Response to "The floor is cold"

The dawn is cold, the sky
dim gray at 6:45 a.m.
I’m dressed, ready to drive to work.

We have kept: evenings alone,
walking through gardens,
listening to treasure chest hearts

opening. Now the evening
grows cold; we wrap ourselves
together like a winter scarf.

---

See Bolivia Poems, XI. Above poem is also available in Postcard Format.

Give Your Words a Cake Today

by George Wallace, poet laureate of Suffolk County, New York

give your words a cake today, it is the birthday of words
let all the minutes and seconds of silent contemplation join hands
let us gather mentally around the big-eyed party table

tell all the nouns and verbs wearing silver bracelets
tell that pair of gutterals in the corner lighting safety matches
time to ante up! here comes the birthday barge

the human race is draped in fresh blue crepe and admiration
tell all the vowels! let all the fricatives in on the news!
mother tongue has hung the hall with plenty of streamers

a raft of presents all wrapped up in pretty purple prose
and everywhere and everyone in the room calling for a speech
speech! speech! speech! praise for the birthday boy!

let us all hear the one horn blowing
let us all stuff his mouth with plenty of cake

Word for the Day

juggernaut (JUG-uhr-not) noun
[From Hindi jagannath (a title of Krishna, a Hindu god), from Sanskrit jagannath, from jagat (world) + nath (lord). A procession of Lord Jagannath takes place each year at Puri (India). Devotees pull a huge cart carrying the deity. Some have been accidentally crushed under the wheels (or are said to have thrown themselves under them).] A picture of the procession

1. Anything requiring blind sacrifice.

2. A massive relentless force, person, institution, etc. that crushes everything in its path.

From Word a Day

She Sleeps in Beauty

she sleeps in beauty
she dreams of orchids
she flies amoung cardinals

the north wind has awakened
but she sleeps toward the morning
and bends her hand toward her breast

the morning dances the earth awake
it gently bends to the horizon
and individually caresses each tree

Rewrite: October Sky

The sky washes her face for October
trees & houses stack in layers that tend
to the north, in a line toward November.
She opens the eyes & to each heart sends
a secret invitation; a token
of days to come, of darkness set apart. 

The trees prepare to rest.  Sometimes broken,
but never destroyed, they face the dark
without vanity; they dress in bright colors
then slowly strip naked to brave the cold.

The sky will not accept any tone of dolor,
she is bright, she is exceedingly bold.
Each cloud a token of winter's coming snow
before time falls back, & our sky must go.

---

Rewrite of poem originally posted on October 24, 2003.

Ideé d’jour

Enjoy every sandwich.
— Warren Zevon (1947 – 2003), singer/songwriter
Quoted in Acoustic Guitar, December 2003; (14)6, 132: 19-20.

Poetic Powerpoint

While visiting Ron Silliman's Blog, I stumbled upon the concept of using Power Point for a poetry reading. Well, by coincidence, Power Point has been getting a lot of play at my day job lately.

One of the profs, who is in his late 60s, is tranferring all his lectures to Power Point. This guy is normally a cyberphobe, but he's like a little boy with a new toy as he compiles these lectures. I have produced the skeletons of a pair of PowerPoints for a couple of researchers/clinicians in the department. In other words, I digitized the Kodachrome slides and copied them to PowerPoint for the researcher to shuffle & title as desired. And, again by coincidence, one of my friends and I were talking about adapting PowerPoint for "Grand Rounds" type presentations.

Well, this being Sweeps Week and all, I decided to present a recent poem ("Fragments for Breakfast") in PowerPoint format. One of the perks of my day job is the use of Adobe Acrobat, so I was able to "publish" the PowerPoint to "pdf", therefore readable by anyone who has the free Adobe Reader.

Here it is for your potential reading pleasure. You may want to reduce magnification to around 45% so the slides will fit within your screen.

All Guy

On the advice of reviewer Michael Wells, I sent a recent block entry through the Gender Genie. I chose Bolivia IV: response (Tue, Oct 28, below), believing it to be one of my longer entries of late. With a total word-count of 316, this selection scored 401 on the Female Scale and 856 on the Male Scale.

The GB Poet entry is more problematic. If I only cut & paste his words, the Male/Female Scale are about equal — only about 3-4 points on either side of 300 each. If I include my comment (which raises the word count to 357), the entry scores as 260 Female and 597 Male.

It occurs to me there may be some sexual prejudice at work here. In other words, shorter passages may score as Male because men are stereotypically more laconic than women.

New Postcards

Both Hot Springs Response and "Evo Morales says (Bolivia IV: response, entry for Tues., Oct. 28, below) are now available in "Postcard Format". Both cards take 15 seconds or less to download, and the "Evo Morales" one features a couple of pictures of Ché Guevara (right).

“Vestige” is a good word to use.

