The Tax Culture & Finding a Little Happiness

I did my taxes last night. The past two years I've gotten them done early but the important thing is they are finished and filed two days before the deadline. It's that deadline that I'm writing about today.

April 15th is a day the tends to resonate in the mind of Americans. It's a date that's particularly memorable to us. Ask a married couple what day he/or she proposed and they often won't know right off. What day is Tax Day? April 15. Bang... right away they know the answer.

In American culture taxes have become tied to death as two things you can't get out of. It's no wonder April 15 has become such a dreaded but easily remembered day. In recent years various businesses have played on this trying to evoke some cheer and pleasure in the lives of ordinary people by offering give-a-ways... food and other items of cheer.

This year I've searched for some of the Tax Day Perks and found some interesting things.

• Between 6PM and 8PM stop by participating Cinnabon  bakeries and get free Cinnabon bites.  A little sweet to make you smile. 
• Arby's offers curly fries & potato cakes all day Tax Day with coupon. This is their third annual give-a-way & what's better on such a day then comfort food? 
• Office Depot will do up to 5 lbs of shredding for free with coupon on Tax Day
• Get a Tax Day Rib-bate for 2 for $10.40 
• White Castle - 15% off entire purchase on Tax Day with coupon.
• Free HydroMassage on Tax Day through April 19 with  coupon..
• Sorry, this was for early filers but In LA and San Francisco you could get a "brand new" Trojan Vibrator while supplies last on Thursday and Friday. (Glad they were new). Anyway, this stimulus package may be the most innovative yet.  

So if you are feeling blue, and your pockets are now empty, you can find a few ways to pick yourself up after you've paid your taxes. 

Thought for the Day

The folly of mistaking a paradox for a discovery, a metaphor for a proof, a torrent of verbiage for a spring of capital truths, and oneself for an oracle, is inborn in us. ~ Paul Valery

Heard any good Metaphors?

"Metaphor sleeps around." ~ Alfred Corn 

Celebrating Poetry

While National Poetry Month is relatively new I will share a like to The Academy of American Poets web site where they feature a list of 30 WAYS TO CELEBRATE. I'm sure everyone can find as couple of ideas on now to make this month one of enrichment for themselves and others.

Meanwhile I've completed poem #3 on the third day of NaPoWriMo so I've not fallen off the wagon yet. (fingers crossed)

Recalling Dana Gioia's book of essays, "Can Poetry Matter?" I give you the following link to a Chicago Tribune story on Maj.General John Borling who writes poetry of survival.

Have you written or shared a poem today?

Confession Tuesday - Poet Crush List Edition

Dear Reader:

It's been  one Giants Baseball regular season game, 6 & a half innings of another, one NaPoWriMo poem and  one one week since my last confession. 

April is that cruel month when some of us inflict the agony of 30 poems in 30 days on ourselves. I confess that I've stepped knee deep into this madness again this year. Some years I avoid the pressure and other times I just plunge right in. This is a plunge year.

This month being National Poetry month I though it would be a good time to update my Poet Crush List. I started doing this some time back and I believe the last time I did it was like May of last year. So almost a year and being April I thought it would be a good time to revisit the Crush List and revise it. As writers, we are supposed to be all about revision  aren't we? 

So my Poet Crush list is comprised of ten  living poets. If I would do this three or four times a year it would likely  fluctuate back and forth like undulating waves coming ashore sometimes what's left behind is familiar and sometimes it's new. With that in mind I will give you the new list and my last list. 

NEW LIST  - April 2013 
I Confess these poets rock my world!!!

1. Mary Biddinger
2. Dean Young
3. John Ashbery
4. Denise Duhamel (new to List)
5. Kelli Russell Agodon
6. Stephen Dunn (new to list)
7. Sharon Olds
8. Natasha D. Tretheway (new to List)
9. Diane Ackerman (new to List)
10. W. S. Merwin

PREVIOUS LIST - May 2012

I Confess these poets rocked my world last May

1. W. S. Merwin
2. James Richardson
3. Sharon Olds
4. Kelli Russell Agodon
5. Dean Young
6. John Ashbery
7. Mary Biddinger
8. Ada Limon
9. Charles Simic
10. Beth Ann Fennelly

Later this week, what makes these poets special...

Amen!

WALL TO WALL POETRY - NATIONAL POETRY MONTH

It's National Poetry Month and NaPoWriMo month as well. I typically struggle about committing to NaPoWriMo as I have a sort of love/hate relationship with it.  I don't really care for the pressure to create because I feel that it conflicts with the best physical and mental dynamic for good writing. I have no problem writing daily and I strongly believe in it. But saying I'm writing a poem every day of the month is a lot of pressure.

There are days it comes easy. There are days & nights that it's tough to birth a poem no matter how hard you try. I consider these all poem drafts because rarely do I ever write a poem in a single setting. I generally try to get something that shows enough promise to be a keeper - something that can be improved over time. But for the sake of NaPaWriMo, these are poems in the most primitive context.

If after 30 days I have 30 poems and 6 or 8 are real keepers, then that's an outstanding month. That is the bar I'm setting this year.

I am posting my daily work on a private poetry forum. This gives me some accountability and allows for some feedback but at the same time is is off the beaten path of the Internet so that the work is not truly published and I am free to work on these pieces for possible submissions down the road.

Are you participating?  How do you approach it.?

I intend to be very active on my blog this month.  Tomorrow is my normal day for Confession Tuesday. It's been almost a year since I did my last Poet Crush List. I'll be updating that list as part of my Confession.

Dragonfly

Surround the summit
in flight
in exacerbation of wingspan
a sentinel aloft