PAD Day 5

Today's poem is short, which is just as well, because I'm finally starting my income tax return. (Call me Mr. Procrastinator, but since I end up underpaying every year, I'm in no hurry to remit to Uncle Sam till the last minute.)  Anyway, today's prompts from Poetic Asides and NaPoWriMo fit together very nicely - they are:  (1) write a "plus" poem (however you wish to interpret that), and (2) write a cinquain.  For those of you who don't know, a cinquain is a short poem of five lines, with the following syllablic count on each line: 2,4,6,8,2. According to Elizabeth Bodien at the NaPoWriMo blog, it should also have alternating stressed and unstressed syllables, so that line one has one stress, line two has two, etc. So without further ado, here's my "plus cinquain":

sun plus

warm equals melt

melt plus soil equals green

green plus rain plus flowers equals

April

Today is the first really spring-like day we've had here in South Jersey since it began about two weeks ago, so you might say this one is rather timely. And here's a bonus cinquain on the subject of "plus":

Note to Self

Plus-size,

double-ex-ell,

Big and Tall department -

is that a sportcoat or a tent?

Diet!

PAD Day 4

This one's a bit darker and more misanthropic than my usual work.  It rose up out of the today's double prompt:  (1)Write a poem with the title "Hold That ________", and (2)write a poem that takes its title from one of the unusual names for spaceships in the stories of Scottish author Iain M. Banks.  You can find examples in the NaPoWriMo blog for today.  So naturally I combined the two into one weird title, which resulted in one weird poem:

Hold That Prosthetic Conscience

over your head and wave it

like a plastic leg, its straps flapping

and slapping against themselves.

Pop out that sympathetic  glass eye,

let it roll across the table like a prized aggie -

it doesn't help you see better anyway.

Grab another drink with your artificial hand -

constrict the metals bands that substitute

for muscles.  Hug with it, but know

it will never really feel.

Take everything off at bedtime,

even your altruistic teeth, and ease

your incomplete head to your pillow,

knowing you can dream terrible dreams

without guilt, while your moral center

rests on a chair in the corner.

I should also take the opportunity here to thank my dear friend Kelly Fineman for featuring my sonnet "January Aubade", and talking up my new book, on her blog today. 

PAD Day 3

Today's dual prompt from Poetic Asides and NaPoWriMo, (1) Write a "tentative" poem, and (2) write a sea shanty (or shantey, or chantey, or however you choose to spell it).  I really had fun with this one, and it somewhat echoes my sentiments and my landlubber tendencies.  So here it be, mateys!

The Tentative Sailor

They slipped me a mickey and I took a sip,

and it’s hey ho, I’m all out to sea,

that’s how I got shanghaied and put on this ship,

this sailor’s life is just not for me.

They said I’d get sea legs as soon as we sail,

and it’s hey ho, I’m all out to sea,

but I am still retching by the starboard-side rail,

this sailor’s life is just not for me.

I’ve been trying for days to tie a good knot,

and it’s hey ho, I’m all out to sea,

but my bowline comes loose and my hitch ain’t worth squat,

this sailor’s life is just not for me.

I eat salt pork and hardtack at morning and night,

and it’s hey ho, I’m all out to sea,

and I pick out the worms before every bite,

this sailor’s life is just not for me.

The last ship we met, we blew a hole in her hull,

and it’s hey ho, I’m all out to sea,

and the flag that we fly has some bones and a skull,

this sailor’s life is just not for me.

My patience is thin and my health is declinin’

and it’s hey ho, I’m all out to sea,

they’ll hang me from the yardarm if I don’t stop whinin’.

this sailor’s life is just not for me.

Poem a Day (PAD) Day 2

Today's prompts from Poetic Asides and NaPoWriMo: (1) Write a bright and/or dark poem, and (2) write a poem about a lie or lies.  This double prompt took me in a slightly surreal direction, and I took a more general approach to the subject of "lies":

Bright Lies

Some bounce off the water or snow,

blinding us as we drive or sail.

