All right, time to stop making excuses: this blog is long overdue. And now that it’s National Poetry Month and the beginning of the baseball season, I have not excuse.
Yup, I’m doing the Poem-a-day Challenge again, and once again following Robert Brewer’s blog on the Writer’s Digest site. This month is kind of exciting, because he has corralled a bunch of judges to pick daily winners, whose poems will eventually end up in an e-book he’ll produce with the 50 best submitted poems of the month. Competition may be keen, however, because he’s had an unprecedented response on his comments board, with over 700-800 entries a day (over 1000 on the first day alone). I don’t envy his task, with his poet wife’s help, of slogging through hundreds of submissions a day, although a fair number of them, frankly, will be easy to weed out. The judges for the final cut, by the way, include such familiar names (at least to us poets) as Mark Doty, Dorianne Laux, and Marilyn Nelson.
I’m also mailing off my pre-publication package to Finishing Line Press for my chapbook, Breathing Out. Got my cover art and photos (courtesy of my son) as well as three very nice “blurbs” from my poet friends Anna Evans, Therese Halscheid, and BJ Ward. Watch this blog in a few months for more details of the pending publication!
The other thing I’m doing for Poetry Month is attending the Princeton Poetry Festival on April 27th and 28th. Unfortunately, the Dodge Foundation decided not to hold the biannual Dodge Poetry Festival next year, but thank goodness for other organizations that will be trying to fill that huge cultural hole. This one will feature two poetry legends, John Ashberry and Seamus Heaney, and a number of other excellent poets in readings and seminars. And best of all, it’s FREE – but you need to order tickets. If you're interested, click here.
Finally in poetry news, our group, Quick and Dirty Poets, has released our 4th annual issue of our journal, Up and Under: the QND Review, which should be available soon, if not now, on our website (see link on right). Not that I’m biased or anything, but I think it’s our best issue yet, and our launch party last month was a big success.
Baseball: Opening week! Can the Phillies repeat? I think they certainly have the potential – they have virtually the same starting lineup and pitching staff that made them so successful last year. Pat Burrell is gone, but he’ll be happier as a DH in the AL, I think, and Ibanez will hopefully fill that gap well. They won it all last year despite some offensive slumps from their key players, so if everyone gets in a groove this year, they’ll be hard to beat. The pitching staff needs to be consistent and healthy, of course, and we need JC Romero back (he got a raw deal with that banned substance penalty – way too stiff a punishment, IMHO). I predict they’ll at least make the playoffs again this year, if everyone stays healthy.
Music: Nothing yet this year has set my world on fire, though I do like the new releases from Neko Case, M. Ward, The Decemberists, Animal Collective, Andrew Bird, A.C. Newman, Beirut, and Bell X1. That’s like, not love. One of my favorites CD’s so far this year is actually a compilation from the folks that have brought us the “Red Hot…” series which benefits AIDS charities. It’s called Dark Was the Night, a 2-CD collection of some of the best indie-rock and indie–folk artists performing these days: Feist, Bon Iver, The National, Sufjan Stevens, Yo La Tengo, Spoon, Arcade Fire, Iron & Wine, and a bunch of other favorites. It’s well worth a listen.
Poem of the Month: This one appears in the new issue of Up and Under:
Where Are They Now?
I hadn’t heard anything from the Muses
for so long, so I went online
to track them down. It seems they’ve all gone
undercover, acquired new identities:
Terpsichore’s on Dancing with the Stars
(still hot, too – love that skimpy outfit).
Erato’s become a porn queen – that’s some boob job!
Euterpe’s a producer for some indie label in Japan.
Urania runs the planetarium at a science museum
in Phoenix. Most nights she just stares into the night sky,
making up new constellations.
Thalia’s doing standup at some cheesy comedy club
in Baltimore. Weeknights, she waitresses at the same club.
Clio teaches history at a high school in Philly.
Her lesbian lover’s a performance artist.
Polyhymnia has joined a religious cult in Montana,
and spends her days in a long skirt, on a hard bench,
chanting.
Melpomene – well, she’s a sad story, in the hospital
for the fifth time after as many suicide attempts.
But she’s published three books of poetry.
Calliope is a stay-at-home Mom of three in Michigan.
Weekdays she gives piano lessons.
No wonder I can’t get inspired.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Where Have I Been? Ireland!
Hello, blog! Long time no see! I guess I’ve been away for so long because there seemed to be so little to talk about. But we just got back from a week in Ireland – our second visit there. We stayed in western Ireland (Killarney area) in 2007, but this year we went to the Dublin area. It was great, though generally a different experience – bucolic versus urban. Dublin is a bustling city, all right, but a fascinating one. We actually stayed at a timeshare resort about ½ hour south of Dublin proper, Fitzpatrick Castle Holiday Homes – very nice. It’s between the bayside towns of Dalkey and Killiney, an area that boasts a number of celebrity residents like Bono and The Edge of U2, author Maeve Binchy, and the late playwright Hugh Leonard. We also located musician Enya’s castle. We didn’t rent a car, so we relied on public transit and foot power the whole week (lots of walking involved), and it was uphill all the way from the village of Dalkey up to our resort (about a kilometer or so). We got a sample Of Irish hospitality early on the first day when we arrived in Dalkey by bus and tried to figure out how to get a cab to take us up the hill. An older gent named Sean, who was seeing off his adult daughter at the bus stop, offered to drive us up to the resort. So three of us plus luggage piled into his subcompact car and got a ride. What a nice fellow. (I said “the three of us”, but one of our other sons, who came on another flight, joined us later that day.)
I won’t give you the whole itinerary, but I will give you the top 5 highlights, at least in my opinion (and not necessarily in order):
1. The Irish History Walking Tour, which we took on our first full day (Sunday). It started at Trinity College and wound around to different historic buildings like Dublin Castle and Christchurch Cathedral. All the while our guide, an editor for Irish History magazine, gave us a crash course in Irish history. Fascinating, and a good orientation to the historic parts of the city.
2. The Chester Beatty Library. Beatty was an American-born millionaire and philanthropist who acquired an awesome collection of books and other sacred and secular artifacts. We saw illuminated manuscripts from the Middle Ages, some very old editions of the Bible and Koran, and even a fragment of one of the Gospels from the 3rd century.
3. Newgrange: an ancient burial mound in the countryside that dates from 3200 B.C., 500 years before the Pyramids of Giza. Visitors are allowed inside the inner chamber, which is one of the oldest man-made structures still standing. The Neolithic people who built it constructed a vaulted ceiling from heavy stones, and without any kind of mortar or such. They also aligned the entrance and a “window” over it such that, on the Winter Solstice every year, the rising sun illuminates the entire inner chamber for just a few minutes. People from all over the world are eager to experience this phenomenon, so a lottery is held each year to determine which 50 people can come to see it.
