Confession Tuesday

It's Confession Tuesday, and this is my first confession post.

A little background-

I cannot take credit for Confession Tuesday. I first saw in at Kells, but soon realized that others are doing so as well. As far as I know, besides Kells there's January O'Neil, and Black-eyed Susans that have kept this practice up. If I've missed someone, I apologize. That's the basics... I'm off to the Confessional.

I confess that I've stewed over doing this for some time now. Mostly for fear I'd look like a copy-cat. This brings me to the matter of worry about how people see you. I confess that I sometimes become too preoccupied with this. Not always though. Sometimes I admit I don't care what anyone thinks. I would do well to find a happy medium, but I tend to favor the worry-side unfortunately. Some of this may be residual from years of high profile politically. I'm working to moderate it. Really I am.

As noted in a post from this past weekend I admit I get majorly stressed out doing our taxes. While this is no secret, I confess it really feels good when they are finished.

I confess I'm a coffee snob. The coffee at the office is really horrible and way too weak. I generally make it espresso strength at home. I have to be able to walk across the surface of it.

I confess that I rarely read for purely pleasure. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy reading poetry (much of it anyway) but when I read it, I always consider it a part of my broader writerly responsibility/education.

This past weekend I went to B&N and bought a journal refill for my leather journal binder.  As I get close to finishing a journal I get excited about starting a new clean journal. One without chicken scratching and strike throughs, etc. I confess it is usually only a couple to maybe three days into a new journal before I feel it's been tainted with imperfection.  I confess I see this revolving door starting all over.

That's about it for my first blog confession. See you next Tuesday!

Unconscious Mutterings week 367

You say.... I think:

Humbled :: Modest
Buns :: Honey
Snowstorm :: Blizzard
Sweetheart :: Roses
Punch:: Face
Glass :: Bottle
Classical :: Gas
Heels :: High
Twitter :: Tweet
Husband :: Spouse
 
 
get you own list

Park University Will Host Regional Poetry Out Loud Competition

NEWS RELEASE:

Park University will host the regional high school competition Poetry Out Loud on Tuesday, Feb 16. This marks the second year Park will be the site of the regional competition for "Poetry Out Loud," at which local high school students recite three poems each. This year's competition will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the McCoy Meetin' House, located on the University's Parkville Campus. The event is free and open to the public.  [Full News Story Here]

Taxes Done (heavy sigh)

Saturday was tax day here. Headache and all, but it’s over. The last three years I have finished our tax returns earlier each year. Another year or two and my only option in order to beat the previous year will be to file an estimated return prior to the end of the year.



I’m assuming most people have some sort of trepidation associated with doing their taxes. Is there anything that causes you more anxiety?

Beth Ann Fennelly Rocks

With the sky spitting and threatening another snow, those who showed up for the Mid-West Poets Series reading last night at Rockhurst University were treated to the no-nonsense humor of Beth Ann Fennelly. Beth acknowledged this is her first foray into Kansas City but felt quite at home, as she was accustomed to reading to her children from a Calef Brown children’s book, Kansas City Octopus which she went on to recite to everyone’s delight.

Kansas City Octopus
is wearing fancy slacks.
Bell-bottom,
just got 'em,
fifty bucks including tax.


Red corduroy,
and boy-oh-boy,
they fit like apple-pie.
Multi-pocket snazzy trousers
custom made for octopi.


fantastic plastic stretch elastic
keeps 'em nice and tight.
Kansas City Octopus
is looking good tonight!

It seemed quite evident that Fennelly places great emphasis on the oral qualities of poetry. Her presentation was recitation as opposed to reading. Still, she was quite at ease shared a number of personal stories related to her writing. The best was about her writing a poem sort of block spaced at random on a page of little notes. This after the horror of learning her mother had sent a copy of her first book to an aunt with little post-it-notes on various poems. Then when that poem was published and her mother saw it she called to thank her for the tribute poem.

Beth read from her books, Open House, Unmentionables, Tender Hooks, and Great with Child: Letters to a Young Mother.

A few of the poems she read that I particularly recall, Souvenir, When Did You Know You Wanted To Be A Writer, Cow Tipping and my personal favorite - First Warm Day in a College Town. I like this one because she captures that feeling we get when we want to be able to hang on to something that identifies us with our youth. The poem is warm, sweet, humorous and most of all real.

When the reading was over, I chatted with Beth briefly as she signed my copy of Unmentionables. I had mentioned that Kelli Agodon had asked that if I go to “please let us how the reading was” and that I would be blogging about it, would she mind if I shot a picture for the blog. Some friends of mine, Pat and Brenda in line behind me suggested a shot of us together and Beth kindly agreed.

Looking at the inscription inside my book as I walked away,

“For Michael, with pleasure in signing this for you – pal of Kelli’s is a pal of mine – Thanks for taking her advise and coming out! Beth Ann”

The Mid-West Poets Series has a long history here in Kansas City and has hosted many top name poets. I've attended most of them over the last three or four years and this was among the most impressive to me.

After I’ve finished and reread Unmentionables a couple more times, you’ll find my review of the book here. I suspect I’ll have to add Open House to my wish list.

Any Peeps in the Seattle Area.... WS MERWIN Thursday Night

Would love to see this tomorrow night - If I were in Seatle I'd be there.  But wait, I have a reading to attend locally anyway.



