Monday Thoughts To Munch On

Yes folks - (Supermodel) KATE MOSS is writing poetry to help her through her rehab for cocaine abuse. Then, we are told she reads the lines over the phone to her lover Pete Doherty. Her family is pleased she has had something to focus on while she recovers. A friend told Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper: 'She's found writing her thoughts down in verse very calming' - and I'm thinking she might have found poetry a better diversion than cocaine to start with.

See, I'm thinking that Carl Rove and Scooter Libby may want to keep the poetry thing in mind. I'm sure they are feeling just a little up tight this week as Special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has just launched his own brand-new Web site. [click here]
I'd say that the odds are good that one or both may well find themselves under indictment this week in the Valarie Plame matter.

I would think poetry might well help them through the long and very public legal battle to save their hides. Then of course when they are finally found guilty - perhaps it will ease the days in prison. At least till the president pardons them.

And just in case you are one of those who thinks that the Patriots Act needs to be renewed as is... read this and think again.

Oh... and Judith Miller - NY Times poster child is in deep do-do. Yes, even among her own this reporter is about as popular as a hometown prophet. Now I don't know that I'd go so far to say fire her- I think they could move her to another department and let her write obits.

judith miller Libby Kate Moss Patrick Fitzgerald Valarie Plame poetry

How Much Is the Bloggy in the Server?

My blog is worth $10,726.26.
How much is your blog worth?

Saw this on Christine Hamm's blogsite so of course I had to see what Stick Poet looked like when put to the test.

Wear sunglasses to the post office...

Quiet Saturday morning- sometimes quiet is good. Sometimes the silence echoes reverberate empty.

I generally never want the weekends to end, but sometimes I wish they would hurry along into another phase. It's a contradiction I know.

The picture with this post was taken a few weeks back - it is a courtyard behind a bank in downtown Kansas City. I took it on a lunch stroll. I think of it as water art.

Finished reading a novel last night. I've produced some small written pieces this week that I am happy with and they really did for the most part come without feeling like I had to squeeze them from a near empty tube of words.

Best quote I saw this week was advice from Dana Goodyear - one of the 18 debut poets of 2005 that were featured in Poets & Writers.

"Wear sunglasses to the post office. In other words, try to protect yourself from other people's disbelief."

Washing Your Back

I squeezed water
To a fine trickle
That splashed
And breathed
Bubbles
The
Long
Sleek
Contour
Of your
Back
Till
It
Hit
Water
And carried a touch of your fragrance to the ocean

Can Just Anyone Be One?

Should there be a test? Would it have both an oral and written portion?
Could there be a learners permit? Would we have to re-test every so often?
What would the punishment be for poeting without a license? Should bad poets have to register with the state and be prohibited from living a certain distance from academia?

The Payoff of Hard Work

New Poets & Writers magazine arrived yesterday... I saw where Victoria Chang (who formerly had a blog I would read frequently) made a list of 18 debut poets who made their mark in 2005. Very nice piece on her and her work.

Interesting factoids from the writeup on her:

She spent 10 years writing the book CIRCLE.
She entered some 30 to 45 contests.
She won the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry Open Competition Award.


Influences were listed at Rainer Maria Rilkem, Elizabeth Bishop, Sylvia Plath, Larry Levis and Brigit Pegeen Kelly.

One thing that really struck me was the amount of time each of these poets spent in writing their respective books. The longest being 11 years - but the average seemed to be just under six and a half years.

Anyway it was a really nice article and I would imagine she must be quite honored by making this list in addition to the previous honors bestowed upon her for the book.

Potpourri Wednesday Again

Hello to Bergen, Norway!


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Magnetic Poetry Sparks Creativity - and Smiles - with Gifts for Everyone on Your List.

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Ivy spills the goods on the BLURB. Thinking I need a Miss Blinda Blurb to pose on my chapbook.

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This is where I am tapping my foot waiting for a slightly overdue response to a submission. I say slightly overdue because they have had this group of poems longer than usual. Can't you just feel the impatience?

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The Maine Arts Commission is accepting nominations for Maine's next Poet Laureate.

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In David Citino's poem "And So" he wrote "And so you called, weeping, to tell me this because you know of the compulsion we share to write." Citino, an English professor and Ohio State University's poet laureate, had died from complications related to multiple sclerosis. Citino was 58.