Sometimes something wants to be said, sometimes a way of saying wants to be used.—Paul Valéry
*
From an interesting article about Valery in today's Slate:
"By the age of 20, Ambroise-Paul Valéry (1871–1945) was already recognized as a promising poet, but he repudiated the ambition and stayed almost silent for a full two decades. He was 40 when he was persuaded to publish his early poems . . .
"The second part of the above quotation makes explicit a trade secret that most poets would prefer were kept under wraps. The English editor and anthologist Geoffrey Grigson once said, with typical acerbity, of "notebook poets," that he could always tell when a poet had been writing down phrases and saving them up for future use." (full article here).
*
Do you save up lines? I know I do.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Should a poetry reading be entertaining?
Had a great time at Burning Word Saturday. The weather was beautiful — albeit a little blustery at times — and much better than last year's howling winds and rains. It seemed the turnout was even larger than last year, and it was a hoot to see old friends, new friends, kids from the local high schools and colleges, and more. It worked well to having two reading venues to choose between, and it was pretty easy to go back and forth between the two of them, and listen for a while, and move on.
I think my reading went over fairly well. I just love reading the word-play poems, and the audience seems to really respond to them. But that brings up a question: *should* a poetry reading be "entertaining?"
By that I mean, when you are choosing which poems to read, do you think of your audience, and try to make your reading as engaging and (I hate this word) "accessible" as possible for them? Or do you simply read what interests you at the moment, perhaps even something that is difficult or in process, and let the chips fall where they may?
The reason I bring this up is that one of my favorite poems in What's Written on the Body is "October Journal." But I have never read it in public because it is kind of long, very calm and meditative, not *funny* at all, and perhaps more than a little romantic and sad. I think it is a good poem. I love the language and the look on the page of the cascading and wandering lines. But I don't read it because I fear it may bore an audience, that it may be one of those poems that just does better on the page, where a reader can be with it on their own terms, one-on-one, rather than read before an audience, where there is very much a group dynamic going on.
What do you think? Do you have poems of yours that you love, but that you don't ever read in public?
*
PS: Erin has good news.
I think my reading went over fairly well. I just love reading the word-play poems, and the audience seems to really respond to them. But that brings up a question: *should* a poetry reading be "entertaining?"
By that I mean, when you are choosing which poems to read, do you think of your audience, and try to make your reading as engaging and (I hate this word) "accessible" as possible for them? Or do you simply read what interests you at the moment, perhaps even something that is difficult or in process, and let the chips fall where they may?
The reason I bring this up is that one of my favorite poems in What's Written on the Body is "October Journal." But I have never read it in public because it is kind of long, very calm and meditative, not *funny* at all, and perhaps more than a little romantic and sad. I think it is a good poem. I love the language and the look on the page of the cascading and wandering lines. But I don't read it because I fear it may bore an audience, that it may be one of those poems that just does better on the page, where a reader can be with it on their own terms, one-on-one, rather than read before an audience, where there is very much a group dynamic going on.
What do you think? Do you have poems of yours that you love, but that you don't ever read in public?
*
PS: Erin has good news.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Burning Word!
Burning Word: The Festival of Poetic Fire
Burning Word 2007 at Greenbank Farm, Whidbey Island
Headliners will be the internationally renowned poet, Naomi Shihab Nye and the first Parliamentary Poet Laureate of Canada, George Bowering.
Schedules & Other Information
2007 Workshop schedule
2007 Poetry reading schedule
Burning Word 2007 press release
In additon to the main stage, the House of Open Mics offers hours of hosted open mic opportunities, special readings and featured readers. All interested poets will have a chance to read their work beginning bright and early and throughout the day!
The Educational Workshop Tent will provide a third festival venue and will host seven 70-minute poetry workshops presented by noted poet/teachers.
