I've Been Bad

Instead of writing tonight I watched three rerun episodes of Boston Legal. Does that make me a bad poet? I'm being rhetorical here, a response is not required.

Technorati Tags: a poet's life

Annie Finch's workshop on love poetry

Annie Finch has authored four books of poetry, Eve, Calendars, The Encyclopedia of Scotland, and the forthcoming Among the Goddesses. She is a Professor of English at the University of Southern Maine and Director of the Stonecoast MFA Program in Creative Writing.

Click here for her workshop on love poetry

Technorati Tags: Annie Finch,workshop,love poetry

Likes and Dislikes

I've been spending a lot of time writing this weekend and as words have flown in and out of my my head I've been naming them good words and bad words. Of course the good and bad designations are nothing more then reflections of my personal likes and dislikes.So tonight I thought I'd list a few words that tickle my fancy and some that I simply do not care for.  In some instances it's that sound of the words that I like or dislike. In other, I'm fascinated by some aspect of the word, its meaning, etymology, etc. So without further ado, I give you some of my likes and dislikes from our language.

Likes	Dislikes
elliptical	stutter
exude	heir
puce	vomit
ubiquitous	mayonnaise
pathogen	infomercial
explicit	Raspberry
irascible	irksome
prevaricate	bile
coetaneous	foil
awe	sideburn
toasty	lash
vulnerable	dwarf
arbitrary	mumble
immune	pungent
crumpet	snub
oscillate	squeal
Formica	liquefy
capsulate	winch

 

Technorati Tags: words I like,words I dislike

Happy Valentines Day to All

I got an early start on Valentines day by taking my wife to the Melting Pot on Thursday evening. She hates to fight the crowds so we beat them.

It was a lovely dinner and I especially enjoyed the Traditional Fondue.  Swiss is among my favorite cheese.

Of course the dessert we had the Yen and Yang Fondue which was a blend of dark chocolate and white chocolate for dipping the various dessert and fruit items. While this was very good, it was quite rich and really a bit much. I enjoyed the dinner fondue the most.

The atmosphere was low lighting and we were seated nicely with a minimum of distraction. I'd do it again anytime!

Oh, as if we were chocolate deprived, last night on the way home from work  Cathy stopped at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for gourmet Chocolate Apples. Mine was Tigers Butter... yum!

Technorati Tags: Valentines Day

This is entirely too good not to comment on. The BBC reports a competition is underway to find poetry which will feature in the stalls of public toilets of Shetland. Six poems of 12 lines or less will be featured for three months and the replaced by a next set of six.

Poetry in the loo; what a way to brighten ones day. Leave it to the Scots to bring a little culture to the toilet. Thumbs up!

In a Stroke of Fortune...

My new monitor for work has arrived. This is good because I was starting to feel a little gothic working in the dark so I could faintly see the screen.

Monday night is one of my TV nights. House & The Closer. Sill, I'll try and siphon off a little time this evening to write. Ah... just remembered Obama has a press conference tonight so the networks will likely be off time wise.

Last night I came across a D.H. Lawrence quote that struck me curiously. It goes like this... "Never trust the artist. Trust the Tale. The proper function of a critic is to save the tale from the artist who created it."

So I thought about this for a while and I pictured some of my poems having to be rescued from me. So I'm thinking about some critic smugly determining the story line - assuming there is one, from a particular poem and then fending off the poet's ownership stake in the poem. The critic arguing, this isn't all about what you saw, it's about what I see. Then the two go round and round. Well I say phooey! It's about whatever the fuck you find in it. There. I'm through rolling in the gravel over it. Don't get me wrong, critics a a place in this world and I'm willing to listen to them just as much as the next guy.

Technorati Tags: A poets life,critics. D.H. Lawrence

NOTE TO SELF

C.D. Wright Reading March 10 7:00 PM UMKC Person Auditorium - be there!

C.D. Wright Symposium March 11 7:00PM KC Public Library / Central Branch - Helzberg Auditorium. Don't Miss!

Technorati Tags: C.D. Wright

Journal Bits

Listening to: Bruce Springsteen - Last to Die

Mood: dragging

Feb 2 - My computer monitor at work came on completely today at your. Yeah! [it takes so little to amuse me]

"a mixture of fashions brighten/the party crown that lingered/to graze on finger food and spontaneity"

Feb 3- I heard the most interesting story today on NPR about the Mendelssohn Project...

Feb 4 - It was after midnight when I turned in last night but thankfully the taxes have been done [a tax hangover followed]

"I went to that place in my head/with my pen, that place you occupy"

Feb 6 - Right this moment I feel especially small...