Hot Springs Response

We were threaded into a shawl
woven from the colored fabric of humanity
Delicious soup, first meal after a long fast
We were bread for each other's heart
Woven with strands of hair and warm hands
We were poured out in kisses

---

This poem responds to L.C.'s Bolivia Poems, IX.

GB II, Poet

They want to kill and create chaos.
That's the nature of a terrorist, that's what terrorists do.
They commit suicide acts against innocent people and then
expect people to say, well, gosh, we better — better not try to fight you anymore.
But I will tell you, I would assume that they're
either, or, and probably both Baathists and foreign terrorists.
You ought to look at my speech.
And so, as I said yesterday, we will not be — I said today again,
I believe we can reach a proper accord
to protect the integrity of the daily brief process
I think you ought to look at my speech.
Not every action requires military action.
Resolutions were passed — not one, two or three, but a lot.
Look at my speech.
She's an unsticker.
I hope not. That's what the terrorists want. They want countries to say,
oh, gosh, well, we better not send anybody there because somebody might get hurt.
That's precisely what they're trying to do.
That’s what terrorists do.
They commit suicide acts.
And this country will stay the course.
We'll do our job.
And it's to our interest that we do our job.
Well, I think the American people are patient during an election year,
because they tend to be able to differentiate between politics and reality.
That’s what they do.
As a matter of fact, the American people are —
the electorate is a heck of a lot smarter than most politicians.
She’s an unsticker.
What terrorists do. I said today again,
he's disguised a weapons program, he had ambitions.
Casus belli, it means a — that would have been a cause for a war.
It’s to our interest that we do our job.
That’s what terrorists do. I think you ought to look at my speech.

---

It struck me early this morning that GB II was something of a language poet. This is based, I’ll admit, on a very limited experience of language poets, and may not be fair to them or our Fearless Leader.

In any event, this poem is taken verbatim (with some slight editing) from GB’s press conference yesterday morning. Source: US Newswire.

Bolivia IV: response

Evo Morales says:
Tomorrow we build
from the shattered totem
we rebuild the fields
where children will play
Brother Ché, el gringo
was driven from La Paz
and now yellow potatoes
purple papas & llama meat
feed us all
The earth greets us
the rivers rejoice
the mountains clap their hands

---

This is a response poem to one of the poems L.C. wrote while she was on a mission trip in Bolivia. You may read L.C.'s poem here; look for "Bolivia Poems, IV".

Purists may think we're cheating at the "Postcard Poem" game, but it was just too impractical to actually mail the cards — L.C. would be home before I received the cards, if we had; and she may never have received the cards I sent (if I literally sent them to Bolivia). Some of the cards we wrote "blind" do seem to comment on each other, but we agreed to write new responses to be included in a chapbook.

Just to ponder the process for a moment: like my earlier "response" poem, I've nabbed snippet phrases from L.C.'s poem, rearranged them, and then gave them a new meaning. This is similar to a technique Ruark L. has used with my work posted at the Poetry Espresso e-list. In this case, the new meaning comments on current affairs.

Ché may be a frequent visitor to my poems — he appears here because of the mention in the linked article about Evo Morales. Many probably already know Ché Guevera died in Bolivia, so I'm charmed by the idea of his ghost hovering over this series of poems.

We plan to have the chapbook available for L.C.'s premiere art show, on Nov. 23rd. The format of the book will owe much to the books Cassie Lewis has produced.

Write now to pre-order copies of this limited edition chapbook. Depending on production costs, I expect the selling price to be between $3-$5.

Rush Laughs, Correction

Cousin Phyllis has made me aware that the "article" I posted on Thursday, Oct. 23, actually originated from The Onion, a satirical site. I presented and commented on this article as if it were an actual news item, although I was unable to find verification. I cited my source (Progressive Voice) precisely because I had some doubt about the veracity of the article. I should have stated my doubts in my original entry.

I regret the error. In fairness to the man, I hereby reprint Mr. Limbaugh's actual statement (as relayed to me by Cousin Phyllis):

NEW YORK, Oct. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Rush Limbaugh today issued the following statement on his radio program:

"You know I have always tried to be honest with you and open about my life. So I need to tell you today that part of what you have heard and read is correct. I am addicted to prescription pain medication.

"I first started taking prescription painkillers some years ago when my doctor prescribed them to treat post surgical pain following spinal surgery. Unfortunately, the surgery was unsuccessful and I continued to have severe pain in my lower back and also in my neck due to herniated discs. I am still experiencing that pain. Rather than opt for additional surgery for these conditions, I chose to treat the pain with prescribed medication. This medication turned out to be highly addictive.

"Over the past several years I have tried to break my dependence on pain pills and, in fact, twice checked myself into medical facilities in an attempt to do so. I have recently agreed with my physician about the next steps.

"Immediately following this broadcast, I am checking myself into a treatment center for the next 30 days to once and for all break the hold this highly addictive medication has on me. The show will continue during this time, of course, with an array of guest hosts you have come to know and respect.