Burning Word festival also hosts a Small Press Fair, a festival BookStore, book signings and community networking space. While at Greenbank Farm, festival goers can enjoy expansive water views, hike miles of beautiful trails, have a tasty lunch or dessert at Whidbey Pies Cafe, or a wine tasting at the Farm's Wine Shop.
All Day Event Passes for Burning Word 2007: Admission is available at the gate. Price is Adults = $15; Students under 18 = $5 and includes all performances, workshops, small press and open mics.
Burning Word 2007 at Greenbank Farm, Whidbey Island
Headliners will be the internationally renowned poet, Naomi Shihab Nye and the first Parliamentary Poet Laureate of Canada, George Bowering.
Schedules & Other Information
2007 Workshop schedule
2007 Poetry reading schedule
Burning Word 2007 press release
In additon to the main stage, the House of Open Mics offers hours of hosted open mic opportunities, special readings and featured readers. All interested poets will have a chance to read their work beginning bright and early and throughout the day!
The Educational Workshop Tent will provide a third festival venue and will host seven 70-minute poetry workshops presented by noted poet/teachers.
Burning Word festival also hosts a Small Press Fair, a festival BookStore, book signings and community networking space. While at Greenbank Farm, festival goers can enjoy expansive water views, hike miles of beautiful trails, have a tasty lunch or dessert at Whidbey Pies Cafe, or a wine tasting at the Farm's Wine Shop.
All Day Event Passes for Burning Word 2007: Admission is available at the gate. Price is Adults = $15; Students under 18 = $5 and includes all performances, workshops, small press and open mics.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Judith Roche reads from her new book, Wisdom of the Body, tonight at Hugo House, 7PM. It's a wonderful book. Here are some samples:
from "Angels"
are not like Saints.
They do not discriminate
but come to everyone.
Their eyes burn green fire
but their kisses are icy.
They can play rough when we get caught
in the heavy crosswinds that swirl around their wings.
They are not above artifice
and sometimes appear in disguise --
a mask of smeared lipstick, gypsy
bangles, or an old man's coat. (pg10)
(you can hear her read the poem here)
*
from "Open Heart Surgery"
They slit you open, cracked your ribcage
and whispered to your open heart.
Heal! they said, and that was fine,
but you stayed deep asleep
days after the surgery.
Nine days, to be precise.
But oh the places you went with John
while we kept vigil in your hospital room!
. . .
(pg 28)
(the poem then goes on in the voice of the patient, telling of his dream journeys with his lover, to Marakech, Montmarte ("it's all electronic now"), the American South. What a trip!)
*
from "Death Comes to a Flyer"
Someone will come at the end
and tell you a story so beautiful
you will rise out of yourself
and go into it.
(pg 42)
*
Though I don't care too much for the Salmon Cycle poems (too Northwesty for my taste)
there is a lot to like in this book: "Red shoes run faster/with burnt sienna hair" (from "September Shoes"). "I believe in all the gods--/I just don't like some of them/ . . .I believe that art saves lives/And love makes it worth living them." (from "Credo."). I have also enjoyed the several poems about the lives of famous (or infamous) women, including Jeanne D'Arc, Mata Hari, and Marie Antoinette.
*
Hope to make it to the reading!
from "Angels"
are not like Saints.
They do not discriminate
but come to everyone.
Their eyes burn green fire
but their kisses are icy.
They can play rough when we get caught
in the heavy crosswinds that swirl around their wings.
They are not above artifice
and sometimes appear in disguise --
a mask of smeared lipstick, gypsy
bangles, or an old man's coat. (pg10)
(you can hear her read the poem here)
*
from "Open Heart Surgery"
They slit you open, cracked your ribcage
and whispered to your open heart.
Heal! they said, and that was fine,
but you stayed deep asleep
days after the surgery.
Nine days, to be precise.
But oh the places you went with John
while we kept vigil in your hospital room!
. . .
(pg 28)
(the poem then goes on in the voice of the patient, telling of his dream journeys with his lover, to Marakech, Montmarte ("it's all electronic now"), the American South. What a trip!)
