Poem: Our Story

Our Story

I love the sea and fear it;
the way it crashes the shoreline.
I love life with all the misfortune
because hope is a buoy
I cling to and continue to believe
that a patch of fertile land
is just over the curved possibility
and I love you because the storm
that presses upon us will grow silent
as a blank page— and we will write
our story.

2111© Michael A. Wells - All Rights Reserved

Happy St Patrick's Day

"Ireland is rich in literature that understands a soul's yearnings, and dancing that understands a happy heart."~~By Margaret Jackson.~~

No E-Books Without Authors, Atwood Reminds Us

I actually don’t disapprove of them, but I do predict that they will only ever occupy a small percentage of the market, in the same way that audio books, airport or large-print editions do. They will become one more – not the only – platform, and I’m hugely impatient for them to be normalized so that we can get back to talking about what’s in the books, rather than the formats themselves.

Thought for Troubled Times

"The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail." ~ William Faulkner

Confession Tuesday

Tuesday appears to have arrived on schedule. Okay, it actually came an hour earlier then last week (yes that is bitterness in my voice) but aside from that it has arrived as expected. One snow, too much barking, too many Aladdin and Barbie viewings, too many “ca-chings” at the gas pump, a quick but enjoyable sit down fast food meal with Cathy and another acceptance letter later.

Shall we get on with the confession?


Dear Reader:

I confess that I can be a sucker for even the simple. In a week that didn’t often allow for much time together – even a spontaneous stop at Church’s Chicken on the way home for our respective jobs a was a delightful event. Perhaps this week will be a little better.

The tragic quake and tsunami continues to consume much of my attention. I confess that I compartmentalize those two natural occurrences separate from the unfolding catastrophic nuclear disaster. The first saddens me and the second angers me because we have been hearing warnings for years now of such possibilities. Even here in our country to listen to people like Senator Lamar Alexander try to compare this to an automobile accident and say, who don’t stop driving because a person is killed in an auto accident is just plain stupid. The contamination of high levels of radiation from a meltdown will render an area uninhabitable for decades. It risks exposure to the food chain. In Japan with the concentration of population in areas like Tokyo, wind shifts could risk exposure to millions of people within hours. Sen. Alexander thinks this is like a car wreck? Really?

I confess I find leaders who cling to such notions blindly because of Industry Lobby and the trails of money they leave behind are despicable. I also confess that I did not intend to get on a rant today. **heavy sigh** Let me just conclude this segment by saying I am praying for the people of Japan – for their loss and many challenges ahead.

I didn't do much writing this past weekend and I confess that I am also behind schedule for the month on getting submissions out. I hope to do better this week and catch up with the submissions as well. But I have learned that if you stay on the ball with getting material out, even if you have a bad week things are still happening. Example yesterday I receive a rejection letter on four poems I had sent out. Likewise, over the weekend I receive another acceptance! This one to a Journal I had never submitted to.

I confess that I do enjoy it when others that I know have successes with their writing. Kelli Russell Agodon’s news yesterday that she or her book is a finalist for an award (see yesterday’s post) and another local friend Amy Leigh Davis has a book coming out and I just saw the cover art for it and I love it! The down side to all of this is I get all excited over such news and then two or three days later I think come on manuscript like I can urge it on, wish it on or something. **sigh**

Are you enjoying Daylight Savings Time yet? I confess I’m not.

I don’t mean for this all to sound like I’m on a downer… because I’m not. I’m looking forward to the Synesthesia – Art Exhibition by Jennifer Rivera (opening April 1st) that will feature abstract paintings inspired by poems, two of which (poems) are mine! I have painted when I was younger. You know when people go to a gallery and look at a painting and say, “my kid could do that” – well that would be a painting by me. That is why I don’t paint, I write. Though I have tried sketching in the past year, and someday I may try oils again, but I confess it will be just to amuse myself. But seriously, this exhibition and the two recent acceptances for journals due out in April have me in a pretty good mood. And that’s how I’d like to conclude my Tuesday Confession, on a high note.

Thanks for listening. May you be on a high this week as well… just not drug induced. ;)

Congrats!

Kelli Russell Agodon & Susan Rich are among the finalists for the ForeWord 2010 Book of the Year Award for the category of poetry.  Having read both of the books in question these are very deserving finalists. Congratulations to both!

Oh, and the books~ 

1. Letters from the Emily Dickinson Room / Agodon
2. The Alchemist's Kitchen / Rich

3.14

Snow fell last night and yet birds sang prolifically as though they were on an episode of Wild Kingdom. I wasn't a big accumulation but it's a wet snow and thus weighty.  Last night they were talking it would warm up to the 40's and we'd see some sunshine today so I guess this is just a little flirtatious burst of winter or maybe today will be a flirtatious burst of spring. Who really knows in Missouri. 

Thinking this morning about the enormity of uncertainty that people in Japan must be feeling.  So many people unaccounted for. A crisis in their power grid. Tremendous destruction and the questions about their nuclear risks/contamination etc.  They are in my prayers this morning.

Oh... and today is pi day - Happy Pi Day to all!  Pi Across America