4. The National Museum: The archeology museum was fascinating, and contained gold jewelry made by the Irish natives as far back as 3000 B.C., as well as artifacts of the Viking occupation. But the coolest thing was being able to see the “bog men” - three of these well-preserved bodies on display there.
5. The “Irish House Party” – on our last night in Ireland, we went to The Lansdowne Hotel in Dublin, where they seat about 30 people for a four-course meal, followed by a show with traditional Irish musicians. There was a vocalist/guitarist, accordion player, flute and whistle player, and a young woman who alternated between playing the fiddle and step-dancing (she used to be in “Riverdance”). We did sing-alongs, and some of us learned some basic Irish dance steps. The host invited any guests with a “talent” to come up and share it, so of course my 13-year-old volunteered to come up and tell a joke. The food was good, and the music even better.
Another interesting highlight of the trip was that my son went to a book-signing by author Neil Gaiman at a bookstore in Dublin. We found out after the fact that we and Mr. Gaiman were on the same flight to Dublin.
If you’d like to see some pictures, click here.
Poetry: Not much going on creatively (another dry patch), but I did get good three bits of good news recently:
1. My poem “The Jena 6” was selected as a finalist by Mad Poets Review for their annual contest and has been published in their current issue. The judge was Leonard Gontarek.
2. My poem "Record Store" was accepted for publication by Philadelphia Poets.
3. I entered the Finishing Line Press chapbook contest last year and although I wasn’t a winner, they have offered to publish my manuscript. I’m chuffed because it will be the first time someone other than myself or a friend has published one of my books, and on its own merit. More details as they become available.
Music: Already it seems to shaping up to be another good music year. So far I’ve been enjoying new albums by A.C. Newman and Andrew Bird, and I discovered a great Canadian band called Woodpigeon.
I'm also enjoying a 5-CD box set of music by Steve Reich called Phases. I picked it up at Tower Records in Dublin for a bargain price of 20 Euros. (The exchange rate when I was there was only about $1.22 - one of the few benefits of this depressed economy.) Anyway, it's an excellent collection of his best work, if you like Reich anc minmalist music.
Poem of the Month:
Here’s the poem that won the prize in the Mad Poets Review contest.
The Jena 6
Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root….
- Lewis Allen, as sung by Billie Holiday
When three black kids crossed
an imaginary line in the schoolyard,
someone hung three nooses from an oak tree,
stems without fruit.
The culprits weren’t prosecuted,
but six black kids, who tried to mete out
their own justice, got trumped-up charges
and no bail, today’s version of the noose.
Justice is blind, they say, but not color-blind.
Nothing hangs from the oak tree now,
no “fruit”, or suggestion of it,
yet the ground still smells of rot.
I won’t give you the whole itinerary, but I will give you the top 5 highlights, at least in my opinion (and not necessarily in order):
1. The Irish History Walking Tour, which we took on our first full day (Sunday). It started at Trinity College and wound around to different historic buildings like Dublin Castle and Christchurch Cathedral. All the while our guide, an editor for Irish History magazine, gave us a crash course in Irish history. Fascinating, and a good orientation to the historic parts of the city.
2. The Chester Beatty Library. Beatty was an American-born millionaire and philanthropist who acquired an awesome collection of books and other sacred and secular artifacts. We saw illuminated manuscripts from the Middle Ages, some very old editions of the Bible and Koran, and even a fragment of one of the Gospels from the 3rd century.
3. Newgrange: an ancient burial mound in the countryside that dates from 3200 B.C., 500 years before the Pyramids of Giza. Visitors are allowed inside the inner chamber, which is one of the oldest man-made structures still standing. The Neolithic people who built it constructed a vaulted ceiling from heavy stones, and without any kind of mortar or such. They also aligned the entrance and a “window” over it such that, on the Winter Solstice every year, the rising sun illuminates the entire inner chamber for just a few minutes. People from all over the world are eager to experience this phenomenon, so a lottery is held each year to determine which 50 people can come to see it.
4. The National Museum: The archeology museum was fascinating, and contained gold jewelry made by the Irish natives as far back as 3000 B.C., as well as artifacts of the Viking occupation. But the coolest thing was being able to see the “bog men” - three of these well-preserved bodies on display there.
5. The “Irish House Party” – on our last night in Ireland, we went to The Lansdowne Hotel in Dublin, where they seat about 30 people for a four-course meal, followed by a show with traditional Irish musicians. There was a vocalist/guitarist, accordion player, flute and whistle player, and a young woman who alternated between playing the fiddle and step-dancing (she used to be in “Riverdance”). We did sing-alongs, and some of us learned some basic Irish dance steps. The host invited any guests with a “talent” to come up and share it, so of course my 13-year-old volunteered to come up and tell a joke. The food was good, and the music even better.
Another interesting highlight of the trip was that my son went to a book-signing by author Neil Gaiman at a bookstore in Dublin. We found out after the fact that we and Mr. Gaiman were on the same flight to Dublin.
If you’d like to see some pictures, click here.
Poetry: Not much going on creatively (another dry patch), but I did get good three bits of good news recently:
1. My poem “The Jena 6” was selected as a finalist by Mad Poets Review for their annual contest and has been published in their current issue. The judge was Leonard Gontarek.
2. My poem "Record Store" was accepted for publication by Philadelphia Poets.
3. I entered the Finishing Line Press chapbook contest last year and although I wasn’t a winner, they have offered to publish my manuscript. I’m chuffed because it will be the first time someone other than myself or a friend has published one of my books, and on its own merit. More details as they become available.
Music: Already it seems to shaping up to be another good music year. So far I’ve been enjoying new albums by A.C. Newman and Andrew Bird, and I discovered a great Canadian band called Woodpigeon.
I'm also enjoying a 5-CD box set of music by Steve Reich called Phases. I picked it up at Tower Records in Dublin for a bargain price of 20 Euros. (The exchange rate when I was there was only about $1.22 - one of the few benefits of this depressed economy.) Anyway, it's an excellent collection of his best work, if you like Reich anc minmalist music.
Poem of the Month:
Here’s the poem that won the prize in the Mad Poets Review contest.
The Jena 6
Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root….
- Lewis Allen, as sung by Billie Holiday
When three black kids crossed
an imaginary line in the schoolyard,
someone hung three nooses from an oak tree,
stems without fruit.
