Today's Wisdom

A word after a word after a word is power. ~ Margaret Atwood

Poem: Our Story

Our Story

I love the sea and fear it;
the way it crashes the shoreline.
I love life with all the misfortune
because hope is a buoy
I cling to and continue to believe
that a patch of fertile land
is just over the curved possibility
and I love you because the storm
that presses upon us will grow silent
as a blank page— and we will write
our story.

2111© Michael A. Wells - All Rights Reserved

Happy St Patrick's Day

"Ireland is rich in literature that understands a soul's yearnings, and dancing that understands a happy heart."~~By Margaret Jackson.~~

No E-Books Without Authors, Atwood Reminds Us

I actually don’t disapprove of them, but I do predict that they will only ever occupy a small percentage of the market, in the same way that audio books, airport or large-print editions do. They will become one more – not the only – platform, and I’m hugely impatient for them to be normalized so that we can get back to talking about what’s in the books, rather than the formats themselves.

Thought for Troubled Times

"The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail." ~ William Faulkner

Confession Tuesday

Tuesday appears to have arrived on schedule. Okay, it actually came an hour earlier then last week (yes that is bitterness in my voice) but aside from that it has arrived as expected. One snow, too much barking, too many Aladdin and Barbie viewings, too many “ca-chings” at the gas pump, a quick but enjoyable sit down fast food meal with Cathy and another acceptance letter later.

Shall we get on with the confession?


Dear Reader:

I confess that I can be a sucker for even the simple. In a week that didn’t often allow for much time together – even a spontaneous stop at Church’s Chicken on the way home for our respective jobs a was a delightful event. Perhaps this week will be a little better.

The tragic quake and tsunami continues to consume much of my attention. I confess that I compartmentalize those two natural occurrences separate from the unfolding catastrophic nuclear disaster. The first saddens me and the second angers me because we have been hearing warnings for years now of such possibilities. Even here in our country to listen to people like Senator Lamar Alexander try to compare this to an automobile accident and say, who don’t stop driving because a person is killed in an auto accident is just plain stupid. The contamination of high levels of radiation from a meltdown will render an area uninhabitable for decades. It risks exposure to the food chain. In Japan with the concentration of population in areas like Tokyo, wind shifts could risk exposure to millions of people within hours. Sen. Alexander thinks this is like a car wreck? Really?

I confess I find leaders who cling to such notions blindly because of Industry Lobby and the trails of money they leave behind are despicable. I also confess that I did not intend to get on a rant today. **heavy sigh** Let me just conclude this segment by saying I am praying for the people of Japan – for their loss and many challenges ahead.

I didn't do much writing this past weekend and I confess that I am also behind schedule for the month on getting submissions out. I hope to do better this week and catch up with the submissions as well. But I have learned that if you stay on the ball with getting material out, even if you have a bad week things are still happening. Example yesterday I receive a rejection letter on four poems I had sent out. Likewise, over the weekend I receive another acceptance! This one to a Journal I had never submitted to.

I confess that I do enjoy it when others that I know have successes with their writing. Kelli Russell Agodon’s news yesterday that she or her book is a finalist for an award (see yesterday’s post) and another local friend Amy Leigh Davis has a book coming out and I just saw the cover art for it and I love it! The down side to all of this is I get all excited over such news and then two or three days later I think come on manuscript like I can urge it on, wish it on or something. **sigh**

Are you enjoying Daylight Savings Time yet? I confess I’m not.

I don’t mean for this all to sound like I’m on a downer… because I’m not. I’m looking forward to the Synesthesia – Art Exhibition by Jennifer Rivera (opening April 1st) that will feature abstract paintings inspired by poems, two of which (poems) are mine! I have painted when I was younger. You know when people go to a gallery and look at a painting and say, “my kid could do that” – well that would be a painting by me. That is why I don’t paint, I write. Though I have tried sketching in the past year, and someday I may try oils again, but I confess it will be just to amuse myself. But seriously, this exhibition and the two recent acceptances for journals due out in April have me in a pretty good mood. And that’s how I’d like to conclude my Tuesday Confession, on a high note.