*
from "Death Comes to a Flyer"
Someone will come at the end
and tell you a story so beautiful
you will rise out of yourself
and go into it.
(pg 42)
*
Though I don't care too much for the Salmon Cycle poems (too Northwesty for my taste)
there is a lot to like in this book: "Red shoes run faster/with burnt sienna hair" (from "September Shoes"). "I believe in all the gods--/I just don't like some of them/ . . .I believe that art saves lives/And love makes it worth living them." (from "Credo."). I have also enjoyed the several poems about the lives of famous (or infamous) women, including Jeanne D'Arc, Mata Hari, and Marie Antoinette.
*
Hope to make it to the reading!
Show Your Love:
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If you’d like to vote for Poetry Foundation, please go here ( http://pv.webbyawards.com/account/login). You can find them near the bottom of the page under Associations.
(note: you may need to register, but it's quick).
Monday, April 23, 2007
My friend T Clear pointed me to this really fun poem on Slate:
"Death's Doorman"
By Daniel Bosch
Would this be ambience, or atmosphere?
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººFear.
I hadn't expected such an emptiness!
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººAn empty nest.
Do you open up before or after a good pandering?
ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººDuring.
Book, Web site, infomercial. Edginess must be catching.
ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººKa-ching!
So let me be the first to congratulate—
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººToo late.
What is it people seek in your utterances?
ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººOther answers.
You knew Mozart. Before he decomposed—
ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººHe composed.
And Freud was your plumber. Conscious or unconscious?
ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººKein Anschluss.
But have you ever crossed over? You know, necrophilia?
ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººOphelia.
Celebrities! They run to sarcasm.
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººOur chasm.
How do you do it? I'm already way off course.
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººOf course.
Is that really his door? How does he like his irony?
ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººRunny.
I still sneeze when I hear a twenty-one-gun salute.
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººSalud!
What would you do if you came to a precipice?
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººPiss.
What can I say to my grandkids that's not uncool?
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººUncle.
Have you any plans for your obsolescence?
ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººLessons.
And not a single kind word for posterity?
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººAusterity.
Well, you know what they say about the calendar.
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººEndure.
How will I know when I reach you?
ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººI eat you.
So you, too, yearn for closure?
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººOh, sure.
*
Oh, how I wish I had written this!
"Death's Doorman"
By Daniel Bosch
Would this be ambience, or atmosphere?
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººFear.
I hadn't expected such an emptiness!
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººAn empty nest.
Do you open up before or after a good pandering?
ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººDuring.
Book, Web site, infomercial. Edginess must be catching.
ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººKa-ching!
So let me be the first to congratulate—
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººToo late.
What is it people seek in your utterances?
ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººOther answers.
You knew Mozart. Before he decomposed—
ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººHe composed.
And Freud was your plumber. Conscious or unconscious?
ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººKein Anschluss.
But have you ever crossed over? You know, necrophilia?
ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººOphelia.
Celebrities! They run to sarcasm.
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººOur chasm.
How do you do it? I'm already way off course.
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººOf course.
Is that really his door? How does he like his irony?
ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººRunny.
I still sneeze when I hear a twenty-one-gun salute.
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººSalud!
What would you do if you came to a precipice?
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººPiss.
What can I say to my grandkids that's not uncool?
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººUncle.
Have you any plans for your obsolescence?
ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººLessons.
And not a single kind word for posterity?
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººAusterity.
Well, you know what they say about the calendar.
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººEndure.
How will I know when I reach you?
ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººI eat you.
So you, too, yearn for closure?
ººººººººººººººººººººººººººººOh, sure.
*
Oh, how I wish I had written this!
Sunday, April 22, 2007
EARTH/HEART not earth/hater
Happy Earth Day.
Put on your earth shoes, drink some carrot juice and go for a walk.
Or, if you want to feel really guilty, take this "ecological footprint" quiz.
