Saturday Morning Check-in

Here I am, Saturday morning a black coffie on the right and a Diet Coke chaser awaiting on the left. It's been a week and then some all crammed into the past six days.


I've not selpt well, especially the past two nights - but not really at all that well any of the rest of the week.  Busy at work, and brought work home two nights.  Burned 5 hours of vacation time on Friday simply because I was at my max and there was really nothing relaxing about those hours.  As I watch two dogs curled up on my bed I think wow - this human stuff is exhausting.  But alas, they are about to be disturbed as I need to strip the bed clothing and wash it. They are not gonna like this!

Made a quick run to the store earlier and while I was out grabbed a glass of Starbucks Blonde. It's the first I've tried it and considering I am really into dark roast it was risk trying it but I wanted to see what it was like. It was not bad and I could see myself trying it again, especially since I almost always make my coffee at home espresso strength. 

I've been wanting to set down and do an arount the Internet look at some interesting things in the poetry and writing department that I've run across this week. Maybe you've alrady seen many of them but if not these are things worth reading.

• Grant Proposals - Some Random Thoughts - Hopefully Helpful by Susan Rich
• Finalist for T.S. Eliot Prize  by Sarah M. Wells
• It's Like Facebook For The Art World  by Read Write Web
• Poetry Fights Back Boston Review
• Not Wordless Wednesday – mission statement musings…  Being Poetry

Sunday Rumpus Fiction: Ten Reasons Not to Sleep with a Poet

If you want a good laugh check out - Sunday Rumpus Fiction: Ten Reasons Not to Sleep with a Poet by Stacy Berlein

I think my favorites are Numbers 4 and 8.  What a crackup!

Creativity is...

"Creativity is not the finding of a thing but the making something out of it after it is found." – James Russell Lowell

Confesson Tuesday

Another week has passed. How does this happen? Who authorizes it? Do I get any say in the matter? Evidently not  **sigh** but I guess it’s happening to everyone else so—  Oh well **another sigh**

If you were hoping for some juicy admissions I’m probably going to let you down, but I’ve let people down before.  But I suppose you came to eavesdrop on my confession so let’s get started.  

Dear Reader:

It’s been a week of highs and lows for a 49er fan. Somewhere in all of that I’m reminded why I like baseball better then football. Like life itself the baseball season has its highs and lows but all he while the curve moves slower. The season, even he post-season is about endurance and unfolds with a bit more grace. If things go well it’s more like building to a crescendo but that can be just as exciting.  So yes, I confess that I was disappointed by the outcome of Sunday’s 49ers playoff game.

Last night I installed a new door lock and what the box said was a 5 minute job was something more like 35 minutes. I confess I was no pleased with myself. Of course anything that involves building or rebuilding, installing or fixing is not my forte. If you could make a cottage industry out of gambling on my fix-it qualities (which is an oxymoron itself) you could make a killing off betting it will take me a long time to finish.

So Paula Deen has diabetes. I confess I am not surprised that the Queen of Butter has the big D.  Did no one else see his coming?  I lunched with some people last week that were outraged that she has known for some 3 plus years and still pushed her unhealthy recipes on us all. What was she thinking they asked? Un… the big M!

My creativity seems to have been stifled of late. I confess that last night I work up feeling I had to write though I didn’t’ know what to write. So I turned on a light and simply did a journal entry. Hey, it’s writing!

That’s it for this week…. be safe and be happy!

Taking a moment to pay tribute to a courageous woman

Gabrielle Giffords this week announced she was stepping down from her Congressional seat.  Her final day as a Congresswoman was spent the day with Tuscon, Arizona constituents including many survivors of the horrific day in which she and many others were gunned down. Giffords is taking time to devote to her ongoing recovery.     Read story

12 Books You NEED On Your Bookshelf

My wife sends me this link over the weekend to  a Huffington Post article about 12 books (classics) you need on your bookshelf.  I'd be interested to know what others think of this list.  Agree? Disagree? Any you would swap out for another book?  Let me hear some chatter...

The mystery of poetry editing:

The mystery of poetry editing: from TS Eliot to John Burnside

If one poet edits another, whose work is it? In the week that John Burnside won the T S Eliot Prize, Sameer Rahim investigates the unseen hands behind that most personal and mysterious of literary forms.   Read story