Thanks for listening. May you be on a high this week as well… just not drug induced. ;)

Congrats!

Kelli Russell Agodon & Susan Rich are among the finalists for the ForeWord 2010 Book of the Year Award for the category of poetry.  Having read both of the books in question these are very deserving finalists. Congratulations to both!

Oh, and the books~ 

1. Letters from the Emily Dickinson Room / Agodon
2. The Alchemist's Kitchen / Rich

3.14

Snow fell last night and yet birds sang prolifically as though they were on an episode of Wild Kingdom. I wasn't a big accumulation but it's a wet snow and thus weighty.  Last night they were talking it would warm up to the 40's and we'd see some sunshine today so I guess this is just a little flirtatious burst of winter or maybe today will be a flirtatious burst of spring. Who really knows in Missouri. 

Thinking this morning about the enormity of uncertainty that people in Japan must be feeling.  So many people unaccounted for. A crisis in their power grid. Tremendous destruction and the questions about their nuclear risks/contamination etc.  They are in my prayers this morning.

Oh... and today is pi day - Happy Pi Day to all!  Pi Across America

Confession Tuesday

Lots to talk about this week so let's get started...  To the Confessional!


Dear Reader:

On Sunday I had the good fortune to participate in a Master Class workshop conducted by Terrance Hayes who UMKC brought in an then there was a Reading at Katz Hall on the campus Monday night. The workshop was a very well spent three hours.  Then Monday night I drove back into town for the Reading and confess that I was very disappointed that the room was packed. Okay, I was glad they had a great turnout, but was disappointed that there was not better planning for the reading. We're talking about Terrance Hayes!   Room 101 at Katz Hall was way too small for a draw like Hayes. Even the standing room was pretty well full. Given the room situation and my long day at work I was not up to standing through the event.

~0~

I can't believe how fast the year seems off to. March already?  An here we are Ash Wednesday tomorrow and St Patrick's Day a little over a week away.  I Love St. Patrick's Day! I love green, I love shamrocks, I love Corned Beef and Cabbage! My confirmation name? Yep... Patrick!

In spite of the fact that it's the night before Ash Wednesday, I have yet to decide what my Lenten project will be this year. Will I give up (sacrifice) something or commit to something proactive? Decisions - decisions. I confess I simply don't know yet. And to complicate matters I was enticed to check out the 101 Practical Fasting Ideas for Lent that Kelli Agodon posted on her site. Some great ideas - I confess feeling like a kid in a candy store who gets to pick out one item. Just one item!  Well, I have the night to sleep on it.

~0~

Terresa Wellborn who blogs at the Chocolate Chip Waffle ( I love that title!) blogged on marginalia  [scribbles, comments, and illuminations in the margins of a book] the other day and it got me to thinking about the act.  I confess that I've engaged in the act, but do not do it regularly. I suppose one reason is that many of my poetry books are in fact autographed by the poet and it just seems to create a barrier to me writing in the book. I do make very frequent notations in my journal but I confess I'd like to feel free to do it anytime... all the time!  There is something really intriguing about the idea of picking up a book and seeing the thoughts of other people in the margins. I confess that the thought others might find mine of interest at some point lingers in my psyche. But alas, I remain conflicted about doing this.

Well, I'm going to close now in a state of indecision... to write in margins or not?  What to do for Lent?

My your week have plenty of direction! 

Magpie Tales 55 - Poem: Untitled

There were sharp points of ambiguity
forked thoughts parting on a less traveled hunch


improvised explosive devices on the kitchen table
landscape of miscellaneous utensils and surgical drop cloths
between salt and pepper and adjacent to some Tupperware
thingy empty with after factory burp     the lid some distance
away from the scene


ruptured pustules perhaps corpuscles maybe a spread
of jam gone array                   smudges and prints
cluttered the site          and fingered a suspect

2011 © Michael A. Wells

Magpie Tales

Diligence Pays Off

In writing diligence is a word that needs to be added to the formula often offered as a key to success - read often, write often and rewrite. Add to that diligence as it relates to submitting. Dresser drawers of poem drafts are not the typical recipe for achieving publication. Yes, it worked for Emily Dickinson, but she didn't live to see the success.

