ones.

© 2005 Michael A. Wells

Poetry for the People!

And for the Minnesota Governor too! Maybe he'll get the hang of it.


Poetry for the People!

Brookcrossing.com Found by Harper's Index

Harper's Index has found Bookcrossing.com

The June 2005 Issue features such facts as this:

"Number of books registered at BookCrossing.com, so the books can be left in public places and found by others: 1,935,00"

WhichMajor Romantic Poet Would You Be?

You're John Keats! You were born poor, trained to
be a doctor, and then decided you wanted to be
a poet. You threw yourself into poetry with
great dedication. You're very nice and
extremely dedicated to your art. You write
great letters and sexy poetry. It's amazing
how much you got done in your short lifetime.

Which Major Romantic Poet Would You Be (if You Were a Major Romantic Poet)?
brought to you by Quizilla

Graceful Insanity | A History of McClean-

sadi ranson-polizzotti wrote a review of this book about the people treated there over the years... some pretty interesting names. Of course I was aware of both Plath and Sexton. In the back of my mind I was thinking that this too was where Lowell had been treated a time or two. This review confirms that fact.

The surprise to me was James Taylor. I recall the story of his song "Fire and Rain" being written about a young woman he fell in love with at a Psych facility.... I never knew if the story was true or folk lore, but it seemed plausible. Learning that McLean was indeed the site of a hospital stay for him certainly makes the story that much more interesting.

I suppose I will need to add Gracefully Insane by Alex Beam to my growing read list.

Sit on your toadstool, say grace, eat your blueberry muffin, and just say "no" to poetry.

As the Minnesota State Legislature ended its regular session, it passed a bill to create a position of state poet laureate. The House voted in favor of the measure 126 to 6 and the Senate did likewise by a 52 to 8 to vote.

Minnesota has a state muffin - the blueberry muffin. It has a state photograph, titled "Grace" and, Oh my God!!! a state mushroom! Yep, it has an official toadstool!

Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty, however, said no to the poet laureate idea. If signed into law, the bill would have allowed him to appoint a poet laureate after receiving recommendations from the nonprofit Minnesota Humanities Commission. Many thought the timing was perfect to start such a endeavor, as the state will be celebrating it's sesquicentennial in 2008 and a laureate would have been called on to provide verse for ceremonies and celebrations thoughout the state. Additionally, no state funds would have gone with the job.

Pawlenty suggested that the measure could lead to "requests for a state mime, interpretive dancer or potter." In this case a mime for a Governor wouldn't be such a bad idea.

According to the Library of Congress, some 34 states have such a position. Several are presently vacant however.



Unrelated - but worth thinking about:

The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it. ~James Bryce

Steve Mason, Vietnam War Poet, Dies at 65

Steve Mason, a soldier and poet who became the unofficial bard of the Vietnam War, died Wednesday of lung cancer. He was considered by many to the the poet laureate of Vietnam Veterans. In 1984, his poem "The Wall Within" was read at the dedication of the Vietnam wall in Washington D.C.

In the 1970's - Mason began writing love poems. But would go on writing poetry on the wounds of war and published a trilogy of such poems.

From The Wall Within

"There is one other wall, of course. / One we never speak of. / One we never see, / One which separates memory from madness. / In a place no one offers flowers. / The wall within. / We permit no visitors. / Mine looks like any of a million / nameless, brick walls / it stands in the tear-down ghetto of my soul; / that part of me which reason avoids / for fear of dirtying its cloths."

He was survived by three daughters and one son.








Steve Mason, Vietnam War Poet, Dies at 65

Northland writers group

northland writers_1
Originally uploaded by stickpoet.

Sunday - Northland Writers with three of my poems before them debating do we focus on trashing one, or all of them?

Actually - they were very constructive and the process was relatively painless. Hence, I wonder if they are becoming softies, or if I am getting better... :)

Ready to let go of this week...

Alas, Friday has arrived. This has been a week from hell. Not only that, it has been a part of a string of such weeks. Besides being Friday, I am starting to feel somewhat human again. Not great mind you, but I can almost feel that hope of normalcy again. Normal is such a great place... Wherever and whatever it is.

I have to laugh at Ivy's post from several days ago where she quotes Henry Ward Beecher...
"Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?" And just think, in the 1800s he never saw a Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com.

I am supposed to present some of my writing Sunday afternoon at the northland writers group so I need to get my stuff together tomorrow. Then Sunday evening, following writers group, it's back into the city as, I plan to read at:

Prospero's Pit

Sunday, May 29

6:30 PM

Prospero's Books

1800 W. 39th

Kansas City, MO 64111

(816) 531-WORD

Thought for the day....

Everyone who drinks is not a poet. Some of us drink because we're not poets. ~From the movie Arthur

Billy Collins Fans

Click here!