W.S. Merwin will be joined by Copper Canyon poets of a younger generation at Town Hall Seattle on February 4 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are available at •Town Hall Event Tickets
 

More Books

Two new books arrived in yesterday's mail... remaining birthday remnents (still awaiting the last one).
Nathalie Handal's Neverfield and Beth Ann Fennelly's Unmentionables.  I've finished Neverfield between last night and my lunch hour.  It's a poem itself, as opposed to a book of poems. I always like to read poetry at least three times before reviewing, and this book truly is complex even though it is a smooth flowing read. It's highly lyrical. I will talk about it more in depth soon, but I will say for now that it's an impressive first read.

I've cracked the coven on Unmentionables. but only to read half a dozen poems. I'm attending a reading by Fennelly on Thursday.


                                                                  

February

February belongs to nothing.
It lacks the splendor of winter;
more gray than anything.
It’s a tag-a-long month
with nothing in common
with the others. Yes,
it has evolved—

a hard shell
for emotional survival;
and seldom affords anyone
sympathy.

It’s hard to say anything good
about a month that cannot control
the number of days it lives.

Monday

In route to work this morning the sky is gray, the road is gray, the gaurd rails gray even the air seems gray.

This Thursday – Beth Ann Fennelly Mid-West Poets Series

Author of Open House, Tender Hooks and her latest Unmentionables, Fennelly will appear at Rockhurst University’s Mabee Theater at 7:00 PM to read.  A 6:00 PM reception will precede the event.

A sample of Beth’s work can be heard here  where she reads her poem:  Because People Ask What My Daughter Will Think of My Poems When She’s 16

Technorati Tags: Beth Ann Fennelly




What others are saying about Unmentionables:

“Dramatic, complex . . . and enthralled with language . . . genuinely outstanding.” — Verse Daily

“This collection is stunning in its technical range and in its emotional complexity.” — The Southern Register


“A feast of light and sound.” — Paste

Unconscious Mutterings Week 366

You Say..... I think:


1.Furniture :: upholstry
2.Beauty :: shop
3.Sip :: coffee
4.Block :: street
5.Forehead :: bindi
6.Championship :: series
7.Hurl :: insults
8.Whip :: cool
9.Destruction :: quake
10.Leather :: jacket
 
 
Get your own list from Unconscious Mutterings

Haiti At Two Weeks

The dead unknown
at least a hundred-fifty thousand
buried in mass graves
or remaining under rubble



that shifts like sand
beneath our feat
the sickening sweet stench
of ripened death
and uncertainty

Public Service Announcement

Up and about early for a Saturday, in part because the night wasn’t particularly restful anyway and I figured I might as well get a start on things.


I’ve got a growing list of things to do today. Numerous among them are what I typically refer to as administratively writer duties and those are not among my favorite.


We had a light snow overnight and the temperatures are cold again, but not in the deep freeze range. I made coffee, in the coffee pot and I distinguish this only because I generally make espresso but my espresso pot was broken.  I don’t often make regular coffee and since the coffee at the office is way to watered down for my liking I piled in the scoops of fresh grind and Walla! I have coffee that even puts espresso to shame. Yes, I may have overdone it a bit, but don’t spread it around. I don’t want to be known to have complained of my coffee being to strong. My reputation is that I first have to walk across it to be able to drink it.


Around the poetry/writer blog world there were some good reads this week and you may have missed them. Consider this a PSA in case any of these got past you.

• Dorla’s erotica mishap
• Victoria Chang’s Harrison Ford, Matthew Broderick  & Art
• Kelly Russell Agodon  DIY Writing Retreat
• Victoria Chang’s  The Poetry Foundation and Audience
• Kirstin Berkey-Abbott  Blogging and My paper Journal

Yes, I’m picking on Chang twice, but the Poetry Foundation piece I especially liked because while on one hand I don’t want to give up on others finding in poetry the same sense of discovery I have, deep down I know that so much of what she says in this is reality. Plus she has some very thoughtful ideas about what the Foundation might better do with the windfall gift they received.


Image: Darren Robertson / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Technorati Tags: Poetry Foundation,poetry,writing

What Was Apple Thinking?

Sorry, I couldn’t resist. 
Now I will go do my penance.

Technorati Tags: ipad joke

The Moment

My writing last night was not exactly what I wanted it to be. So you must be thinking in astonishment, wow, and he expects it to always turn out right? The answer is of course no. But last nights writing may simply remain comatose in my journal. It may never see completion; or even the revival attempt of multiple rewrites. Sometimes I feel it is so far off that I walk away from it. Lose interest.

Surely I am not alone in this abandonment of work. Still, I was thinking this morning about a statement about Sylvia Plath’s poetry writing that is attributed to Ted Hughes in which he says he is not aware of Sylvia ever abandoning a poem. There are (and I’m paraphrasing here) times when she decided should could not make a table out of something and was perfectly happy settling for a chair but he never recalled her abandoning one.

I’ve had tables that have turned into chairs or foot stools, but still, sometimes I allow the bad to stand and walk away from it. This morning it is bothering me for some reason.

Maybe it’s because some of these are in my journal along with everything else. Perhaps if I tore the pages out I would feel better. Perhaps not. It’s just where I am at this moment and I’m taking ownership of this feeling, but not necessarily comforted by it.