Put on your earth shoes, drink some carrot juice and go for a walk.
Or, if you want to feel really guilty, take this "ecological footprint" quiz.
Had a fun time at the Friends of the Library "Literary Voices" dinner last night. I was a last minute fill-in "guest author" for someone who had to cancel. Dean and I had a wonderful time getting to chat & schmooze with members of UW Libraries, faculty, donors, other writers. I finally met David Wagoner, whose wonderful play about Theodore Roethke will show in Seattle this summer. Pepper Schwartz, who was the featured speaker, gave a fascinating and humorous talk about growing up in the 50's & coming of age at Yale during the dawn of the sexual revolution and women's rights movement. She has a new book, Prime, coming out in June. It's amazing to think she has been a professor at UW since 1972! (Dean and her crossed paths back in the 80's, briefly, and had fun catching up). You've come a long way baby!
Saturday, April 21, 2007
See you there!
2007 Seattle Poetry Festival
April 20-22, 2007
Richard Hugo House
1634 11th Ave.
Seattle, WA 98122
Description
Friday, April 20: Emerging Voices is a day of educational programming and workshops for elementary, middle, and high school students from Seattle Public Schools.
Saturday, April 21: The Big Bang explores the cosmology of poetry, spirituality, and science. (I am reading at 4pm. Full schedule here).
Sunday, April 22: The Happy Accident explores improvisation and collaboration in making poetry.
*
Thursday, April 19, 2007
I'll be reading with Alice Derry in Pouslbo this Sunday, for the Jewelbox Reading series. If you are in the area, I hope you can come down!
Sunday, April 22nd, 2007
@ 3:00 PM
Jewel Box Theatre.
225 Iverson Street
Poulsbo, WA
Admission is free.
Full info here.
"One of Mr. Cho's English professors said on Wednesday that she so feared the intimidating nature of the English major that she threatened to resign if he were not removed from her class."
“He was a very intimidating student to my other students,” poetry professor Nikki Giovanni said. As a result of his disturbing presence and his graphic writing, she actually wrote to Ms. Roy asking that he be removed from her class, which he was.
“I was willing to resign before I was going to continue with him.”
*
Hopefully this tragedy will lead to other troubled students getting the help they need (therapy, medication, restriction on ability to purchase weapons). Even if it involves having them removed from school.
*
You can listen to Niki Giovanni's memorial speech here.
“He was a very intimidating student to my other students,” poetry professor Nikki Giovanni said. As a result of his disturbing presence and his graphic writing, she actually wrote to Ms. Roy asking that he be removed from her class, which he was.
“I was willing to resign before I was going to continue with him.”
*
Hopefully this tragedy will lead to other troubled students getting the help they need (therapy, medication, restriction on ability to purchase weapons). Even if it involves having them removed from school.
*
You can listen to Niki Giovanni's memorial speech here.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Tagged by Sam
Here’s the tag:
"Name five poetry collections . . . . Collections that, for whatever reason, should be a bit off the beaten path. And need not have caused the earth to open and swallow you whole." Here's five from off my bookshelf, off the beaten path, that one time or another impressed me:
Terms to Be Met, George Bradley
Ghost Letters, Richard McCann
What the Ice Gets, Melinda Mueller
Falling Out of the Sky, Deborah Pope
Tremolo, Spencer Short
The Love-Suicides at Sonezaki, Siri von Reis
Following Fred Astaire, Nathalie F. Anderson
I know. It is more than five. But what the heck.
How many of them do you know?
*
"Name five poetry collections . . . . Collections that, for whatever reason, should be a bit off the beaten path. And need not have caused the earth to open and swallow you whole." Here's five from off my bookshelf, off the beaten path, that one time or another impressed me:
Terms to Be Met, George Bradley
Ghost Letters, Richard McCann
What the Ice Gets, Melinda Mueller
Falling Out of the Sky, Deborah Pope
Tremolo, Spencer Short
The Love-Suicides at Sonezaki, Siri von Reis
Following Fred Astaire, Nathalie F. Anderson
I know. It is more than five. But what the heck.