Q & A with Sam Hamill

Read MARGARET BIKMAN'S, TAKE FIVE

A short Q & A with Sam Hamill, founding editor of Copper Canyon in Port Townsend, poet, translator and founder of the nonprofit organization Poets Against the War, reads from his latest compilation of poems.


The Bellingham Herald

Poetry In The News

This might be worth checking out.... Poetry inspired new Wallflowers album.

An interesting look at some changes in writer workshop models at 2005 Iyas Creative Writing Workshop in the Philippines. ... Putting the 'work' back into 'workshop'

The gap between J.K. Rowling's success and the attention afforded these 14 British women is mammoth... but their work is now in Early Modern Women’s Manuscript Poetry an anthology.

New Jersey student's life cut short by cancer in 1996 continues to have impact - Letting words fly -Student poetry café celebrates life


"If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." ~Toni Morrison

Amnesty International Takes Aim at U.S.

It is not especially surprising to me that Amnesty International's 2005 report accuses the United States as shirking its responsibility to set the bar for human rights protections and said the government has created a new lexicon for abuse and torture evidenced by the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.

Independent reports by the Geneva-based ICRC have previously raised concerns. The ICRC has had access to the prison and is known to have expressed concerns to the U.S. Government.

The AI report cites "Attempts to dilute the absolute ban on torture through new policies and quasi-management speak, such as 'environmental manipulation, stress positions and sensory manipulation,' was one of the most damaging assaults on global values," and further called for the camp to be closed down.

AI admits these human rights deficiencies came with a rash of terrorist actions, including the televised beheadings of captives in Iraq, but says governments forget many victims in fight against terrorism.

It is worth noting there are many other violators the group pointed to in report. Sudan as one of the worst human rights violations this past year. Zimbabwe, Haiti, Bangladesh were also cited. As was China for forced abortions, Nepal for rapes committed by soldiers.

AI did point to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in June to allow prisoners at Guantanamo challenge the basis of their detention as many of these individuals have been held for over three years with no formal charges.

visit the Amnesty International site at - link

Tuesday Night Meeting of KC Metro Verse

Our local chapters of the Missouri Poetry Society met tonight. Actually I belong to two chapters - this one is KC Metro Verse. It is one of the newest chapters and it has been very active with events and projects in it's short history.

We have been working on a project to release poetry books into the community in conjunction with an online project called bookcrossing.com. Tonight we put the book plate stickers in the books so they could be registered and then released at various locations around town. The concept is kind of cool - a little like where's George? Where you register dollar bills online against their serial number and track their movement.

Then we read some poetry as usual. Some of our own and or works by other poets.

Just for grins, I'll share some photos of the tonight's meeting. Yes, I have taken a little poetic liberty with two of the photos.


Scot Isom - goes first.



Getting books ready for their journey.





Wait! I think Pat Berge has something to say.

Poets Dot Org Re-Launches

Poets.org has Re-Launched. The site is the internet home of the Academy of American Poets. Besides a new overall look, the relaunched site has:

• More poems
• A new prose section with some 400 essays, interviews, etc.
• Better poet biographies
• Listening booth with many audio clips that is now both pc and mac friendly
• Downloadable help for starting your own poetry reading club
• National poetry almanac with 365 days worth of highlights
• Discussion Forum has returned after a years hiatus
• New section on writing with advise from legendary poets

This weeks highlights...

Spotlight Essay

Robert Creeley - Picking Up The Painting's Vibes

Spotlight Poet

Arthur Rimbaud - link

Spotlight Poem

Sylvia Plath's poem - Daddy

Com'on Dad - Put it right here!

Barry.kiss
Originally uploaded by stickpoet.

A very friendly Barry to go with the poem I posted recently.

Who or What is the Enemy?

I'd like to take a moment to call to the attention of others who have not seen it, a post by Eileen R. Tabios over at The Chatelaine's Poetics, titled ANTI-FEAR POETICS: MOUNTAIN OR MOLEHILL ON THE POST 9-1-1 TERRAIN?

Unquestionably, Eileen has a wit about her that even allows her to rant on serious topics and make her point. In her Sunday post, she has gone to great pains to make sure that her point is not taken too lightly and I think as we all have to do at time, nudge herself to make certain not to have fallen into the self-censoring mode.

As she states, "The ugly thing about all this Security shit... is that it generates paranoia, distrust, fear of speaking out, etc. I am doubling back to look at how I self-censored a rant and lapsed into humor. I don't like that about myself. I don't want to practice fear as part of my poetics -- it gets in the way of lucidity."

I'm not going to tell her story here... go read her post. There are so many aspects of the post 9-11 that are troubling to me as an American. She has touched on just a small bit of it, but a significantly important bit, none the less.

KC Literary Calendar - May 23-29

Monday - May 23
Regular Monthly Open Mic at the Writers Place - Midwest Center for Literary Arts
3607 Pennsylvania - Kansas City, MO - starts 8pm.