"I am not making any excuses. You know, over the years athletes and celebrities have emerged from treatment centers to great fanfare and praise for conquering great demons. They are said to be great role models and examples for others. Well, I am no role model. I refuse to let anyone think I am doing something great here, when there are people you never hear about, who face long odds and never resort to such escapes. They are the role models. I am no victim and do not portray myself as such. I take full responsibility for my problem.

"At the present time, the authorities are conducting an investigation, and I have been asked to limit my public comments until this investigation is complete. So I will only say that the stories you have read and heard contain inaccuracies and distortions, which I will clear up when I am free to speak about them.

"I deeply appreciate all your support over this last tumultuous week. It has sustained me. I ask now for your prayers. I look forward to resuming our excursion into broadcast excellence together."

Mr. Limbaugh clearly states that he is no victim. One may reasonably infer from his statement that he acknowledges that his actions were wrong. This seems to support my primary assertion in my original entry — whether the drugs are for "real" pain, or were once prescribed does not alter the fact that buying prescription drugs on the "blackmarket" is illegal. In the eyes of the law, there is little difference between blackmarket OxyContin or heroin — either one is illegal.

My secondary assertion was that Rush Limbaugh is primarily an entertainer, and should not be taken seriously as a commentator. Considering my failure to fully check my sources and/or facts, perhaps I need to be more cautious about where I point fingers.

---

We now return you to our regularly scheduled poetic programming.

First Web Publication

You may recall that I submitted a poem I wrote back in 1975 to the Virtual Occocuan, for inclusion in its "Danger Issue". I'm happy to report the poem was published! You may scroll down to Wed. Oct. 22, to read "On Searching for Love and Finding the Night", or you can see the title listed on Virtual Occocuan's Table of Contents. The worthy seeker will also learn my "birth name".

Coming up: sometime this winter (I presume), I will be published in the on-line journal Poetry Bay. Details to follow. Time for breakfast, now.

Blog Sweeps Week

The entries this week will more intentionally focus on poetry and poetics. Michael Wells, who blogs at StickPoetSuperhero has instituted a one-person "Sweeps Week" where he will read and rate nominated poetry sites. The only requirement is that the site "MUST be a blog that has some major poetry or poetics connection."

Although I began this site as a means to discuss current political issues, and to share my religious/philosophical musings, it has focused more on poetry for the past month or two. Believing this qualified me for Michael's sweep week, I asked my blog be entered.

So: when I don't have a new poem to share, I will post something older & discuss it. I might even return to reflecting on William Blake's “Proverbs of Hell” from The Marriage of Heaven & Hell.

Hi, Michael!

Ideé d’jour

It is difficult to get the news from poems yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there.
— William Carlos Williams, poet (1883-1963)

October Sky

The sky washes her face for October
clouds come & go, driven by the wind
as the wind blows hard toward November
she opens the eyes & to each heart sends
a secret invitation; a token
of days to come, of darkness set apart.

---

Caution! Sonnet under construction. Here you see the first six lines. I have written more here, which will give you an opportunity to see one of Dr. Omed's fine drawings.

Ideé d’jour

If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.
— Confucius, philosopher and teacher (c. 551–478 BCE)

Rush Laughs

This just in from The Progressive Voice:

WEST PALM BEACH, FL—Frankly discussing his addiction to painkillers, conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh told his radio audience Monday that his abuse of OxyContin was a "remnant of the anything-goes ideology of the Clinton Administration." "Friends, all I can say is 'I told you so," said Limbaugh, from an undisclosed drug-treatment facility. "Were it not for Bill Clinton's loose policies on drug offenders and his rampant immorality, I would not have found myself in this predicament." Limbaugh added that he's staying at a rehab center created by the tax-and-spend liberals.

I've pretty much avoided the topic of Rush Limbaugh's troubles — except to comment that he clearly knows as much about sports as he does politics. But this quote pretty much proved something I've long suspected about Rush.

Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer, not a commentator. He's not necessarily the scary one; I'm more concerned about the people who take him seriously. Can this guy seriously be blaming his problems on Bill Clinton? Seems contrary to the dominant conservative philosophy of taking responsibility for one's own actions. It is, at best, a variant of the "twinkie
defense".

The statement seems to me to be an obvious joke. And I see little reason to take anything else Rush says much more seriously than this statement.

A number of Rush's conservative defenders have pointed out he was taking this medication for pain. Well, I'm sure there's
other drug addicts who would claim they take their drug of choice to deal with pain. The fact that Rush was buying the
drug on the black market suggests he wanted to increase the dose his doctor prescribed, or that his doctor stopped
prescribing the medication. In either case, buying prescription drugs from the black market is illegal.

The real difference between Rush and people in the joint for buying illegal drugs? Rush is white, well-to-do, and popular.
If he was a person of color, or lower-class, odds are pretty good he'd be in the joint.

For a different point of view, visit Cousin Phyllis, and read "Rush Limbaugh", on Saturday, October 18, 2003.