The culprits weren’t prosecuted,
but six black kids, who tried to mete out
their own justice, got trumped-up charges
and no bail, today’s version of the noose.
Justice is blind, they say, but not color-blind.
Nothing hangs from the oak tree now,
no “fruit”, or suggestion of it,
yet the ground still smells of rot.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Poem-a-Day and Albums of the Year
I made it! Once again, I managed to churn out 30 poems (actually, 31) for the Poetic Asides blog’s November “Poem-a-day Chapbook Challenge”. Props to Robert Lee Brewer for keeping us going with good writing prompts. I think the “theme” concept attracted more serious poets this time, and it showed in the general quality of the work posted there. Now he’s challenging us to fashion a chapbook out of what we produced, and submit to him and his wife so they can judge a “winner” (though the “prize” may not be more than bragging rights). I just may take him up on that – I have 31 new music-themed poems, of which at least 10-15 of them may be ready to go, and I can fill up the collection with some previously written pieces on the theme.
My poetry group’s journal, Up and Under: The QND Review, is moving right along, and we now have about a dozen poems as definite acceptances. This means, of course, that there’s still plenty of room for good poetry if you want to submit. Click here to reach our website.
Music: There are already lots of best-of-the-year lists either already out or in process, including NPR blogs, Paste Magazine, WXPN, eMusic, etc. I’ve compiled my list too, and I’ve sent variations on it to the various sites that solicit votes for favorites. Though it’s still not written in stone, here’s my top 30 for 2008, with some comments:
1. Stay Positive – The Hold Steady: I agree with Paste Magazine, who said these guys used to have a lock on the being best bar band in America, and now they’re one of the best bands in America, period. Best songs: Most of them, but “Sequestered in Memphis” and “Slapped Actress” are my favorites.
2. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend: Sprightly Afro-pop from an unlikely source: a group of young guys from Brooklyn. Best songs: “A-Punk”, “Cape Cod Kwaasa Kwaasa”.
3. Fate – Dr. Dog: Philly band with a lot of 60’s psych-pop sensibility – this is their best album to date. Best Songs: “The Breeze”, “My Friend”.
4. Accelerate – R.E.M.: My vote for Comeback of the Year – their best since Monster, maybe better. Best songs: “Living Well is the Best Revenge”, “Man-sized Wreath”.
5. Viva la Vida – Coldplay: After a weak previous album in X&Y, they’re back with what may be their best album yet. Watch this one at Grammy time. Best songs: “Viva la Vida”, “Lost!”
6. Real Animal – Alejandro Escovedo: The venerable roots rocker just seems to get better and better. Best songs: “Always a Friend”, “Sister Lost Soul”.
7. The Seldom Seen Kid – Elbow : Fourth album by the Brit band that seems to combine the best of Coldplay and Radiohead, and here, a dash of Peter Gabriel. Best songs: “Grounds for Divorce”, “The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver”.
8. A Larum – Johnny Flynn: Brit-folk singer-songwriter backed by a very capable band, the Sussex Wit. May be the heir apparent musically to Richard Thompson (sorry, Teddy). Best songs: “The Box”, “Tickle Me Pink”.
9. Flock – Bell X1: Band sometimes referred to as the “Irish Coldplay” – best-sellers in their home country and for good reason. This was released a couple of years ago there but just came out in the States this year. Best songs: “Rocky Took a Lover”, “Bad Skin Day”.
10. Worrisome Heart – Melody Gardot: Philly chanteuse has an inspiring story (recovered from a near-fatal accident), but all that aside, she has a wonderful jazzy style and sophisticated original songs. If you like Norah Jones, you’ll love this gal. Best songs: “Worrisome Heart”, “Love Me Like a River Does”.
The rest:
11. The Midnight Organ Flight – Frightened Rabbit
12. Narrow Stairs – Death Cab for Cutie
13. Gift of Screws – Lindsey Buckingham
14. The ’59 Sound – The Gaslight Anthem
15. Soldier On (EP) – Andrew Bird
16. Blame it on Gravity – Old 97’s
17. Angels of Destruction! – Marah
18. Life Like – The Rosebuds
19. Volume One – She & Him
20. Oracular Spectacular – MGMT
21. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
22. Mockingbird – Allison Moorer
23. The Stand Ins – Okkervil River
24. Golden Delicious – Mike Doughty
25. Everything that Happens Will Happen Today – David Byrne and Brian Eno
26. Vol. 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails – The Baseball Project
27. Rambling Boy – Charlie Haden and Friends
28. Carried to Dust – Calexico
29. Mescalito – Ryan Bingham
30. 49:00 – Paul Westerberg
Poem of the Month: Here’s the poem that Thick with Conviction picked as their “best of issue” for their October issue:
Old Man at Bedtime
At ten-thirty he sits at the edge of his bed
and swallows the last pills of the day,
then draws water from a straw
stuck in his favorite cup.
He places it on the night table,
then pulls two tissues from a box,
folding them in neat triangles
and tucking them into his pajama
shirt pocket (always blue plaid).
He removes his glasses, folds them,
and places them next to the cup.
His rosary beads lie on the bed
like a cross in a pile of beans,
but he has placed them exactly
two inches below the left corner
of his pillow, as he does every night.
You have to have a ritual
when you get old, he explains.
Otherwise you lose your place,
become confused, unmoored,
adrift in the mystery of your own house.
He turns off the light, reclines
on his right side, clutching the beads,
and begins with a prayer
modified from childhood
and covering all possibilities:
that he will wake again tomorrow
and begin his well-mapped routine
or not.
My poetry group’s journal, Up and Under: The QND Review, is moving right along, and we now have about a dozen poems as definite acceptances. This means, of course, that there’s still plenty of room for good poetry if you want to submit. Click here to reach our website.
Music: There are already lots of best-of-the-year lists either already out or in process, including NPR blogs, Paste Magazine, WXPN, eMusic, etc. I’ve compiled my list too, and I’ve sent variations on it to the various sites that solicit votes for favorites. Though it’s still not written in stone, here’s my top 30 for 2008, with some comments:
1. Stay Positive – The Hold Steady: I agree with Paste Magazine, who said these guys used to have a lock on the being best bar band in America, and now they’re one of the best bands in America, period. Best songs: Most of them, but “Sequestered in Memphis” and “Slapped Actress” are my favorites.
2. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend: Sprightly Afro-pop from an unlikely source: a group of young guys from Brooklyn. Best songs: “A-Punk”, “Cape Cod Kwaasa Kwaasa”.
3. Fate – Dr. Dog: Philly band with a lot of 60’s psych-pop sensibility – this is their best album to date. Best Songs: “The Breeze”, “My Friend”.