Tuesday - May 24
Regular Meeting of KC Metro Verse - 6:30 contact information.


Thursday - May 26
David and Judy Ray Poetry Reading
Community Christian Church - on the Plaza - starts 7:00PM - details call the Writers Place
816-753-1090.

Friday - May 27
Crystal Field Scholarship Reading
At The Writers Place - Midwest Center for Literary Arts
3607 Pennsylvania - Kansas City, MO - starts 7:30pm.


Saturday - May 28
Poetry Workshop / David & Judy Ray
At The Writers Place - Midwest Center for Literary Arts 3607 Pennsylvania - Kansas City, MO - starts at 10am.

The workshop focuses on seeing as a poet sees, reading as a poet reads, experiencing the world as a poet must in order to fuel and sustain their work.

Cost $30 for WP members and $40 for non-members. Call 816-753-1090 for details.


Sunday - May 29
Reading from the Pit at
PROSPERO'S BOOKS 1800 W. 39TH St. KANSAS CITY, MO 64111
Starts at 6:30pm - continues till everything that needs to be said is said.

Reviewing Kooser Event in Kansas City

Ted Kooser signing books in Kansas City - Rockhurst University Thursday May 19


In a week which has seen an enormous number of poetry events in Kansas City, there was still room for over 600 to squeeze in another on Thursday. The Mid-America Arts Alliance had to be happy with their sponsored event, An Evening With Ted Kooser.

The audience was a wonderful mixture of age groups. While Kooser's selected poems were from a very narrow niche- primarily family inspired work, the overall response was a grateful audience.

The event opened with the unveiling of a new postal commerative stamp honoring the first U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Penn Warren.

My personal preference would have been to hear a broader composite of Kooser's poetry, but night was truly enjoyable none the less. Just the quiet and appreciative audience hanging on to his words was a joy in itself. He has a simple but preciseness in his verse. Though just once, I'd like to have been shocked by something he said. I'm sure that says something about me.

My Dachshund Trumps Your Honor Student

Frenzied fur
On four manic driven legs
Awaits me inside each evening.

My face safe
From an overactive tongue
Only by the sheer height differential.

A dance
I'll call the "scamper"
Tugs my heartstrings.

Hey, look at me Dad!
Intones his little cavort
Daring my brush-off.

Astute as any child would be
He understands how preposterous
It would be to ignore this performance.


[Note: Barry, my long haired Dachshund is 2 years big today. Any resemblance to the character in this poem is purely intentional]

Tonight I Shamble

Ted Kooser is in town. That sounds kind of like announcing the arrival of some gunslinger that just rode in. But he is here, or at least will be by tonight. I'm going to see him at Rockhurst University and I'll take my copy of The Poetry Home Repair Manual for him to sign. I mean after all, he is the U.S. Poet Laureate and he has won a Pulitzer... I mean I might as well have the thing signed.

I got a kick out of Emily Lloyd's post yesterday about Kooser and I have to give serious thought about the implications of shambling up to him afterwards and asking him to sign my copy. Will my shamble mask the truth (that being that I already partake of and write poetry) and give him the false pretext of another convert? Or perhaps my shamble will in fact be lame. Maybe he can spot a fake shamble a mile away. In which case he might say something like, "Nice try with the shamble bit... how long have you really been reading and writing poetry?"

Two Links I Recommend

Today, I'm focusing on links to two other sites.

I recommend reading a piece in today's WSJ.com by Michael Judge on the late Frank Conroy. Judge relates some of his own personal memories of Frank Conroy from his school days... but mostly he recalls Frank dealing with the myths surrounding creativity and mental illness.

Conroy had vast exposure with mental illness, both on a very personal level as well as a professional level. As such, his acknowledgement of it within the creative arts community is significance. He had a refreshing balance of reality without romanticizing it. The story Judge relates concerning Robert Lowell is priceless.

On another note - I read a heart warming story about a young lady named Andrea Miller, a 17 year old who lost much of her hearing as a result of chemotherapy for brain cancer as a toddler.

Andrea is a National Honor Society student at Benilde-St. Margaret High School in St Louis. In spite of multiple surgeries and deftness in one ear, Andrea has chosen a proactive course with her young life and inspires others by her own example.

She has created her own foundation which has raised over $27,000 for an orphanage in India. The springboard for raising funds has been offering prints of a painting called "The Elephants of Kerala" and a recently published book of her own though-provoking poetry.

Andrea's website is linked here.

Whirlygirl

One of my poems was posted this week at Prosperos Book Site. Prospero's is a local Open Mic venue in the Kansas City area that I have read at a couple of times now. They selected a poem that Will Leathem of Prospero's & Unholy Day Press referred to as "much fun, lots o sass"...

