I was ecstatic at the news the Charles Simic was to become the new poet laureate because I had only recently discovered his poetry and found him to be an excellent read. This week however, I read a piece in the Boston Globe that only accentuated my excitement.
David Mehegan of the globe staff wrote a piece in Simic on August 18 that provided a little more insight into Simic the laureate. Mehegan reports that Simic doesn't yet have a plan for his term but says, "All those sentences that begin with, 'Poetry must...,' 'The purpose of poetry is to... , 'Readers of poetry should...' -- 'I will not complete any of those sentences." I can't say enough about what a delight it is to hear these words.
Even after Donald Hall's tenure as poet laureate, the handcuffs that Ted Kooser slipped around poetry still leave marks on its wrists. Simic is insightful enough to see the divisiveness trying to mold and shape what poetry is or should be has brought to the art. Enough!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Presidential Candidates say the stupidest things...
If you are my age, you may remember Art Linkletter and his program and later book, Kids Say The Darnedest Things. A recent AP wire story about Presidential candidates and their gaffes, has the makings of a first class reality TV show.
A few gems:
A few gems:
- Republican candidate Mitt Romney - Defending the decision by his five sons for not enlisting in military service by uttering the following, "...one of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected." Romney later tried to clear the air and said he didn't mean to compare their campaign work to military service. Yeah, well duh.
- Republican Mike Huckabee has referred to Arkansas as a "banana republic" as well as jokingly attributed his 110-pound weight loss to spending time in a concentration camp. Way to go Mike!
- Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.,demonstrated fuzzy math skills when he drastically overstated the death toll from a Kansas tornado, saying "ten thousand people died." The real number was 12. As in one and two with no zeros following.
- Good old Republican Rudy Giuliani, the mayor of New York City during the Sept. 11 attacks, claims he was at ground zero "as often, if not more, than most of the workers" and was exposed to the same health risks. Ok, I don't think his photo opps were the same as digging through the rubble and I suspect there is a wee bit of exaggeration on the time as well.
Back home....
It's good to be back at home. I was so delighted to see Cathy (wife) at the airport last night. Plus, I had a great night of sleep. Best in a long time. What is not good, is this morning I see little things around the house that belong to Meghan and it's sad because I miss her terribly already.
Talked to her on the phone late last night when we got in. She had made a new friend on campus (which delighted me) and I know she is going to do so well there. I am quite proud of her.
I'm not looking forward to work tomorrow. I imagine my plate will be quite full. It is normally, so this is only going to to set me back. (sigh) But I have decided to keep a smile on my face and roll up my sleeves.
Good News!!! I had a card in the mail when I got home that Dana Goodyear is going to be in town in September. I have greatly enjoyed her own poetry as well as some of her commentary I've read. I am looking forward to meeting her and hearing her read!
Talked to her on the phone late last night when we got in. She had made a new friend on campus (which delighted me) and I know she is going to do so well there. I am quite proud of her.
I'm not looking forward to work tomorrow. I imagine my plate will be quite full. It is normally, so this is only going to to set me back. (sigh) But I have decided to keep a smile on my face and roll up my sleeves.
Good News!!! I had a card in the mail when I got home that Dana Goodyear is going to be in town in September. I have greatly enjoyed her own poetry as well as some of her commentary I've read. I am looking forward to meeting her and hearing her read!
Friday, August 17, 2007
Arts diary: Revealed: Sylvia Plath's unseen art, discovered in the attic | Art & Architecture | Guardian Unlimited Arts
Arts diary: Revealed: Sylvia Plath's unseen art, discovered in the attic Art & Architecture Guardian Unlimited Arts: "Paintings and drawings by Sylvia Plath, many of which have never been seen before, are to be published in October to mark the 75th anniversary of the birth of the American poet and novelist."
The Rug
Horizontal stripes thrown down
Bar the floor from leaving.
We watch all day
It never moves from prison.
You and I are visitors
Neither saying much
And the floor isn't talking.
Perhaps it has spoken things to others,
Later used against it.
Dirty truths that were never intended
Beyond its horizontal plane.