4. Accelerate – R.E.M.: My vote for Comeback of the Year – their best since Monster, maybe better. Best songs: “Living Well is the Best Revenge”, “Man-sized Wreath”.
5. Viva la Vida – Coldplay: After a weak previous album in X&Y, they’re back with what may be their best album yet. Watch this one at Grammy time. Best songs: “Viva la Vida”, “Lost!”
6. Real Animal – Alejandro Escovedo: The venerable roots rocker just seems to get better and better. Best songs: “Always a Friend”, “Sister Lost Soul”.
7. The Seldom Seen Kid – Elbow : Fourth album by the Brit band that seems to combine the best of Coldplay and Radiohead, and here, a dash of Peter Gabriel. Best songs: “Grounds for Divorce”, “The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver”.
8. A Larum – Johnny Flynn: Brit-folk singer-songwriter backed by a very capable band, the Sussex Wit. May be the heir apparent musically to Richard Thompson (sorry, Teddy). Best songs: “The Box”, “Tickle Me Pink”.
9. Flock – Bell X1: Band sometimes referred to as the “Irish Coldplay” – best-sellers in their home country and for good reason. This was released a couple of years ago there but just came out in the States this year. Best songs: “Rocky Took a Lover”, “Bad Skin Day”.
10. Worrisome Heart – Melody Gardot: Philly chanteuse has an inspiring story (recovered from a near-fatal accident), but all that aside, she has a wonderful jazzy style and sophisticated original songs. If you like Norah Jones, you’ll love this gal. Best songs: “Worrisome Heart”, “Love Me Like a River Does”.
The rest:
11. The Midnight Organ Flight – Frightened Rabbit
12. Narrow Stairs – Death Cab for Cutie
13. Gift of Screws – Lindsey Buckingham
14. The ’59 Sound – The Gaslight Anthem
15. Soldier On (EP) – Andrew Bird
16. Blame it on Gravity – Old 97’s
17. Angels of Destruction! – Marah
18. Life Like – The Rosebuds
19. Volume One – She & Him
20. Oracular Spectacular – MGMT
21. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
22. Mockingbird – Allison Moorer
23. The Stand Ins – Okkervil River
24. Golden Delicious – Mike Doughty
25. Everything that Happens Will Happen Today – David Byrne and Brian Eno
26. Vol. 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails – The Baseball Project
27. Rambling Boy – Charlie Haden and Friends
28. Carried to Dust – Calexico
29. Mescalito – Ryan Bingham
30. 49:00 – Paul Westerberg
Poem of the Month: Here’s the poem that Thick with Conviction picked as their “best of issue” for their October issue:
Old Man at Bedtime
At ten-thirty he sits at the edge of his bed
and swallows the last pills of the day,
then draws water from a straw
stuck in his favorite cup.
He places it on the night table,
then pulls two tissues from a box,
folding them in neat triangles
and tucking them into his pajama
shirt pocket (always blue plaid).
He removes his glasses, folds them,
and places them next to the cup.
His rosary beads lie on the bed
like a cross in a pile of beans,
but he has placed them exactly
two inches below the left corner
of his pillow, as he does every night.
You have to have a ritual
when you get old, he explains.
Otherwise you lose your place,
become confused, unmoored,
adrift in the mystery of your own house.
He turns off the light, reclines
on his right side, clutching the beads,
and begins with a prayer
modified from childhood
and covering all possibilities:
that he will wake again tomorrow
and begin his well-mapped routine
or not.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
It's All Over But the Shouting!
The election is finally over, and so are those incessantly annoying campaign ads. And
I for one am quite pleased with the results. Mr. Obama made history on Tuesday night, and I hope he rises to the occasion - he certainly has his work cut out for him. I have a feeling that anyone who expects him to be a savior, or to change the country's woes overnight, will be in for a disappointment. He's certainly an intelligent and extremely capable man, though, and with the right administration behind him, he could make a real positive difference for this country.
Poetry: Finally, I got the results of the Writer's Digest contest. I knew I didn't make the top 10, but I was disappointed to learn the other day that I didn't even place in the top 100. I've made it into the top 100 each of the other three or four times I have entered, and in 2005 I placed 10th. I figure there are three possible explanations: (1) they never received my entry, (2) I somehow disqualified myself, or (3) the competition was stiff this year and my poetry just wasn't good enough. I did notice that some entrants placed as many as eight of their poems in the top 100, which means they may have entered at least a dozen poems for the competition. That's a small fortune in entry fees.
(Writer's Digest charges $10 for the first entry and $5 for each additional entry.)
So maybe the fact that I only entered three poems (as I usually do) was a factor - I may have been crowded out by some poets the judges considered better. Oh well.
On the good-news side, I also learned that my poem "The Jena 6" was selected as a finalist for the annual Mad Poets Review contest. I have entered that contest several times before and hadn't won (although I've had poems accepted for publication by them before). The judge was Leonard Gontarek.
Also, and I think I mentioned this before, my poetry group, the Quick and Dirty Poets, is now accepting submissions for our annual journal, Up and Under: The QND Review. Click here
if you want to read our submission guidelines. The deadline is 12/30/2008.
I'm also involved in another "poem-a-day" challenge for the month of November. Robert Lee Brewer, whose Writer's Digest blog I've mentioned before, has offered an alternative for poets to the National Novel Writing Month challenge: write a poem a day this month, preferably with a unifying theme, with the intent of having enough material for a chapbook at the end of the month. He says he may even have a prize for the best chapbook collection when the month has ended. I needed something to spark my productivity, so I figured, "why not"? I"m trying for a music theme with this series of poems.
Music: I'm really into downloading lately, and it has probably exceeded buying CD's as my preferred method of music acquisition. Besides my eMusic membership, I look for cheap or free downloads on iTunes and Amazon.com. Amazon has had some pretty sweet deals lately, from classic album downloads as low as $1.99, to free full-length samplers, and one of the best deals of all, which I just acquired today: the equivalent of a 12-disc box set from ECM, one of the premier jazz labels, for $18.06. That's 124 jazz tracks for less than 15 cents a song. If you love jazz (specifically, Pat Metheny, Keith Jarrett, Jack De Johnette, Paul Motian, Carla Bley, and a host of others), you can't pass up this deal. I've also been enjoying Paste Digital magazine's free album downloads of "discovery" artists. This month featured The Rosebuds, an excellent power-pop band.