Image: Darren Robertson / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Aimee Nezhukumatathil Interview - New Letters On The Air

Aimee was in Kansas City last year to read at an ethnic poetry series. While here she taped an interview with New Letters on the Air.  It's a great interview - I heard it Sunday on our local NPR station.  It has been posted today on the New Letters site and will be available only till February 10.

The Bio for this interview is as follows:

A first generation American poet and 2009 NEA fellow, Aimee Nezhukumatathil discusses her two books of poetry: the multi-award winning Miracle Fruit and At the Drive-in Volcano. She talks about writing poetry with a comic eye, and the poetic form for which she named her dog, Villanelle. She also discusses how her unique ethnic heritage--her father is from India and her mother from the Philippines--and her interest in environmental writing serve as creative influences in her work.

Click here to access the podcast!




At the Drive-In Volcano      Miracle Fruit         Fishbone

Unconscious Mutterings Week 365

You Say... I Think:

1.Food :: Baby
2.Death :: March
3.Cafeteria :: Plan
4.Need :: Basic
5.Born :: First
6.Stitch :: Sew
7.Badly :: Worn
8.Blocks :: Cender
9.Chuck :: Steak
10.Spiral :: Notebook
 
 
get your own list at Unconscious Mutterings

I need this on a T-shirt

If I appear distracted, disengaged, unfocused today, it is only because I am hyper-vigilant in search of poetic moments. *

*my facebook status from Dec. 2, 2009  

Quote for the week

Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.  ~    Stephen Sondheim

Checking in with the world

The weekend has felt like such a waste. I basically spent Saturday and a good part of today on bed.  I have not felt good for three or four days now but have been in denial of being sick.  I'm feeling better this evening. Not sneezing any longer. My sinuses better and my head doesn't feel like it has the weight of cinder blocks in it. I still feel achy and a cross between tired and being tired of being tired.


Of course this sort of conditions leads to the mind going off in left field and conjuring up the strangest things. For example, I was thinking about what if we could construct a transcript of our thoughts without interruption for a whole day. What would it look like?  How would we segway from say uncomfortable thoughts into something else?
 
On a positive note, I woke up this morning in time to listen to New Letters on the Air.  Angelia Elam was interviewing Aimee Nezhukumatathil during her trip into Kansas City last spring to read as part of an ethnic poetry series by Park University and the Kansas City Public Library. This must be Aimee week or something because she was also featured on How A Poem Happens. Love in the interview her thoughts on the Villanelle.

Aimee Nezhukumatathil - How A Poem Happens

Aimee Nezhukumatathil is featured on How A Poem Happens today. Check it out here!

Aimee is the author of Miracle Fruit and At the Drive-In Volcano.  I've read Miracle Fruit and I’ve witnessed one of her readings in person. Aimee is brilliantly funny and her work commands attention when read aloud or to yourself from a page. What she does with food in words could challenge an Iron Chef.


At the Drive-In Volcano

Miracle Fruit

Fishbone

Birthday Book

 Arriving in the mail today.... Edgar Allen Poe and the Juke-Box - Uncollected Poems, Drafts, Fragments. I've been interested in this book for some time. It's a collection of previously unpublished works of Elizabeth Bishop. I've never read a lot of Bishop but I was interested in this when it first came out. Elizabeth Bishop had a reputation for being a real stickler about her work. Many have theorized that she would not have been happy to see this material in print, but I'm a sucker for things about poets that shed more insight into who they are and what impacts their work. Hence I've taken an interest in to books like Plath's Letters Home, Plath's Journals, Ted Hughes's letters, Anne Sexton's letters, to name a few. Anyway, this was a birthday present that arrived today and I'm anxious to start reading it.


On another note, tonight I saw Gretchen Rubin at the Plaza Library where she talked about The Happiness Project. An overflow crowd. Fascinating woman and story. More on this in the near future.


The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

Poetic Vacuum

I’m in London, or so it would seem. The fog here has settled in this past week like an occupying army. It was cool at first, but the bullet gray is growing old and is quite depressing.

Yesterday I was certain I was coming down with something. Motivation was gone after work last night. Felt better this morning but not exactly great.

It was also yesterday that I felt there was no poetic dialogue going on. I don’t just mean that I felt a lack of connection with any other poets – but I felt there was no internal poetry dialogue with myself. I don’t especially like it when I feel there is a poetic vacuum. Do you know what I mean? Anyone else ever feel this way?

Where's the humanity?

I feel a deafening poetic silence about me this morning.

Recent Journal Bits

• January 6 - note: I'm still having trouble writing this year correctly.


• January 6 - "what I know of you / fits well in my cupped hand / it's all there is."

• January 7 - " Januarys grace is the slowly rising plum of smoke from the fireplace / chimney against the dark blue sky of a children's picture book."

• January 9 - "What do you suppose / the dead take with them / memories caramelized by years  / of turning, sautéed in the juices  / thank make up life?"

• January 10 - "Venation Blinds have great dexterity...  they align themselves so well / precise as the feet of a marching brand / white spats going up and down / in perfect cadence.

• January 10 - quote: "The late poems are the ones / I turn too first now ... they are made of words that have come the whole way" W.S. Merwin - Worn Words from The shadow of Sirus.

• January 16 - add the word pellucid to my word list - admitting the passage of light, transparent or translucent . Transparently clear in style or meaning.

Unconscious Mutterings Week 364

You say and I think....