Whirlygirl

Accessable Poetry Sonnet

(another google poem... Just for fun. This time a Sonnet)

Version of All Shakespeare Sonnets
in a free encouraging friendly Others
apc 57 jimi 57 sonnet 57 97027cps 57 savers
Scrapbook Alpha - on subjects

accessoir,2 - Shakespeare,
rate the poetry higher on He's
form - young Will begins to write
should be accessable to all and

is now becoming more accessable to
it in accessable modes. maybe i need
form, it is now becoming more
and hope that you can get back to

Asshole which begins "Dark and wrinkled"
Sonnet 73" (Shakespeare

Dance Of The GOP Puppets

The following was created with the help of Get A Google Poem and a thanks to Christine for the link to get this rolling.



Dance Of The GOP Puppets

by the
nation's top GOP spin-nurses in an incredible show of chutzpah on ...
To the
puppets writing for the mainstream press, this signals she may be ...


... is the
beginning of a hostile take over of our University system by the
GOP....
along with Hannity, is just one of Murdoch's dime-a-dozen meat puppets. ...

comment: Wilson showed a clip of GOP Allen asking his question, ... Layers of
puppets. Jerk the
string at the
top, and all of the
levels start to

The
GOP’s champions of this war had a hard time finding their own way to the
battlefield ... ,
White Boy, .
I suddenly really want some Pocky ...

... He's innocent, and the
is guilty
nothing more than ... This time, ol'
BartCop let you
f easy. Next time, you'll dance. ...

... act in Bush’s Theater
Pain starring helpless Democratic puppets. ...
…and the masquerades as the
party
fiscal sanity that must be kept in ...

... wouldn’t gamble and could never, ever be caught – God forbid – dancing. ...
Can the
GOP keep
the puppets under control? Stupid is as stupid does ...

Dylan - Master
Puppets (Metallica - Master
Puppets) ... They ripped
a page from the
old GOP
playbook as they ripped
the no-tax-but-still-spend ...

Because puppets are better. You can control a puppet. ... pledge that had to
be drafted, then redrafted to the specifications of
the GOP
leadership. ...

... Existential puppets contemplate the mysteries of
animation Dead Puppet Talk...

Genre Fluent in British Dialect Produces Paranoid Pleasures ...

... blurring of
the issue by the GOP
in the 2000 and 2002 campaigns. ... about foreign
intervention by making Iran's liberals look like Western puppets. ...

... A New Kind of
Dancing in Iraq: from Occupation to Guerrilla War ... opened a
warehouse for building puppets, attracted puppet builders from all over...

... But polls suggest the GOP's Clinton blame-game will have some resonance ...and we think that if he learned to do it with dueling sock puppets,...

-driven musical to the all-American songs of Billy Joel. ...

Monday Malaise

Ugh! I had a ton of e-mail awaiting me today. I was not on the computer at all this weekend. I've used the handy delete key on a good deal of it that was obvious of no import. That however was just the one e-mail act.

I was hoping for more feedback from Friday's post on attention deficit disorder, but not really surprised that it has not elicited more response.

Met with my writers group Sunday afternoon and it was really a good session thought I was not prepared to present. After the featured work was presented and completed, I did offer a poem I wrote last week that was in a first draft/with last minute scribbled changes. I knew it was really roughed and did not even read it well. I only was looking for a general feel for what I was trying to do and the feedback was positive. However, I have since come to the conclusion it needs major changes beyond what I was thinking because the ending is too personal to a broader readership awareness of what it implies. In some respects I'd be inclined to toss this one back into the lake, were it not for the fact that I have a larger idea that this poem would fit nicely into if I can only get it together in a way that holds the general idea that is very personal and at the same time meet a more universal paradigm.

I'm still feeling less than 100% which is getting old. Hell, I don't think I'm even up to 75% and given how long it has been since I felt really good, this is draining both in a physical and emotional way.

ADD or AD/HD Poets

Need a little help here. I am interested in information on established poets who have Adult -Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or AD/HD. I'm also looking for feedback from anyone who is actively writing poetry, about how you believe it impacts your work and if you find differences in your ability to express yourself verbally in conversation as opposed to the creative processes of putting words to a page.

As Adult ADD is historically, somewhat a young condition (it's recognition) I'm sure that information on the affliction within the poetry community is limited.

My interest relates to a better personal understanding of what I perceive as impact to myself and the experiences others may have.

Anyway.... your posts are welcome or e-mail me directly if you would prefer. E-mail-Michael Wells

The American Freedom Challenge Comes From Within

Haji Abdollahi Sefid Kasseh, a 72 year old Iranian traveled all the way from far northeastern province of Khorassan to Tehran so he could fill out a questioners in order to be screened to be a candidate for President. The old man may not exactly be an odds on favorite to be the next President of Iran, but his message was simple and interesting.

