A mid day trip to the library - brought home the following new reading material:
Delusions, Etc - John Berryman
2004 Pushcart Prize XXVIII Best of the Small Presses
Missing Measures - Modern Poetry and The Revolt Against Meter - Timothy Steele
Kansas City - Outloud II - 32 Contemporary Area Poets - Edited by Dan Jaffe
Saturday, September 17, 2005
A First Draft is Always a Critic
In the beginning, you were
A very private matter
Between me and the blank page.
We struggled a bit.
I would take you by the shoulder
Pulling out of a line
Then sometimes forcing you
Into another. You stubbornly
Slapped my face in rebuke
Forever telling me why
Something wasn't working
But never offering alternatives.
It is always left to me to make it work-
You are the critic- always a critic.
You never have anything nice to say.
Friday, September 16, 2005
Neighborhood Bully
The boy down the street stole my truck.
I said I didn't care but I did.
He had hedgehog green teeth.
His eyes never blinked.
All the other kids grew weary of him.
He took what he wanted from them as well.
Bobby's marbles, Sam's ball glove.
It was made of real leather too.
He took Hank's dad's hammer
And Hank caught hell for losing it.
He snatched Jan's rag doll.
The one with the patch on its elbow.
He took Helen's virginity.
That's what I heard. Some kids watched.
But when he choked old lady Horton's cat
Well that was it. We all had enough.
We have to laugh when we see him now.
You just can't help yourself.
I said I didn't care but I did.
He had hedgehog green teeth.
His eyes never blinked.
All the other kids grew weary of him.
He took what he wanted from them as well.
Bobby's marbles, Sam's ball glove.
It was made of real leather too.
He took Hank's dad's hammer
And Hank caught hell for losing it.
He snatched Jan's rag doll.
The one with the patch on its elbow.
He took Helen's virginity.
That's what I heard. Some kids watched.
But when he choked old lady Horton's cat
Well that was it. We all had enough.
We have to laugh when we see him now.
You just can't help yourself.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Is It Just Me?
I know I'm not exactly a spring chicken - err rooster, but I think I am relatively open minded. Perhaps I'd draw the line at being hip. I mean that would be ok if you thought I was hip, but I'm not really trying to fool anyone here.
As I read other blogs, something I see, has sort of hung in the back of my mind... In the little space where annoying things seem to go and set up shop and just hang out till you evict them or something.
Understand, I'm not trying to be judgmental. That is NOT my reason for this post and I certainly am not going to point fingers. Still, something is gnawing at me and I am starting to wonder if it is just me.
I see from time to time other bloggers who will post another's poem in its entirety. The interesting thing is, people don't seem very often to post some other blogger poet's work, though I have seen it done on very rare occasion. What I do see is people posting the complete text of the works of very established poets. Often deceased, but not always.
Myself, I would never think of posting another bloggers poem without first getting permission. And that seems to be a prevailing view of almost everyone else out there. Am I being totally old fashioned by applying that same standard to say the works of Robert Frost or Sharon Olds? I know some works are in the public domain. But for those that aren't, if I am going to reference them in a post, I may use a line or two or a stanza to illustrate a point, or often link the entire poem from somewhere else on the internet. But without permission of the poet or copyright holder, I would not feel right reposting it in my blog.
Someone is probably going to say, "Michael, get with the times." File sharing is rampant, etc, but as artists, as poets, as writers, should not we respect the work of others to the same degree we would expect them to treat our work?
What say you?
poetry copyright
ethics
As I read other blogs, something I see, has sort of hung in the back of my mind... In the little space where annoying things seem to go and set up shop and just hang out till you evict them or something.
Understand, I'm not trying to be judgmental. That is NOT my reason for this post and I certainly am not going to point fingers. Still, something is gnawing at me and I am starting to wonder if it is just me.
I see from time to time other bloggers who will post another's poem in its entirety. The interesting thing is, people don't seem very often to post some other blogger poet's work, though I have seen it done on very rare occasion. What I do see is people posting the complete text of the works of very established poets. Often deceased, but not always.