Last night I received an acceptance letter on one of my submissions. I have a piece that will be appearing in Right Hand Pointing in April. I enjoy Right hand Pointing, not because they have accepted work of mine before, but because the editor, Dale Wisely almost always pulls together work that really interests me.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have more submissions to plan.

Tuesday Confession

Tuesday evening and I'm finally sitting down to put together this weeks confession.   Follow me to the confessional....                

Dear Reader: It's been a week since we last did this and I've a few things to confess. February has come to a close. I planned to do four new submissions this past month and on the 28th of the month I got the 4th and final one for February out. **Yeah!** That means for two months in a row I have actually met or exceeded my submission goals. Submissions had become drudgery in the past couple of years so this is a really positive thing. **clicking my heels... Yeah!**

~

I confess that sometimes in the evening I can hear the whistle of a distant locomotive. I Just now heard it. I confess that this is a sound I love. I don't necessarily recall hearing it every night but when it comes to my attention it is almost like clockwork. My grandfather was a railroad man and I always think of my grandfather and grandmother when I think of trains. I used to ride a train on many weekends to go visit them as a youngster. As a result I confess hearing the train triggers a whole host of feelings, tastes, and scents associated with them. The smell of Violets on the side of their home. The taste of fried perch or blue gill, watermelon, homemade doughnuts. Grandpa's tall and quiet stature. The way he would always do dishes when he was home from the railroad work. Grandma stopping on summer afternoons to get us popsicles. Loved the banana yellow ones. I could go on and on.

~

I confess that I have a grave concern that we (United States) are headed down a road to class warfare. The disparity between as the top 1-3% of wealthy are growing in obscene proportion to the rest of the people. Middle class families are dropping lower and lower in comparison. Their buying power is taking a big hit. Don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge people earning money but the CEO's earnings and corporate earnings are coming at the expense of the vast majority of Americans and the grow and grow and contribute so little in return. It is not farfetched to imagine the kind of mass rejection of our corporate hierarchy - much the way we saw the people in Egypt reject 30 + years of neglectful rule by their government. It could happen. **sigh**

~

I confess that I cracked up this past week when a 7 year old nephew visiting us, spoke up as my wife and I were watching  "Hot in Cleveland" when the word sex was spoken in a sentence on the show, "Aunt Cathy, I think this is inappropriate for me."  Can he even define inappropriate?  I laughed my ass off.

That's it for this week. May the rest of your be happy and stress free.   See you next week!

Magpie Tales # 54 - Poem: Title Forgotten

Title Forgotten

You are pieces of places
remote in my mind
puzzling and forced

into blank spaces
black holes in time
splintered edges

people of vagueness
foggy names
fuzzy going blank

what was I going to say
what were we talking
about?
 

2011 © Michael A. Wells

 
Magpie Tales

Not the Cover I'd Choose for a Book of Mine

The book that is bound to horrify: 160-year-old poetry volume is covered in skin of hanged murderer


Details

Enough Suspense Already....

On Monday I reported that I had some exciting news from over the weekend without offering specifics. Some have asked me if this news involves a book and while the answer to this is unfortunately no, I can however tell you that it is none the less the most exciting news I've had for quite some time.
 
Sunday, I learned that two of my poems were selected to inspire work by Jennifer Rivera, a talented abstract painter who is preparing for a poetry themed gallery showing at the Apex Art Space in the Crossroads District in Kansas City. For those not local, the Crossroads District has become the premier hub for art in the metropolitan area. "Synesthesia" will run for two months. My poems will appear along with the final paintings. She has selected work from a number of poets, some local and some from other parts of the country.
 
Jennifer has some awesome paintings! You can see a portfolio of her art and learn more about her at her web site. This is so exciting because I love abstract art in all forms. Having seen pictures of her work I am thrilled at the prospect of what she will produce in response to my poems.
 
Closer to the event I'll provide details about the dates and times of the showing. Of course it would be exciting to see a lot of my friends on the opening night, but for two months people will get an opportunity to see all of the poetry inspired work of Jennifer's.



