This weeks Mail-Bag

Aside from the various assortment of advertisements, insurance EOB's, etc., arrived two poetry related items in my snail mail box.  One a a brochure from the Arts and Letters department at Rockhurst University announcing a number of items including Michelle Boisseau reading December 1 at the Midwest Poets Series, and the call for submissions for the Rockhurst Review - their annual fine arts journal. 

The Rockhurst Review has had some really exciting material in the past.  I had a piece accepted in it  several years ago and I suppose I should look through my material and submit. 

The other poetry related item was a contributor's copy of the fall issue of WestWard Quarterly with  my poem Foxtrot.  At some future point I'll add it to my published items in the tabbed section but for now it is only available in their print edition.

A ton of poetry related e-mails arrived this week as well. No new acceptances or rejections to report

My Misfortune

As I am working on this I'm looking at my laptop screen through one good eye and one partially shut and otherwise oozy eye.  Couple days back I was shaving when I turned and found my right eye in the direct bath of a mother-in-laws tongue.  You might ask what said mother-in-law was doing in the bathroom while I was shaving. The answer is not much... just sitting on the edge of the lavatory,

This incident ended up necessitating a trip to the emergency room and subsequently eye clinic. Followed by bed rest all day today. This has driven me to the brink if insanity. Everyone but the dogs left the house early this morning. Sure I could say, wow a day all to myself.  Such days I do enjoy from time to time but not always and today wasn't one of them.  Yesterday my eye was too sensitive to light to open. When I did for the various drops that have been prescribed there was intense pain at the back of the eye and shooting paint upwards of my forehead above the eye. So I suppose you can say that progress is occurring.

The progress however has been of little comfort.  I've had a very busy week and had looked forward to this weekend for a variety of things but especially writing and reading. I missed the Robert Bly reading locally on Thursday because of this and that was before it turned worse.

If I felt I could have read for any length of time earlier today or effectively written I think I would not have seen the day as a loss. My wife reminds me that the doctor said yesterday that rest was the best thing for it so I was doing something productive. In spite if her many talents this sales job didn't work one me,

About three p.m. I took the dogs out and came back in and felt an anxiety attack brewing.  I managed to go back to bed for two more hours until then got up and fed the dogs and took them out again.

I've obtained a Diet Coke and am typing this all the while telling myself that things are normalizing. If I say it often enough I will perhaps believe it.  In the meantime I am contemplating a restraining order against the perpetrating Mother-In Law Sansevieria trifasciata.

We live on the leash of our senses.  ~  Diane Ackerman

Confession Tuesday - Fall Ball edition

Tuesday night and you have one beat confessor here... Let's go to the confessional.

Dear Reader~  It's been a week since my last confession.  It's been a year since I was pinching myself over my San Francisco Giants making it to the World Series.  Sadly they did not make it this year but their winning it all last year was sweet and I confess that I still have to pinch myself over their post season success!  Seasons like 2010 provide true baseball fans a lifetime of memories.

The World Series this year kicks off tomorrow night and I will be rooting for the St. Louis Cardinals. I confess that I have no love to give for the Rangers,  besides in most instances with few exceptions I would root for a National League team.


My night has been no less hectic then my day. Left the office a little late.  Picked up my niece and drove her back to our neighborhood to do a job interview.  Then we ran to the store to shop for groceries. Home, fixed dinner for my wife (who worked late) and then drove back into the city to pick her up and return home.  Re-heated dinner and then here I am.  10:30 p.m. already!  I have work plans for tonight but at this hour I confess I have nothing more to give. I'm fighting to finish this confession.

I confess that each year I play a video season of baseball.  A full season. Sometimes I'll play a second season over winter. I've become quite good at it. I suppose it's the kid in me. There is a lot of kid factor in all aspects of baseball. Yes, I'll confess that it's a frivolous activity. Still, I kind of feel like it keeps me sharp. It's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Go Cardinals!



Kansas City at the Crossroads of Cultural Growth

In Kansas City, Missouri the Crossroads Art District has transformed vacated light business manufacturing structures into a thriving area. To the south of the Power & Light Entertainment area it offers yet another reason for people to go downtown at night rather then workers flee the business area for the suburbs come 5 p.m.

One of the  successes of Crossroads has been to stabilize an otherwise declining or at best stagnate part of the city. This has not happened overnight but has grown and in some respects once might consider that it has been enough of a success that for the new artist seeking a place to hang his or her hat & art, the options available may be tougher to find.  This has been the case in many other successful urban areas who have sought to revitalize areas by attracting the Bohemian demographic.

Such urban planning in many big cities began several decades ago. For Kansas City, the growth began perhaps less then ten years ago. This year however, the completion of our new center for preforming arts nearby is like icing a cake.

A New York Times piece by Elizabeth Curric-Halkett,  Where Do Bohemians Come From?  discusses the phenomenon of cities getting into the act of job creation in the arts. Currie-Halkett who is an assistant professor of urban planning acknowledges the success takes more than grants and tax breaks to make an art community that thrives. The Crossroads area in Kansas City had a lot of the kinds of structures that she insists are necessary for the success of such ventures, like oversized buildings, oversized doorways, lots of concrete flooring. 

I am well aware that the neighboring state of Kansas has battled Governor Brownback over funding for the Kansas Arts Commission. These are not easy economic times for any industry and people often look at the arts as one of the first places to cut. Going clear back to my days in school the music and other art departments were constantly fighting to maintain levels of funding much less come under the knife. 

There is this common portrayal of art as something for the rich. A frivolity that is not needed by most and therefore of less importance. Actually it is times like these when I feel that art has the most to offer. It is the distraction so many need from unemployment, foreclosures and food pantries.  Art is a human experiance and is most importamt at those junctures where humanity is most threatened.

I hope we see more successful art districts spring up throughout the country in the next couple of years and I sincerely hope that people everywhere get to experiance the art they deserve.

Magpie Tales 87 / Poem: Lynching

There has been a lynching-

Mass retribution
for what I cannot say.
Was it the down in the pillows?
Not enough fluff?

Whatever the cause
these ducks hang in public
perhaps to make an example
though I doubt their kind
dip to do flybys
of the market district.

Someone will
take them home for dinner
celebrate their demise
with duck soup.



Michael A. Wells

Magpie

Journal Bits

Friday Sept. 30 - "This summer mercury tattooed itself to my skin."

Saturday, Oct. 1 - "Work rides a conveyor belt to my desk. On occasion I'm not fast enough - things come crashing down."

Wednesday, Oct 12 - "The still has settled to the top of my desk....  these morning moments of silence will not last. My body craves them as if it were some drug; the antidote for worries."

Thursday, Oct. 13 - Nicole Rushin's words (from a blog post) have some resonance  to me, especially the last sentence. Do I often really  let my inner voice be heard? By anyone, including myself?  Something to think about.

Saturday, Oct. 15 - "The mix of night air and city/only incite party desire/ assembly was required."