Bar the floor from leaving.
We watch all day
It never moves from prison.
You and I are visitors
Neither saying much
And the floor isn't talking.
Perhaps it has spoken things to others,
Later used against it.
Dirty truths that were never intended
Beyond its horizontal plane.
Hastert Blames Americans' Impatience For '06 GOP Losses
I read with amazement this article about the retirement of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert. After all this time he blames the GOP losses in the midterm election on American impatience.
I won't even bother to discuss the numerous scandals among GOP House members which he denied lead to the Republican electoral demise. But I will take issue with the insistence that the American people are impatient where the war is concerned.
Patience, or lack thereof is only a small part of the electoral revolt where the war in Iraq is concerned. It is far more than impatience. He ignores the fact that the vast majority of America realizes that they were mislead in the first place. There was no compelling reason for the US to make an unprovoked strike on Iraq. Information about possible nuclear concerns were grossly exaggerated and information at the time suggested so. We had UN inspectors in the country again surveying the situation.
It is true that the existing government in Iraq was wrought with human rights abuses, but so is the Sudan, so is China, Sri Lanka, Labia, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Côte d’Ivoire, El Salvador, Colombia, Turkey and the list of places with major human rights abuses goes on. Where is the U.S. response in these places? The fact is that our government and in particular the Bush administration found it politically expedient to go to war with Iraq, and they believed it would be a short campaign and there would be minimal causalities. They shifted resources from Afghanistan (a real stronghold for anti-American extremists) to Iraq.
For all the bad you could say about the Saddam Hussein, he did after all rise in power with behind the scenes help from the United States government. Further there existed a stable government environment that was not susceptible to outside interference in the region.
What Representative Hastert ignores of fails to understand is that we know the truth about Iraq and it is an ugly scar in the history of the U.S.
At last count, we've lost at least 3,699 U.S. servicemen and women in the ear in Iraq. At least 25,000 Americans have been wounded. This Mr. Hastert is a pretty heavy price to pay for what amounts to a lie. Your President was bound and determined to go to war in Iraq to the extent that he would present less than honest assessments of facts. That is a polite way of saying he lied.
On the other side, the price has been worse. By other side I am speaking of Iraqi citizens. Bush's war has created a vacuum in leadership in country where there is no consensus among the Iraqi people themselves. There are deep divisions between neighboring people. To the point of bloody civil strife on a daily basis. The death toll in one day alone in a northern Kurdish province that was previously one of the quieter spots is now at least 400.
We've destroyed so much of the countries infrastructure, in the capital alone they are lucky to have an hour or two electricity a day. One seriously has to ask the question, are they better off today than under Saddam?
Efforts to create a democratic government in Iraq have had only partial success. While the structure of a legislative body now exists, the divisions between the Iraqi people themselves are so deep that this brave body of men and women that rick their own lives daily are in worse gridlock than anything we've ever witnessed here in America.
Given this, and the fact that this whole mess has in fact lead to greater disdain for America Islamic people worldwide, how exactly has this made us safer?
In all this it is amazing how prophetic Dick Cheney was in 1994. The question is what lead to his mental lapse?
Congressman Hastert needs to understand that the American people are not simply an impatient bunch. No, we realize that George Bush pulled a Gulf of Tonkin on us (see here, here, and especially here) and are angered and the loss of lives on both sides, the loss of American prestige, the monetary cost of over $450 billion of non-budgeted tax money and counting , and creating a cause celeb for recruiting anti-American terrorists. If THIS is not a crime against the American people and humanity as a whole, I don't know what is.
I won't even bother to discuss the numerous scandals among GOP House members which he denied lead to the Republican electoral demise. But I will take issue with the insistence that the American people are impatient where the war is concerned.
Patience, or lack thereof is only a small part of the electoral revolt where the war in Iraq is concerned. It is far more than impatience. He ignores the fact that the vast majority of America realizes that they were mislead in the first place. There was no compelling reason for the US to make an unprovoked strike on Iraq. Information about possible nuclear concerns were grossly exaggerated and information at the time suggested so. We had UN inspectors in the country again surveying the situation.