Poem of the Week/Fortnight/Month: I'm not sure what to call it lately since I post so sporadically. How about this one, which is practically brand new. I wrote it for the second day of the Poem-a-day challenge this month. The prompt was to write a poem that makes a statement about your theme, possibly in the voice of another person, real or imagined. So without further ado, here's John Lennon:
An Open Posthumous Letter from John
Let me remind you people,
it’s only music, and I weren’t no bloody saint.
Just because that crazy git gunned me down,
doesn’t mean you need to canonize me.
Yeah, it was a bummer, but life goes on,
doesn’t it? If I was still around, would I still
be with Yoko? Who knows? Would I be proud
of me sons? What do you think?
Would the Beatles’ve gotten back together?
Not bloody likely. ‘Course, we lost George too –
poor old George, and now we got “Sir Paul” –
that’s a laff. But why worry about all that –
why not make your own bloody music?
That’s right, pick up a guitar, pull up to a piano.
Learn a few tunes – “Imagine”, maybe –
God, I was proud of that one.
Stop yer bleedin’ whining and play,
then make yer peace – I know I made mine.
Leave the world happier than you found it.
I hope I did that too.
I for one am quite pleased with the results. Mr. Obama made history on Tuesday night, and I hope he rises to the occasion - he certainly has his work cut out for him. I have a feeling that anyone who expects him to be a savior, or to change the country's woes overnight, will be in for a disappointment. He's certainly an intelligent and extremely capable man, though, and with the right administration behind him, he could make a real positive difference for this country.
Poetry: Finally, I got the results of the Writer's Digest contest. I knew I didn't make the top 10, but I was disappointed to learn the other day that I didn't even place in the top 100. I've made it into the top 100 each of the other three or four times I have entered, and in 2005 I placed 10th. I figure there are three possible explanations: (1) they never received my entry, (2) I somehow disqualified myself, or (3) the competition was stiff this year and my poetry just wasn't good enough. I did notice that some entrants placed as many as eight of their poems in the top 100, which means they may have entered at least a dozen poems for the competition. That's a small fortune in entry fees.
(Writer's Digest charges $10 for the first entry and $5 for each additional entry.)
So maybe the fact that I only entered three poems (as I usually do) was a factor - I may have been crowded out by some poets the judges considered better. Oh well.
On the good-news side, I also learned that my poem "The Jena 6" was selected as a finalist for the annual Mad Poets Review contest. I have entered that contest several times before and hadn't won (although I've had poems accepted for publication by them before). The judge was Leonard Gontarek.
Also, and I think I mentioned this before, my poetry group, the Quick and Dirty Poets, is now accepting submissions for our annual journal, Up and Under: The QND Review. Click here
if you want to read our submission guidelines. The deadline is 12/30/2008.
I'm also involved in another "poem-a-day" challenge for the month of November. Robert Lee Brewer, whose Writer's Digest blog I've mentioned before, has offered an alternative for poets to the National Novel Writing Month challenge: write a poem a day this month, preferably with a unifying theme, with the intent of having enough material for a chapbook at the end of the month. He says he may even have a prize for the best chapbook collection when the month has ended. I needed something to spark my productivity, so I figured, "why not"? I"m trying for a music theme with this series of poems.
Music: I'm really into downloading lately, and it has probably exceeded buying CD's as my preferred method of music acquisition. Besides my eMusic membership, I look for cheap or free downloads on iTunes and Amazon.com. Amazon has had some pretty sweet deals lately, from classic album downloads as low as $1.99, to free full-length samplers, and one of the best deals of all, which I just acquired today: the equivalent of a 12-disc box set from ECM, one of the premier jazz labels, for $18.06. That's 124 jazz tracks for less than 15 cents a song. If you love jazz (specifically, Pat Metheny, Keith Jarrett, Jack De Johnette, Paul Motian, Carla Bley, and a host of others), you can't pass up this deal. I've also been enjoying Paste Digital magazine's free album downloads of "discovery" artists. This month featured The Rosebuds, an excellent power-pop band.
Poem of the Week/Fortnight/Month: I'm not sure what to call it lately since I post so sporadically. How about this one, which is practically brand new. I wrote it for the second day of the Poem-a-day challenge this month. The prompt was to write a poem that makes a statement about your theme, possibly in the voice of another person, real or imagined. So without further ado, here's John Lennon:
An Open Posthumous Letter from John
Let me remind you people,
it’s only music, and I weren’t no bloody saint.
Just because that crazy git gunned me down,
doesn’t mean you need to canonize me.
Yeah, it was a bummer, but life goes on,
doesn’t it? If I was still around, would I still
be with Yoko? Who knows? Would I be proud
of me sons? What do you think?
Would the Beatles’ve gotten back together?
Not bloody likely. ‘Course, we lost George too –
poor old George, and now we got “Sir Paul” –
that’s a laff. But why worry about all that –
why not make your own bloody music?
That’s right, pick up a guitar, pull up to a piano.
Learn a few tunes – “Imagine”, maybe –
God, I was proud of that one.
Stop yer bleedin’ whining and play,
then make yer peace – I know I made mine.
Leave the world happier than you found it.
I hope I did that too.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Extra: WE DID IT!!!
Oh my gosh, my Phillies pulled it off! They are the 2008 World Series Champions! Their first championship in 28 years, and their second ever in their 120-plus year history. How sweet it is! It's also the first by any Philly pro sports team in 25 years (unless you count arena football). I'm really happy for that whole team, who seem like a great bunch of guys who really work together as a team. Despite their problems getting runners on base home, despite some early offensive slumps by guys like Burrell and Howard, they put it together with great pitching, timely home runs, and eventually, clutch hitting.
And Charlie Manuel just out-coached Joe Maddon. When Charlie opens his mouth, he’ll never be mistaken for a college professor, but he’s a baseball lifer (46 years in the business), he knows the game inside-out, his players would take a bullet for him, and right now, he seems like the smartest guy in the world.
Some of the great stories of the series:
1. Former Phillie and baseball great Jim Thome visiting Manuel , with whom he has a “father-son” relationship.
2. Country superstar Tim McGraw spreading the ashes of his dad, pitching legend Tug McGraw, on the pitcher’s mound before Game 3.
3. Ryan Howard’s bat finally coming alive.
4. Cole Hamels continuing his undefeated post-season streak.
5. Brad Lidge: unbeatable and perfect.
6. Chase Utley’s brilliant throw to home in Game 5, saving the win and possibly the series.
7. 45-year-old Jamie Moyer tossing a gem in Game 3 and coming full circle from young Phillies fan attending their last victory parade in 1980, to being in the parade himself in 2008.
