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Saturday, July 10, 2010

Climbing into Poems

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This week I’ve started my mornings reading from Mary Oliver’s Thirst.  It’s been a good way to get the days off. What I like about these poems is their spirituality. By this I’m not inferring religious so much as I am their contemplative nature and quite frankly “nature” is another very notable aspect of many of the poems.




I’ve read a handful of other poems by Oliver, plus I heard her read locally not that long ago and many are laden with rich images from the outdoors. Her poetry isn’t particularly complex but it is easy to climb right into them. I would not want a diet of only poetry like this, but I am happy to supplement my poetry tastes otherwise with these gems.



















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Thursday, July 08, 2010

Grace comes in all shapes…

"Even so, I must admire your skill. You are so gracefully insane."     — Anne Sexton

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Iran and the Brutality of Stoning

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is a 43 year old Iranian woman who faces death by stoning after being convicted of adultery. She has already spent five years in prison and received 99 lashes for alleged adultery, the issue of her innocence or guilt not withstanding, the fact that Iran would in this day and age stone people to death is brutally abhorrent. It speaks loudly about the barbaric state of the Iranian government.


People around the world should speak up concerning this and can do so by signing the Save Sakineh Petition and or the Protest e-mail here: International Committee Against Stoning. 


It would not hurt to share these kinks with friends or via twitter or facebook, etc.

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Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Confession Tuesday

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      It’s late Tuesday and I’m rushing to get my weekly confession done before I turn into a pumpkin at midnight….

      Hurry with me to the confessional, no time to waste--

 

Dear Reader-

A week ago we lost some channels on cable.  It’s been a frustrating week dealing with the cable people with various different stories as to the problem but still no resolve. I won’t go into the gory details but the short version is we are still where we were a week ago after spending multiple hours on the phone. Now we are awaiting a technician on Saturday because they now have run out of explanations.  All this is to say that I confess that I do not enjoy these kinds of drawn out things. I like to think that I can be a patient person and in many respects I believe I am, sometimes maybe even to a fault, but I’ve lost my patience on this situation.  I’ve almost lost my desire for cable as well.

                                              ~0~

I confess that I may be a _________snob.  (insert your choice of word)  My wife has accused me of being a poetry snob, a wine snob and I admit I am very likely a coffee snob. In the case of the latter for example I do not care for the coffee we have at the office. I’ve come to the conclusion that one of the reasons I am hard to satisfy when it comes to coffee, it comes down to the fact that I’d rather drink espresso that coffee.  I’m probably a wine snob too because I tend to favor white wines… especially Chardonnays and prefer Northern California to most imports. There are some good Northwest Chardonnays as well.

As for poetry…. ok, I confess I do have my idiosyncrasies about what I like and what I dislike, but what poetry lover doesn't? Does that make me a poetry snob?

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Monday, July 05, 2010

Temporarily


they lie
curled and swirled
in a basket of labor.

They smell of the day;
cigarettes and coffee
the grass and dog,
the sweat, the sex-
a scratch and sniff of where
they've been.


The coloreds and whites,
paisleys, printed and denims-
they are all mingled together.
A collage of color and odor


to be segregated later
into lights and darks.
To be centrifuged
to separate and flush
the day from the garment.


Michael A. Wells © 2010

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Sunday, July 04, 2010

Photographing the Mind

I heard an NPR piece this morning about Jennifer Karady a photo artist who has an exhibit titled "Soldiers' Stories of Iraq and Afghanistan," appearing at SF CameraWork in San Francisco.  Her approach can be found within  the juxtaposition that presents itself when a soldier returns to what I will call the “normalcy” of life back at home, but retains the searing images in the mind that have come with their war experiences.
I’m curious what others who see these photographs feel about this art work, so go check them out on line and tell me what they do for you.
A link to the NPR Story can be found here.
Jennifer Karady’s own web site.


Happy Birthday Shannon!

 

My middle daughter was a 4th of July baby so besides the 4th we celebrate her birthday each 4th.  However this 4th she is overseas, although she will be leaving soon to return home. So Happy Birthday all the way down under to Australia & have a safe trip home!  Mom and I are having strawberry shortcake in your honor. ;)