If Haji Abdollahi Sefid Kasseh were to become Iran's next president, he says that he would not shy away from working to restore ties with the United States after a quarter of a century of bitter animosity on both sides. And how would he do this? He said he would sit down at the table with President George W. Bush and tell him “we are all brothers”. “We have to teach our arts to others and they should teach us theirs,” is how he explained his simple diplomatic formula. He adds, “And my art is poetry.”

Such a meeting, however unlikely, would be interesting. Until recently, American publishers and editors were restricted from publishing works in collaboration with authors from various U.S.-sanctioned countries, Iran among them. These rules have been somewhat eased, but the government continues to assert authority to categorically approve editing and publishing activities — a power that has questionable authority according to many lawyers who represent U.S. publishers and editors.

So here is this humble 72 year old Iranian poet who believes there is something beneficial about the exchange of culture between these two nations who are at each others throats. Then you have the President of the most powerful nation in the world... A nation who's basic foundation was built upon the principal of free expression of ideas, freedom to practice religious beliefs of one's own choice apart from the state's interference and a free press. So I have to wonder why our government remains so fearful of writers and poets that it feel it must protest us from their works by exercising censorship and control over their material.




Sources: NM&L and Daily Times

Fido Poetics

"You ask of my companions. Hills, sir, and the sundown, and a dog as large as myself that my father bought me. They are better than human beings, because they know but do not tell." ~Emily Dickinson

I didn't realize that Emily had a fondness for dogs. Though it is perhaps not surprising to me that she speaks of them in more endearing terms than fellow man. They seem to be able to sit for long periods of time and simply consume (I'm talking about take in - not eat) their surroundings.

So what is Dickinson really saying here? Well, I'm going to surmise that she rather likes Fido because he sees- he takes in and knows, but holding that within is sufficiently satisfying.

Now, someone go ahead and tell me she meant something all together different. I don't really care to argue the point one way or another, so you are welcome to your own explanation, but to me it is all quite amusing. I can picture Emily Dickinson and her four legged friend sharing the commonality of poetic thought. They glance at each other, say absolutely nothing, but they both understand the other's knowledge. None of this Lassie runs down the road backing... "What? Hold on Lassie... You say Timmy has fallen in the well? OK, I'm coming girl."

Sometimes I think where art and nature are concerned we all have to start with a Fido moment. Take it in. Let it just be. Once it has settled in long enough.... we can then do what differentiates man and woman from dog. Having processed all of something we can.... put it in a visual. A picture, a sculpture, a poem. The human inclination is to input / output. Pardon the expression but the morning breakfast becomes the afternoon waste.
Humans have an intellectual component that is unique but often hurry to use it with less than desirable results. . Dogs can teach us a lot.

The Fusion Of Poetry And Wellness

The impact of one's health on their writing may sound like a strange topic for a post, but feeling like crud for a couple of weeks now has fueled this thought. I'm not offering any profound evidence to support any theories associated with my thoughts, rather I am considering this aloud as I write today's post.

Of course, I imagine that people likely do not work their best at anything when under the weather. Generalizing, that is likely a safe assumption. While none are coming to my mind at this moment, I am sure there are examples of writers who have created some profound work on their death bed. I wonder if they might have done better were they at full strength and feeling quite fit at the time? More particularly, I have considered that a possibility exists that a poet, very sick... even dying could perhaps write from a "place" that he or she might not otherwise outside the realm of such illness, and perhaps provide something more profound as a result of their own "place" in the physical world of health.

Feeling as lousy as I have certainly has not produced anything more profound from me these past few weeks. It has seemed to add to an urgency to write, but that urgency has not resulted in any stronger will or drive to write. The physical body remains limited in energy and that level of efficiency seems to out power any mixture of mental and emotional capacity to stay with a poem or project for too long.

I have tried the denial thing.... where you pretend you are not sick as long as you possibly can. Going to work in spite of how I feel because you figure that if it all stacks up and you come back feeling better, the increased work load just makes you feel lousy all over again.

So right now, I want to feel good if not great. I also want the move ahead on several projects. Things that I believe are best served better by both physical and mental health (attitude) which I do not feel are immediately within my control. As a result, I resort to thinking about how health and writing might be impacted beyond the obvious quantity factor and more to the nature of quality. Hence, you get today's blog. Long on thoughts, short on answers.

Eileen has such a way with words....

"Yeah, I thought, as I smiled at him before gliding graciously out the door. Like a constipated bowel movement."


Now there's a work of poetry ;)

Check Out This Place

I saw an ad in Poets & Writers magazine for library hotel in New York so I had to check out the internet site. Kind of pricey - but hey, isn't everything in NY?

Check out the Poetry Garden. The Writer's Den. Or the Erotica Literature Room.


There are some specials. Check out this Suite.

An idea of price ranges........

Room Types :
Love Room w/terrace
$ 415
Junior Suite/king bed
$ 415
Deluxe/queen bed
$ 385
Petite/full bed
$ 315
Family Unit/2 rooms
$ 800


Ok, adding this to my list of things I'm NOT doing anytime soon.

