Poets & Writers Site

If you haven't seen the Poets and Writers site since the revamped it the middle of this month, go check it out. Vast improvement!

Memo to John McCain

When Senator John McCain said yesterday to win the general election he must convince a war-weary country that U.S. policy in Iraq is succeeding. If he can't, "then I lose." But no sooner than he uttered those words he quickly backed off, "Let me not put it that stark, Let me just put it this way: Americans will judge my candidacy first and foremost on how they believe I can lead the country both from our economy and for national security. Obviously, Iraq will play a role in their judgment of my ability to handle national security. If I may, I'd like to retract 'I'll lose.' But I don't think there's any doubt that how they judge Iraq will have a direct relation to their judgment of me, my support of the surge. Clearly, I am tied to it to a large degree." For many Americans, myself included, it would be a mammoth undertaking to reverse the notion that this war was and remains a failed war.

You see, most of us, if we've not had out heads buried in the sand, or someplace else, realize a few truths about Iraq that will not change tomorrow, next week or next year. Those truths go something like this:

1. The war was not only unnecessary, it was unwarranted. The lies that the Bush administration fed the American people are so blatant that only the narrow mindset individuals cannot see that one after another the stated reasons were false.
2. The war has not made us safer and has in fact detracted from pursuit of Osama Bin Laden (you remember him don't you).
3. The was has stretched our military commitments to dangerous levels.
4. Some $500,000,000,000 of non-budgeted expenditures later, we are in an economy that requires extraordinary measures prevent economic crisis and we will be passing this ongoing cost for the war to our children and their children.
5. The problems in Iraq [caused by this failed policy] are no longer military but political and require the Iraqi people to start working together to achieve success.
6. The unknown cost of this war is not the casualties or monetary price tag, but the loss of American respect and prestige around the world. How long will it take us to recover that respect and what are the sacrifices that will have to be made in foreign policy as a result of the war?

Memo to John McCain. Seventy-five percent of all Americans killed in Vietnam were lost after Lyndon Johnson privately acknowledged what most Americans already knew. The war was lost. Like Vietnam, Iraq was not a war lost by the military it was lost because it was a failure of policy. There were no real justifications to go there and once there, we had no strategy to win anything, only destabilize. As we approach the 5 year anniversary of this war you need to "get it" because what Americans want to do is to get over it and move on.

Saw this on Jilly's Blog

Credit to Jilly who by the way is a colon. : )

You Are a Comma

You are open minded and extremely optimistic. You enjoy almost all facets of life. You can find the good in almost anything. You keep yourself busy with tons of friends, activities, and interests. You find it hard to turn down an opportunity, even if you are pressed for time. Your friends find you fascinating, charming, and easy to talk to. (But with so many competing interests, you friends do feel like you hardly have time for them.) You excel in: Inspiring people You get along best with: The Question Mark

WhatPunctuation Mark Are You?

Call for Submissions & few upcoming contests

Passing along to others a Call for Submissions I got this week from Dale at Right Hand Pointing. They have previously published me, and I though this this request looked interesting, so here it is:

Hello RHP Friends, NEW! The 5×7 Project. Here’s a brand new project which I think will take about a year to put together, so only patient people need apply. If it comes together, the issue will be called “Five by Seven.” I think. This will be an issue of work appearing on 5X7 index cards. Accepted works will appear as scanned images on the website. These can be handwritten poems, art, mixed media, anything–pretty much–that you can get on a 5×7 card. Anything that’s, you know, cool. As you prepare work to be submitted, keep in mind that it will likely appear on computer monitors as a bit smaller than 5×7, so you might want to avoid very small writing or text. You can submit one card, or up to five cards. I’d also be open to work that’s designed to be presented as a “set,” but not more than 5 or 6 cards. It’ll take some experimenting. These can be submitted either as scanned images in the jpg format or can be mailed to me via snail mail. If you snail mail, and you want your work back, you’ll need to send a SASE suitable for mailing back what you send. I hate going to the post office, on account of the whole “disgruntled” thing, so it’s important that you give me what I need to return your work via my home mailbox. Whether submitting electronically or via snail mail, though, please email me (righthandpointing — at– gmail.com ) to inquire and we’ll go from there. No hard deadline on this because I plan to accumulate these over the course of a year or so. I’d recommend you try to get something to me in the next six months. If there’s not enough participation to warrant a full issue, I’ll make this 5x7 thing a section of an upcoming regular issue. Write if you have questions. Thanks! Oh, and don’t reply to this email address. Email me at righthandpointing (at) gmail.com. Thanks again. / Dale /Right Hand Pointing

