Dear Mr. President

A rejection letter for "W"

Don't Monkey Around.... Friday is coming!

The 2003 Monkey Award Nominations are underway. But don't delay, Friday is just around the corner and there is no time to monkey around. Get your nominations in and we'll let Jim be the Monkey.

"Poetry is an act of peace..." Check out Silent Lucidity.

HAIKU Anyone? Check out the USA today contest.

What a game at Wrigley last night! - The Goat is alive!

Playing Baseball, hey that's better.....

It is wonderful to see so much baseball interwoven between the poetry blogs. I often feel the game is so poetic in itself. Amanda's comments about the Boston- NY incident and violence in general as it relates to baseball is of interest to me. As a historical student of the game, I can attest that this is nothing new. Yet at the same time, I think baseball displays a degree of civility that is not as common in many other sports. Certainly football and hockey are examples of a much more physical aggressive side.

There has been over the years even kind of a silly game that often occurs in baseball at the brink of these physical confrontations. Most center around throwing in on batters, which is of course a part of the game itself. A batter who believes he has been thrown at will occasionally feel the need to take a stand that he is not going to take this. Once a batter has committed to going to the mound, it is the job of the catcher to protect his pitcher from this batter. The game begins...

Batter heads to the mound - eyes and body motions reflect anger sending the signal, "I'm not taking any more of this crap... You don't throw at me..." all this time the batter is thinking, "where is the fucking catcher - come on, you are not supposed to let me touch your pitcher."

Of course the pitcher is supposed to look innocent and play the role of the victim here. "I'm just playing the game, minding my own business" of course he, like the batter, is wondering when his catcher is going to tackle the batter and stop this whole thing. This is how the little game should work, and often will. It allows the angered batter to vent, take a stand, not look like a woss, and no one gets hurt.
The DH has not helped to problem of throwing at players, because a team can't throw in on the offending pitcher if he never bats. Just one more reason I prefer NL ball.

I agree with Amanda, I want to see the game and not fighting. However, I don't believe that we are seeing more violence in baseball. At least between the players. I am more concerned about the growing issue of fan violence and I believe this is on the rise.

Sadly, my team is out (San Francisco Giants) after a fantastic season. Still, I live for baseball and there has been plenty of good ball played so far.

easy does it

a taco or two,
some friends
spilled poetic guts
on chipolte table

dreams laced with reality,
plans tempered,
departed

westward sunset of pinks and orange
poetically smiles at me
return the favor, turn east
eager to return home


[wrote this in response to Northland Writing group that met Sunday]

Science of Poetry

"Imagination is more important than knowledge..." Albert Einstein

Pausing to consider Einstein's somewhat surprising remark I realize that in fact it is knowledge that is limited by lack of imagination. Imagination is in fact the forerunner of knowledge. It is the egg and knowledge is the chicken. Oops, is that how it goes? The debate I suppose rages as to which comes first in the age old question. My point however, is to illustrate that maybe the imagination, which so defines art itself, is more scientific than what we might want to admit.

Poetry stretches us to new frontiers. It is westward ho! Sailing the seas and traversing the stars all rolled into one. It is microscopic, telescopic, telepathic and God knows what else.

Friday Fragments

Jim's Crush List is out. He has a newbie on the list.

I will remind you that Jim's Crush List is second to Catherine's Stalking list - on my list of lists.

While we are talking about Jim... I have to say that his decision to ban Kent and Dave is the most interesting action.

Consider this.... the decision to ban them from posting is a form of censorship. (regressive) The fact that he sanctioned a poll on who he should ban smacked of good old fashioned Democracy. His decision to cast the poll aside and ban them both was a Dictatorial act - dismissing the Democratic approach. In the end, the blog is his, so he can damn well do what he wishes anyway. What a fascinating exercise in Schizophrenia!

Ron Silliman is talking line breaks today.

A big Thanks! toLaurable for feeding my passion for baseball and poetry at the same time.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said of language...

"The angels are so enamored of the language that is spoken in heaven, that they will not distort their lips with the hissing and unmusical dialects of men, but speak their own, whether there be any who understand it or not."

Oooops She Opened Her Mouth....

Speaking before a domestic violence prevention conference last week, Kendel Ehrlich, wife of Maryland's Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich got lost in the game when she told the audience, "Really, if I had an opportunity to shoot Britney Spears, I think I would."

Alas, Kendel Ehrlich, spokesperson for Maryland's first lady says the governor's wife made an "inadvertent figure of speech" - well, duh! I'd say it's a toss-up as to which was worse, the choice of words, or the choice of audiences to deliver such a remark to.