Feb 7- "...you always think there is time/to do the prime numbers/but hope is faded denim/and its value of questionable character"

Quote by Henry Miller - "I believe everything you tell me, but I know it will all turn out differently."

Technorati Tags: Journal bits,Mendelssohn Project

New Laureate for Neighboring Kansas

 

Congratulations are in order for Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg of Lawrence, Kansas. Caryn was selected to serve as the new Kansas State Poet Laureate beginning July 1st. She has master’s and doctoral degrees from The University of Kansas. Already she has selected a poet laureate project which she calls Writing Across Kansas: Reading and Writing Our Way Home. Through this  Caryn hopes to strengthen the presence of poetry in Kansas, build literary communities statewide and enhance Kansans’ sense of place through poetry. She already sounds extremely organized.

Technorati Tags: Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg,Kansas Poet Laureate

Word Clouds from four of my poems selected at random

[click on image to view larger]

This was produced on Wordie. I found it via Christine Klocek-Lim's site. I put four of my poems selected at random and dropped them into the gadget for generating “word clouds” from text. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.

Pretty cool.

Technorati Tags: Wordie,poems,text clouds

Azar Nafisi Postponed

If you were planning to attend the Azar Nafisi event at the Plaza Library tomorrow night, it has been postponed.  There should be information forthcoming soon about when it will be rescheduled.

Technorati Tags: Azar Nafiai,Kansas City,Plaza Library

Sunday Morning

Listening to Beethoven - Symphony No. 3 E Major

Mood: Awake

I'm up and ready for the day. I've made an unsuccessful trip to Target to see if their shipment of Skinny Cow Fudge Cones have come it. They haven't. This is like crack to my wife. Evidently to many others as well because they don't seem to ever run out of the other Skinny Cow items except this. When momma don't got no Skinny Cow Fudge, no one is happy.

Super Bowl Sunday is not quite as special to me as it may be many guys. I'll likely watch the game but with less enthusiasm than many. The biggest significance to me is that once it is over it clears the way for Spring Training and the real poetic sport.... Baseball.

There are a hand full of football teams I have some interest in, but not a lot for the sport in general. There have been past times that I've rooted for Pittsburgh, but I'm probably pulling for the Cardinals today. Regardless of how it turns out I won't lose any sleep over it.

Reaction / Action

 

Listening to: Chiquitia by ABBA

I was thinking today about how much time I spend in reaction rather than action. In some respects I think such an assessment could provide a good benchmark for how much one is in control of their life. Am I in control of my day or do I allow my day to control me?

My job is has a largely crisis driven aspect to it that I'm not able to really control. I can plan, and I do, but in the end my plans are often reshaped by and taken over by events in spite of my best efforts otherwise. This is highly frustrating, stressful and I imagine gives cause to my reluctance to even attempt to impose any meaningful discipline upon myself after work hours. My evenings and weekends often are thus allowed to unfold upon their own as opposed to attempting to decide what and when and stake out a plan.

There are of course in the post work hours where I will recognize a deadline is upon me for something and will step in out of a combination of the pressure associated with the deadline and some degree of guilt causing me to roll into action.  Not a very smart or fulfilling way to approach life.

This approach is often applied to my writing and the more mundane clerical matters like submitting material to journals. I can honestly say that last year the reduction in submissions I made to journals was at least in part due to such a reactionary work ethic. It's one think to accept the fact that my 9-5 job is going to be impacted in such a way that reaction will always be a factor. Writing on the other hand should not be impacted in the same way. Sure there will be interruptions that come about when an emergency arises, but this should be the exception rather than the rule.

Anyone else experience this kind of problem? What drive you forward in your writing and what road blocks do you build for yourself? 

Technorati Tags: Writing roadblocks,planning

A few bit from my journal...

Technorati Tags: journal bits

• you water the lawn with thought so fertile they spring up on contact
• if nakedness were a genre / you would be published / as total frontal and make no apology for an Freudian / complexes you may have caused
• the TV was black with apathy / your voice, reversible / is turned inside out

Just a thought- Why in the course of modern warfare with precision bombs and rockets are there still many innocents severed from the arteries that make us whole? 1-13-09

 

Good News....

• Reports of chicken wing shortages this weekend baseless (story)

Wings, which in my view are the best part of the chicken are evidently not in short supply for the weekend.

Technorati Tags: Chicken Wings,Thumbs up

Azar Nafisi at the Plaza Library on Feb 3

The Kansas City Public Library welcomes international bestselling author Azar Nafisi for a presentation based on her new book Things I've Been Silent About - the follow up to the acclaimed Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books - on Tuesday, February 3, at 7 p.m. in the Truman Forum at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.

