California has 55 electoral votes and with Obama at 200 votes now, it's hard to see California not going Democratic. That would leave 15 electoral votes needed. Only 15 votes and there are 7 in Iowa where he has been up in the polls, 7 in Oregon and 11 in Washington that are also likely to go Democratic. So Florida, Indiana, Virginia and everything else is just gravy if he wins it, or insignificant of not.
It's not over, but very likely over.
The electoral vote stands at 175 to 76 at present. As it stands now, McCain is still able to find a way to victory but there are states that are important to him that Obama is competitive in that McCain would need. Several in fact. Florida is looking very good for Obama. Even heavy GOP areas are under performing. Indiana and even Virginia remain too close to call. I have to say Indiana looks very good. But as I say that, Obama with 20 votes and last election Red has flipped to Obama.
This now puts Obama at 195 - McCain would now need to find 20 votes somewhere he did not anticipate. The networks are not calling it, but I have to believe Florida and Indiana simply look unlikely for McCain with areas still remaining to report.
Florida? Ohio? Indiana? I think Indiana will go Obama when the NW Urban area comes in. It should break heavy Democratic and so hopefully we'll know something soon.
Tennessee has been called for McCain. No Surprise there. Polls are closing in more states. Kansas has been called for McCain. Minnessota, Wisconson, Michigan to Obama
Wyoming and North Dakota (a tossup state) have gone to McCain.
Still looking for a call in Indiana as this could be a flip.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Dole lost her Senate seat as it goes Democratic.
Alabama - 9 votes to McCain as is Georgia with 15 votes. Come on Indiana.
McCain's strategy has now cracked as Obama has been called for Obama. They spent so much time there and this is a blow to the candidates efforts. This is however a defensive win for Obama. It is after all a Blue state so it isn't a steal.
Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Rhode Island, Connecticut, D.C., Pennsylvania now all in Obama's Column.
Democrats pick up a seat Senate seat in New Hampshire.
McCain winner in Oklahoma, South Carolina, Kentucky.
Less then 30 minutes till more polls closing. Still looking for a sign, a tangible sign other then Obama playing well in several Red states. Looking for that first instance of one candidate or the other punching through and turning a state. Until this happens, we don't know enough to anticipate the outcome.
My own state (Missouri) closes at the top of the hour but it will likely be close and therefore late before the results are known. MSNBC calling South Carolina for McCain but totally expectable.
Watching the election returns as the polls in the east have started closing and initial returns have not told a lot but there is a whisper of hints.
Two states appear to have gone as expected Vermont with 3 electoral votes to Obama and Kentucky with 8 votes to McCain. What is would tell us more would be Virginia and Illinois. Both are close at this point. Both were Red states and both have been considered states that are in play and perhaps attainable for Obama. Illinois has an urban area in northwestern part of the state and as long as we stay close till those returns are in then the state will remain in play.
There is definitely a change in the air this weekend. Perhaps that's a good omen with Tuesday being election day. Yesterday morning I awoke to a dense fog that hung well above the ground. It was reminiscent of some of those civil war pictures you see of battlefields. Then, this morning I want out to make a diet coke run and the geese had returned to the ball field across the street. It's always exciting to see them back. It amazes me that they show up here every year.
Time for Unconscious Mutterings Week 301
Unconscious Mutterings ~ link
Word & Thought Associations
here's mine:
First Draft: Leonardo Likes Gulls: Campaigning in Poetry
The first thoughts that come to me...
Ah, a win for the Phillies! I know many didn't think this World Srries was the big glitzy one they had hoped for, but of the final teams in post season, these were the two I wanted to see. I would normally be drawn to root for the NL team with a few exceptions, so a Phillies win is fine with me. Still, The Rays had quite a run this year and I am happy for them none the less.
Of course with tonight's game I am now at that point where baseball now falls into the black hole of winter, not to return till spring. There is a sadness that comes with that.
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." - Bart Giamatti
On another note, yesterday afternoon I was in a waiting room at the Doctor's office and was drawn by the late afternoon quiet void of activity to scribble out a draft of a poem. There, I mentioned poetry in my blog post. I feel so much better.
Unconscious Mutterings ~ link
Word & Thought Associations
here's mine:
Yesterday afternoon I stopped by Boarders Books in northland to see local poet Rebecca Stallard read from her new book of poetry and and sign copies. The book, And the Birds are Singing is available here.
This morning I mowed the front lawn. The air was crisp and fallen leaves laced the lawn. Just a preview of more to come.
This time of year is a mixture of things I like and things I dislike. Usually about October I start feeling the effects of the shorter days and it manifests itself in the form of feeling melancholy, especially in the early hours after rising in the morning. I use a special lamp which has lessened to some degree the impact but the period October through say March can be rough. This is not to say I don't find enjoyment in fall and winter. I prefer the cooler temperatures to hot summer days. I love the multicolored landscapes that we have available to us in Missouri.