On the down side:
1. Game 4, the longest rain delay in history (46 hours). In retrospect, the game should never have started that night, and at the very least it should have been halted before the 6th inning. Those guys should not have been made to play baseball in those conditions. A bonehead move by the commissioner and the powers that be.
2. I'm so glad I don't have to hear four things on Fox Sports any more:
a. The Phillies' subpar stats with runners in scoring position,
b. "Feliz is in the lineup more for his glove than his bat" (I think his series-winning hit shut them up about that),
c. The “Rocky” theme played after every Phillies half of the inning, and most of all:
d. The “curse of Billy Penn” and the 25-year championship drought!
3. Tampa Bay Rays, you guys are a talented bunch of young players, and I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more from many of you in the future. But I’ve gotta tell you, you just might have the ugliest park in major league baseball.
4. And a big sarcastic "thank you" to those Phillies fans the other night who reinforced the stereotype of the Phillies fan - loud, drunken, obnoxious, profane, mercilessly insulting to anyone who's not a Phillies fan (including members of the Rays players' families in the stands during the Series), and disrespectful of public and private property (my friend's 78-year-old aunt's car was trashed, for example). You must have been very proud of looking like totally out-of-control morons on local and national TV. Thank you - it makes it that much harder for a sportsmanlike, respectful, law-abiding Phillies fan like me to get any respect elsewhere.
I think the fans redeemed themselves today, though, when some 1.5 million(!) of them converged on downtown Philly to see their champs parade down Broad Street to the stadium area. There were very few incidents and the weather was perfect. The only down side was that the public transit system (which the media encouraged everyone to take, rather than drive in) became a state of gridlock for hours. But the city and vicinity are in a state of euphoria right now, because as Queen sings, “We are the Champions”!
And Charlie Manuel just out-coached Joe Maddon. When Charlie opens his mouth, he’ll never be mistaken for a college professor, but he’s a baseball lifer (46 years in the business), he knows the game inside-out, his players would take a bullet for him, and right now, he seems like the smartest guy in the world.
Some of the great stories of the series:
1. Former Phillie and baseball great Jim Thome visiting Manuel , with whom he has a “father-son” relationship.
2. Country superstar Tim McGraw spreading the ashes of his dad, pitching legend Tug McGraw, on the pitcher’s mound before Game 3.
3. Ryan Howard’s bat finally coming alive.
4. Cole Hamels continuing his undefeated post-season streak.
5. Brad Lidge: unbeatable and perfect.
6. Chase Utley’s brilliant throw to home in Game 5, saving the win and possibly the series.
7. 45-year-old Jamie Moyer tossing a gem in Game 3 and coming full circle from young Phillies fan attending their last victory parade in 1980, to being in the parade himself in 2008.
On the down side:
1. Game 4, the longest rain delay in history (46 hours). In retrospect, the game should never have started that night, and at the very least it should have been halted before the 6th inning. Those guys should not have been made to play baseball in those conditions. A bonehead move by the commissioner and the powers that be.
2. I'm so glad I don't have to hear four things on Fox Sports any more:
a. The Phillies' subpar stats with runners in scoring position,
b. "Feliz is in the lineup more for his glove than his bat" (I think his series-winning hit shut them up about that),
c. The “Rocky” theme played after every Phillies half of the inning, and most of all:
d. The “curse of Billy Penn” and the 25-year championship drought!
3. Tampa Bay Rays, you guys are a talented bunch of young players, and I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more from many of you in the future. But I’ve gotta tell you, you just might have the ugliest park in major league baseball.
4. And a big sarcastic "thank you" to those Phillies fans the other night who reinforced the stereotype of the Phillies fan - loud, drunken, obnoxious, profane, mercilessly insulting to anyone who's not a Phillies fan (including members of the Rays players' families in the stands during the Series), and disrespectful of public and private property (my friend's 78-year-old aunt's car was trashed, for example). You must have been very proud of looking like totally out-of-control morons on local and national TV. Thank you - it makes it that much harder for a sportsmanlike, respectful, law-abiding Phillies fan like me to get any respect elsewhere.
I think the fans redeemed themselves today, though, when some 1.5 million(!) of them converged on downtown Philly to see their champs parade down Broad Street to the stadium area. There were very few incidents and the weather was perfect. The only down side was that the public transit system (which the media encouraged everyone to take, rather than drive in) became a state of gridlock for hours. But the city and vicinity are in a state of euphoria right now, because as Queen sings, “We are the Champions”!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Candidates' Debate II and Another Conference
In my last post I mentioned my son the professor was invited to attend the Presidential debate at Hofstra University, where he works. Well, he invited us to join him, and my wife and youngest son went. They didn't get to sit in the hall, but they were in a viewing room with a big-screen TV right next door. It was a lively event, and though they didn't meet the candidates, they had a swell time. (My older son got access to the press tent, and met Mitt Romney and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog - either of which would have been a better running mate for McCain, by the way.)
My big event last week was attending a writing conference, "Push to Publish" at Rosemont College, near Villanova University outside Philadelphia. It was sponsored by Philadelphia Stories, a very good (and free) lit mag in the area. It was a good day - I attended three workshops: one on chapbooks and how to get them published; one on poetry craft and what editors consider a "good poem"; and a session on the pro's and con's of enrolling in an MFA program in writing. There were also "speed-date" sessions, 15 minutes each, with a variety of editors and agents. I got to meet Conrad "Bill" Weiser of Philadelphia Stories and Rosemary Cappello of Philadelphia Poets, another good local journal. I also saw some friends and acquaintances who were on the panels, including Eileen D'Angelo of Mad Poets Review and Peter Krok of Schuylkill Valley Journal. I schmoozed with some fellow writers too, of course, including a gentleman with a heavy German accent who teaches geology at Penn and is working on a book of essays in a pop-science vein, sort of like Isaac Asimov or Stephen Jay Gould.
GO PHILLIES!!! Or should I say, "Get going, Phillies!" They're tied one game each with the Tampa Bay Rays (I keep wanting to call them the "Devil Rays", but they dropped the "devil" a few years ago. Probably some evangelists raised a stink.) Anyway, they need to start scoring guys on base if they want any chance at winning this World Series. They were lucky to get a pitching gem in Game 1 from Hamels, Madson and Lidge, but in Game 2, they just couldn't put it together. Rollins and Howard are in major post-season slumps, and even Burrell and Utley could be playing better (though Utley hit a two-run homer to help win Game 1). Here's hoping they get in the groove again when they return Saturday night to Philly.