A Few Poetry Contest Deadlines Coming Up:

TUSCULMU REVIEW - March 15
$1,000 prize and publication in Tusculmu Review for a poem or group of poems. Submit 3 to 5 poems any length. Mary Jo Bang will judge. $15 entry fee. Details

FOUR WAY BOOKS - Intro Prize in Poetry - March 31
$1,000 prize and an invitation to participate in the Readings at the Bowery series in New York City - to a U.S. poet for a first poetry collection. Manuscript of 48 to 100 pages. $25 entry fee. Brigit Pageen Kelly will judge. Details

Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize - April 30
$1,000 prize and publication by Marsh Hawk Press for a poetry collection. Submit manuscript of 48 to 70 pages. Thylias Moss judge. Entry fee $25, Details

Lost Horse Press - Idaho Prize for Poetry - May 15
$1,000 prize and publication for a poetry collection, Submit at least 48 pages of poetry. $25 entry fee. Details

I Just Love Finding Things of Value that are Free

Flipping through my new issue of Poets & Writers that came yesterday, I saw a writeup on a Internet site called DailyLit. It's a web site that allows people to select from hundreds of titles of books, many of them free and establish a email delivery to feed you daily portions for busy people to read. It's a wonderful idea that I hope will allow more people to take the time to read great works.

Oh, by the way... looking for a good action movie? Go see Vantage Point that opened today. My wife and I got out on a date today for movie & lunch. I recommend the movie. It's so unique, but I'm not saying anything else about it.

Hearing The New Missouri Poet Laureate

Tuesday night I attended a reading locally by Walter Bargen, the new, and I might add first Missouri poet laureate, as well as Kevin Rabas a poet who makes his home in neighboring Kansas.

The event was well attended. In fact additional seating had to be added. It was my first experience hearing either of these poets though I have read some of Bargen’s work since the announcement of his selection to the post.

Rabas was enjoyable enough. He has a lot of energy and the substance of what he read was far superior to the manor in which it was delivered. I felt he was rushing to finish each poem.

Bargen was well received. I would like to have heard more poetry, but I'll admit I as well as everyone else in the room seemed to be enjoying the antidotes related to his new found fame as poet laureate.

My early impressions of our new state poet laureate are positive ones. The Governor's selection was an individual whose body of work is impressive and his delivery in public is adequate and with time will likely improve. I especially like that from what I have thus far been exposed to of his work, it appears quite eclectic, and he will likely embrace a wide range of poetics as his own work covers a wide spectrum. This is encouraging to me.


The minimal requirements the Governor's office made as far as public appearances is appalling to me. If the Poet Laureate is going to be charged with promoting poetry within the state, there should be far more public outreach than 6 events in a two year term. I'm happy to say that Walter Bargen has been booking events weekly. I hope we will see some kind of public awareness program develop to infuse poetry into our state culture at various levels. At any rate, Bargen’s own reading was enjoyable and provides a basis for optimism about the future course for the position of Poet Laureate in Missouri.

Total Eclipse of the Moon

Watching from home tonight as the moon is nearly blotted from the sky by the shadown of earth. Seen here in the picture to the right by Thom Leigh for CTV.ca.


With the sky darkened - Saturn was visible to the naked eye. Just another bonus of the sky watch tonight.



It seems that historically the moon have gotten a good deal of play by poets. With the level of mysticism often associated with it, and the broad range of metaphorical concepts, it still seems to me that it hold up well against many of the otherwise over used themes. At least that's my humble opinion.