Some burn our retinas

if we look directly at them.

Some hit the mist in the meadow

at just the right angle, a sharp white

sheet against the glade.

Some dazzle us with rhinestones

in the spotlight, then disappoint us

when the lights go out.

Some are mirrors, reflecting

what we want to see

and not what we are.

Some are whitened smiles

on faces purged of wrinkles,

lips puffed beyond the natural.

Some are collected by birds

because they are shiny,

and before the dumb things know it,

they have built a nest of lies. 

Happy NaPoWriMo! (Day 1, Belated)

Okay, I have been in a major creative funk since my last post.  I've written maybe five or six poems since my productive weekend at the Winter Getaway in January.  And I found myself trying to beg out of this year's National Poetry Writing Month Poem-a-Day Challenge, saying that I have way too much to do, like taxes, redecorating and re-organizing to get ready for a major party at my house, plus all the usual stuff.  But you know, my muse could use a good ass-kicking, so I'm going to try to write a poem a day anyway.  Hopefully I'll be able to stay with it, and they won't be all crap.  I'm also going to try what I did last April: combine the prompts from Robert Brewer's Poetic Asides blog with the ones from the NaPoWriMo blog.  So here are the prompts from Day 1: Write a poem about an arrival, and write a poem that uses the first line from another famous poem.  I picked one of the four examples suggested on the NaPoWriMo blog, from a poem by Walter de la Mare:

Moonchild

Slowly, silently, now the moon
slides on its arc from behind the trees,
huge at first, or so it seems
so close to the ground, but then
with evening’s deepening dome,
it climbs to its place amid the stars.
Higher and brighter, it tugs at us
with fullness and shadow-casting light.
Cycles reach their peak now –
tides pull closer to the shore,
our bodies respond with madness
and the flow of our own blood.
Each full moon pulls you closer, too,
first-born grandchild, moonchild,
growing ready to arrive at solstice,
the moon’s shortest night,
when all the forces of nature
will converge at once.

Winter Getaway 2013

Well, well, well.  It's been six weeks since my last blog entry.  Getting lazy again.

I survived a rather busy holiday season - lots of family and other company passing through the house.  Nothing really earth shaking to report except that my wife is retiring the end of this month. She's paid her dues and moved up the administrative ladder, and now it's time to say goodbye to it all and enjoy life.  I must admit I'm a little envious, but with any luck I'll be gone by next year myself.

In the poetry world, the biggest news is that I attended the 20th Annual Winter Poetry and Prose Getaway this past weekend at the Seaview Resort, a historic luxury hotel near the Jersey shore.  Part of the fun was having my adult son, a formidable poet in his own right, to join me.  He had a swell time and was somewhat embarrassed by all the praise lavished upon him for his writing.  I thoroughly enjoyed my workshops with Dorianne Laux, Michael Broek, and Karen Z. Duffy, and my tutorial with Emari DiGiorgio. And of course seeing so many of my poet friends and acquaintances is always a pleasure.  But the best part is that, thanks to Peter Murphy's devilishly inventive prompts and the constructive critique of my fellow poets, I came home with six new poems.

Music: I've been getting back into jazz lately, thanks to two box sets I gave myself for Christmas, so to speak.  One is the Dave Brubeck set that includes all his "time" albums from 1961-1966: Of course there's the immortal Time Out (featuring "Take Five"), but there's also Time Further Out, Countdown: Time Out in Space, Time Changes,and Time In.  I also got a collection of jazz music from Creed Taylor's CTI Records, and infulential label in the late 1960's and early- to mid-1970's.  You might say they were the start of the "smooth jazz" movement (for better or worse, depending on your opinion of that subgenre). Their stable of musicians included familiar names like Freddie Hubbard, Paul Desmond and Chet Baker, but also some young upstarts like George Benson, Grover Washington Jr. and Bob James, as well as Latin American artists like Astrud Gilberto, Airto and Deodato. The "box" is a facsimile of the old gatefold album cover, featuring a sampler of some of the artistic and vibrantly colorful covers that were a CTI standard.