1.Weak :: knees

2.Flashy :: bling

3.Sack ::  sad sack

4.Business :: listing

5.Purple :: heart

6.Fan :: baseball

7.Airline :: ticket

8.Guide :: TV

9.Lunch :: box

10.Exercise :: aerobic



get your own list at Unconscious Mutterings

Some cheery news

After a two year absence from New York busses and subway, Poetry in Motion is returning. Poetry in Motion had been in opperation for 15 years and became a  model for other such programs in other cities.

For a glimpse of what commuters will see in 2010 - some Emily Dickinson, a 10th century Japanese poem, a 9th century Aztec poem and a "cheeky, chiding poem" by Stevie Smith called Deathbed of a Financier among other works.

Source

Your three words for 2010?

Last night I did something I’ve been intending to do for some time now. I got comfortable on the bed and pulled out a file folder with some of my poems and began separating them into stacks based on how I thought they might work into a manuscript idea that I have. I found some that I believe will work as they are. Another group that I believe could work but I feel require anything from some minor tweaking to more involved rewrites; however I can still see working. Then there are the rest of them.


I would like to have had more that I thought would be a good fit, but I still have some material that was not printed out in that folder. I have material in a couple of other places, like our desktop that I don’t use for writing any longer and just some hard copies of work that I’m not quite sure where the original files are. Fortunately I’ve gotten better about how I retain my work, but there are things that fall into the hole of historically I’ve not always been so good about it.


I’m not going to get into the nitty-gritty details of what my goal is here, but I did set some general timelines back in September about a manuscript and I am working to stay focused on this project.


Contrary to my norm, I did make some new years resolutions and I am happy to say that at this tinder age of 2010, I’ve stuck to them.


This has nothing to do with my specific resolutions, but I was trying to think if I could select a three year mantra for 2010, what it might be. There were several things that came to my mind, but in the final analysis, I chose these: “Read, write, more.”



What three words define what you wish for in 2010?

Gretchen Rubin: The Happiness Project

I've previously mentioned The Happiness Project here but I've learned this weekend that Gretchen Rubin - formerly of Kansas City and the author of four books will be speaking at the Plaza Branch Library here in Kansas City on Wednesday, January 20th at 6:30.  I'm putting this on my Calendar right now!




Power Money Fame Sex: A User's Guide

Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill: A Brief Account of a Long Life


Forty Ways to Look at JFK

A Missourian by birth...

 Tree Swenson, Executive Director of the Academy of American Poets, announced  today that Naomi Shihab Nye and Marie Ponsot have been elected to the Board of Chancellors, the Academy's advisory board of distinguished poets. Nye is a Missourian by birth having been born in born in St. Louis in 1952. She makes her home in Texas now but has been described as a a citizen of the world.  Her poetry often crosses borders and fosters understanding.  I know little of Marie Ponsot but Nye is truly a wonderful ambassador for poetry everywhere.

In My E-mail This Morning

• A rejection letter for 3 poems.   :(
• Word of the day - dysgraphia. Bad news nearly always follows when dys- begins a word, and so it does here: dysgraphia is an inability to write coherently, either as a learning disorder or a result of brain damage or disease. The Greek roots mean "difficult writing."
• $30 Amazon.com birthday gift certificate.   :) Yeah!
• Urgent Attention, I am here on off-shore banks inspection exercise. Based on the report on your abandoned transaction file, only $2M have been approved to your family from the will.  [Oh Darn, I was hopeful it would be at least $5M]

Quote for the week

Books, like friends, should be few and well chosen. Like friends, too, we should return to them again and again for, like true friends, they will never fail us - never cease to instruct - never cloy.  ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Unconscious Mutterings - Week 363

Subliminal word associations. You say.... I think:

1.Resolutions :: New Year

2.Page :: turm

3.Narrow :: ruled

4.Refuse :: decline

5.Fountain ::  pen

6.Grunt :: strain

7.Construct :: build

8.Nightmare :: dream

9.Inch :: worm

10.Instant :: message

get your own list at Unconscious Mutterings

Coffee Break - Announcements

Taking a short break from writing today to have a salad and post a few notes here.

Here's an announcement for those in our neighboring state of Kansas.
Kansas Voices writing contested, sponsored by the Winfield Arts & Humanities Council, is back for its 21st year. Authors are urged to submit short stories, prose or poetry.  Details here.

Issue 30 of Right Hand Pointing is up.

TWP POETRY READING SERIES @ THE JOHNSON COUNTY LIBRARY

Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - 7:00 pm  - Johnson County Public Library, 9875 W. 87th, Overland Park, KS

Featuring Jo McDougall and Steve Paul

TWP SALON  - Monday, January 25, 2010 - 7:00 pm - Open Mic opportunity hosted by Sharon Eiker
3607 Pennsylvania  - Kansas City, Missouri


Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Tails Of The City : National children's pet poetry contest deadline extended

The American Pet Products Association (APPA) will be accepting poems for its 2nd Annual APPA National Children's Pet Poetry Contest through February 15, 2010 at 5 p.m. EST.

Third, fourth and fifth grade students are invited to pen a unique poem about their pets and then post it to petsaddlife.org or mail it to: Pets Add Life, 45 Winter Street, Reno, NV 89503.

Two students from each grade level (six total) will win a $250 gift certificate for pet products, and a by-line in a nationally circulated publication. In addition, the six winning students' classrooms will each receive a $1,000 scholarship to spend on pet-related education.