After the end of the World Series I miss that baseball goes away. Football just doesn't have the same magic that baseball has.
It seems that fall is ripe for writing. I don't know if it is the stark changes that occur but there is something that seems transformative and this seems to feed the creative process. I seem to often get a boost in my writing output. I don't mean quantity so much as I do that I seem to be happy with more of what I write.
I've actually given thought to signing up for nawrinomo but I don't know if I can break myself away from poetry for a month to write [insert shudder here] fiction.
| Thursday 10-23 6:30 PM | Charles Simic Reading | Mabee Theater | Rockhurst University 54th Street and Troost Avenue |
| Friday 10-24 8:00 PM | Dan Jaffe Reading | Writers Place | 3607 Pennsylvania |
| Saturday 10-25 1:00-PM | Rebecca Stallard Reading and book signing | Boarders Boardwalk Shopping Dist. | Just off N.W. Barry Rd & I -29 |
Inside my empty bottle I was constructing a lighthouse while all the others were making ships. - Charles Simic
Patting myself on the back for submitting work to a venue I've never tried before. More because I submitted than anything else. Last year I submitted a lot of work early in the year and had great success. Then there was a brick wall. as a result, this year I have been lax in sending material out. Not lax in writing, so I'm not feeling like I've been lazy or anything, just not so focused on the administrative side of things and more on the art itself. That is a good thing isn't it? I think so. Still a balance between the two would perhaps be more desirable.
Well, assuming I couldn't have my Giants in the World Series, I wanted to see the Phillies and the Rays. Hot Damn!!! They finished off Boston tonight. Great pitching. It's time for fall ball!!!
The Midwest poets series in Kansas City has once again tapped a top flight reader for its reading series. Poet Laureate Charles Simic, Pulitzer Prize winner, 
MacArthur Fellowship recipient, and winner of the Wallace Stevens Award will be here to read.
Simic has as I count them, something like 28 books (but that is more fingers than have and I may be off by one or two) of which four were released just this year.
The event is at Mabee Theater located at 54th Street and Troost Avenue on the Rockhurst Campus in Kansas City, Missouri. Reception at 6:00 p.m. - Reading starts at 6:30 p.m.
Following the record crown Obama drew in St. Louis earlier yesterday, he found Kansas City supporters awaiting his arrival 75,000 strong. Recent Rasmussen poll shows Missouri: Obama 52% McCain 46% an important number given the fact that Missouri the last two elections was a red state.
Is the spread that wide in Missouri? I wouldn't call Missouri a safe state for Obama, but if the turnout is high in St Louis and Kansas City, both Democratic strongholds, 2008 might just go blue. A video clip of Obama in Kansas City can be seen here.
Missouri Republicans must be seeing blue tonight.... Over 100,000 turned out in St. Louis earlier today for an Obama rally. This surpassing the previous record crowd of 75,000. 
It is on to Kansas City here in the western part of the state where another large crowd is growing for an evening rally.
Anxious to see what we draw here. I don't expect anything like 100,000 but the crowd has been growing nicely.
Local Kansas City area writer Rebecca Stallard will appear at Boarder's Books - Border's Books - just off N.W. Barry Rd and I-29 in the Boardwalk shopping district in Kansas City North on Saturday, Oct. 25th 1-3PM.
Stallard will read from her book And the Birds are Singing, a poetic narrative that chronicles four generations of a family, their happiness and desire for laughter against a backdrop of their tragic hereditary plight
Rebecca Stallard is a member of the K.C. Metro Verse - a local chapter of the Missouri State Poetry Society. Her book is an extraordinary work of ancestry and poetic style.
Saturday night I attended the the Bohemian Ball - a fund raiser to support the operations of the Writers Place in Kansas City. There were a few in costume and many who weren't. The evening got off to a rocky start when writers arrived to find the building dark and candle laden. The power on the entire block had gone out at the most inopportune. The muse in the end smiled upon us and the night ended in the light. 
Among the food and drink there were these long flat crackers that were so damn addictive. Picture wine + poets, only more. We just shortened the word cracker by dropping the er.
At one point a chorus of singers did a ditty to the tune of Abbas' Dancing Queen changed to Writing Queen.
Lots of silent auction items. People were carrying out tons of spoils at the end of then evening. The only downer beside the initial dark was the Chardonnay running out quickly. I don't do red wine.
Some upcoming Writers Place events:
Main Street Rag Poetry Showcase Featuring Tim Pettet and Prometheus Unbound
Main Street Rag hosts a production of "Imagination, Please" featuring the voices of Sharon Eiker, Shawn Pavey, Timothy Pettet and others.
