You Are WHO You Are

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”  Dr. Seuss

Yeah for the Simple or No Xanax Required

There are simple things in life that can make your day.  I'm dog sitting away from the house today missing  my family and the normal 4th of July stuff.... (Happy Birthday Shannon!)   It is however an opportunity to do some writing and reading.  I have an ASUS laptop that I've had just shy of two months now. I've previously used and loved Toshiba. This ASUS laptop is thinner - or svelte, there are things I like about it but the one hang-up I've had has been the touchpad (I usually use a wireless mouse) which constantly is activated by my palm as I type no matter how hard I try to be careful. This means that frustratingly my cursor is constantly getting moved all over my page inserting  words where they were not intended and making a mess of almost any project I'm working on.  I never experienced this problem with other laptops.... only this one.

I spent  close to two hours today with support trying various methods to disable the touchpad. This is something that is supposed to be option. Pushing the Fn button and the f9 buttons should disable it, but no, not for me. We tried numerous other possibilities which always came up empty. Tried uploading other files and setting changes - nothing. I finally gave up for the afternoon. I refused to do a refresh as that would have meant reloading programs. I was not up to that tonight.

A few minutes ago I did the Fn & f9 buttons (something I've tried repeatedly and Walla!  They worked! I'm typing this without the touchpad miss-interruptions. It's really cool! I'm a happy person again.*



 *No Xanax was used in the creating of this happiness.

Confession Tuesday - Keep Calm Edition

Dear Friends-

Yet another week has come and gone. Won't you come with me to the confessional?

The planetary alignment is not presently good for the vehicles in our family.  We have multiple car issues that have all hit at once. I confess that car problems are a big stressor for me. Fortunately we have not had a lot of them lately but the astro-vehicular alignment was like a plague yesterday and we are still dealing with the repercussions  and likely will be for a couple days more. My poor tired daughter picked me up from work, took me to the chiropractors tonight and then my final destination for the evening.  She still has places to be yet tonight. I confess I appreciate her help but feel for her and her late nigh driving saga.

With the 4th of July holiday falling on Thursday I confess that I feel cheated. Monday or Friday would work quite nicely. I'm pinning for a 3 day weekend and I cannot lie. I confess right now I have the melody for "I like big butts and I cannot lie" running through my head and an the words "big weekends" substituted for rumps. It's a  little weird, I'll give you that.

I got some really good poetry news yesterday but I confess that I cannot share it just yet.

I confess that I'm reading in my Kindle more lately. I confess I STILL prefer real pages in binding. I do like the convenience of it and the % as opposed to page numbers.

I've debated some things lately with respect to my poetry and these little internal debates while not new, have presented with levels of  clarity I've not been accustomed to. This is good because it means that I've not been fretting as much about such things as do I enter this contest; to I submit the work here or there and then being a piece with myself after the deadlines have passed.

I think I'm becoming a calmer poet. This also seems to be crossing over into other aspects of my life. I confess that this feels like a good thing.

Amen

Confession Tuesday - My Passions Edition

Dear Reader:

It's been one more wedding anniversary, back to back home runs and a Saturday off from submitting and writing and yes, one more week since my last confession.

Saturday being our wedding anniversary I took a break from both submitting and writing so that we could get out of the house and celebrate without distraction. We succeeded in doing so and I did not worry that the sky would fall in. I confess that it would not have been surprising for me to freak out about not at least submitting if not writing, but I was proud of myself, maybe a bit relived even that I did not stress out. I was able to separate myself completely from any obsession that I changed my routine. It really was refreshing to feel the detachment.

My son and I went to the ball game on Sunday and amazingly the Royals had back to back home runs. Almost as amazing they won. They have had little offense of late.  Of course when it comes to baseball I confess my heart really belongs to San  Francisco.

A few days ago I read an article about another article.  And then another about the same article (of the second part). Okay, if this is getting confusing the article about which all others pointed was a Harper's essay by Mark Edmundson titled Poetry Slam or the decline of American Verse.  The Edmundson Essay sits behind the Harper's paywall, and I'm not a subscriber so I've not seen the real thing. (That too is a confession)  Edmundson at least by the quotes from other responses I've read was pretty harsh in his assessment of the current poetry scene. I've talked with a couple of other poets who have read the responses but again not the Edmundson essay.  It's funny but such discourse  about poetry/poetics often remind me of hot stove league. If you are not into baseball, the hot stove league is the chatter that of the happens off season between baseball fans pining for the real thing. They debate possible trades, theoretic benefits of such player swaps  between teams. I confess  I have long seen similarities between poetry and baseball. It's no wonder I love both.

 

Can A Person Be Reading Too Many Books?

It comes down to this... I'm wondering if a person can be reading too many books?  I suppose you can say that the answer to this question is subject subjective... each person is different. That answer works up to a point. If I were to tell you I am actively reading maybe eight or nine books right now would you think this crazy?

The fact is I do often read multiple books and quite frankly I'd say eight-ish is likely an accurate count if I were to sit down and list them. Do others have a ongoing host of books commanding their attention at one time? I haven't even mentioned the poetry books on my night stand that I've already read but continue to go back to from time to time, often in the evening to read two or three random works before I retire.

Yes, I could finish books faster if I stuck to one book at a time, but my mind gets easily fragmented into different areas and causes me to in any given week want to be feeding  my divergent interests. Is that such a bad thing?

I guess what I am wondering is... am I an enigma? Please, someone tell me that I'm not the only person who scatter reads multiple books at one time. Humor me, even if you would never think of it.

Confession Tuesday - Ginsu Knife Edition

Dear Reader:

Close your eyes with me and pretend it's Tuesday. Are you with me?  Good!

It's been one father's day,  one chiropractic visit, a new poem in publication  and a June week since my last confession.

I confess that it feels like we've transitioned into summer and that's all right with me. I'm not one who does heat well, but so far it has not been that bad. I realize the hottest part of the year is still ahead, but I have spent some time reading and occasionally writing on our deck as the dogs play. I confess that it may be early to be singing the praise of summer but I am going to try and embrace the spirit of summer. At least for now.

I confess that having three poems accepted in less then 48 hours last month has spoiled me. I am well aware that this was a most unlikely occurrence. I've had thee in one month before but never in two days. Having started Submission Saturday some months back, I confess that I am more optimistic about my work being  published. I hate to think of it like this but being published is a little like selling  Ginsu knifes or encyclopedias door to door; metaphorically speaking that is. You have to hear "no" a lot if you are ever going to get one "yes".

I confess another thing about June that is exciting is the fact that many of the shows we like to watch on TV are coming back into their new seasons. Yeah.

I had a dream last night that my wife and I attended our class reunion. This was pretty interesting since I confess I've never attended my class reunion. I've wanted to but Cathy has had no interest in attending with me. Don't get me wrong, she has never discouraged me from going, she just has never had any desire to go along. I've never wanted to go alone.  So last night in my dream we went together. This morning I could only recall one person out of all the attendees that we know.  I confess going wasn't worth it.

That will about do it for this week. Until next week, keep pushing your Ginsu knifes.

Toy Soldiers - Summer Issue of Boston Literary Magazine

Summer 2013 and The Poster Girls of Boston Literary Magazine

 

 

The Summer Edition of the Boston Literary Magazine is available and it features one of my own poems titled Toy Soldiers.

 

I have not devoured every morsel of the issue yet but some poems that I was particularly impressed with...

• Tewksbury Mental Hospital by  Elaine Moynahan
• The Gift by Corey Cook
• How We Too Haven't Stayed Young by Rene Lee

Always a good read.  My complements to the editors!