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]
Sunday, December 27, 2009
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
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
Saturday, December 26, 2009
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?
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
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
Monday, December 21, 2009
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
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.
Homeless Awareness
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
Sunday, December 20, 2009
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.
“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
"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
Saturday, December 19, 2009
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!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Project Poetry
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.”
Thursday, December 17, 2009
A little wisdom for today...
~ Lucille Clifton
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Blind Date
Yesterday I can across a poem by a poet I’d never read before and was particularly impressed with what I read on several levels to the point I want to find out more / read more of her work. The poem by Michelle Chan Brown appears in the Missouri Review and is titled "Blind Date With My Father, 1976".
One of the things I liked about it was how rich the language seemed. It was ripe with cultural intrigue. It embodied cold war era images. She referenced literary and political people and used language that while familiar was unique… like cigarillo, spray-tan and candelabra.
The title itself is catchy and suggests a sort of creepiness that makes you want to read it although on another level you feel repelled. This is the kind of stuff that makes for good poetry. There is nothing overtly sexual here – more the tease of something off limits.
In some respects this is a period piece. It helps to have been alive and aware of the world in the seventies. Someone born in say 1979 would not likely appreciate it as much. But the poem was well written – keeps interest alive and closes with a great ending line. Read it for yourself here.
One of the things I liked about it was how rich the language seemed. It was ripe with cultural intrigue. It embodied cold war era images. She referenced literary and political people and used language that while familiar was unique… like cigarillo, spray-tan and candelabra.
The title itself is catchy and suggests a sort of creepiness that makes you want to read it although on another level you feel repelled. This is the kind of stuff that makes for good poetry. There is nothing overtly sexual here – more the tease of something off limits.
In some respects this is a period piece. It helps to have been alive and aware of the world in the seventies. Someone born in say 1979 would not likely appreciate it as much. But the poem was well written – keeps interest alive and closes with a great ending line. Read it for yourself here.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
I don't doubt-
At the age of 18 all young poets are sure they will be dead at 21 - of old age. ~Marguerite Young
Space Sculpture
swooped together in outstretched arms
and pulled from the deep black,
the whole of holes
to become
the sum of something.
*photo credit- Hubble Telescope
About the Object Object Name: NGC 346
Object Description: Cluster and Nebulosity in the Small Magellanic Cloud
Position (J2000): R.A. 00h 59m 18s.0
Dec. -72° 10' 48"
Constellation: Tucana
Distance: 210,000 light-years away (64,000 parsecs)
Dimensions: This image is 4.7 arcminutes (280 light-years or 87 parsecs).
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