Dan Jaffee Reading
Poet Dan Jaffee will read political and social issue poems for the "First Tuesday in November".
Saw white pumpkins for the first time recently. I guess you never get too old to be surprised.
Surprises can be a good thing. But we often see them in a
negative light. Unpleasant surprises. In politics there is the often dreaded "October Surprise". You probably never want to see a mobile news team pull up unannounced at your business. The present economic turmoil, while somewhat predictable puts us in uncharted waters that continues of offer unpleasant surprises.
I think poetry often embraces surprise. Certainly learning to find the surprise in even the simplest of daily life has been a paramount importance to me as a poet. I think all art is about a perspective of view. Perhaps poetry more than any art form requires us to present unique perspective. It seems to me people that are most appreciative of poetry are the ones who are able fined the surprise elements in verse, who can read something and have that "Ah ha!" experience, seeing something in a different light.
I hope your day is filled with surprises... and I hope they are all good ones!
Technorati Tags: life as a poet,surprise
This Saturday night - 6:00 to 9:00 PM all of the serious local writers in the Kansas City area will be in one place... The Bohemian Ball!
Proceeds from The Bohemian Ball support The Writers Place’s community literary programs, readings, and workshops.
Unconscious Mutterings ~ link
Word & Thought Associations
here's mine:
The polls have widened and the days till the election are fleeting. This morning I noticed further indication in the desperation of the McCain campaign as they have seen Sarah Palin out to deliver messages of unsubstantiated fear. Fear is what people often turn to when things are not going well in a campaign. Fear and innuendo becomes the hallmark of political desperation.
According to Reuters news service, Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin Palin told of supporters at a rally in Carson, California that, "There is a time when it's necessary to take the gloves off and that time is right now." Pain went on to a accuse Obama of "palling around with terrorists." The remarks were referencing a New York Times story referencing Bill Ayers, a former Vietnam War-era militant that served on a Charity Board along with Obama. The story went on to conclude that Ayers, now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Obama were not close.
On the heels of the Katie Couric interview in which Palin was asked what she relied on to informs her she relayed that she read magazines and newspapers. When Couric inquired what publications, Palin offered not a single name. At the Carson rally she noted, "There has been a lot of interest in what I read, and what I read lately well, was reading my copy of today’s New York Times... OK, now I get to bring this up not to pick a fight, but it was there in the New York Times, so we're gonna talk about it."
It would appear that either Palin is intentionally misrepresenting the story, or she is skimming articles and has a comprehension issue. If it is the latter, I'm not attempting to suggest that Palin is a moron or anything, as I would expect her schedule these days is hectic and required a good deal of multi tasking. So if it the that latter, than she is perhaps not quite up to the riggers of the job. If in fact it is not the latter, it must be considered misrepresentation of this story to interject fear into the campaign in the final weeks. Saying there is a Friendship between Obama and Terrorists gets big headlines. The McCain campaign is wrong to suggest it. Be it lies or lack of competence. As evidenced by the stakes in this election this country can ill afford a President and Vice President of either stature.
As a follow up to my initial "Letting Go" post, I've continued to contemplate the Andre Malraux quotation about what profound art requires. Revisiting the whole idea of abandonment of the control of certain powers (pertaining to art) when writing, I'm reminded of a common topic of discussion which often centers around poetry of the Beat era. There has been a school of through that many of the beat writers relied heavily upon their initial written inspiration. That a higher value seemed to be placed upon the minds first reflections and some writers were hesitant to mess much with original words committed to paper.
I cannot subscribe to the idea that such writing is never enhanced by revision, but I will agree that a mind that allows a truly uninhibited freedom to explore is a desirable foundation from which to begin any poetry.
The Spanish Poet Federico García Lora championed the idea that great art depended upon a vivid awareness of death, and an acknowledgment of the limitations of reason. Certainly one can draw distinct comparison between what Lora espoused and the later argument made by Andre Malraux and quoted in part one of this blog post.
I'm wanting to to find that unfettered awareness that sometimes can be hidden beneath the surface. I want to write without self censorship and then; I want to be able to work to shape this rough language into the best work while retaining the strength and power of what originally came to me.
In a reading before an appreciative crowd at the Central Branch of the Kansas City Public Library, Thursday night, California poet Victoria Chang shared poems from Her books, Circle and Salvinia Molesta.
Chang was the lead off guest of Park University's 2008-2009 Ethnic Voices Poetry Series. Her voice often on the dark side but not disparagingly so, offers a credible balance to a whole host of story lines including that of family history, the business world, relationships and more. While soft spoken, Victoria is quite accomplished with empowering words to their fullest.
