Random Acts of Poetry
Poor Reception
Picture an apartment with
a rusty fire escape in a city called
"Somewhere, New Jersey."
A man in a black T-shirt sits
smoking and chewing, watching
George W. in a blizzard of static.
"What now?"
the man asks a sleeping
dog at his feet.
The mutt growls and
twitches, the channel flips to
a woman eating a spider. "Hell."
The man runs down three flights
to the street, stops to watch
the moon rise over roofs,
its bewildered face a mirror of his own.
(This poem also appears in City Belt magazine)
Monday, March 12, 2007
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Alamo Day
Remember the ... what?
Today is "Alamo Day", the day in 1836 when Mexican forces attacked The Alamo, a fort in Texas, killing 185 Texans, including one David Crockett. This eventually led to Texas becoming independent from Mexico after another battle or two. Remember? I thought not. When most people today here the word "Alamo" they probably think of a car-rental company. I don't know why such a company would want to name itself after the site of a bloody massacre or a cottonwood tree. ("Alamo" means "cottonwood" in Spanish.) Maybe they think people will "remember the Alamo" when they land at the airport and need some wheels. Personally, I favor Rent-a-Wreck.
Today is "Alamo Day", the day in 1836 when Mexican forces attacked The Alamo, a fort in Texas, killing 185 Texans, including one David Crockett. This eventually led to Texas becoming independent from Mexico after another battle or two. Remember? I thought not. When most people today here the word "Alamo" they probably think of a car-rental company. I don't know why such a company would want to name itself after the site of a bloody massacre or a cottonwood tree. ("Alamo" means "cottonwood" in Spanish.) Maybe they think people will "remember the Alamo" when they land at the airport and need some wheels. Personally, I favor Rent-a-Wreck.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Word of the Day
Word of the Day
virga (n)
Rain or snow that evaporates before it hits the ground.
"There can be snow virga, but rain virga is what most people see. Mostly in the summer, virga can be easily seen falling away in streaks from the bottom of puffy gray and white cumulus clouds on a crisp afternoon. It looks like a torn drape or a curtain hanging from the cloud, but only reaches down about halfway to the ground."
--Dallas Kachan, The Starship Diaries
This seems like a word that could also be used for half-baked notions or unfinished projects. Things like ideas for stories or artwork that seem fantastic when inspiration strikes but that then fade away when you don't get around to producing them -- or that don't seem quite so fantastic the next morning.
virga (n)
Rain or snow that evaporates before it hits the ground.
"There can be snow virga, but rain virga is what most people see. Mostly in the summer, virga can be easily seen falling away in streaks from the bottom of puffy gray and white cumulus clouds on a crisp afternoon. It looks like a torn drape or a curtain hanging from the cloud, but only reaches down about halfway to the ground."
--Dallas Kachan, The Starship Diaries
This seems like a word that could also be used for half-baked notions or unfinished projects. Things like ideas for stories or artwork that seem fantastic when inspiration strikes but that then fade away when you don't get around to producing them -- or that don't seem quite so fantastic the next morning.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Today is Ash Wednesday
Today is...
...Ash Wednesday. I didn't realize it until I was walking around Manhattan today (on my way to the dentist) and saw people passing by with the smudges on their foreheads. Not being Catholic myself, I don't participate in this ritual, but it's always interested me. I wonder where the ashes come from. Do the priests have a bonfire out in back of St. Pat's? Is it burnt incense ash? Do ecclesiastical supply stores sell ashes? It's puzzling.