Music: WXPN, my favorite music station, finished their fifth annual 885 countdown - this time the theme was "885 Essential XPN Songs" - not necessarily the greatest songs ever performed, but the best songs that represent the alternative-music spirit of XPN, as voted by listeners. (We were invited to send a ten-song list, and all the votes were tabulated. In the end, eight of my ten songs placed in the top 100,and two in the top 10, including the #1 song.) Here's their list, if you're curious - you'll find it interesting that the Beatles did not place a song in the top 100.
Poem of the Week/Month:
...but who's counting?
I wanted to offer a poem that tied in with one of the above topics, but failing that, I dusted off an oldie that was published in the journal which I now help edit, Up and Under, the QND Review. (By the way, we are now accepting submissions - check the website here.)
So here's the poem:
Odyssey
It’s a miracle this leaky old boat
has made it so far.
Long as we have ploughed
through whitecaps and whirlpools,
everything the pissed-off Poseidon of life
could throw at us,
your rudder-steady hand has navigated
past Scylla and Charybdis,
and so many lesser hazards.
And the sirens, oh the sirens.
If it were up to me,
we would be dashed upon the rocks.
We will make it through this voyage,
Even if you have to lash me to the mast.
My big event last week was attending a writing conference, "Push to Publish" at Rosemont College, near Villanova University outside Philadelphia. It was sponsored by Philadelphia Stories, a very good (and free) lit mag in the area. It was a good day - I attended three workshops: one on chapbooks and how to get them published; one on poetry craft and what editors consider a "good poem"; and a session on the pro's and con's of enrolling in an MFA program in writing. There were also "speed-date" sessions, 15 minutes each, with a variety of editors and agents. I got to meet Conrad "Bill" Weiser of Philadelphia Stories and Rosemary Cappello of Philadelphia Poets, another good local journal. I also saw some friends and acquaintances who were on the panels, including Eileen D'Angelo of Mad Poets Review and Peter Krok of Schuylkill Valley Journal. I schmoozed with some fellow writers too, of course, including a gentleman with a heavy German accent who teaches geology at Penn and is working on a book of essays in a pop-science vein, sort of like Isaac Asimov or Stephen Jay Gould.
GO PHILLIES!!! Or should I say, "Get going, Phillies!" They're tied one game each with the Tampa Bay Rays (I keep wanting to call them the "Devil Rays", but they dropped the "devil" a few years ago. Probably some evangelists raised a stink.) Anyway, they need to start scoring guys on base if they want any chance at winning this World Series. They were lucky to get a pitching gem in Game 1 from Hamels, Madson and Lidge, but in Game 2, they just couldn't put it together. Rollins and Howard are in major post-season slumps, and even Burrell and Utley could be playing better (though Utley hit a two-run homer to help win Game 1). Here's hoping they get in the groove again when they return Saturday night to Philly.
Music: WXPN, my favorite music station, finished their fifth annual 885 countdown - this time the theme was "885 Essential XPN Songs" - not necessarily the greatest songs ever performed, but the best songs that represent the alternative-music spirit of XPN, as voted by listeners. (We were invited to send a ten-song list, and all the votes were tabulated. In the end, eight of my ten songs placed in the top 100,and two in the top 10, including the #1 song.) Here's their list, if you're curious - you'll find it interesting that the Beatles did not place a song in the top 100.
Poem of the Week/Month:
...but who's counting?
I wanted to offer a poem that tied in with one of the above topics, but failing that, I dusted off an oldie that was published in the journal which I now help edit, Up and Under, the QND Review. (By the way, we are now accepting submissions - check the website here.)
So here's the poem:
Odyssey
It’s a miracle this leaky old boat
has made it so far.
Long as we have ploughed
through whitecaps and whirlpools,
everything the pissed-off Poseidon of life
could throw at us,
your rudder-steady hand has navigated
past Scylla and Charybdis,
and so many lesser hazards.
And the sirens, oh the sirens.
If it were up to me,
we would be dashed upon the rocks.
We will make it through this voyage,
Even if you have to lash me to the mast.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Going to the Candidates' Debate....
Yeah, that's the old Simon and Garfunkel lyric, and actually, I'm not going, but my eldest son is, as a faculty representative at the next presidential debate at Hofstra University, where he teaches. He also was a member of a panel who presented the results of a political poll to the Washington Press Corps last week. (It was sparsely attended because, as luck would have it, it was the same day the "Bailout
Bill" was initially defeated.) But as his grandmother used to say, "I'm real proud!"
As to the debates so far - well, I won't get too political here. I've already made my choice, but suffice to say that (a) I'm disappointed that neither candidate has any designs on considering a national health care plan, and (b) Sarah Palin is the worst VP running-mate choice since Ross Perot's boy Jim Stockdale. (Remember him? - the guy who said during his debate, "I don't know what I'm doing here!")
Poetry: Well, I did attend the Dodge Poetry Festival this year, and it was great as usual. As planned, I hung out with my Quick and Dirty buddies, and though it was rather dismal weather-wise, it was a literary feast for anyone who's into poetry. To witness a panel conversation with five U.S. Poets Laureate (Maxine Kumin, Robert Hass, Billy Collins, Ted Kooser and the current Laureate, Charles Simic) was alone worth the price of admission. And the Saturday night "concert" and Sunday "matinee" were super as well. Besides the previously mentioned Laureates, I saw Lucille Clifton, Franz Wright, Mark Doty, Jane Hirschfield, Edward Hirsch, Sharon Olds, Linda Pastan, Joy Harjo, Coleman Barks, and two poets whose workshops I took at previous conferences at Rutgers, Chris Abani and Thomas Sayers Ellis. There was good music too, courtesy of the Paul Winter Consort and the Andean music group Yarina, both of which have become "house bands" of the festival. I also got to see a poet friend, BJ Ward, read as one of the lesser-known "Festival Poets". He's excellent and a crowd-pleasing reader, so he got an enthusiastic ovation from the audience. Maybe he won't be "lesser-known" much longer. I didn't participate in any of the open readings this year - I was more involved in soaking it all up.
Other poetry news: Thick with Conviction just put up their October issue, featuring three of my poems, of which one, "Old Man at Bedtime", won their "Best of Issue" award. I'm pretty chuffed about that. That balanced the letdown of learning that I wasn't a top 10 winner in this year's Writer's Digest competition. They haven't published the honorable mentions yet, though, so I hope I at least got one of those. (I did place 10th in the 2005 competition and got honorable mentions in previous contests.)
Music: Not much new stuff since last time, but I decided to subscribe to the Paste Magazine Digital VIP program. For a nominal monthly fee, I get a digital version of one of the best music and media magazines out there these days, plus a monthly album download by an up-and-coming artist, a full-length music sampler, weekly live music downloads, and a quarterly video download. My cup runneth over! I just signed up this week and I've downloaded three albums worth of music I still have to hear.
