Achieving Success at Life

So I get this e-mail from a friend who has picked up a copy of the Park University Scribe and tells me I have four poems in the new issue. Then proceeds to add: "Damn Michael, overachiever."

I found the whole thing humorous. Still, I wish I could plead guilty as charged. My writing and especially my submission of work is just about as disorganized as the rest of my life. I've seen worse, but that is of little consolation. I only acknowledge the fact as a basis for those who don't know me to have some point of reference. I fall somewhere between points A and C.

Looking at my submissions during the past year, they have not been substantially up from the year before. I go in spurts. I do believe my writing overall has become more focused this year and you would think that lends itself to more material to submit.

Much of my life is disorganized. It is easy to get into a mode of accepting disorganized. I think there are two reasons. One is my ADD and the other is spending nineteen years in a job that is pretty much crisis driven. I can plan and I do, but I know just as sure as I come to work that a crisis will arrive too. In fact, if I don't come to the office that crisis is still going to arrive. So it is not uncommon for me to lumber through each day just moving from one crisis to the next. It means that circumstances dictate my work habits and being already handicapped by ADD I sort of just get carried through life's stream. Only some days it is more like a river current.
In almost every area of my life I realize I need to find more consistency. I am trying to achieve that little by little.

Maybe I don't really want to be an overachiever. Still, it would be nice to look at my writing, what has been published, the quality of it. The quality of my family life and work overall a year from now and be able to say that I can see an improvement in all of these areas because I found I could be consistent in my efforts and over the long haul, it paid off.

Pentagon accused of spying on Americans | csmonitor.com

Pentagon accused of spying on Americans | csmonitor.com


Let's see... we went through crap this with Nixon.

This is a classic example of why Congress needs to overhaul the Patriots Act. It should NEVER be made permanent and should "often" be subject to review and scrutiny.

The President Speaks - Anyone Care Anymore?

I sat this morning in the doctor's office awaiting an appointment. A television mounted on the wall was on, and the President was giving his fourth in a series of speeches on the war. I looked at those seated in the room. Not a one of them seemed the least bit interested in what he had to say. There were three women, one other man, besides myself as well as some younger children, at the point in time in which I took note.

As I listened to him, I heard really nothing new. Except he mentioned that our pre-war intelligence had been wrong. I don't believe I've ever heard him admit that as plainly as he did today. Still, he said under the same circumstances he'd do it again and the actions were still justified. As I heard those words a chill went up my spine. Then I thought, I wonder how many members of Congress allow him the latitude to do so... again, under the same circumstances?

SIENNA MILLER - MILLERS DRUNKEN POETRY FUN

SIENNA MILLER - MILLERS DRUNKEN POETRY FUN

"I've got this group of friends that are quite bohemian and we get drunk, get the poetry books out and read. It sounds so pretentious but it's one of my favourite things." ~ Sienna Miller

Essay and poetry collections leave lasting impressions

QCTimes.com - The Quad-City Times Newspaper


Susan Flansburg recommends:
Whether the folks on your Christmas gift list fancy humor or sobriety, academia or spirituality, books make thoughtful gifts. Indeed, books of poetry and essays — which bear repeated reading — make lasting and intimate choices that will please both giver and receiver for years.

Emotions On the Page

"How much has to be explored and discarded before reaching the naked flesh of feeling." ~Claude Debussy

Writing when in a particularly emotional ebb, at least from my own experience, tends to produce one of two results, both which are extremes. Vividly succinct images that can take you quickly to a place and time. Or just plain crap. Flat, rambling that seems like a wasted exercise in futility. It seems rarely there is anything that falls in that cavern between these two points.


tags: Poetry Writing emotions

This and That on Monday

Saturday morning, while shoveled snow from our walk and drive I was struck by the starkness of the sky and the sun trying in desperation to break through a tiny perforation in the cloud cover. The image was so striking that I took my camera-phone and shot a photo of it. The result seen here is very strange.

Last night, I journaled and watched my wife as she sat at the desk beading. She had an assortment of mixed beads and a long metal tool which she used to move beads into smaller groupings based upon the color. It was so cool to watch her because it struck me as through she was a paint artist making very distinctive strokes this way and that. The end result too was interesting because the groupings then resembled a painters pallet.

I am struck by how we respond to things - external stimuli. Each of our senses. Pictures, sights, or even just colors themselves. Smells - there are so many of them during the holiday season that we become accustomed to. And sounds particularly intrigue me. How some music excites us and other we just want away from.

On the drive in this morning, my wife had an Anne Murray CD on. I'm not big on country but Murray is one of those artists that has a style that I think hangs just on the edge of country but is still different. I enjoy her music. One of the songs I especially enjoy is Daydream Believer, first done by the Monkees - and I think that is one of the reasons I like it. It takes me back to "The Time" - and it has always kind of reminded me of my wife anyway. Her middle name is Jean and we were high school sweethearts. Married young, not much money. I identify with the song.

