Speech is free unless it's critical

Rio Rancho High School in New Mexico it seems is a quite a piece of work. It seems the principal there has a very jaded view of what exactly America is all about.

Check out this story by Bill Hill. I will be most interested to follow this story and keep readers updated.

Wow

While I only wrote a poem about a thousand words, Stephanie after a bit of an absence actually wrote about a thousand words.

1000 Words

Photo image projected
Backside of my head
At cerebral drive-in

Theater of horror.
Subtitled screams of pain,
Humiliation amid

Barked orders from
Military mongrels
Gone mad with power

In this silent movie
That echoes in
Recesses of my mind.

sex-a-ge-na-ri-an

Poetry In a Bottle couldn't help but think of EILEEN after seeing this.

Michaela has a Puritan sighting! Excuse me while I hike my pants up a bit.

Oh, and the post title... I'm not between 60 and 70 and this really is only a lame attempt to see what kind of traffic it draws from google. hee he!

Whose Voice Is It Anyhow?

I read this article about Robert Pinsky's visit to University of California Irvine to discuss poetry. Pinsky of course a past U.S. Poet Laureate. The following struck me with interest:

"Poetry is supposed to be said by the literal or imagined voice of the reader. Poetry is a unique art whose medium is the audience body," Pinsky said. "It isn't the poet's voice, it is the voice of whoever reads the poem."

I like the analogy of the reader being the medium, and I am not adverse to the idea that once a piece of poetry goes public, it is subject to varied and broad interpretation. But what then happens to the concept of a writer "finding his or her voice?" This seems like contrasting views and yet I can visualize both, though with difficulty in the same breath.

Something to think about further tonight I suppose.

Writing Poetry May Be Hazardous to Your Health

Poets die younger than novelists, playwrights, and nonfiction writers. They're also poorer, get beat up more often, and are really tired of seeing people roll their eyes when told how they earn their meager living. And you wonder why they write such depressing stuff. This according to Barry Gottlieb at alternet.org

To Know

What chance have I, if any to see this
through? The wings of a bat to summarize,
tell you nothing that you can't find in books.
You knew that. Paper cuts on your fingers
speak of the pages you turned. DNA
on the pulp itself proves this to be so.

I wonder who you thought you would fool?
Is there any one among us who has
enough dexterity in their pea sized
brain to mark time and wait for the answers?
Hot flashes run tiny fingers all
the way up and down the spine to flutter

the nerves in some holistic way and chill
you to the bone. Shutter and shake till
you wake and realize what has just happened.
Knowledge can be a scary thing. But
don't let this frighten you for one minute.