Nothing ~ X.J. Kennedy

Toe after toe, a snowing flesh,
a gold of lemon, root and rind,
she sifts in sunlight down the stairs
with nothing on. Nor on her mind.
~ X. J. Kennedy from Nude Descending a Staircase

Congratulations Missi Rasmussen

Congratulations are in order for Missi Rasmussen who received the Nicholas Manchion English Scholarship Award at Park University Honors Convocation last night. Her submission of a poem she wrote titled, The Fine Art of Making Breakfast was judged to be the winning poem by the Park University English Department.

Missi is President of KC Metro Verse, a Kansas City Chapter of the Missouri State Poetry Society.

David Halberstam

David Halberstam on Poetry... "I came to it gradually as an adult when I found that people I respected — Bobby Kennedy, whom I covered as a young man — loved poetry. I mean, really. He quoted it naturally. He found comfort in poetry, and that was important to me."

Halberstam on President Bush... "Very simply, it's a national tragedy. It's not just a tragedy for him, that he will have gone down as such a failure. It's a great national tragedy to have at that moment somebody who has been so deeply, so much in over his head. It's so sad for us, as a country, for him. It's really dark out there. And we have a year and a half to go. This will be seen as a tragic moment in American life."

David Halberstam journalist, and author of scores of books died Monday at the age of 73. Halberstam, who a Pulitzer in 1964, for his reporting on the Vietnam War was the passenger in a car that was broadsided by another vehicle.

we decided to moan...

Look: no one ever promised for sure

that we would sing. We have decided

to moan. In a strange dance that

we don't understand till we do it, we

have to carry on.

~From An Introduction To Some Poems by William Stafford

Poet's Quote for Today

The poet judges not as a judge judges but as the sun falling around a helpless thing. ~ Walt Whitman

A Kiss

A stone can masquerade where no heart is
And virgins rise where lustful Venus lay:
Never try to trick me with a kiss.

~Sylvia Plath from Never Try to Trick Me With A Kiss

Robert Pinsky Gets the Best Gigs....

OH God this is funny. Kelli has a great post from the Cobert Report. Go to her blog and check it out.