Kansas City Events For May

The following events represent a few of the May Poetry scene happenings in the Kansas City, Missouri Metro area.

May 6th - Riverfront Readings and The Writers Place
Host a reading by Elizabeth Dodd and Susan Rodgers at The Writers Place - 8:00 p.m. Suggested donations at the door at $2 for members, $3 for non-members and $1 for students.

Elizabeth Dodd is Professor of English, and Director of the Creative Writing Program at K-State in Manhattan, KS. She earned an M.F.A. and a Ph.D., both from Indiana University. She is the author of: Like Memory, Caverns and Archetypal Light (poems); The Veiled Mirror and the Woman Poet (criticism); and most recently Prospect: Journeys & Landscapes (nonfiction essays).

Susan Jackson Rodgers is an assistant professor teaching fiction writing at K-State in Manhattan, KS. Her short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in a variety of literary magazines including Nimrod, StoryQuarterly, Beloit Fiction Journal, Prairie Schooner, North American Review and Glimmer Train. She is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize Special Mention. Her story "Bodies" won the 2002 Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition. Her collection of stories, The Trouble With You Is, won the Mid-List First Series Award in Short Fiction and will be published in the fall of 2003.

May 10th - KC Metro Verse -chapter meeting 6:00pm

May 19th - U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser will speak at Rockhurst College at 8:00pm

MAY 20 - The Writers Place, Michelle Boisseau and Katrina Vandenberg will read as part of TWP Reading Series starting at 7:30pm.

Michelle Boisseau was educated at Ohio University (BA, MA) and the University of Houston (PhD). Her books of poetry include, Trembling Air, University of Arkansas Press, 2003; Understory, winner of the Morse Prize, Northeastern University Press, 1996; and No Private Life, Vanderbilt, 1990. She is also the author of the popular textbook, Writing Poems (Longman), in its 6th printing. Her work has appeared in The Yale Review, Threepenny Review, The Gettysburg Review, The Southern Review, Shenandoah, Poetry, and elsewhere. She's has received a National Endowment for the Arts poetry fellowship and two Poetry Society of America awards. She is Professor of English at the University of Missouri-Kansas City where she is also associate editor of BkMk Press and coordinator of the Creative Writing program.

Katrina Vandenberg was raised in the Downriver area of Detroit, and her poems have appeared in American Scholar, The Iowa Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Poetry Northwest, and other magazines. She was a 1999-2000 Fulbright fellow to the Netherlands and a hemophilia-AIDS activist and is currently the visiting writer at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

May 22nd - Jonathan Holden - Kansas State Poet Laureate will be at the Writers Place at 2pm

May 23 - Writers Place Open Mic 8PM

May 24th KC Metro Verse - chapter Meeting 6:00pm

The Port Townsend Leader OnLine

Saturday, May 7 -Port Townsend, Washington there is a rally of marchers at Indian Island Park, where poets Sam Hamill, Gary Lemons, Zeke Green, Barbara Bowen, Sarah Zale and Rebecca Rafuse read their anti-war poetry.

Click heading for complete story.

I was thinking....

If I could only rewrite in my sleep and upload it in the morning.

Alone With The Night

The wind touched my face,
With brisk fingertips it stroked the integument.
I shook with the chill of a starry night
Stuck in-between, the way seasons often do.
Spring tugging and summer pulling to no avail.
I felt it- half-frozen ice cube water
Within my veins, fluid enough to circulate
The chill evenly throughout my limbs,
To fight off any sensation of fraternity
That might come with the memory
Of another in human form or even a dog
That might have communicated by presence
A care or inclination to mutual necessity.
I am alone within the still of a night so big
That I shiver and telepathically give notice
Only to the stars beyond, and not another soul
Intercepts, knows of the journey or cares. No one.
There is an inexplicable beauty here, but wasted.
The rising spiral of a Hail Mary
Without a soul downfield.

Jilly for Blogger Poet Laureate

I drug my sorry assed self into the office this morning. I have been sink am under the weather (which seems such an interesting term as I think of the weather being about us all, sick or not) and am trying to declare victory- all the while this depressing little fellow- in a black hood sits across the room with his cycle*{see comments below} sickle in hand fidgeting.

Alright... enough about me...

WOW - I just went over to cast my vote for Blogger Poet Laureate [here] and found an amazing hot race going on. My vote, and I don't mind saying so... was for JILLY. After voting, Jilly now has 32 of a total of 68 votes cast. She has 47% of the total vote and is just one vote behind. Come on folks- get over and vote for Jilly to be the Blogging Poet Laureate for the next year!

Safe Word - a review

Christine Hamm's dirty little secret is out. You'll find it here. While I'm not a big reader of erotica in poetry form or otherwise, Safe Word has shown me just how versatile Hamm is as a wordsmith. My earliest exposure to Christine's poetry came through material that has appeared in VLQ - her poem Diary of a Thief was to me, nothing if it was not brilliant.

