What's Art Got To Do With It?

Last night I was looking for something my wife wanted me to pick up at Hobby Lobby and I saw one of those rubber stamps with a line on it that when roughly like this…. “Art washes the soul of the dust of life.”

There is a tendency for people to view art as something superfluous or even a luxury. While I admit, if it were a choice of giving my family food to eat or art, I’d have to choose food. However, if we choose to view art in the context of the quote on the rubber stamp, it seems particularly sad to think that those who are less fortunate, who have to give up something for food or say are too disadvantaged to have health care, may well lack something that cleanses the soul of life’s grime. So what is the value of art? Is it really only for the upper crust of society?

Recently, the metropolitan Kansas City area established something for art that parallels United Way. It’s a workplace-based fundraising campaign designed to support arts and culture. The regional ArtsKC Fund as it is know has been stated as a test program with originally 27 area workplaces that will allow employees to sign on to have “x” amount withheld each pay period to supports arts in the community. The program was just launched in February so I have no idea how well it is being received. The idea is not totally new, as I believe there are some 100 communities across the U.S. that have undertaken similar ventures.

So what’s the value of such an undertaking is in a major City? Why would businesses sign on to something like this? A recent article in BusinessWeek indicates there is a connection between the growth of art communities and economic development in a city. It cites many instances where communities which were once art havens have become upscale and now too pricey for many struggling artists. If you accept the premise of this article, cities should clamor at the opportunity to support and enhance the development of artists within their city limits on the basis of return on their investment. Much in the same way many cities now view professional sports franchises. Cleansing the soul of that community would just be icing on the cake.

Mid-Week Pulse Check

• George W. Bush
• Dick Cheney
• Michael Brown
• I Scooter Libby
• Donald Rumsfeld
• Carl Rove
• Alberto Gonzales
• Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley
• Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman
• Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey

Is the entire Bush Administration Ethically Challenged or what?

)()()(

There are Tulips peeking out of the loam in my front yard.

)()()(

Day Four - I Still Hate Daylight Savings Time.

Full Moon Clears the Right Field Fence....

Ah, I am so in the mood for baseball. Even more after seeing the 3rd House Journal Baseball Haiku post.

Bush seeks 8,200 more troops for wars - Yahoo! News

Bush asked Congress on Saturday for $3.2 billion to pay for 8,200 more U.S. troops on top of the 21,500-troop buildup he announced in January.


More troops, more tax dollars, more death to propagate a war based on lies to the American People.

Words That Raise The Dead: An Interview with Poet Martín Espada

Lisa Alvarado interviews Martín Espada. [Click here] I heard Espada read and lecture in Kansas City about a year ago. He is extremely authoritative when it comes to Pablo Neruda.

They Took AN Hour Away From Me

And They Couldn't Wait To Do It..... :(

Trying to Shake A Shade of Blue

When I came home from work last night we began tearing up our carpeting throughout most of the homes. The old carpeting along with some other miscellaneous items then were loaded in a rented truck and early this morning we visited the dump.

Things are moved about here and there so you can imagine the house is presently pretty much a total disaster. We have about 900 sq ft of imminent flooring to replace the carpeting. Of course there is no way the flooring is going down in one night like the carpet came up. I have a strange feeling of both accomplishment and feeling blue. Yes, we got right into the demolition part and completed it promptly. Still, I feel like I am in some foreign building and I don't know when I will be able to return home. Of course I know when I do, The floors will look really awesome. It just seems far off into the future.

In the meantime, I got a draft of a chapbook I'm working on sent off today to be reviewed. That was good news. Of course, as soon as it is gone, you feel a sinking feeling in you get that maybe it isn't ready. And I was able to read some in Kelli Russell Agodon's Small Knots that arrived by mail yesterday. I am really enjoying what I have read of it today, and I'll more to say about it later.

I've been pretty wasted today, I presume from all the carpet stuff. I really hope I am not coming down with something. (crossing fingers) I am quite as bad off as I was earlier and I may actually work on some rewrites this evening.