...Ash Wednesday. I didn't realize it until I was walking around Manhattan today (on my way to the dentist) and saw people passing by with the smudges on their foreheads. Not being Catholic myself, I don't participate in this ritual, but it's always interested me. I wonder where the ashes come from. Do the priests have a bonfire out in back of St. Pat's? Is it burnt incense ash? Do ecclesiastical supply stores sell ashes? It's puzzling.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Sonnet
Sonnet (Me and Will)
That hath his windows glazed with thine eyes
Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose
They know what beauty is, see where it lies
Save where you are, how happy you make those
If thy sweet virtue answer not thy show
O in what sweets dost thou thy sins enclose
Speaking of worth, what worth in you doth grow
Kill me with spites yet we must not be foes
To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit
Nor tender feeling to base touches prone
In thy soul's thought (all naked) will bestow it
Is't not enough to torture me alone
Uttering bare truth, even so as foes commend
For to no other pass my verses tend
[The above was composed using the Shakespeare Sonnet Shake-Up, via Cosmopoetica]
That hath his windows glazed with thine eyes
Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose
They know what beauty is, see where it lies
Save where you are, how happy you make those
If thy sweet virtue answer not thy show
O in what sweets dost thou thy sins enclose
Speaking of worth, what worth in you doth grow
Kill me with spites yet we must not be foes
To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit
Nor tender feeling to base touches prone
In thy soul's thought (all naked) will bestow it
Is't not enough to torture me alone
Uttering bare truth, even so as foes commend
For to no other pass my verses tend
[The above was composed using the Shakespeare Sonnet Shake-Up, via Cosmopoetica]
The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Way I Feel
The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Way I Feel
OK, that's enough winter, thank you. Everything seems to be covered with a fine layer of -- not just snow -- salt. My sidewalk, my car, even my coat (thanks to some too-intimate contact with the car while cleaning the windshield). Salt and more salt. I feel like a Ritz cracker. Or a peanut. Assaulted.... My Valentine's Day gift: a goblet that lights up with little portraits of stars and planets. What to drink from it? Sparkling wine, I think.... Lost gets weirder and weirder. Now precognition apparently has something to do with it. Poor Desmond. Even with a thick Scottish brogue, he can't seem to assert himself against predetermined fate.... I get President's Day off -- Monday. This is a combined celebration of Washington and Lincoln, in lieu of celebrating their birthdays separately. Both of them must be spinning in their graves about the current occupant of the office. I think I'll celebrate by keeping in mind these words of Lincoln: "I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crises. The great point is to bring them the real facts." And this gem: "Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived.".... Why don't I.... do the dishes....
OK, that's enough winter, thank you. Everything seems to be covered with a fine layer of -- not just snow -- salt. My sidewalk, my car, even my coat (thanks to some too-intimate contact with the car while cleaning the windshield). Salt and more salt. I feel like a Ritz cracker. Or a peanut. Assaulted.... My Valentine's Day gift: a goblet that lights up with little portraits of stars and planets. What to drink from it? Sparkling wine, I think.... Lost gets weirder and weirder. Now precognition apparently has something to do with it. Poor Desmond. Even with a thick Scottish brogue, he can't seem to assert himself against predetermined fate.... I get President's Day off -- Monday. This is a combined celebration of Washington and Lincoln, in lieu of celebrating their birthdays separately. Both of them must be spinning in their graves about the current occupant of the office. I think I'll celebrate by keeping in mind these words of Lincoln: "I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crises. The great point is to bring them the real facts." And this gem: "Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived.".... Why don't I.... do the dishes....
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Monday, February 12, 2007
Monday, February 05, 2007
Look Book: Eccentrically-Bewhiskered Art Production Designer Eric Harvey Brown -- New York Magazine
The ubiquitous...
...Eccentrically-Bewhiskered Art Production Designer. An acquaintance. I bought his photo book about New Orleans after Katrina.
...Eccentrically-Bewhiskered Art Production Designer. An acquaintance. I bought his photo book about New Orleans after Katrina.
Word of the Day: cachinnate
Word of the Day
cachinnate (v)
To laugh loudly
"I love my neighbour/but/are these things my neighbours?/these two-legged things that walk and talk/and cachinnate, and even seem to smile,/seem to smile, ye gods!"
--D.H. Lawrence
Things that give me the giggles: bigfoot; "Too bad the French don't have a word for 'entrepreneur'" --G.W. Bush; pro wrestling; The Office (in Slough...); puns. That's all I can think of right now.
cachinnate (v)
To laugh loudly
"I love my neighbour/but/are these things my neighbours?/these two-legged things that walk and talk/and cachinnate, and even seem to smile,/seem to smile, ye gods!"
--D.H. Lawrence
Things that give me the giggles: bigfoot; "Too bad the French don't have a word for 'entrepreneur'" --G.W. Bush; pro wrestling; The Office (in Slough...); puns. That's all I can think of right now.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
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