Poem of the Month: I'm going to break with tradition here, and instead of featuring one of my own poems, I'll present one by BJ Ward. I was going to use a baseball poem of his, "Upon Hearing that Baseball is Boring to America's Youth", in honor of my beloved Phillies, who are about to take on the Dodgers for the NL championship. But instead I'll offer his wonderful Pushcart Prize-winning poem:
Roy Orbison's Last Three Notes
12 mph over the speed limit on Route 80, I realize
the way I know the exact size of my bones
is the way I know I am the only one
in America listening to Roy Orbison
singing “Blue Bayou” at this precise moment,
and I feel sorry for everyone else.
Do they realize they are missing
his third from last note?—Bluuuueee—
and how it becomes a giant mouth I’m driving into—
“Bay”—pronounced bi—becomes the finger
pointing back—biiiiiiii—and all the sealed up cars
greasing along this dirty, pot-holed clavicle of New Jersey
don’t know this “you”—constant as my exhaust smoke—
yooooouuuu— and the beats underneath, more insistent
than the landlord knocking on the door—horns, drums, guitar, bass—
my Toyota Corolla is now one serious vehicle,
and the band and I are all alone, filling it up—
Roy and me in our cool sunglasses up front
and his musicians barely fitting their instruments in the back,
driving into the blue—bom bom bom—pulling ahead
of the pollution faster than New Jersey can spit it out—
Bye—boom bom—his leggy background singers must be jammed
in the trunk because suddenly I hear them and suddenly
we are Odysseus and his boys bringing the Sirens with us,
and the cassette player is our black box
containing all essential details in case we don’t make it,
but I know we’re going to make it because
Roy, my cool copilot, turns to me and says,
like the President says to his top general
after a war has been won, or like Morgan Earp
on his deathbed said to Wyatt when vengeance
was up to him, or like Gretchen Honecker
said when I knew I was about to get my first kiss,
Roy turns to me and says, “You—”
[From Gravedigger's Birthday, North Atlantic Books, 2002. Used with permission of the author.]
Bill" was initially defeated.) But as his grandmother used to say, "I'm real proud!"
As to the debates so far - well, I won't get too political here. I've already made my choice, but suffice to say that (a) I'm disappointed that neither candidate has any designs on considering a national health care plan, and (b) Sarah Palin is the worst VP running-mate choice since Ross Perot's boy Jim Stockdale. (Remember him? - the guy who said during his debate, "I don't know what I'm doing here!")
Poetry: Well, I did attend the Dodge Poetry Festival this year, and it was great as usual. As planned, I hung out with my Quick and Dirty buddies, and though it was rather dismal weather-wise, it was a literary feast for anyone who's into poetry. To witness a panel conversation with five U.S. Poets Laureate (Maxine Kumin, Robert Hass, Billy Collins, Ted Kooser and the current Laureate, Charles Simic) was alone worth the price of admission. And the Saturday night "concert" and Sunday "matinee" were super as well. Besides the previously mentioned Laureates, I saw Lucille Clifton, Franz Wright, Mark Doty, Jane Hirschfield, Edward Hirsch, Sharon Olds, Linda Pastan, Joy Harjo, Coleman Barks, and two poets whose workshops I took at previous conferences at Rutgers, Chris Abani and Thomas Sayers Ellis. There was good music too, courtesy of the Paul Winter Consort and the Andean music group Yarina, both of which have become "house bands" of the festival. I also got to see a poet friend, BJ Ward, read as one of the lesser-known "Festival Poets". He's excellent and a crowd-pleasing reader, so he got an enthusiastic ovation from the audience. Maybe he won't be "lesser-known" much longer. I didn't participate in any of the open readings this year - I was more involved in soaking it all up.
Other poetry news: Thick with Conviction just put up their October issue, featuring three of my poems, of which one, "Old Man at Bedtime", won their "Best of Issue" award. I'm pretty chuffed about that. That balanced the letdown of learning that I wasn't a top 10 winner in this year's Writer's Digest competition. They haven't published the honorable mentions yet, though, so I hope I at least got one of those. (I did place 10th in the 2005 competition and got honorable mentions in previous contests.)
Music: Not much new stuff since last time, but I decided to subscribe to the Paste Magazine Digital VIP program. For a nominal monthly fee, I get a digital version of one of the best music and media magazines out there these days, plus a monthly album download by an up-and-coming artist, a full-length music sampler, weekly live music downloads, and a quarterly video download. My cup runneth over! I just signed up this week and I've downloaded three albums worth of music I still have to hear.
Poem of the Month: I'm going to break with tradition here, and instead of featuring one of my own poems, I'll present one by BJ Ward. I was going to use a baseball poem of his, "Upon Hearing that Baseball is Boring to America's Youth", in honor of my beloved Phillies, who are about to take on the Dodgers for the NL championship. But instead I'll offer his wonderful Pushcart Prize-winning poem:
Roy Orbison's Last Three Notes
12 mph over the speed limit on Route 80, I realize
the way I know the exact size of my bones
is the way I know I am the only one
in America listening to Roy Orbison
singing “Blue Bayou” at this precise moment,
and I feel sorry for everyone else.
Do they realize they are missing
his third from last note?—Bluuuueee—
and how it becomes a giant mouth I’m driving into—
“Bay”—pronounced bi—becomes the finger
pointing back—biiiiiiii—and all the sealed up cars
greasing along this dirty, pot-holed clavicle of New Jersey
don’t know this “you”—constant as my exhaust smoke—
yooooouuuu— and the beats underneath, more insistent
than the landlord knocking on the door—horns, drums, guitar, bass—
my Toyota Corolla is now one serious vehicle,
and the band and I are all alone, filling it up—
Roy and me in our cool sunglasses up front
and his musicians barely fitting their instruments in the back,
driving into the blue—bom bom bom—pulling ahead
of the pollution faster than New Jersey can spit it out—
Bye—boom bom—his leggy background singers must be jammed
in the trunk because suddenly I hear them and suddenly
we are Odysseus and his boys bringing the Sirens with us,
and the cassette player is our black box
containing all essential details in case we don’t make it,
but I know we’re going to make it because
Roy, my cool copilot, turns to me and says,
like the President says to his top general
after a war has been won, or like Morgan Earp
on his deathbed said to Wyatt when vengeance
was up to him, or like Gretchen Honecker
said when I knew I was about to get my first kiss,
Roy turns to me and says, “You—”
[From Gravedigger's Birthday, North Atlantic Books, 2002. Used with permission of the author.]
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