Myself, I would never think of posting another bloggers poem without first getting permission. And that seems to be a prevailing view of almost everyone else out there. Am I being totally old fashioned by applying that same standard to say the works of Robert Frost or Sharon Olds? I know some works are in the public domain. But for those that aren't, if I am going to reference them in a post, I may use a line or two or a stanza to illustrate a point, or often link the entire poem from somewhere else on the internet. But without permission of the poet or copyright holder, I would not feel right reposting it in my blog.
Someone is probably going to say, "Michael, get with the times." File sharing is rampant, etc, but as artists, as poets, as writers, should not we respect the work of others to the same degree we would expect them to treat our work?
What say you?
poetry copyright
ethics
Happy for a Little Rest
I wouldn't say I slept like a baby last night but I was able to sleep better at least part of the night.
KC Metro Verse meeting last night - a very sparse attendance - unlike the previous.
I was introduced to the work of Raymond Carver. His bio can be found here. One of the poems read was Happiness.
The last two stanzas of this poem strike me fascinating because he sets this stage for happiness in a moment of beauty that is not defined by death, ambition or as he says, "even love". An abstract, defined in this instance by the absence of two abstracts and death playing any role. It is a peculiar approach, but I like it because it has in a way, brought simplicity to what happiness can be.
Such beauty that for a minute / death and ambition, even love, / doesn't enter into this.// Happiness. It comes on / unexpectedly. And goes beyond, really, / any early morning talk about it.//
KC Metro Verse meeting last night - a very sparse attendance - unlike the previous.
I was introduced to the work of Raymond Carver. His bio can be found here. One of the poems read was Happiness.
The last two stanzas of this poem strike me fascinating because he sets this stage for happiness in a moment of beauty that is not defined by death, ambition or as he says, "even love". An abstract, defined in this instance by the absence of two abstracts and death playing any role. It is a peculiar approach, but I like it because it has in a way, brought simplicity to what happiness can be.
Such beauty that for a minute / death and ambition, even love, / doesn't enter into this.// Happiness. It comes on / unexpectedly. And goes beyond, really, / any early morning talk about it.//
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Elusive Sleep
"Life is something that happens when you can't get to sleep." ~ Fran Lebowitz
As the song goes, "Last night, I couldn't get to sleep at all..." And this would be several days now. I attribute it largely to new medication so I don't see this ending anytime soon. I think I have actually had one good night of sleep since I started it. Now, I suppose if I felt life was actually happening while the sleep isn't, I could at least feel there was a reasonable trade off. Fortunately it has not been a problematic during the day.
Meanwhile, I feel my creativity is less impacted by my new medication then the previous.
If you've followed my blog for any length of time, you likely know that one of the blogs I try to routinely read is - Ivy Is Here.
I enjoyed her most recent post with a heart warming story about her mother's reaction to her poetry. It's a great story, go over and read it if you haven't already.
I was already aware that Ivy Alvarez has extensively researched and written of Sylvia Plath. Should she find a publisher for her manuscript she has a customer here!
As the song goes, "Last night, I couldn't get to sleep at all..." And this would be several days now. I attribute it largely to new medication so I don't see this ending anytime soon. I think I have actually had one good night of sleep since I started it. Now, I suppose if I felt life was actually happening while the sleep isn't, I could at least feel there was a reasonable trade off. Fortunately it has not been a problematic during the day.
Meanwhile, I feel my creativity is less impacted by my new medication then the previous.
If you've followed my blog for any length of time, you likely know that one of the blogs I try to routinely read is - Ivy Is Here.
I enjoyed her most recent post with a heart warming story about her mother's reaction to her poetry. It's a great story, go over and read it if you haven't already.
I was already aware that Ivy Alvarez has extensively researched and written of Sylvia Plath. Should she find a publisher for her manuscript she has a customer here!
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