As far as new music goes, I only have one favorite so far this year: Elements of Light by Pantha du Prince and the Bell Laboratory. My wife tipped me off to this German electronica artist after hearing samples of the album on NPR. (That's unusual in itself because I've been traditionally the music maven of the household.)  I listened to the NPR stream and was immediately hooked.  Imagine a five-movement, classically-constructed piece that starts with handbell choir, then gradually morphs into a section with carillon and chimes, then suddenly picks up a bass-heavy dance beat and electronic effects, and just propels you along with it.  It's organic and acoustic, electronic and funky, all at the same time, with echoes of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.  Great driving music too, by the way.

Poem:  Here's one I wrote at the Winter Getaway:

Success

The world seem to measure success

By how far we climb up the ladder,

How much stuff we acquire,

How our names are known to the world.

A few people know my name, but

My face will never be on a national magazine.

I have a lot of stuff, but it may not be

The right stuff – there’s a lot of junk mixed in.

And as for that ladder… well, I’m tired.

Can’t I just sit on this rung for a while?

Favorite Music: of the Year and of the Season

So here is a somewhat expanded version of my "Best of 2012" music list from the previous blog entry. 

Albums:

1. Wrecking Ball - Bruce Springsteen

2. My Head is an Animal - Of Monsters and Men

3. Milk Famous - White Rabbits

4. A Thing Called Divine Fits - Divine Fits

5. Be the Void - Dr. Dog

6. Port of Morrow - The Shins

7. Slipstream - Bonnie Raitt

8. The Lumineers - The Lumineers

9. El Camino - The Black Keys

10. Babel - Mumford and Sons

11. Big Station - Alejandro Escovedo

12. Boys and Girls - Alabama Shakes

13. Bloom -  Beach House

14. Clear Heart, Full Eyes - Craig Finn

15. Fragrant World - Yeasayer

16. Chimes of Freedom: Songs of Bob Dylan - Various Artists

17. Little Broken Hearts -  Norah Jones

18. Anastasis - Dead Can Dance

19. Gossamer - Passion Pit

20. Algiers - Calexico

Songs:

1. Little Talks - Of Monsters and Men

2. Little Black Submarines - The Black Keys

3. Land of Hope and Dreams - Bruce Springsteen

4. Default - Django Django

5. I Will Wait - Mumford and Sons

6. Would That Not Be Nice - Divine Fits

7. Stubborn Love - The Lumineers

8. No Way Down - The Shins

9. Take a Walk - Passion Pit

10. Danny Come Inside - White Rabbits

11. Lonesome - Dr. Dog

12. Doom and Gloom - The Rolling Stones

13. Dirty Money - Antibalas

14. Used to Rule the World - Bonnie Raitt

15. Hold On - Alabama Shakes

16. Bottom of the World - Alejandro Escovedo

17. Bottom of the River - Delta Rae

18. 45 - The Gaslight Anthem

19. Reagan's Skeleton - Yeasayer

20. Happy Pills - Norah Jones

I should also put in a good word for Days by Real Estate, a fine alt-jangle pop band out of North Jersey whom I discovered this year, but they weren't eligible for the list since their album was released last October.

Also, if you'd like to score some good holiday music, check out Tracey Thorn's Tinsel and Lights. Tracey is formerly of the British group Everything But the Girl, and her album of self-described "secular carols" is a warm, mellow affair, with great covers of Joni Mitchell's "River" and Ron Sexsmith's "Maybe This Christmas", and her own gorgeous song, "Joy", among other fine tunes.  I've also heard bits and pieces of Sufjan Stevens' new Christmas EP collection Silver and Gold.  As with his previous collection Songs for Christmas, it's a mixed bag of religious and secular songs, veering from the reverent to the whimsical and silly. If you like Sufie (and I do), you won't be disappointed.