Top News- FBI Misused Patriot Act, Audit Finds - AOL News

FBI Misused Patriot Act, Audit Finds

OH gee, I'm surprised. NOT!

Friday Links of Interest

• Pulling Paper Towel Poetry - What a great Idea!!! I love it! Thanks Jilly for the link
• One poet of the past - speaks to 10 artists today link
• Bob Dylan was not on Pope Benedict's radar in 1997 when he sang at a youth concert with the late Pope John Paul link
• "A Wordly Country" by John Ashbery gets rave review in the New Your Sun link

BBC NEWS | Americas | US towns seek Bush's impeachment

BBC NEWS Americas US towns seek Bush's impeachment:


"Some 30 towns in Vermont have passed resolutions urging Congress to impeach President George Bush during the US state's annual Town Meeting Day. "

Artists Retreat into Solitude at MacDowell Colony

Happy 100th Anniversary to MacDowell Colony!

Heard this story last night on NPR and thought others might enjoy it. Especially some of you who have had the opportunity to experience the Colony yourself. I've hear some great stories... They scenery, the lunch baskets, Maple Syrup, cozy lodges to name a few things that come to my mind. Just thinking of some of the people and their work that has been inspired at MacDowell is awesome in itself.

MacDowell Centennial

Geometry

Brave topography heaved heavenward
With each refreshing breath
And I could not but help notice
Though it was not as if I set out to
But more as one might stare
In contemplation of a creation
Of Henry Moore if you were to find it
Stark naked in the middle of your backyard
One morning when you let the dog out.

It has occurred to me that God
Like a sculptor must have envisioned
Such appreciation of the simplicity
Of smooth curve lines that intersect
Man’s eye and pull him along
The contouring waves to become himself
A partner to this masterpiece
In the same way a poet makes the reader
A part of his every poem.

Immortality box

Picked up a book at the library of Anne Sexon's that I have not previously seen. The Book of Folly, published in 1972 Houghton Mifflin. Sexton is on of several poets that have long been on my radar and I have read a fair amount of her work. The very first poem in the the book caught me attention and I had to check the book out. The Ambition Bird was right there slapping me in the face. I could identify with it in the moment I was reading it.


I would like a simple life
yet all night I am laying
poems away in a long box,

It is my immortality box,
my lay-away plan,
my coffin.

Sometimes that so describes my life. Don't get me wrong, I do derive great satisfaction by writing. And I can't say that anyone is forcing me at gunpoint to write. Still, there is a level of work associated with the compulsion to write that can be very taxing. And I so identify with the immortality box.

There is an overpowering call to create material for this box. The material must pass the critical review of a very demanding critic that resides within me. A slave master that demands greater productivity and at the same time improvement in the quality of work Even in the business world these two objectives do not complement each other well. In the world of art, the tension between these two can be exhausting.

The immortality thing has been an issue with me for as long as I can remember and I remain thoroughly convinced that writing is the only outlet I know availability to me to remotely deal with this issue.

Intellectual Property

"Private property began the instant somebody had a mind of his own." ~ e.e. cummings

A Night at the Oscars from My Comfy Couch

I don't always watch them. In fact I did for years and then just sort of grew away from it but I did tune in last night. The funny thing is I really didn't see anything this year that was up for awards.

I think my interest this year was sparked a bit by the fact that in one way or another I felt connected because of a common thread of creativity. There were a couple of nominations that I did hope would be winners.

• An Inconvenient Truth for Best Documentary Feature - which won
• Two Hands for Best Documentary Short Subject - which didn't
• Happy Feet for Best Animated Feature Film - which won
• Peter O'Toole in Venus for Best Actor - which didn't

So I guess I was batting .500

I think the best line of the night has to go to Melissa Etheridge who won for her song "I Need to Wake Up" from An Inconvenient Truth when she said, "This is the only naked man that will ever be in my bedroom."

I know many tune in to see who is wearing what, but from an environmental standpoint it bothers me to see people spend lavishly thousands of dollars for a dress that they will wear one time. Is this really the best use of our renewable resources?