Her work can be edgy, a quality that I rather like. I suspect that some will get snookered into thinking Safe Word is simply about sex... and that she is just cleverly using some shocking verse to raise some eyebrows and libido at the same time. Is Animal Husbandry really about a woman distraught over her two-timing dog who no longer is satisfied by her? If you say so... but I find that Christine has a way of getting us all tangled up with this chapbook in social commentary that blings with a little linguistic glitter.

She makes you laugh and makes you cry - even in the same poem. Safe Word unwraps the emotional baggage often a part of the human sexual experience and too often wrought with interdiction where our written language is concerned.

Final Three Poetry Month Quotes Under The Wire

April 28:

If I don't write to empty my mind, I go mad. ~Lord Byron

April 29:

All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

April 30:

Most editors are failed writers - but so are most writers. ~T.S. Eliot

Interview Questions for Michael

Cindy at Quotidian Light posed the following questions to me -
So, Michael,

1. How did you "discover" poetry? At what age did the lightbulb come on for you, and what poem/poet flipped the switch?

This is indeed an interesting thing for me to contemplate because the discovery of poetry to me has been more an evolutionary process then flip of the switch. As a youngster - I'm thinking I must have been in the 8 to ten year-old range, I recall an awareness of the poet Robert Frost. What I remember most about this, is Frost did two things for me. He broke the "dead poet" barrier. I realized at this point that Frost was a "real man" and that he was living. That he spoke a language that did not seem foreign and so I now felt that it was not all about dusty dead people that were rotting somewhere beneath the earth.

The other significant factor to me in Frost was that I knew that he read a poem at Presidnet Kennedy's inauguration. By association, I thought he must have earned the right to be cool. Oh, the things we think in youth. I suppose I most remember Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. I have always carried this burden about time and growing old. Perhaps it is the lines in this poem that even as a youngster impressed upon me that there is so much To do...

I did toy a bit with writing poems as a youngster, but the real nature of this calling would remain dormant for many years. It has only been within say the past ten years that it resurfaced and then the real passion and drive have actually developed perhaps over I would say the past four to five years.



2. Which poet and/or poem (or collection of poems) most accurately (or accutely) hits you where you live now and why?

This is not easy... I think it fluctuates greatly within short periods of time. Most frequently I suppose it would be Collected Poems by Sylvia Plath. It often returns to Plath. So many of these works embody a genuine voice of passion. That passion is one of great range. Love on one end and a passionate discourse of raw edgy emotion at other times. In some instances these two seem to twist and tumble together. Above all, her work is perhaps among the most genuine links between the mind and the ink that flows to the page that I have seen. Plath writes seemingly free of any fear of recrimination. I admire the ability to do that.

3. What is your biggest struggle with your writing?

Hard to focus on one thing. There are several and they seem to equally challenge me.
Consistency would be one. Fighting self doubt another. I think self-censorship is maybe the third. Of these, I suppose consistency is major struggle.

4. What is your favorite factor about the same?

I'm not sure about what you are asking here. If it is my favorite thing about my writing, then I would say of course the satisfaction with a finished product. Sadly, many get worked over and rewritten even after a so called final draft. I can be a pretty tough self-critic.

5. If you could have a conversation with any poet living or dead, who would it be, list three questions you'd ask them, and then tell us why that poet and those questions.

I've been asked this question before in the context of what dead poet would you most like to meet for lunch. At the time I was not even thinking about living poets. But for the sake of not dwelling on this question for days, I'd be inclined to stick with my original answer... Sylvia Plath.

My questions.... Gosh, I would stay away from all the tempting ones about her death...
Sylvia Plath embodied such tremendous artistic talent in her short life that I think the tragedy of her death often overshadows what she did achieve. And she seemed to be well ahead of the curve in many areas for her time. Three questions for Sylvia, here we go:

1. What did Robert Lowell posses that had such a profound impact on the poetics of students like yourself, Anne Sexton and George Starbuck?

2. What clicked with you that made the difference between the quality of your juvenile work and that which followed?

3. The Ariel series seemed to pour like ink from a bottle. With the completion of each poem in this series, was there some kind of rush or adrenalin apart from anything else that you've ever experienced to carried you on to the next and then the next building you higher each time?


Many thanks for volunteering! I very much look forward to reading your answers. - [her original post is here ]

The Dumb As Road Kill Department

For those who's missed the last couple of daily poetry month quote postings - I apologize. I have been sick and off work. For me, there are two stages of illness. Sick and at work is one... sick and off work is severe. I will round out a post tomorrow with quotes to make up for the two missed days.