After I dropped my wife off at work - I did change the tempo a bit. Sometimes I listen to NPR when driving alone (a practice that is not sanctioned by the family as a whole) but I popped in a cheap version of The Messiah by the London Symphony Orchestra and some choir. I picked it up for a whole "buck" at Target. Handel had to be just absolutely brilliant. I love the majestic flow of this oratorio - but especially For Unto Us a Child is Born and of course most of all Hallelujah! For the Lord God Omnipoent Reigneth, otherwise known as the Hallelujah Chorus.

The Messiah was first performed in Dublin in 1742, around Easter before a more-than-capacity audience. In London, the next year the clergy attempted to close the theater because such music about God should never be performed in a playhouse. Still, the performance did occur. King George II, attending the London premiere and was so moved by the Hallelujah Chorus that he rose and remained standing until its end. This of course prompted the rest of the audience to rise to their feet (it was common that when the King stood, everyone stood as well) and so the tradition carries over to this day when this magnificent piece is played. I indeed get goose bumps and tingles up my spine when I hear this in a large group.

In a final note - I was saddened to learn today of the passing of Eugene McCarthy. He was 89, which hardly seems possible. To many I suspect Gene is simply an asterisk at the bottom of a page in a history book. But it could be argued that McCarthy had a significant impact upon this country. His 1968 campaign for President helped frame a changing view of the Vietnam War into something many came to see as "morally indefensible" (God, the more things change the more they stay the same).

McCarthy's entry into the '68 campaign stunned President Johnson when he finished second in New Hampshire with 42 % to Johnson's 49%. It was such a shock that to this day, many believe McCarthy won New Hampshire.

In his later life - McCarthy turned to poetry. He has already written and published books and essays but became a quite serious poet. The poet Robert Lowell and he became close.
Having been asked at one point to assess former President Carter's poetry, McCarthy said it could only be compared with that of other presidents: not as good as Lincoln's and shorter than John Quincy Adams. He could be brutally honest and of course that with his Irish wit was something to behold.

McCarthy authored a number of books... I recall reading The Limits of Power: America's Role in the World when I was in high school. Funny how much that book seems to make sense today.


A few McCarthy Quotes:

"The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is inefficiency. An efficient bureaucracy is the greatest threat to liberty."

"Nixon is the kind of guy who, if you were drowning twenty feet from shore, would throw you a fifteen-foot rope."

"As long as the differences and diversities of mankind exist, democracy must allow for compromise, for accommodation, and for the recognition of differences."

Creativity Well

Our first winter snow storm hit Wednesday. Thursday was so bad - our office closed. Friday was one of those days you just never want to do because it just shouldn't be allowed to have to go back into the office when you already feel the weekend in you bones. But I did go in and it was a day that was crisis driven. Everyone's crisis was on my desk or the next call ringing. I took an hour and a half vacation time just to get the hell out of Dodge early.

The streets are mostly clear of the snow. Yards are still heaped in dirty mashed potatoes. God, remember the days when you could make snow ice cream without fear of toxic waste.

I've ventured out into the shopping crowds some yesterday with my wife and daughter. We planned well and for the most part avoided the worst of the crowds. Tonight is grocery shopping. Otherwise I've stuck close to home and done chores around the house and little of no writing other than journaling and some crappy attempts at a few things that have popped into my head.

I have some more cleaning to do... I'd like to find our Christmas lights for the bush out front. I have located some of our lights but not the ones I really want for what I plan to do this year.
Perhaps later this evening I can get some reading done or watch Law & Order. That is something we often watch together. Cathy will often watch that while she is working on a beading project.

My creativity well is feeling low at this point and I suppose it will take some priming to get it to flow. Not that I need any pressure but I did want to have six new poems to submit mid- January to an annual lit review magazine. I do have a couple of items I could pull from but I want some new material anyway so there is no point in waiting.

On that note I'll end this post with a quote from Robert Byrne who said, "Winter is nature's way of saying, "Up yours."

Poetry & Mortality

Recently I discovered an richly rewarding poetry journal online that I wanted to share here. In a day or two when I have more time I must add it to my sidebar links. The Journal Kritya is edited by Dr Rati Saxena a Hindi poet, translator and Sanskrit scholar.

I especially found an interview with poet laureate Billy Collins that was in the most recent issue fascinating reading. In response to a question posed by the interviewer Collins hit upon something that I found a great deal of identity with. I have often talked of the connection between mortality and poetry and the following discourse by Collins I felt was putting the subject in profoundly simple but beautiful terms.

