Another Moronic Shill for Cheney

According to news reports [here] and [here] and [here] Under Secretary of Defense Eric S. Edelman offered a stinging rebuke of Senator Hillary Clinton following her questions to Pentagon officials about how the U.S. would withdraw from Iraq. Edelman was attributed to the following, “Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq..."

The sharp attack on Clinton is interesting for two reasons. First, numerous Senators including Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee have asked the same questions. Has he blasted Luger or any Republicans who's asked these same questions? Second, Edelman's background is interesting to say the least because Edelman is Vice President Cheney's former deputy national security adviser. Funny how these things always lead back to Cheney.

Since he has mentioned propaganda, I'd be interested in Mr. Edelman's thoughts on the propaganda fed to the American people leading up to President Bush's commitment of U.S. forces to Invade Iraq. I'm tired of the Cheney henchmen in government and in the military.

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese

Went to my mailbox yesterday and much to my astonishment found a stamped piece of a Kraft Macaroni & Cheese box cut the size of a postcard. On the flip side a note about one of my poems that appeared in the Grist - 2007 ( State Poetry Society Anthology).

It was of course a pleasant surprise. The writer acknowledged liking my poem titled "Sport Utility Poem"* for "pzzzazzz and sasss-"

I found the writer's approach using recycled box both enterprising and heartening. It had to have passed through a couple of other hands in order to reach me and that gave her a way to make a statement by example. The writer was a poet peer and she expressed herself in verse with an Ode To Michael Poet.

While this was not a situation where a poem had a life affirming impact on another it was none the less the kind of acknowledgement of an others work I blogged about a few days back that I noted as rare. It is I suppose, one more reason this box of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese was especially tasty.

* this poem first appeared in the Rockhurst Annual Arts Review in 2006

Four GOP Hypocrites reaffirm their ownership of the War In Iraq

Republican Senators like John Warner, George Voinovich, Richard Luger, and Pete Domenici say they have reached a point opposition to President Bush's present course on the war in Iraq. Yet, when it comes to delivering a vote to change this mistaken course, what do they do? They vote the President's party line. They are hypocrites. Every time they to vote to continue to keep the US smack dab in the middle of a sectarian war, propping up a government that shows no sign of ending critical differences between waring factions, and continues to commit billions of U.S. dollars and American lives, they reaffirm their personal ownership in the massive mistake that is the War in Iraq.

A bump in the week & Dana Gioia's NEA

While my week has not exactly been zipping by, I always view Wednesdays are a sort of speed bump in the week. Maybe on weeks like this one, it is more like reaching the crest of a giant hill and knowing the rest is all down hill. Anyway, Wednesday constitutes that great divide between the start of the work week and the end of same. It's not quite Hazzah... but perhaps acceptable to exert a small sigh.

Thanks to Jilly the source for Free dreams, fond bores or why you should always read poetry twice (I say three times).

After Senate all-nighter, war vote at hand today, but it is expected fall short of the 60 votes that are needed. It's anticipated that only three Republicans, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Gordon Smith of Oregon are likely to vote with Democrats calling for this change in war policy. Even Republican Sen. Richard Luger and Republican Sen. Pete Domenici, who have indicated to the press in recent times they are breaking with the President on the war, are not likely to to exhibit the courage to abandon the Republican party line on this vote.

A literary forum run by poet Lu Yang has been blocked by the Chinese government - See Reporters Without Boarders.

Last night I attended a reception at the new Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City for NEA Chairman Dana Gioia. The invitation only event was nicely attended. The intent I suppose was two-fold. To get local art enthusiasts inside the newly opened building and showcase it, as well as to partner withe the NEA and it's mission to encourage and broaden support for the arts.

Couple of personal observations...

• The building which as been criticized by some in the neighboring community needs to be seen in the context of what the architecture offers on the inside. The external structure has a functional purpose that needs to be considered.
• Although the NEA is funded by the government - putting Laura Bush on the cover of the NEA Vol 3 - 2007 publication is not in my mind a good marketing strategy.
• Dana Gioia is an interesting individual. I have often been captivated by the unusual nature of his assent in the arts as it is definitely unorthodox. I've not always been convinced that his approach is the best, but I was impressed in his brief remarks that the NEA's mission was a valuable one and that it needed to reflect the pluralism of American culture today. While this is an expansive mission statement, and intelligent people may disagree on how you achieve such a mission, it is in the end, the right mission for the arts community to embrace.

Spacing Out P o e t r y

I've been thinking about the dimensional aspects of poetry upon a page. Not only the poem itself within the boarders of the page but the lineage as well.

There are times when the visual impact of poetry is obvious. An example would be Golria Vando's New Shoes and An Old Flame. However, not every poem is dependent upon the kind of tedious spacing of letters /words that are required to achieve what Vando did here.

How important is the visual appeal of a poem on a page to the average reader? What contributes to an appealing layout of words on a page? What kinds of things are turn-offs? Are these questions trite?

Sometimes when I am journaling and not working on poetry drafts (because I often do that in my journal as well) I will catch myself writing in stanzas. Almost without a second thought at times breaking lines much as I would consider line breaks in a poem draft. Go figure.

Five was all I could do

Yesterday, we tried a family outing to Waterworks Park to play Disc Golf. The course there is much bigger than what I have played on. It is challenging enough, but the killer for us was the oppressive heat and the steep hills. We were ready to play hole 6 when we decided we could not go on. We had already decided that 18 holes would be too much, but we were hopeful we could get the front 8 in. We won't talk about my score.

Tomorrow, I have a reception for Dana Gioia to go to. Then Saturday night I have a reading to do so there are some extra curricular art events going one this week. I think I need to focus on some rewrites this week. I didn't have much success with new stuff over the weekend. Time to revisit old ideas.

Let it be...

I was thinking today about non-literary art and the fact that you often see an accompanying artists statement of purpose with it. I thought about the application of the same to poetry. The irony of a written summation of another piece of "word art."

I suppose we do often see such a critter inside the flap of a poetry book where the reader is offered some general statement of purpose relative to the entire manuscript. Otherwise, we don't see this with individual poetry.

With more abstract work it would perhaps not be as odd. Still, there is a tendency by many poets, myself included to want let the reader experience the work themselves. Drawing from their own life experiences whatever it is that speaks to them in the poem. As MacLeish argues in Ars Poetica, [the] poem should not mean But be.