Ground Clutter

Rain and thunder rolled in this morning. A cold chill hangs in the air. It is quiet here, I've already taken the car in for routine maintenance bright and early this morning and back home already. So starts the weekend.

While in the waiting room at the dealership, I let my mind take hold of my pen and scratched out some stuff in my journal. Nothing spectacular came of it.

I kept thinking of things going on around the world this week:

• I thought of Vice President Cheney and I had to ask myself what drives this man to to be so caustic and discordant? His remarks aimed at both China and Iran are not helpful to constructive dialogue.
• I'm wondered what was going through the heads of the Jurors in the I. "Scooter" Libby trial?
• I envisioned the rats running around the NYC Taco Bell. "Which way to the boarder?"
• And the building at Walter Reed Army Hospital with U.S. soldiers who returned home from war facing struggles with psychological issues and housed in deplorable conditions and primarily caring for themselves.

You may think I have too much time on my hands. Perhaps, but in the quiet of a Saturday morning this poet is finding it hard to clear his head of ground clutter.

Poetry magazine creates unity through line breaks - Culture

Poetry magazine creates unity through line breaks - Culture

Interesting piece on Women Celebrating Poetry

Journal Bits

• Global runs both ways- big; all inclusive, / Shrinking; creating less distance, more interdependence.
• Cold War never ended- rather disappeared in hibernation. Recent rhetoric has awaken it.

Going Nowhere

I have today off. Of course Tuesday after a Monday holiday is like a Super Monday with at least 3 x the frustrations and demands.
But I guess that is so we learn to appreciate the regular Mondays. Have I convinced you, because it isn't working for me yet?

Congratulations are in order for Jilly Dybka who has two poems up over at storySouth.

Top News- Children's Book Stirs Battle With Single Word - AOL News

Top News- Children's Book Stirs Battle With Single Word - AOL News

Oh my God.... This is great. A book that won the Newberry Medal and the author uses the word Scrotum on the first page. Why, because she likes the way it sounds and because it conjured up an image of "...something green that comes up when you have the flu and cough too much. It sounded medical and secret, but also important.”

But people are getting their panties all twisted. Take Dana Nilsson, a teacher and librarian in Durango, Colo., wrote on LM_Net, a mailing list that reaches more than 16,000 school librarians. “How very sad.” She said, “This book included what I call a Howard Stern-type shock treatment just to see how far they could push the envelope, but they didn’t have the children in mind,”

In the story, Lucky, the main character hears the word through a hole in a wall when another character says he saw a rattlesnake bite his dog, Roy, on the scrotum. Anyone who sees this as something Howard Sternish has a pretty vivid imagination.

Senate Republicans nix Iraq resolution

On a 56 to 34 vote in the Senate today, Democrats with the help of a few Republicans fell 4 votes short of being able to advance the same resolution forward that the House passed - stating it's opposition the the Troop Surge in Iraq. The test vote Seven Republicans broke ranks with the Party Leadership to side with Democrats. While the vote on the on the resolution itself did not occur, it is clear that a majority of the Senate wanted this to happen and those in the majority on the test vote would likely have voted for the Resolution opposing the Troop Surge itself.

Both Houses of Congress are now understanding just how much the American public sees this war as a mistake and not worth the costs of American lives and the hundreds of billions in tax dollars we have already spent on it. Even as President Bush is sending to Congress a request for $100 billion more.

U.S. House of Representatives Vote Opposition to Bush's Troop Surge In Iraq

On a vote of 246 to 182 - The House approved H.Con Res 63 - A bill opposing the increase of some 21,000 troops to be sent to Iraq.

The stronger sex

The stronger sex-Arts & Entertainment-Books-Poetry-TimesOnline

Frieda Hughes on Poetry - London Times

Unconscious Mutterings Week 210

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. The best thing :: Peter Pan Peanut Butter
2. Hold :: hold on through the night
3. Rapture :: Taken
4. Cover :: Coveralls
5. Restrictive :: clothing
6. Baker :: Bread
7. Author :: writer
8. Pill :: Pill box
9. Months :: Dozen
10. Valentine’s Day :: Roses

12 Republicans Break Ranks on Iraq Resolution

A Washington Post article today says as many as a dozen House Republicans today broke ranks with the President over the Iraq Troop Surge.

untitled draft 2-14-07

Night was lost
In the fall through nowhere cracks
Separated by a tired,
Protracted strangulation
That squeezed the neck of all want
Till the last blood drops puddled below.