Posted By: Amelia Glynn (Email, Facebook) | January 08 2010 at 11:40 AM

Tails Of The City : National children's pet poetry contest deadline extended

 

Technorati Tags: childrens pet poetry

Brrrr...

Single digit temperatures and -0 wind chill, this was my view leaving work yesterday. Each day we seem to be redefining cold here in the Midwest. Tonight is supposed to be a new low. Given how things look, this weekend should/could be a great weekend for writing.

I've drug out my copy of The Artist's Way again and decided it's time to re-examine what I'm doing for the sake of creativity.  Especially since I feel like I'm in a somewhat conflicted state at the moment. I'm trying to look at it positive and a growing place but frustration isn't affording me any particular comfort. Basically I'm trying to project a different style of writing but I'm less satisfied with the results (more often then not) and it wants to pull me back to a more abstract approach. I'm thinking what I really needs is to be someplace between the two. I'm feeling as I move away from the abstract my voice becomes bland. There are other poets I admire who can do this well- I know it can be done.

Attention Metrophobics

"Does the thought of poetry make you nauseous? Does it trigger a dry mouth and clammy hands? Does your heart feel like it’s going to pound right out of your chest? Do your legs turn to rubber bands?" If so, help is on the way. For only $147 you can get a Home Study program of CDs and a Work Book or if you prefer, for the paltry sum of $2497 you can get one-on-one Private Sessions with Board-Certified Specialist to help you eliminate your underlying fear. This according an internet site that can be found here.


I’m so glad there is hope for people suffering from metrophobia. It seems there are so many metrophobics out there. Some of my own family may be metrophobic. This of course causes me to wonder why or how I escaped the condition? Is there a genetic predisposition towards this condition? If so, perhaps we can isolate the gene that controls our poetic responses and tweak it a bit to make poetry a little more palatable. Of course, if such therapy became possible, poetic gene therapy could put the previously mentioned site out of business.

A bit overdue for Journal Bits

A few journal bits from recent writings-

Dec. 15th “and now I / Foam to wheat, glitter of seas / The child’s cry [from Ariel by Sylvia Plath]

Dec. 15th when your room is a town / and the hallways a thoroughfare / to climb into your own bed is trespassing

Dec. 16th What is it that keeps us focused and what are the things that derail us?

Dec. 22nd Trying to expose the soul is like catching carp with bare hands. If a soul wanted to be seen and recognized for all that it is it would show a little leg.

Dec. 24th Silence is the reversible side.

Dec. 24th. Guilt creeps through superficial cracks…

Dec. 26th I failed miserably.

Dec. 26th I don’t choose them; they find me (morning thoughts)


Dec 27th What does one have to do to get a glass of plain water?

Dec. 27th “The poet’s only hope is to be infinitely sensitive to what his gift is, and this itself seems to be another gift that few poets possess.” [Ted Hughes – London Magazine Vol. 1 NO. 2 1962]

Dec. 29th “pulp non-fiction / outdated upon arrival”

Jan 1st “I see the pox / on the old man’s face”

Jan 4th We’ve evolved into a voodoo age… Our current socio-political climate is so amerced in a high voltage hate that most Americans are of a mindset that they whish harm to come to those who are of a different (and usually believed inferior) view then themselves.

Unchopping A Tree

Artist and architect Maya Lin has produced a video which is inspired by a W.S. Merwin poem of the same name and focuses on how we would feel if deforestation came to the city parks that we love the most. It’s a quietly powerful piece that I hope many people have an opportunity to see.

 

Maya Lin - Unchopping a Tree from What is Missing? Foundation on Vimeo.

Technorati Tags: Maya Lin,W.S. Merwin,Unchopping A Tree

A Thought for the week

The concept that an artist would be revered by popular culture is an immediate dismissal of his relevance as an artist. ~Thomas Kinkade

Unconscious Mutterings - Week 362

You say - I think:

1. 365 :: days

2. Tombstone :: pizza

3. Dumb :: luck

4. Intrusive :: government

5. Fat :: cat

6. Axe :: Lizzy Borden

7. Planned :: vacation

8. Spike :: Lee

9. Bleach :: stain

10. Shopkeeper :: Clerk

get your own list at Unconscious Mutterings

There are Consequences

Feline steps are deliberate
cautious intermittent pauses-
to allow for adjustments.

No one expects life
to be without recalculations
or changes.

It is our prerogative
to make u turns
even if the law doesn't allow

for it, the road itself will
not hinder us
or the police that follow.

Boring? Think Again

For those who might think all things poetry equals boring, think again. We who chose our words with great thought are quite capable of sparking sharp discourse. There are a couple of excellent examples of this going on right now in full public view.


On the national scene there is the ongoing and seemingly unending friction over a $200 million gift to Poetry Magazine by Ruth Lilly, the 94 year old reclusive philanthropist and drug heiress who died this past week. The basic story is old news to most poets, but the death of Ms. Lilly seems to have drawn media attention back to it by as evidenced by a series of new articles that have appeared in print these last few days.


For an art form often marginalized, such a gift was both shockingly exciting and on some level a bit difficult to rationalize. The Poetry Foundation which publishes Poetry Magazine is operated by a staff of four. It has a circulation of 12,000 and an annual operating budget of about $700.000 which makes such a gift seem a bit like overkill. But for many, it’s not so much the gift as it is the administration of the Foundation that has been the focus of discussion. Some, including a former trustee have been critical of the foundation’s expenditure of $25 million to build a “Home for Poetry” in Chicago. John Barr , the director has also been criticized for giving his wife a job at the Foundation. Complaints have reached the Illinois Attorney General who is looking into "questionable governance and management practices."


