Graduation!

Last week was a busy time in the Niedt household, with not one but two sons graduating from college - on the same day! My wife and I had to spread ourselves pretty thin. My 21-year-old graduated from Rutgers College in New Brunswick with a B.A. in language and linguistics (Phi Beta Kappa, with high honors). The university commencement, which my wife attended, was on Wednesday. (Tavis Smiley of PBS was the keynote speaker - my wife said he was great.) Thursday afternoon was the college graduation, where he actually received his diploma. I attended that ceremony (James Gandolfini, an alum, was an honored guest), while my wife attended our older son's art exhibition and reception at Rutgers in Camden, where he is graduating with a B.A. in art. His graduation ceremony was that evening, so I had to shuttle from one campus to the other (two hours by train) to get there just in time. It was a tiring but wonderful day. Now the hard part comes for both of them: getting a job!

Some good news on the poetry front: (1) My poem, "Crackle of Stars", was accepted by the online journal Flutter for their June issue. You can check it out (after the 1st, I presume), at
http://www.freewebs.com/rarepetal/index.htm
(2) Edison Literary Review, who have published me three times and are about to publish me again, have posted one of my poems, "52 Pickup", on their sample page: http://www.edisonliteraryreview.org/samples.html
(3) I got an encouraging letter from an Australian haiku journal, Paper Wasp, that they are considering my haiku for their next issue, due in September.

My friend Anna Evans, an estimable poet, alerted me and her other poet friends to the fact that Poetry Magazine is accepting "open" submissions for the months of June, July and August - i.e., they will only consider submissions from poets who have never been published in their journal before. This makes the odds a little better to get into the premier poetry journal in the U.S. Even though my chances are slim to none, I'll give it a go. "You can't win if you don't play!"
If you're interested (bonus: they pay $10 a line!), here's the link:
http://www.poetrymagazine.org/about/guidelines.html

In the spirit of graduation, today's poem is in honor of my oldest son, who's finishing his doctoral thesis at UC Berkeley. The form is a "diamante" - the explanation is a little lengthy, so I invite you to look it up: http://teams.lacoe.edu/documentation/classrooms/amy/algebra/
5-6/activities/poetry/diamante.htm

Higher Education

student

inquisitive, conscientious

reading, writing, calculating

courses, thesis -- degree, career

researching, lecturing, mentoring,

authoritative, informative

professor

Music, Music, Music

A few random rambles tonight on on the subject of music:

1. The year 2007 seems to be off to a rather slow start, at least for me. I've only acquired about four CD releases from this year so far, and of those, only one has impressed me as ahead of the pack: The Shins' Wincing the Night Away. Some very catchy tunes here, particularly "Australia" and "Phantom Limb". So far, though, nothing has really knocked my socks off like last year's The Crane Wife by the Decemberists - I still consider that to be probably the best CD I've heard in the new millennium.

2. Two online music services I recommend: Lala.com and YourMusic.com.
Lala is a great CD-swapping service that works like this: when you join, you create two lists of CD's you own, and CD's you want. The club provides your shipping materials and postage. You're only charged a nominal fee ($1.75 including shipping/handling) for each CD you receive. I've got over 80 CD's so far (not one defective, by the way, though some have surface scratched) and I've actually got some relatively hard-to-find CD's this way.
YourMusic.com, run by BMG, is a great way to get new CD's at a reasonable price. Their only catch is that you must order at least one CD a month at $6.99 plus tax (no shipping and handling), and the CD is automatically mailed the same day each month, from a queue of selections that you set up. You can order more at that same price if you wish (even box sets are only $6.99 per disc).

3. Favorite radio station: WXPN, 88.5FM in Philly - in my opinion, the best adult alternative station in the country. Excellent website, too, with streaming, bulletin boards, blogs, downloads, etc.: xpn.org

4. Most recent CD acquisitions:
Corinne Bailey Rae - self-titled album (mellow jazz-pop, like Norah Jones but British and bit funkier)
James Hunter - People Gonna Talk: another young Brit artist, kind of a Sam Cooke thing going on - mellow blue-eyed soul
Danielia Cotton - Small White Town: I've been a fan ever since seeing her live two summers ago, but only recently got her CD. What a wailing voice! She's been compared to Janis Joplin - I don't see much stylistic similarity, but like Janis, she can really belt out some bluesy rock.