A spatula flipped the side over
The splatter of day
Crackled and sizzled
Opening wide-eyed A yellow yolk.

Writing Routine

This weekend I did little writing. This is pretty unusual for me. I have often gone about my days somewhat in a parallel to the routine that Sylvia Plath employed. Even if I am not writing, I am consciously alert, trying to zone in on something that could become a part of my next piece. This can become pretty intense at times.

If and when I hit a brick wall, I sometimes feel overwhelmed. This past week I reached a point of being overwhelmed while still turning out material with relative ease. This was a new situation for me and I decided to allow myself a bit of a break from the writing mindset this weekend. Instead, I turned out some submissions thinking this was still productive. Besides, I as less into the administrative side of it and have to psych myself up for it. In the end, I think it was a good decision.

They Can't Have Their Book Back

Book Policewoman Jackie Taylor [Mother of Cedar Grove Elementary School student] is unhappy with a book her 3rd grader brought home from the school library. "I understand that it is a book of poetry, but there is a fine line between poetry art and porn and this book's illustrations are absolutely offensive in every way," Taylor said. The book is I Saw Esau - a Schoolchild's Pocket Book. Taylor said she's not "giving them this book back, so it can disappear." [source]

Meet Mo

Mo is a rescue dog that came to live with us a few weeks ago. He was left abandoned in a backyard of a vacant house. He was malnourished and has a few other medical issues but he has a great disposition and has very easily come to trust us. He is simply a delight and we all love him!

Barry and Klaus have been for the most part accepting of him. Barry is not real fond of sharing his toys but that is pretty much a part of his whole daschund personality and nothing personal against Mo. He is on the other hand, quite willing to play with Mo's toys.

Reality Be Gone!

Had a KC Metro Verse meeting last night. Read a draft of a poem I've been working on. I have several new drafts in the can right now. I suppose this is a good thing. One I'm very close on.

I've been reading some submissions to the Rogue. I had some really nice work come in this week.

I have a question that perhaps someone can answer for me. What number to we call to vote the reality shows off TV?

The Iraq Troop Surge

The following members of the Senate [in a procedural motion ] went on record against allowing the Senate to consider S. 470 a resolution. This [S. 470] was a non-binding resolution expressing opposition to the President Bush's Surge of 21,500 additional troops to Iraq.

Alexander (R-TN)Allard (R-CO)Bennett (R-UT)Bond (R-MO)Brownback (R-KS)Bunning (R-KY)Burr (R-NC)Chambliss (R-GA)Coburn (R-OK)Cochran (R-MS)Corker (R-TN)Cornyn (R-TX)Craig (R-ID)Crapo (R-ID)DeMint (R-SC)Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)Ensign (R-NV)Enzi (R-WY)Graham (R-SC)Grassley (R-IA)Gregg (R-NH)Hagel (R-NE)Hatch (R-UT)Hutchison (R-TX)Inhofe (R-OK)Isakson (R-GA)Kyl (R-AZ)Lieberman (ID-CT)Lott (R-MS)Lugar (R-IN)McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)Reid (D-NV)Roberts (R-KS)Sessions (R-AL)Shelby (R-AL)Smith (R-OR)Snowe (R-ME)Specter (R-PA)Stevens (R-AK)Sununu (R-NH)Thomas (R-WY)Thune (R-SD)Vitter (R-LA)Voinovich (R-OH)Warner (R-VA)

Sadly these Senators would not allow the Senate to have a serious discussion on the matter.
Then as you can see below, Senator McCain didn't even have the guts to cast a vote.