A master of the modern memoir, Nafisi describes her formative years as part of a prominent family in Things I've Been Silent About. Her disappointed and frustrated mother created mesmerizing fictions about herself, her family, and her past - which hid as much as they revealed. Her father offered narratives of another kind, enchanting his children with classic tales like the Shahnamah, the Persian Book of Kings. This unforgettable portrait of a woman, a family, and a troubled homeland is a deeply personal reflection on how Nafisi found inspiration to lead a different kind of life.

Nafisi is a visiting professor and project director at JohnsHopkinsUniversity's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., where she teaches courses on culture and politics.

The event is co-sponsored by Rainy Day Books. Nafisi's books will be available for sale, and she will sign copies purchased during the event.

Admission to the event is free. Call 816.701.3407 to indicate your interest in attending or you may RSVP online.

 

Technorati Tags: Azar Nafiai,Kansas City Public Library

 

It Looks like it Snow Melt fell out of the Sky

Listening to: Under Attack by ABBA

Lots of writing this weekend. Also just finished up some work I brought home from the office.

I'm booking a flight tonight to visit my two daughters in Phoenix. Will be able to catch the Giants in Spring Training too!

God I've been missing Giants baseball.

We had geese wonder across the street from the ball field this morning to our front yard. They are way cool.

Reaction to Inaugural Poem

On Tuesday I joined a host of others from my office and a couple of individuals from other departments in our conference room where all eyes and the TV set were tuned into the Inauguration of our 44th President of the United States. There was a keen respect by all for what was happening before our eyes.

When the President had finished his address and the podium was handed to Elizabeth Alexander, the poet chosen by the President to offer a poem written specifically for the occasion, a significant portion of those in the conference room rose and left amid groans at the mention of the word poem. I suppose I should not be at all surprised by this reaction, but what was more disturbing was the fact that those who remained largely talked over the reading.  At one point I sensed that only myself and one other individual were actually listening. But at some point, the party of the second part (I being the first)  said aloud, "What? Oh wow, this is bad." I was difficult for me to even attempt to enjoy the remainder of the reading.

When the room had cleared, I had to admit, the talking over the poem had made it difficult to potentially enjoy or at least appreciate the poem. What I recalled hearing of it actually impressed me more that I thought it might, but sadly I felt I needed to see the poem in print for myself and re-read it to really conclude anything about it.

Later in the afternoon, I approached the individual who expressed the feeling that the poem was bad and asked her what she heard. I was not surprised to learn she could not recall much of what was actually said. She did tell me that she though Ms. Alexander had jotted it down that very morning before the event.

I have wondered if others have had feedback from non-poets that they have talked with. Please share your stories in the comments.

And for the sake of everyone who has not seen/heard it, or like myself needed to see it again, here it is....

Praise Song for the Day
A Poem for Barack Obama’s Presidential Inauguration

Elizabeth Alexander

Each day we go about our business,
walking past each other, catching each other’s
eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

All about us is noise. All about us is
noise and bramble, thorn and din, each
one of our ancestors on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem, darning
a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,
repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere,
with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,
with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky.
A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.
We encounter each other in words, words
spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,
words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark
the will of some one and then others, who said
I need to see what’s on the other side.

I know there’s something better down the road.
We need to find a place where we are safe.
We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain: that many have died for this day.
Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,
who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,

picked the cotton and the lettuce, built
brick by brick the glittering edifices
they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.
Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,
the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.

Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,
others by first do no harm or take no more
than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

Love beyond marital, filial, national,
love that casts a widening pool of light,
love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,
any thing can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,

praise song for walking forward in that light.

Copyright © 2009 by Elizabeth Alexander. All rights reserved. Reprinted with the permission of Graywolf Press, Saint Paul, Minnesota. A chapbook edition of Praise Song for the Day will be published on February 6, 2009

Technorati Tags: Elizabeth Alexander,Barack Obama,poem,Inauguration

MLK Day - Poetry Submission Day

I've taken the time off of work today to work on poetry submissions. Yeah!  (I'm pretending there are cheers in the background).

It probably should not have to come to using a work holiday to crank out submissions, but whatever it takes. I did get some out on the 5th of January so I guess I'm not exactly procrastinating. I did fall off in my submissions in 2008, so I am determined to keep up with new submissions monthly this year.  I guess a way to look at it is I only have 11 more months to go this year.

Technorati Tags: submissions,a day in the life of a poet

Poetry Commerce