Poetry Mail Bag

What better way to start the weekend then to come home and find something poetry related in the mail. On the basis of a blog post recommendation  by Kelli Agodon I ordered the Poetry In Person on Wednesday and low and behold it arrived today already!

The cover is rather nondescript but I knew from what Kelli relayed about the book it would be something I would likely dig into and enjoy.  Transcripts of poet interviews over twenty five years. I'm a sucker for interviews, biographical material collected notes or correspondence from poets. I'm pretty sure this will keep me out of trouble for a few days. Actually the biggest concern is I have a tight schedule of some projects that require my attention. Still, I will make some time to read this book this weekend. After all, I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to or it would not have arrived till Monday!  ;)

I'll let you know what I think of it.

Van Gogh's Starry Starry Night - Dominoes

 Eleven hours and 7,000 dominoes later

Confession Tuesday - All-Star Edition

Dear Reader,

Another week has come and gone. It's Confession Tuesday and MLB All-Star game night here in Kansas City.


I confess I'm multitasking right now watching the game as I write this post.

I confess that I'm kinda proud of Kansas City this week. I'm a bit of an oddity I suppose because while I do enjoy going to Royals games (I enjoy watching just about any baseball) I am really an avid San Francisco Giants fan. I follow the Giants like they are my home team and have for quite a few years. I've been spoiled by attending games at (what I still call) Pacific Bell Park.  But hey, I even loved Candlestick Park. I have not been a big fan of the stadium here in Kansas City but they have made some significant improvements in the recent renovation.  But I'm proud of the how the city has responded and and represented Major League Baseball here.. We are a small market team but hosted the event in a Major League way.

I confess I appreciate the minuscule lowering of temperatures the last few days. It's still hot but at least tolerable

I confess now that the All-Star game is over I'm so excited - the NL not only rocked they shut out the AL. Great hitting and pitching. The Giants contingency really did their team proud.

I confess that I have a lot of writing related stuff to do this week and after last nights attending Fan Fest and  tonight's distraction of the the game itself on TV, I have to double down over the next couple of nights.

Have a great week.

The Mag 125: The Same Beginning

Chilmark Hay, 1951 by Thomas Hart Benton

Golden goose-bumps rise 

from the sagging country side

awaiting collection.

They are the remnants of harvest.

Cured in the sun - their sweetness

locked in.

Here, everything comes down to earth.
We plant in it, work it, extracting from it

feed it to the livestock.

It's a simple life.

Not an easy one

but it always cycles

back to the same beginning. 

The Mag

Michael A. Wells 

Hot August Nights in July

A few clouds move in and attempt to provide cover from the sun but there are too few and the so has such a bold August like attitude for early July that they are no match. Presently it 96.  A slight improvement over the 100+ degree days we've had.

There is a chance according to the local forecast for some scattered showers after midnight.

The weather patterns these past ten days or so (one forgets how many triple digit days we've had when the brain is this hot this long) have seemed to me  oddly different from most summer heat waves I recall in that the number of states hit all at the same time is insane.  It concerns me that with the relatively quick shrinkage of the polar ice cap the past couple of years and some of the significant weather changes on some of the other continents, that we are in fact seeing some significant global warming.  Yes, I know that one heat wave a global warming does not make. There are however a growing number of factors that are troubling even if they are not conclusive. 

BIKE KC

The Bike Share has come to downtown Kansas City. A program patterned after a concept used in several European cities where people can rent a bike at lone local and drop it off at another station. This location is just behind where I work and as you can see from this picture during the lunch hour that a number of the units are in use. They were refilling the station as I arrived at work, so I know these were checked out since just before 8 AM. They are kind of ugly bikes to be honest but they have 3 speeds and yes that is a basket up front. But these are not sporting bikes, they are intended for functionality so I guess their looks are okay.

It's a really cool concept and I do intend to take one of my two helmets to work and leave it there. If the weather drops below the 3 digit range anytime soon, I'll probably take a spin over a lunch hour.

Kansas City will be getting a lot of national attention during the All-Star break and I'm glad they got these up and running last week.

So if you encountered one of these stations on a visit to Kansas City would you take advantage of the to hop around town?

Sweet Land of Liberty

Hope everyone is having a joyous 4th of July.  Because of the string of extra dry weather we've been having I know some communities have banned or at least discouraged fireworks. Whatever you are doing today, grilling, at the lake, baseball game, looking for 4th of July sales, visiting family of just hanging out at home. Be safe and be mindful of how precious our freedom is.

HAPPY 4TH of JULY AMERICA

And Happy Birthday to my daughter Shannon Wells!  :)