These members were Not Voting - 4
Johnson (D-SD)* Landrieu (D-LA)
Martinez (R-FL)McCain (R-AZ)

* Johnson is in the hospital.

Poetry & Madness

"The courage of the poets is to keep ajar the door that leads into madness." ~Christopher Morley

Unconscious Mutterings week 208

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Limit :: the sky
2. Voice :: recognition
3. Change :: very season
4. Expression: Same
5. Tailor :: made
6. Lemonade :: homemade
7. Thought :: police
8. Phoebe :: Friends
9. Impression :: first
10. Sister :: hood

Boston Literary Magazine

The Winter issue of Boston Literary Magazine is up & I have a poem featured in it. [click here]

By way of explanation

"The one man who should never attempt an explanation on poetry is its author. If the poem can be improved by its author’s explanations, it never should have been published." ~Archibald MacLeish

I offer this one up to Ted Kooser to think about for a while

“I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled [poets] to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.” ~ Socrates

The World of Good and Evil

This is not about poetry. It is about more weighty subjects. But those of you who read me on a routine basis have learned I digress. This is about a world of texture and of color. A world in which there are gray areas and all is not black and white.

According an associate press story, Lawrence Wilkerson, a former chief of staff to then Secretary of State Colin Powell, told the BBC in an interview that Vice President Dick Cheney rejected an offer by Iran in 2003 to help the U.S. stabilize Iraq and at the same time end its military support of Hezbollah and Hamas. Wilkerson said when the offer was received, it was thought by the State Department to be “very propitious moment” to strike a deal, but as soon as it reached the vice president’s office, “… the old mantra of ‘We don’t talk to evil”…reasserted itself.

Of course here we are three years later, 3,000 plus U.S. Servicemen deal, countless others with wounds that will impact them for the rest of their lives, tens of thousands of Iraqi civilian causalities and a bloody civil-war between rival factions and no end in sight. The Iraq Study Group recommends that one alternative approach would be to enlist the support of Iran and Syria in the region. Of course, the President, el al in the administration have chosen to ignore this possibility in favor of sending 21,500 more American to the middle of a civil war.

I understand fully the concern President Bush has with nuclear proliferation. There are several fronts in which this is an issue, including North Korea and some of the regions of the old Soviet Union which have unaccounted for nuclear weapons grade supplies. Unfortunately, through out his one and a half terms of service, he has really achieved nothing on two of those fronts and largely ignored the third. This administration sees everything in terms of “good” and “evil” and if you are evil, we isolate you and hope that one day you will wake up and realize you are evil and decide to be good instead. Is this progressive foreign policy?

For many years, nations have successfully worked to find areas of agreement even though they have other issues in which they remain far apart. There is the old adage that the “enemy of my enemy is my friend.” It has allowed countries to find areas of mutual interest and work towards solving problems from what they can agree upon. If what Wilkerson has indicated about Iran’s communication in 2003 is current, it angers me to think that the Vice President would not have allowed the State Department to see what might have been accomplished to spare the region more bloodshed, loss of more American lives, and slow the $380 billion plus drain on the people of this country.

If one is to accept the premise of good and evil, it might be noted that good like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Such a concept is strictly black and white. I can acknowledge my fears and concerns about the nuclear paths of North Korea and Iran. But I can clearly see how from their vantage point they feel a double standard that says some nations have nuclear weapons and it is ok for those that have them to keep them, but the rest just have to accept the fact that no one else can.

Perhaps it is time again for us to conduct our foreign policy in living color – recognizing all the gray areas and not just looking at everything as if it were just black and white. Do we need to put poets in government? Is this the answer?
Sorry, I digress again.