Back in my home state, the selection of a second Poet Laureate have has brought some criticism of the Governor’s office who has posted an application for the position that looks more like they are searching for a CEO of a fortune 500 Company than an ambassador for an art. It asks for instance to: “Please provide any other information, including information about other members of your family, which could suggest a conflict of interest or be a possible source of embarrassment to you, your family, or the Governor” and “Is there anything in your or your spouse’s background that might become an embarrassment to you if it were to become public? Please consider carefully any letters to the editor, blog posts, etc., which you or your spouse may have authored, even anonymously.” It also asks about associations with other individuals which might be a source of embarrassment. I’ve not personally seen applications used in other states, but according to a January 2nd Columbia Tribune article, “Application forms for poets laureate in other states do not ask similar questions.” The same article notes several individuals have expressed disappointment about such approach to the search and at least on poet with national accolades that said he was not interested in applying with these terms.


The outgoing Poet Laureate Walter Bargen, said he was not asked to fill out an application but he and his wife did agree to a State Highway Patrol background check. He was asked if there was anything they should know about. Bergen to them, “I grew up in the ‘60s,” and that he once used the world “nipple” in a poem.

VISITOR # 50,000

It seems a nice way to kick off the new year is to make it with this site having been visited by its 50,000th unique visitor. Yeah! An thank you to all 50,000 peeps.

A new year and a new book in my reading stack. I’m not only working through Winter Pollen - (writings and essays by Ted Hughes) but I picked up a copy The Shadow of Sirius by W.S. Merwin today. This book was published by Copper Canyon Press and I’m always impressed with the quality of their books. I’m anxious to share my thoughts on this book once I’ve read it. Merwin is among my favorite poets.

I kind of like that I’m kicking the year off with a male poet as I tend to be drawn disproportionately to the work of female poets. This isn’t a complaint, just an observation.

Who’s on your reading table at the moment?

Technorati Tags: W.S. Merwin,Ted Hughes Letters,50,000th visitor,The Shadow Of Sirius,Winter Pollen

Happy New Years!

The final hours of the decade are slipping by… I made a run to Taco Bell on the spur of the moment and then stopped off for a bottle of Chardonnay. The traffic was frantic. I sensed many are anxious to get this decade over, as if they could grease it and slip out of it a bit ahead of time.

So many are writing about the decade past or future expectations. Lots of New Years Resolutions. I’ve made some, though I normally take a dim view of the practice, something has driven me to do so this year. I’ve committed them to a page in my journal and I’m not going into them here, not now. There are a litany of bad things to say about the past ten years. I could repeat many I’m sure you’ve heard or can recount all to well from personal experiences. That is not what I want to do here. Instead I want to point out a positive story I read this evening. It even relates to poetry!

Christine Klocek-Lim blogs at November Sky Poetry and she writes poetry. I’ve followed her blog for a while now as well as read her on-line journal Autumn Sky Poetry. Still, I learned more about Christine in post from today then I ever knew about her. She writes about her metamorphous as a poet over the past ten years and it’s a story of challenges and successes. It’s a positive story and I think it’s a good way to pass out of this decade and into the next. Read and enjoy Christine’s story – Ten years of internet poetry (is poetry dead?) It’s a good note to end the year on.

Have a safe, a prosperous and a joyous new year!

Technorati Tags: Christine Klocek-Lim,November Sky Poetry

The Scavenger : GPS locates water, offers poetry for illegal immigrants crossing desert

 

I ran across this story tonight and had to share it. 

Here's how the tool works. The phone, loaded with free GPS software, displays a digital compass that locates water stations installed by John Hunter, founder of the Water Stations project. Stations that are too far will not be displayed. The phone pinpoints "safety sites" -- such as Border Patrol station, a clinic or a church -- and includes poetry written by Amy Carroll to "welcome you to the U.S," said Dominguez. Encrypted to avoid detection by authorities, phones are $30 and should be available by summer.

CLICK BELOW TO READ THE FULL STORY

The Scavenger : GPS locates water, offers poetry for illegal immigrants crossing desert

 

Technorati Tags: poetry for illegal immigrants,The Scavenger,Amy Carroll

Saving our forests is in / Tiger Woods is out

You know how you see something out of the corner of your eye and you think it says something but on closer look, it says something else.  I saw this link Couple Following GPS Get Stranded for 3 Days but on first glance I would have sworn it read, Couple Following GOP Get Stranded for 3 Days. I mean I can see how they could have gotten lost.
This has been a crazy year for politics at home and around the world. The Republicans eating their own, so to speak; Democrats finding even with a majority it is difficult to rule. In Iran, the people decry a what they believe a stolen election and the ruling government finds an enemy not from the west, but right there at home.