There were some quality poetry events going on tonight in Kansas City over at The Writers Place. Last night, Cornelius Eddy appeared at Rockhurst University campus - an event I had planned to attend and review. Suffice to say, I did not make the Eddy reading. There are a couple of additional events tomorrow worthy of mention in the KC area:

Poets-at-Large is The Writers Place's annual tribute to National Poetry Month, which is celebrating it's 10th year this year. The Writers Place is part of the American Academy of Poets 10 Year, 10 Cities project this year and our event is receiving some national attention.

SATURDAY, April 30, 11AM at The Writers Place
H. L. Hix, Christian Wiman (editor of Poetry Magazine), Michelle Boisseau, and Robert Stewart will hold a conversation titled "The 21st Century: A Golden Age of Poetry?". These consummate poets and writers will delve into questions of the relevance and ubiquity of poetry today. Books will be available. Pre-registration is highly recommended by calling 816-753-1090 - leave a message if you get the machine.

SATURDAY, April 30, 7pm at Main Branch of the KC Library - downtown KC - Helzberg Auditorium on top floor
Hix and Wiman will read from their work. Books will be available. After the reading we will have a meet-and-greet reception. This space is fabulous and you won't want to miss the opportunity to mingle with the poetic cognoscenti of KC and the many people whose generous contributions allow The Writers Place to function. Pre-registration is needed by calling 816-753-1090 - leave a message if you get the machine. This event is free. Donation opportunities will be available.

Last Tuesday, The Kansas City Metro Verse held a special pot-luck dinner at Pat Berge's to celebrate the last weekly meeting of Poetry Month. It was well attended, we had several first time guests and lots of readings - a good mixture of personal work and that of mainsteam poets were read.

Saint Eyebeat seems to have a thing for Jorie Graham. He's had a bit of a thing for Alan Cordal, but this may be cooling. He seems to think Alan's comments to me on his site were "personal and downright stupid." On the other hand, I am somewhere below Alan in the pecking order because Saint Eyebeat views me as "dumb as roadkill."

I have to credit Jilly with this a link to the Entries in Blogging Poet Laureate contest. A novel idea... OK, Poetic, Bite me!

Poetry Month Quote - April 27

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth

Poetry Month Quote - April 26

A poet must leave traces of his passage, not proof. ~Rene Char

Poetry Month Quote - April 25

Poetry is plucking at the heartstrings,

and making music with them.

~Dennis Gabor

Poetry Month Quote - April 24

Poetry is the language in which man explores his own amazement. ~Christopher Fry

Alan's $64,000 question

Alan Cordle is saddened. He is lamenting the number of people who are coming to the site that last week he quit, but like a smoker with deeply stained nicotine hands he simply could not so easily walk away from it. He asks, "Why didn't you care enough to be a part of this during the past year when you could have joined? What's the attraction of coming here now? Am I the car wreck on the side of the interstate?

Is Alan really wanting us to answer that question? I think he know the answer. He is in fact very much a part of a wreckage that is scattered across the poetry landscape and there remain many bodies yet to be covered.

Poetry Month Quote - April 23

"To see the Summer Sky Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie -True Poems flee." ~Emily Dickinson

Poetry Month Quote - April 22

Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance. ~Carl Sandburg

Alan Cordle - Foetry & The NY TIMES

NY Times said he's through - done - finished (for now) but look here it's the guest that won't go home. Alan Cordle apparently has had a change of heart. Though I gather there are those who question if he has one, or what exactly it is that run through those ice-cold veins of his.

Anyway, this saga (Foetry) has not gone away.

Poetry Month Quote - April 21

[P]oets are masters of us ordinary men, in knowledge of the mind, because they drink at streams which we have not yet made accessible to science. ~Sigmund Freud

Poetry Month Quote - April 20

Poets aren't very useful because they aren't consumeful or very produceful.~Ogden Nash

In the Square

A kite tail of smoke,
Color not insignificant,
Danced-
Tugged the emotional strings
And reached deep down to pull
Cheers by the boot straps
From tens of thousands
Who stood watching
With larynx seated on edge.

Poetry Month Quote April 19

The true poet is all the time a visionary and whether with friends or not, as much alone as a man on his death bed. ~W.B. Yeats

The Pope - Readings & Being Outed

If you are doing the Papal watch - Jilly has a favorite pick - Cardinal Claudio Hummes.

Wow... I saw that Stephanie Young was quoted in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers talking about the monthly reading series she holds in her Oakland home. So, I'm guessing she now has a line backed up to about Boulder, Colorado of people wanting to come and read....

I know it is not exactly NEW news... but I have not mentioned it here. If any of you have not already seen this, here it is - Foetry has been outed.

Happy Birthday Cathy

Wishing my wife happy birthday!

She just turned one year more special ~

Poetry Month Quote April 18

I grew up in this town, my poetry was born between the hill and the river, it took its voice from the rain, and like the timber, it steeped itself in the forests. ~Pablo Neruda, quoted in Wall Street Journal - 14 November 1985