"The underlying theme of Western poetry is mortality. The theme of carpe diem asks us to seize the day because we have only a limited number of them. To see life through the lens of death is to approach the condition of gratitude for the gift (or simply the fact) of our existence. And as Wallace Stevens said, Death is the mother of beauty. Only the perishable can be beautiful, which is why we are unmoved by artificial flowers." ~ Billy Collins in an interview by the Iranian poet and translator Farideh Hassanzadeh [source]

Great Meeting Last Night at WriterHouse

KC METRO VERSE meeting last night was among our best. There was so much discussion and the elevation of ideas was so refreshing.

Accessibility in poetry and in fact the meaning of art itself was widely discussed.
In addition, we had time for some great poems. I have to say that I only hope that we can continue to have meetings that are this enlightening.

The fact that the members served a German chocolate cake in my honor or that they presented me with a congratulatory card and a framed copy of my poem Coming Out has nothing to do with the how good the meeting was. This was just the icing on the cake.

Tomorrow night is an open-mic at the Plaza Library - a whole new venue. It's sponsored by three organizations and will be an opportunity to present material to hopefully a whole new crowd.

Quote of the day...

"Nations grown corrupt

Love bondage more than liberty;

Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty." ~John Milton

afrol News - CIA prisoners "taken to North Africa"

afrol News - CIA prisoners "taken to North Africa"

Following the uproar in Europe over the alleged torture of CIA prisoners in prisons on European soil, Washington is reported to have moved the prisoners to "somewhere in North Africa" well ahead of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's trip to Berlin and Brussels. While no concrete country is named, it expected that the CIA torture victims are now held in Egypt and/or Morocco.

AP Wire | 12/06/2005 | Romania, Poland scrutinized over prisons

AP Wire | 12/06/2005 | Romania, Poland scrutinized over prisons

Romania and Poland, came under increasing fire Tuesday amid widening reports that they hosted secret CIA prisons for the United States renditions.

Bush poem spells trouble for Pakistani leader - South and Central Asia - MSNBC.com

Bush poem spells trouble for Pakistani leader - South and Central Asia - MSNBC.com


Patient and steady with all he must bear,
Ready to meet every challenge with care,
Easy in manner, yet solid as steel,
Strong in his faith, refreshingly real.
Isn't afraid to propose what is bold,
Doesn't conform to the usual mold,
Eyes that have foresight, for hindsight wont do,
Never back down when he sees what is true,
Tell it all straight, and means it all too.

Going forward and knowing he's right,
Even when doubted for why he would fight,
Over and over he makes his case clear
Reaching to touch the ones who won't hear.

Growing in strength, he won't be unnerved
Ever assuring he'll stand by his word.

Wanting the world to join his firm stand,
Bracing for war, but praying for peace,
Using his power so evil cease,
So much a leader and worthy of trust,
Here stands a man who will do what he must.

Source

Guardian Unlimited Politics | Special Reports | Rice defends US treatment of terror suspects

Guardian Unlimited Politics Special Reports Rice defends US treatment of terror suspects

RICE - BUSH - CHENEY - RUMSFELD CONTINUE THE CHARADE

MOCK INTERNATIONAL LAW ON TORTURE

Klausdeer

"I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities." ~Dr. Theodore Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss

Making The Most of It

Sorting out the allegory,
Dividing up the spoils
To which we are entitled
According to some archaic law
Of our own.

These times are not the norm
And we can’t quite recall normalcy
Aside from the time the catfish jumped
A good three feet above the water,
The summer the moon froze in full mode
For two straight months.

I remember old folks telling of strange sightings
In the northern sky, and they claim the winter was harsh
That year and the women all spoke in language
That would have mortified their own sensibilities
Any other time.

It seems we all adjust to these changes sooner or later.
The wind is always shifting and desires are nothing more
Than wants- not needs.

Graphite is a smooth remedy
And taken under strict orders from doctors
It can ease the entry to even the most mysterious
Openings in life.

We all look for our chances.
Opportunity comes and goes
But mostly hangs out
In Jackson Hole.

Duhamel & Carbo - At Butler University Feb 16

Visiting Writers Series

• Poets Denise Duhamel and Nick Carbó, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 16, Robertson Hall Johnson Room. Duhamel's books of poetry include, most recently, "Two and Two," which features a long poem about 9/11 constructed from words people posted on the Internet immediately afterward. Carbó, her husband, most recently published "Andalusian Dawn," a book of poems, and edited "PinoyPoetics: A Collection of Autobiographical and Critical Essays on Filipino and Filipino American Poetics."

For more information, call (317) 232-1878

Butler University . 4600 Sunset Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46208

This moment...

brought to you by diet coke.

Avoidance

Cast iron rims encrusted in clay
appealing to the masses.
Don't go there-
the crowd caters to the mindset
of Yogi Berra.
I read the boxscore daily.
The body count,
and the game goes on.
We're in extra innings
you know.