* photo insert Jennifer Rivera

Confession Tuesday

I'm tired and I still want to read before turning in for the night but I want to fulfill my Tuesday duty so please come along to the confessional.


Dear Reader:

Today was a day that I was crazy busy but alas I confess few of my priority tasks were checked off my to do list. I have days like that because my work can be so crisis driven that the best of planning sometimes just will not work. Grrr!

It's not a new thing and I've had to learn to live with it. Sometimes it's frustrating enough to want to cast planning to the wind but I don't. Here's to more check offs tomorrow.

~

I was thinking this morning how strange it is to think as spring training is underway that the Giants will be starting the season as defending World Series champions and how different that is from the perception many had of the team's chances going into last the start of the season last year.  Many sports commentators thought the Giants were maybe like perhaps a third place team in their division.  First spring training game is this Friday against the D-Backs. I confess it feels like a heavy weight for the team going onto this season and being the defending champion. I will try to be the good fan and keep an optimistic outlook.

~

Sometimes I feel like pushing my creativity in different directions. A couple years ago I tried doing some charcoal sketching.  I confess that I'm not really very talented at this but I enjoyed trying to see various things and people through sketch.  I thought I would allow my to observe things from a different perspective. I still think this is a good idea, but admittedly I haven't done any for a while.  I think I'd like to be able to do sketches of people. I also love photographs of people taken as when they are doing things and appear totally unaware of the shot being taken. Little moments where they seem self absorbed in something.

~

I confess I'd like to have a pint of black walnut ice cream right now. Ok, I confess I'd really like more than a pint. ;)

~

Until next time, I hope you have some sweetness to your week!

I'm SO Excited!

Hail to the Chief!  President's Day off~

I've written, hobbled around on a sore knee, alternated heat and ice on it, and otherwise had a quiet day off.  At some point I need to do laundry and will probably try a relaxing bath. But while I've had a quiet day, I remain very excited about some news that came my way yesterday. I will not go into detail just yet, but I can tell you it's good news and it has to do with poetry. I did get a rejection letter over the weekend from Rattle but trust me, this makes up for it and then some.  Stay tuned for the details!

Magpie Tales 53 Poem: SHAKER

SHAKER



Sculpted by subtraction
precise patterns
sliced in the ice
of class Czech glass
cubed mathematically
and crowned with sterling
to set upon a table
to the distraction
of surroundings


2011 © Michael A. Wells



Magpie Tales 53

Your Attention Please - Is the ability to focus overrated?

I was reading a Wall Street Journal article in their Life and Culture section about attention and distractibality.  The article presented infomation from several studies that support there are perhaps benefits to be associated with distractability.

So all those times I was caught daydreaming in class... was that really such a bad thing?

...scientists have begun to outline the surprising benefits of not paying attention. Sometimes, too much focus can backfire; all that caffeine gets in the way. For instance, researchers have found a surprising link between daydreaming and creativity—people who daydream more are also better at generating new ideas. Other studies have found that employees are more productive when they're allowed to engage in "Internet leisure browsing" and that people unable to concentrate due to severe brain damage actually score above average on various problem-solving tasks.

The aeticle points out that the studies (and there were several mentioned) all involve college students and while they are revealing, they do not taken into account the challenges children facing ADHD experiance in school or the impact upon those who fail to graduate from high school.


Does distraction provide positive opportunities and lead to greater open-mindedness? What do you think?

What's Going On...

Two days in a row - here to blog. I've been lax / busy, call it what you will lately and haven done good to average 2-3 posts a week in recent months. So I guess this is what we'd call a streak!


Yesterday I had a rejection letter for four poems I had sent out.  This morning, three more went out in submission.  Another submission will likely go out later today. I'm trying to (and succeeding) maintain a much more aggressive submission schedule this year.


Poetic Happenings around the Internet:


Saturn's may have hidden seas by Christine Klocek-Lim appears in Astropoetica


A new trend in the internal civil unrest in the Middle East is Arab on Arab violence. Nobel Peace Prize winner Hanan Ashrawi’s poetry paints a picture  of the contemporary unrest.


This poetry is not an ornament to the uprising — it is its soundtrack and also composes a significant part of the action itself...