The Year 2006 In Words

From my project I started on December 31, 2006



In all, the red and blue states were not so static—
As a sagging democracy, we have a lot to learn
About spreading it. And why
Do we want others to have it, yet emigrants are a code word
Rioting through our heads in fear— grabbing up our food
Crashing our schools and hospitals stealing what jobs
We still have in this global economy of circular motion?
The more things change for the worse, the more we hear “stay-the-course”
We need a plan, all of us, to deal with it all…
Gruesome body counts, stock market, crude oil and health care costs
Ascending rugged terrain of news charts—
Who are the terrorists? The lines are blurrier than ever.
Neocons fashion themselves as saviors.
Religious extremists chant with fervor.
A jihad in denomination is still a jihad.
A global warming to the sounds of war is calling us to redeploy
And some what withdrawal now!
Where are our battles? Who? What do we fight?
Illegal aliens? Civil Union? Stem-cell research?
What really ticks the clock of doom? Any of these?
Or nuclear tests by a nation teetering on instability
While another thinks proliferation their birthright
And we beg to argue from the weakness of a hypocrite.
We talk about the issue of bilateral verses unilateral discourse
Yet the critical issue might as well be the unidentifiable liquid
Upon the moon. Insane as is was 2006 is history.

Last Night In The Bedroom....

So here I am last night lying across the bed and my wife sitting next to me and she is reading notes from a French Poetry Anthology with English translations. The book is actually a text book for one of my daughter’s classes. But here we are, my wife [who is not particularly enamored by poetry] and I, discussing the process of translation, Romanticism, Surrealism, Cubism, Dadaism and a whole host of things about poetry including. It was both fascinating at the time, and rather amusing thinking back on it this morning.

In other news of a personal note, I discovered somewhat belatedly that a poem of mine titled File Folder was published in the Park University Scribe.

Frieda Hughes On Poetry / Erotic emergency - Times 2 - Times Online

Erotic emergency

Some days it goes like this....

"I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again. "

Oscar Wilde

Unconscious Mutterings Week 206

I say ... and you think ... ?

Episode :: Another episode disconnect in foreign policy
Source :: Considering the
Jerk :: Knee jerk pleadings of an asshole
Introduce :: Spy vs. Spy
Ralph :: Ralph Constance Lauren
Stare :: stare into the blank
Cast :: -aways
Scenario :: opera of the possible
Flu :: shot over the bow
Mad :: about you

John Ashbery - Not Poet Laureate Material

John Ashbery is a highly recognized figure in contemporary American Poetry. The last of the so-called New York School of poetry. He has some 24 poetry books that have been published and in the realm measuring success by publication, one is hard pressed to discount is successes.
He has had poetry books published in each of the last six decades.

Deborah Solomon in a New York Times Magazine article posed the possibility that Ashbery may have felt snubbed since he has never been asked to serve as Poet Laureate. But Ashbery himself insisted, "I really don’t think I’m poet-laureate material." He added, " To be poet laureate you have to have a program for spreading the word of poetry. I’m just willing to let it spread by itself."

In earlier biographical material I've read on Ashbery I've noted that he seems to be quite content with a more laid back, less public posture. I can appreciate that the remarks attributed to him in Solomon's article are an honest expression of his view. But I can't help but believe this man, who's work I believe so brilliant, would in fact bring a robust and exciting debate to the
public discussion of contemporary poetry.

First Manuscript Report for 2007

Yesterday I had 5 manuscripts rejected. Alas, 4 more went out today.

Outstanding submission remaining at end of year 8
less rejections through 1-12-07 -5
new submissions through 1-12-06 + 4
-----------
Outstanding manuscripts currently 7

Deep breath

I won't say I'm in a bad mood, but I not exactly chipper either. I've had two grueling days at the office. Then today we were informed that our long standing casual Friday has bitten the dust.

Then let me heap a little more on the pile. This weekend I sort of hit the skids with writing. Everything seemed forced and it bugged the hell out of me. It has been quite a while since I have been in a writing funk, so I suppose I should be grateful for the nice run. No, that is not how one looks at this. Instead, it is like the zit that is bigger than your face.

I'm trying to calm myself down and remember that I've lived through this before and it will surely happen again. So take it in stride and just keep writing. Crap and all. it will work itself out.

Donald Hall is coming into town this month. I'm looking forward to hearing him.

I have a KC Metro Verse meeting tomorrow night.

I've got two places I need to get material off to by the 15th.