Hey, how about I close with a music poem:

Refrain

Old melodies
galvanize our memories.

Durable as metalplate,
they spring to action,

when car radios issue classics
and we hum along:

Glenn Miller, the Beatles, Madonna –
each evokes the ghost of its time.

Visions of jitterbugs
dance in our heads,

or protest marches,
disco mirrorballs,

or some moment that defined us:
meeting a future wife,

a best friend’s death,
the day you bought that old Chevy.

These soundtracks of youth
move us most, pull the psyche

back to when we passed
from innocence to confidence.

Archived dreams transfix us
like mosquitoes in amber,

stuck in the sap of prehistory,
frozen in the moment

when our wings would sing at sixteen,
and we’d feast on the blood of the world.

Paranoia Strikes Deep

I'ts hard these days not to be paranoid and distrustful of your fellow man, when you think the guy standing in front of you in the checkout line could be plotting to blow up a public building. This little ramble is courtesy of today's big news item: six would-be terrorists were arrested in a foiled plot to attack Ft. Dix, the New Jersey Army base, and kill as many soldiers as possible. All were apparently radical Muslims, but the scary thing is that four of them were from my home town of Cherry Hill, NJ. And apparently some of them had actually graduated from high school here. This, coupled with the Virginia Tech shootings last month, really give one the unsettling feeling that nowhere is safe any more.

I have a connection to the Virginia Tech tragedy too: one of the students critically injured was Sean McQuade, who is my nephew's half-brother. I didn't know Sean, but I certainly know my nephew, who was pretty close to him and very broken up over it. Sean, who was shot in the face, is making some progress, but it will be a long road to recovery for him.

This is a relatively slow week activity-wise for me, but next week will be real busy: we've got two sons graduating from Rutgers - different campuses, too, so there will be a lot of shuffling and shuttling of family members. It'll be great, though. This Thursday I'll meet with my buddies at Quick and Dirty Poets for critique and general hijinks. By the way, here's our website so you can see what kind of shenanigans we've been up to: http://quickanddirtypoets.com/

I'll leave you with a poem, as I like to do. This is a sonnet I wrote which was published in this year's issue of US 1 Worksheets:

Chocolate and Tylenol

A friend confides her love of chocolate
at lunch – sweet-bitter taste on parted lips,
aroma waft to nose, the melt on hot
wet tongue, and brown smear licked from fingertips.

But headaches are the price she pays for lust
of cocoa-flavored sweets, and she admits,
I like it so, I cannot quit – I trust
in analgesic pills before it hits.

She’d rather risk effects of her excess
Than do without this sweet surrender,
and deems this regimen a fair success
when dealing with a frequent chocolate bender.

And that’s just how it is with you for me,
Except I’ve yet to find your remedy.

I Did It!

National Poetry Month has come and gone, and I have survived the challenge! I managed to crank out a poem a day for every day in April. Quite a variety, from two haiku and a limerick to a longer narrative about my old house. There was a sonnet and a couple of other bits of rhymed verse in there, too. I got some inspiration from all over the place, too, including my wife, who gave me the seed for two poems. The month was overall a pretty good one: I read at three different venues, and I got my copy of The Wolf #14, a very fine poetry journal out of London edited by my friend James Byrne. You can visit their website here:
My poem "Character Assassin" is featured in that issue (print edition, not the website).

Short entry tonight - I'm bushed. I'll leave you with a poem from my challenge month:

George Washington's Teeth

They reside inside a glass pedestal
in the museum by his homestead.
Unlike the legend, they are not wood,
but a discolored composite of ivory and gold,
with spring-loaded jaw hinges.

Were these the same teeth
that pronounced the resigning of his commission,
thereby handing the reins to Congress?
Did these teeth work with lips and tongue
to utter the first oath of office?
Could these same teeth have nibbled Martha’s neck
in a rare unbridled moment of passion?

So help me, I mean no disrespect,
but when I see these antique dentures
they remind me of those windup chattering teeth,
not that I would imagine novelty choppers
inside George Washington’s head.
But I could certainly see them in the mouth
of a certain other president.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yeah, today is number 56 - man, that sounds old! I should be retired from the government by now, but it looks like I'll be stuck here for at least a few more years. At least today will be a good day at work - my friends are taking me out to lunch, I got a few cards, even flowers(!) from a coworker who likes to give everyone flowers for their birthday, and yesterday I got a cake from another friend who isn't in today. Tonight the family and I are going out to dinner.

