Letting Go - Part I

"All truly profound art requires its creator to abandon himself to certain powers which he invokes but cannot altogether control" ~ Andre Malraux, "Goya"

The word all leaves no room for question and requires is a strong verb.  So when you think about the above statement it's about as weighty as you can get. Given this, I've been thinking a lot about it this evening. Assuming that this statement is a universal truth about art, it behooves us to learn just exactly what it takes to surrender ourselves to certain powers. And where do these powers come from?

 

Technorati Tags: art,Andre Malraux,Goya

Back From A Weekend Run To St Louis

Back home after a whirlwind trip to St Louis to See Daughter #2.  Haven't done a Journal bits post in a while....  A few things from this past ten days.

• 9-11-08 "I look at a picture on my desk of all four of our kids together and note their facial features and how much they look alike."
• 9-11-08 Quite from Rainer Maria Rilke ~  "If my devils are to leave me, I am afraid my angels will take flight as well."
• 9-13-08 evening... "There is in you what is beyond you"  ~ Paul Valery
• 9-14-08 The blackened windows was unyielding./There is another side to this-  I dispute,/the blank stare, dark and framed/in a plague of crippling lies./
• 9-15-08 "conscripted fantasy"
• 9-16-08 I am better suited for productivity this morning as I am not zoned out on carbs. Life is a balancing act to get enough but not too many.
• 9-16-08 The language that we cling to is a monument that testifies to the organized progress of man. It is so exciting to be linked to this feat, this act of human achievement by the very use of it on a daily basis.
• 9-19-08 I got my ass kicked good a the office today.
• 9-20-08  ...had dinner, tacos from Jack-in-the-Box.
• 9-21-08 "a box store full of false hope/discount prices and depressed wages
Technorati Tags: journal bits. Michael Wells,Rainer Maria Rilke,a poet's life

How I See Election Night Unfolding

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Words to Stroll By

As a Capricorn, I like to think of myself as an earthy sort of person. It is true I like a safety net, the secure feeling. Still, I do like a good shakeup once and a while. A little something new can be a good thing under the right circumstances. Even to a Capricorn. So when I saw an article about a man in St. Paul, Minneapolis that was bringing poetry to the people in a new way, I sat up and took note.

It seems that poetry has taken up a rather permanent position around the city on sidewalks. The project was conceived by Marcus Young who was looking for a way to integrate art into the public view.

Working with twenty poets and the Department of Public Works in St. Paul, Young was able to orchestrate poems etched into the concrete where repairs were being made in public walkways. Presently there are about 50 poems completed in various parts of the city and another fifty to go.

I thought about during next poetry month doing poems in chalk on sidewalks but this is way more cool, and lasting.

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"Paradoxes and Oxymorons," by John Ashbery

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Right Here In River City

Sunday I read at the Writers Place in Kansas City for the second CD release party sponsored by both the Writers Place and the Johnson County Library. The two events were an excellent opportunity for the public to hear and meet some of our many local poets and I especially appreciated the fact that the events spanned our Missouri - Kansas boarder. I don't recall ever reading in the Kansas side before, though I have attended a number of readings there. Anyway, the local poets featured in the CD project owe a big thanks to these two sponsors.

Speaking of events... there are a number of exciting happenings that are coming together locally in the months ahead. Two poets I first discovered via poetry blogland will be coming to read as part of an Ethnic Poetry Reading Series in conjunction with Park University. The first one is Victoria Chang who will be here October 2nd, 2008 and the other is Aimee Nezhukumatathil who will be in town on March 26th, 2009. I'll do another post on each closer to their event. Also in October - on Thursday the 23rd, Poet Laureate Charles Simic will be in town as part of the Midwest Poet Series. So there, everyone mark your calendar in advance. I promise to remind you of each event later.

Technorati Tags: Aimee Nezhukumatathil,Victoria Chang,Charles Simic,poet laureate,readings,Kansas City

John's Friends

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