Just need to keep myself focused, meet my goals for the month and just write, knowing it will work itself out sooner or later.

Allowing Poetry to Speak to You

When I saw this quote, it touched a nerve within me that rang all sorts of bells and whistles...

"A lot of the fun lies in trying to penetrate the mystery; and this is best done by saying over the lines to yourself again and again, till they pass through the stage of sounding like nonsense, and finally return to a full sense that had at first escaped notice." -Anthony Hecht

This takes me to the core belief that I have about the issue of accessibility in poetry and why I believe we should not have to defend poetry that is outside that nice clean little cozy realm of accessibility.

In fact, I hunger for poetry that is more then a read it through once and be able to say, "that's nice." I much prefer to allow the poem to speak to me than for me to read it as though it were a Dick and Jane reader and presto it is all perfectly clear at that period at the end of the last sentence.

Unconscious Mutterings

I say ... and you think ... ?
Resolution :: another plowed under into the ground
Happy :: Birthday to me
Bubbly :: Champagne music of Lawrence Welk
Kiss :: sweetheart roses with a kiss of baby breath
Leather :: camera gear - on a strap - over the shoulder
Fancy :: guppy fins with rainbow
Pages :: blank pages stare back at me
Stupid :: idiot was one of his favorite proclamations, and he should know
Apologize :: sorry, sorry, a thousand times over
Secrets :: held tightly in a vest pocket

In The News

• Holiday Greetings from the U.S. Army - US wants its officials to ‘die again’, apologises
• Poetry: electronica style [story]
• Montana's first poet laureate is unpaid, she said she is not impoverished as a result [story]
• Before 'Howl,' the hospital [story]

Just a few bits of news on this Saturday.

The Writing Process

In reading another poet/blogger post this week I realized something. Sometimes I am all over the map in process. The post I am referring to is by Kelli. Her post tells of one way to write poems, the process she employs.

Kelli's process itself is not revolutionary in my eyes and I sure most who have written for any length of time will recognize the process. I don't use it universally but more often than not it is a version of what I do. There are still times I try to force the issue, which is to say I sit down and say to myself, "let’s write a poem about "XYZ" and I struggle through the end to write something I am most of the time not totally happy with. Still, out of hard headedness or whatever, I will try this from time to time and with rare exception, frustrate myself and to a less than desirable end.

The aspect of Kelli's approach that impressed me was her organization in working from an "In Process" file. That is where her developing or embryonic poems are. A sort of purgatory for poems (perhaps it is the Catholic in me that identifies with this) from which she will return to cull ideas and rewrite, moving them out of the file when they become full fledged poems.

The process of writing about whatever comes to your mind and moving forward with it is in fact the process I most often employ. My problem is that I have gotten away from doing a lot of my writing one the computer. Imagine that! It is not that I am trying to step backwards in time, but rather that I often write these poetry beginnings in my journal. I suppose that there are two major reasons for this. One is that the competition for the computer at home is great. You know the movies where the family has one bathroom and four children only one of which is a boy? The male family members find it challenging to eek out a few moments in the morning for themselves. Actually, that is not just a movie, but my life for many years. Now it is the same pattern with respect to the computers in our household.

I do enjoy writing in the journal. It is handy and has become a near appendage to my body. Still, the organization issues associated with it are problematic at times. I can, and do go back through it to rework stuff. But this is not a smooth process and going back to even older journals that have been retired to the bookshelf presents another whole dimension of juggling to find something vague in my memory from 6 months or a year ago.

I may have to start trying to transfer the journal work to the PC on say a weekly basis and then try Kelli’s process.

Any others want to be brave and share their formulas for successful poetry writing?

Happy New Year!

Even Barry is ready for the New Year. He handed me his New Years Resolution list this morning. It reads as follows:

1. I will exclude the cats from my diet.

2. I will not slobber on my toys I bring to you to play fetch with.

3. I will not covet the cat's food.

4. I will not steel your witting and publish it, but if I do, I'll split the royalties 80-20. 70-30? Ok, 60-40.

5. I will not use my cute look when being scolded or redirected.