It was another excellent Library Poetry Reading experience. The Central Branch Library has established quite a reputation now for poetry readings. The only downer for the night was the local bookseller Rainy Day Books which was advertised as being present was a no show. Instead a small handful of Victoria's book were swooped up right away and many wanting autographed copies were left in the cold.
And I still made it home in time for the debate. Wahoo!
Bumper Sticker seen tonight on car in Target parking lot: Spiritual people inspire me / Religious people scare me.
Few Journal Bits this week:
notes to self....
topics to inspire future poetry
polite conversation drizzled us/two scoops of vanilla ice cream, side by side with chocolate syrup
flies behaving badly in a seedy joint
I should like to have been there./Been somewhere emotion ruled/even if to have been speechless/but in the body./To witness a pair of long exposed legs/and feel some kind of movement.//
the stakes in the garden lean from the westerly fall winds
Victoria Chang is in town for a reading as part of 2008-2009 Park University Ethnic Voices Poetry Series. Going to be hard to pass on the Debate live, but I'll have to rush home and watch recording.
October 2, 2008
Kansas City Library
14 W. 10th Street -Kansas City, MO
Reception at 6:30pm
Presentation at 7:00 p.m.
Book signing follows
Chang's work has appeared in many literary journals, and she won a Ploughshares Cohen Award for best poem of the year. Her first book of poetry, Circle, won the Crab Orchard Review Award Series in Poetry and the Association of Asian American Book Studies Award and was also a finalist for the 2005 PEN Center USA Literary Award and the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award. The University of Georgia has just published her second book, Salvinia Molesta, and she edited the anthology, Asian American Poetry: the Next Generation.
A reminder to everyone that this
is Banned Book Awareness week
“Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.”—Potter Stewart, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court
The 10 Most Challenged Books of 2007
The reasons for the challenges varies. In some instances it's religious viewpoints, in others it may be language, sexuality, racism. Between 2000 and 2007 some frequently challenged titles have included:
Be alert and aware of efforts in your own community to ban books in Schools, Libraries and Universities. Don't be silent!
Unconscious Mutterings ~ link
Word & Thought Associations
Returned last night from the Missouri State Poetry Society Convention in Springfield, MO. It was a whirlwind trip down and back with the president of our local chapter, Missi Rasmussen in the Poet Mobil. Missi drove her yellow PT Cruiser and while we were at one of the secessions a reference was made to another local poet who drove the car preferred by poets everywhere. Yep, the PT Cruiser. Who knew?
There were two exceptional guests who read their work. Thomas Lux pictured here and Michael Burns.
Lux was educated at Emerson College and the University of Iowa. He was the poet in residence at Emerson College, 1972-75. He was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award in Poetry in addition to National Endowment for the Arts and Guggenheim Fellowship.
Burns is a retired MSU Professor whose work has appeared in a number of top rate literary journals including Kenyon Review, Paris Review, and The Southern Review. In 1995 he won an NEA fellowship.
Burns did a group workshop an I found him to be a very down to earth instructor. I liked his teaching style. He is someone who really seems to enjoy helping others with their poetry and has a personality that is as genuine as it is rich with humor.
I knew I recognized Thomas Lux by name, but could not place him. That was until he began to read The Refrigerator, 1957. I didn't recognize it by name, but it didn't take long for me to realize this was the infamous Maraschino cherries poem. I first saw this poem maybe 5 or 6 years ago and loved it.
"...right of the middle of the middle door shelf, on fire, a lit-from-within red, heart red, sexual red, wet neon red, shining red in their liquid, exotic, aloof, slumming in such company: a jar of maraschino cherries. Three-quarters full, fiery globes, like strippers at a church social. Maraschino cherries, maraschino, the only foreign word I knew. Not once did I see these cherries employed: not in a drink, nor on top of a glob of ice cream,"
It all went by so fast, but it was a worthwhile trip and it's too bad more of our local people could nit make the trip down.
Yes folks, according to ABC News.... the headline above is theirs and relates to the following:
The McCain campaign told ABC News on Wednesday that John McCain wants to postpone Friday's presidential debate until Thursday, Oct. 2.
The Arizona senator would like the vice presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, which is currently scheduled to take place on Thursday, Oct. 2 in St. Louis, Missouri, to be scheduled for a later unspecified date.
So I guess that gives them more time to work on Palin who's eyes looked like a frightened puppy when she took a whole four questions from the press today.
The word all leaves no room for question and requires is a strong verb. So when you think about the above statement it's about as weighty as you can get. Given this, I've been thinking a lot about it this evening. Assuming that this statement is a universal truth about art, it behooves us to learn just exactly what it takes to surrender ourselves to certain powers. And where do these powers come from?
Back home after a whirlwind trip to St Louis to See Daughter #2. Haven't done a Journal bits post in a while.... A few things from this past ten days.