It is true that the existing government in Iraq was wrought with human rights abuses, but so is the Sudan, so is China, Sri Lanka, Labia, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Côte d’Ivoire, El Salvador, Colombia, Turkey and the list of places with major human rights abuses goes on. Where is the U.S. response in these places? The fact is that our government and in particular the Bush administration found it politically expedient to go to war with Iraq, and they believed it would be a short campaign and there would be minimal causalities. They shifted resources from Afghanistan (a real stronghold for anti-American extremists) to Iraq.
For all the bad you could say about the Saddam Hussein, he did after all rise in power with behind the scenes help from the United States government. Further there existed a stable government environment that was not susceptible to outside interference in the region.
What Representative Hastert ignores of fails to understand is that we know the truth about Iraq and it is an ugly scar in the history of the U.S.
At last count, we've lost at least 3,699 U.S. servicemen and women in the ear in Iraq. At least 25,000 Americans have been wounded. This Mr. Hastert is a pretty heavy price to pay for what amounts to a lie. Your President was bound and determined to go to war in Iraq to the extent that he would present less than honest assessments of facts. That is a polite way of saying he lied.
On the other side, the price has been worse. By other side I am speaking of Iraqi citizens. Bush's war has created a vacuum in leadership in country where there is no consensus among the Iraqi people themselves. There are deep divisions between neighboring people. To the point of bloody civil strife on a daily basis. The death toll in one day alone in a northern Kurdish province that was previously one of the quieter spots is now at least 400.
We've destroyed so much of the countries infrastructure, in the capital alone they are lucky to have an hour or two electricity a day. One seriously has to ask the question, are they better off today than under Saddam?
Efforts to create a democratic government in Iraq have had only partial success. While the structure of a legislative body now exists, the divisions between the Iraqi people themselves are so deep that this brave body of men and women that rick their own lives daily are in worse gridlock than anything we've ever witnessed here in America.
Given this, and the fact that this whole mess has in fact lead to greater disdain for America Islamic people worldwide, how exactly has this made us safer?
In all this it is amazing how prophetic Dick Cheney was in 1994. The question is what lead to his mental lapse?
Congressman Hastert needs to understand that the American people are not simply an impatient bunch. No, we realize that George Bush pulled a Gulf of Tonkin on us (see here, here, and especially here) and are angered and the loss of lives on both sides, the loss of American prestige, the monetary cost of over $450 billion of non-budgeted tax money and counting , and creating a cause celeb for recruiting anti-American terrorists. If THIS is not a crime against the American people and humanity as a whole, I don't know what is.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Weary and wilted
In the course of my visit, I have now misplaced a shirt and shorts. Considering I came with extremely limited clothes this trip, and they seem to be disappearing at the rate of one item a day for the past two days, I could have difficulty being able to dress for the flight home by Saturday.
The trip is truly a mixture. I have greatly enjoyed being able to see my oldest daughter. That's been a blessing. I am however homesick- missing my wife tremendously, and beginning to feel a bit emotional already about the fact that when I leave, my youngest will be staying behind. So the emotions for the trip are a bit like taking a jar and putting the good and the bad together and shaking them up. What you get is pretty messy emotionally.
Writing has been difficult. Still a sampling of my journal from the last few days:
The trip is truly a mixture. I have greatly enjoyed being able to see my oldest daughter. That's been a blessing. I am however homesick- missing my wife tremendously, and beginning to feel a bit emotional already about the fact that when I leave, my youngest will be staying behind. So the emotions for the trip are a bit like taking a jar and putting the good and the bad together and shaking them up. What you get is pretty messy emotionally.
Writing has been difficult. Still a sampling of my journal from the last few days:
- These are not afterthoughts / That spill over the levee / But plateaus of articulation
- Things I wanted to say in deep cobalt blue
- Raining syllabic utterances
- His skin circumcised by a combination / Of sun and shifty motivations
- We saw in him all the signs / Of a man able to straddle / the Continental divide
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