I've taken up the "Poem-a-day" challenge for National Poetry Month, trying to write a poem a day for every day of April. For some poets that may not be a big deal, but my production and work ethic have been way down lately, so this is a good way to goose my muse. So far I'm 26 for 26 (still have to write one for today). Granted, these include two haiku and a limerick, but they still count. And some of them may actually be of some merit.

I forgot to mention in my intro blog that much of my poetry is available on a great poetry community site called Pathetic.org. I've been a member almost since I started writing again in 1999, and I am a former administrator (I left that post voluntarily as a personal decision). Not all my most recent stuff is accessible to non-members, but you are welcome to look at my library at http://www.pathetic.org/library.php?i_memberid=433. If you're a poet, consider joining.

I'll leave you with a not-so-recent poem, but one I'm proud of: it was published by Schuylkill Valley Journal, who nominated it for a Pushcart Prize.

Last Frame

When I go out
let it be as a bowling ball:
sixteen-pound, resin-polished,
black as a January night.

Lob me down
that smooth varnished lane,
hardwood rumble,
a graceful arc –

scattering ten pins with
cacophonous clatter,
valedictory strike,
X in the box, a perfect frame.

Don’t wait for me
at the ball return.

Entering the 21st Century!

Well, I guess it's about time I started one of these things. Although it has the potential to become a diary without a key, I thought I'd give it a shot. Most of the folks in my little poetry group have one, so I figured it was time to join the ranks. As I test-drive this baby, I suppose I'll get more of a feel for it and figure out exactly what I want to do with it. Primarily, I will be discussing and promoting my poetry.

I'm a career civil servant, but I have always loved writing poetry. I wrote a lot in my high school and college days, and had a minor in English at Rutgers. (One of my professors was Miguel Algarin, who co-founded the Nuyorican Poetry movement in NYC, the prescursor to the "slam" movement.) But once marriage, career and parenthood kicked in, I put poetry on the back burner. Then in 1999 I had a "personal renaissance" and started writing prolifically, and within a year I had my first real poetry publication: my poem "How to Peel an Orange" was published by the online journal Stirring: A Literary Collection. (That's the origin of my blog's title.) Since then I've been published in over 40 different print and online journals, and I've won prizes and awards from ByLine Magazine, Writer's Digest, Writers' Journal, and The Philadelphia Writer's Conference. I've workshopped with such famous poets as Paul Muldoon, Molly Peaccok, and Terrance Hayes. One of my biggest thrills was meeting Billy Collins recently. My poem, "Last Frame", was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2005. I've published three chapbooks of poetry, the latest being Wire to the Heart, which is available from Maverick Duck Press (www.maverickduckpress.com). I'm currently a member of Quick and Dirty Poets, a very talented group out of Burlington County, NJ.

My other love is music - not so much as performer (unless you count my experience as baritone horn in the high school band), but as an appreciator of fine music. My tastes run the gamut from pop and rock to jazz, New Age, blues, bluegrass, classical, folk and Celtic. I'm not a big fan of rap, mainstream country, American Idol, or most opera. I have an extensive CD collection and listen to them whenever I have a chance. I've published over a hundred music reviews (many of them Spotlight Reviews) on Amazon.com. Favorites? Too many to mention, though I'd start with The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Miles Davis, Richard Thompson, Paul Simon, Altan, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Bach, Philip Glass, et al. Some "newer" artists who have caught my ear are New Pornographers, Spoon, The Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens, and The Shins. I'll talk music with anyone, anytime.

I'm also a sucker for games, especially word games and trivia. I love Trivial Pursuit, acrostic puzzles, and games shows like Jeopardy. I have the distinction of having been a contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionnaire - twice! Never got to the "hot seat" with Regis, but on the second show I missed it by just 4/10 of a second.

I'm happily married for nearly 34 years to my college sweetheart, and we have four great boys, age 30 to 11. The oldest is finishing his doctorate and just accepted a position at Hofstra University. My two middle ones are graduating from Rutgers in May, and my youngest is looking forward to graduation to middle school.

I guess that's more than enough for now. Watch this space!