As is often the case with a year passing we see things some things that follow it out the door and new things or at least different things become vogue.  My in and out list:

• Phone applications are in / Land lines are out
• Hybrid Vehicles are in / The Hummer is a bummer (out)
• Collaboration is in / Competition is out
• Staycation is in / Vacation is out
• More tasks on the job is in / Bonuses to executives is out
• Saving our forests is in / Tiger Woods is out
• Staying put is in / Moving is out
• Main Street is in / Wall Street is out
• Saving is in / Investing is out
• Paying online is in / mailing the bills is out
• Sarah Palin is in / Governor Palin is out
• Keith Olbermann is in / Sean Hannity is out
• Reading is in / Jay Leno is out
• Project Runway is in / Dancing with the Stars is out
• Starbucks Coffee is back in / McDonalds Coffee is out
• News online is in / Newspapers are out
• Screaming at your Congressman is in / Writing your Congressman is out
• Afghanistan is in / Iraq is out
• Twitter is in  / IM is out
• Texting is in  / Calling is out
• Value is in / Price is out

I suppose I could go on but I have to stop somewhere so for now, this is my list.  I’m not saying all these changes are for the good, but some are. At any rate, another year from now many of the newly In items will be on the way out anyway.

Technorati Tags: In & Out List for 2009

An American Sentence 4

I’m compelled ask the question are we safer today from ourselves?

Search for Missouri's Next Poet Laureate

Governor Jay Nixon has signed an executive order establishing the procedure for selecting  Missouri’s second poet laureate. The new laureate, who will replace Walter Bargen is to be named in January.

Nixon has an advisory committee that includes three representatives from the Missouri Center for the Book and two individuals named by the Governor. This committee of five is charged with soliciting, publicizing and encouraging nominations for the post. They will develop additional selection criteria, [minimal criteria established by the executive order: resident of state, a published poet, active in the poetry community, be willing and able to promote poetry in the state throughout the two-year term], reviewing and evaluating the nominations, and recommending candidates for appointment to the Governor.

The committee is comprised of: Thomas F. Dillingham, Associate Professor of English at Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri; Kris Kleindienst, co-owner of an independently owned bookstore in St. Louis; Carl Phillips, Professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis; Kevin Prufer, author of a number of books of poetry and winner of three Pushcart prizes as well as an National Endowment of the Arts fellowship, from Warrensburg, Missouri; and Cheryl D.S. Walker, poet, lawyer and native of St. Louis.

I’m delighted to see the Governors approach to this appointment. Given this is nearly the end of December I would have hoped the committee would have had a little more time to give to the process. Those named to the panel appear to be reasonable choices for the search; I am however disappointed that the five member panel has a heavy St Louis tilt.

It would be nice to see at least one Kansas City area person on that panel.

A copy of the application for for consideration can be found here.

What I'm Reading

I started a new book today.  Winter Pollen - Occasional Prose edited by William Scammell.  The book is  a collection of reviews, essays and articles by Ted Hughes, much of which originally appeared in newspapers, magazines and journals. I'll let you know what I think of it once I get a little deeper into it.

Is tomorrow Monday again? [heavy sigh]

Unconscious Mutterings week 361

You say... I think:

1. Classified :: ads

2. Praised :: child

3. Censored ::  book

4. 2010 :: decade

5. Lamp :: shade

6. Alternate :: lifestyle

7. Script :: post

8. Handsome :: man

9. Eager :: beaver

10. Meeting :: business
 
 
get your own list at Unconscious Mutterings

Take a deep thought...

Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn. ~Thomas Gray

Christmas has passed, the snow hasn’t

Snow came to visit us for Christmas but I understand it was pretty much making the rounds all over the Mid-west.

Thankfully our travel yesterday was safe. It was all local but the highways were still challenging. Visited my son & had a Christmas meal with him at his house. Cathy cooked a scrumptious lunch.

So we saw a son and on of our daughters. The other two daughters were out of the area but at least they were able to see each other.

It’s so quiet quiet here today I can hear myself thinking. Ok, maybe an exaggeration but not much. Actually I was thinking about some of the books I read this year. There were some  impressive poetry collections published.

By far most of the books I read this year were in fact poetry books. Otherwise biographies and some political non-fiction and baseball non-fiction. I’m wondering if I would best be described as a narrowly focused reader or a poets dream come true?

An American Sentence 3

Silence is the white space around all the chatter we see on a page.

It’s the Season of Red… get in the spirit, give blood

I took time today to do a double platelet donation at our local blood bank.  I’ve never done platelet donations before but have been donating whole blood for many years now. Today I passed the 5 gallon mark.

Platelet donation takes longer but they are critical for patients with blood disorders, such as leukemia and aplastic anemia. They help stop bleeding. Fresh frozen plasma increases the level of clotting factors to help control bleeding.Red blood cell transfusions are critical for many patients who have suffered a traumatic injury,have anemia or have undergone surgery.

The need for blood donations is ongoing. Shelf life is limited and maintaining an adequate supply is a constant challenge. If you are able to donate blood I would urge you to look into it. It’s a gift that saves lives.

Technorati Tags: Blood donation,Whole blood,Platelets

An American Sentence 2

Winter comes to slap us in the face and say wake-up you are mortal.

Unconscious Mutterings - Week 360

You say... I think:

• Interest :: loan
• Chase :: pursue
• Itch :: seven year
• Soothe :: unruffle
• Lamp :: street
• Tutor :: English
• Nicole :: Smith
• Sloth :: lazy
• Burn :: unit
• Bug :: flu

get your own list at Unconscious Mutterings

An American Sentence

A blank page is always pleading to make something magical happen.

Crab Creek Review Summer 09

                                                                                                          
Reading CCR this weekend – I just wanted to draw attention to a few poems that stood out to me.

• Gail White’s -  How I Spent My Time Since You Died
• Marjorie Manwaring  - Refusal
• Kimberly L. Becker -  Washing the Blankets
• Jill Crammond Wickham – Even with Clorox, June Cleaver Has a Tough Time Cleaning The Skeletons From Her Closet
• January Gill O’Neil – Tether
• Paul David Adkins – The Mouse in Iraq
• Maya Ganesan – Undefined
• Joannie Kervran Stangeland – A Crow Means Everything
• Buzz Mauro – Einsteinian Physics in Plain English

This is the first copy of CCR I’ve seen. I haven’t finished reading it, I usually like to read poems multiple times.  I was impressed with what I’ve seen,  My favorites so far are bolded in blue above.

Technorati Tags: Crab Creek Review

Religious Right & Wrong

What is it about the Religious Right element within the Republican Party that feels compelled to seethe such meanness of spirit?   The rhetoric from such people seems quite in contrast to Judo-Christian  spirit.
A classic example was a sad display Sunday afternoon, just nine hours before the scheduled  1 a.m. vote  critical to the Senate’s Health Care Reform bill, Republican Senator Tom Coburn (Okla.) went to the Senate floor and  proposed a prayer. "What the American people ought to pray is that somebody can't make the vote tonight. That's what they ought to pray."

Do we really need leaders that mix the darkest sides of human nature with religion and then insert it into how we govern ourselves as a nation? I find this kind of thing sickening.

Technorati Tags: Tom Coburn,Religious Right & Wrong,Republican,Senate

Homeless Awareness

Today is National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day

A few facts about homelessness...

• Research indicates that 40% of homeless men have served in the armed forces, as compared to 34% of the general adult population.
• Persons with severe mental illness represented about 26 percent of all sheltered homeless persons.
• 35% of the homeless people who are members of households with children are male while 65% of these people are females.
• 25% of homeless were ages 25 to 34; the same study found percentages of homeless persons aged 55 to 64 at 6%.
• Children under the age of 18 accounted for 39% of the homeless population; 42% of these children were under the age of five (National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, 2004). This same study found that unaccompanied minors comprised 5% of the urban homeless population.

Learn more here

Poetry breaks silence - NashuaTelegraph.com

Poetry breaks silence - NashuaTelegraph.com:

“Out of Silence” by Pamela Harrison; David Roberts Books; 87 pages; paperback; $18.

"What I look for in poetry may not be what you look for in poetry. I want the poet to tell me a story. Because the form requires the poet to keep the story short, I want the words to be precise. The poet should help me see by using concrete images. Sound is important. Even while reading a poem silently, I want to hear its music."  Story here.

An artist’s genius seen in pictures of ‘poetry’ - BostonHerald.com

An artist’s genius seen in pictures of ‘poetry’ - BostonHerald.com:


"In the late 1930s, Detroit native Harry Callahan was working as a shipping clerk at Chrysler Corp. He picked up a camera and taught himself how to use it.

Inspired by a workshop with Ansel Adams he took in 1941, within a decade Callahan became an influential figure in American photography." Story here

Set for the weekend

Earlier this week my Poets & Writers arrived and today the Summer 2009 Crab Creek Review I ordered was in the mail box. I’m set for reading for the weekend.

 

There’s a great interview of British poet Andrew Motion linked on the Huffington Post.  Christopher Lydon says "Harrowing clarity" is Motion’s stated goal. He laughs with us about trying to write poetry that looks like water and bites like gin. Click here!

 

Technorati Tags: Poets & Writers,Crab Creek Review,Andrew Motion

Project Poetry

Stephen Burt of the Poetry Foundation writes that “Project Runway," a popular cable TV show, holds lessons for poetry critics. Burt is not alone. Ron Silliman who has been writing on poetry for years thinks the show does a better job of showing creative people “being creative” than any television show ever. While such a view is subjective, there are few people who follow the creative cultural influences around us more closely than Silliman. Read his blog for a few months and you will see he isn’t missing much that goes on.

So on a morning drive into the city, my wife and daughter in tow, the subject turns to the idea of a poetry version of the popular show. I’m doing my best impersonation of Tim Gunn, the advisor who periodically checks in with the designers to offer kudos or a bit of cautionary advice as the case may be. “Ah, what have we got going on here, a Sestina; nice job. The envoi really works!” Shannon is not exactly feeling the excitement. “What, we are going to watch, segments of people hunched over paper with a pen?” Cathy joins in the discussion, “What would they be working towards, a chap-book?” I counter, “No, it has to be better than that, a book contract with someone like Faber & Faber or Farrar Straus & Giroux. I explain the cameras can follow the poets out into the world on outings… a gallery, a music performance, a scenic stroll or urban bustle and the poet would be talking about what they are seeing and feeling – then back to their journals and laptops for rewrite after rewrite. I think they are starting to see this and Cathy says, “Oh the best part would be the emotional drama when one poet is cut from the show.” Shannon counters, “No, no… the enormous joy and relief of the family getting rid of… err, I mean seeing the poet off to compete!” I quietly think, they are so not getting this.”

A little wisdom for today...

People wish to be poets more than they wish to write poetry, and that's a mistake.   One should wish to celebrate more than one wishes to be celebrated.  
    ~ Lucille Clifton