How many of them do you know?
*
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
PULITZER PRIZE IN POETRY ($10,000)
Awarded to "Native Guard" by Natasha Trethewey (Houghton Mifflin).
Also nominated as finalists in this category were: "The Republic of Poetry" by Martin Espada (W.W. Norton), and "Interrogation Palace: New & Selected Poems 1982-2004" by David Wojahn (University of Pittsburgh Press).
Jurors: Cynthia Huntington, professor of English, Dartmouth University (Chair),
Rafael Campo, associate professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, Claudia Emerson, professor of English, Arrington Distinguished Chair in Poetry, University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA
*
A wonderful little essay by Dana Levin, about a pair of William Blake poems in today's Poetry Daily Poet's Picks. You can only see it if you subscribe to the free email.
*
So sad about the shootings at Virginia Tech. This country really needs tougher gun laws. And better mental health treatment. I bet it comes out the shooter was having trouble with depression, or a psychotic break, and was not being treated. I mean, you really would have to be not in your right mind to do such a thing. It's all so sad.
Awarded to "Native Guard" by Natasha Trethewey (Houghton Mifflin).
Also nominated as finalists in this category were: "The Republic of Poetry" by Martin Espada (W.W. Norton), and "Interrogation Palace: New & Selected Poems 1982-2004" by David Wojahn (University of Pittsburgh Press).
Jurors: Cynthia Huntington, professor of English, Dartmouth University (Chair),
Rafael Campo, associate professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, Claudia Emerson, professor of English, Arrington Distinguished Chair in Poetry, University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA
A wonderful little essay by Dana Levin, about a pair of William Blake poems in today's Poetry Daily Poet's Picks. You can only see it if you subscribe to the free email.
So sad about the shootings at Virginia Tech. This country really needs tougher gun laws. And better mental health treatment. I bet it comes out the shooter was having trouble with depression, or a psychotic break, and was not being treated. I mean, you really would have to be not in your right mind to do such a thing. It's all so sad.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Not Bad!
#4413 Bryant, Andrew V. 25 M Seattle WA USA
Checkpoints 5k 10k 15k 20k Half 25k 30k 35k 40k
0:19:50 0:39:53 1:00:47 1:22:04 1:26:53 1:44:11 2:06:53 2:30:39 2:54:05
Official Time / Overall / Gender / Division
3:05:36 / 1383 / 1313 / 959
Way to go, Andy!
Checkpoints 5k 10k 15k 20k Half 25k 30k 35k 40k
0:19:50 0:39:53 1:00:47 1:22:04 1:26:53 1:44:11 2:06:53 2:30:39 2:54:05
Official Time / Overall / Gender / Division
3:05:36 / 1383 / 1313 / 959
Way to go, Andy!
I want to use this word in a poem
albedo
1. The fraction of light reflected from a body or surface. For example, earth's albedo is around 0.39. 2. The white, spongy inner lining of a citrus fruit rind.
1. The fraction of light reflected from a body or surface. For example, earth's albedo is around 0.39. 2. The white, spongy inner lining of a citrus fruit rind.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Read "Reconsidering the Seven" from What's Written on the Body in the Seattle Times today. How fitting for the first Sunday after Easter?
I'm on my last day of ten days in a row on-call. It's been fairly mellow (knock on wood). The pager hasn't gone off *too often* in the middle of the night.
I remember the days when pagers used to just "beep." Now they can buzz, purr, tinkle, whistle, play the Marseilles, or anything else you want. They can also receive or send text messages, be linked to voicemail or mobile phone, search the news on the internet, do your laundry or pick up your dry cleaning. It's really kind of ridiculous.
I also remember being on-call in the days before cell phones (yes I really am *that old*). We used to tape a quarter to our pager, so that we always had one in case we needed to return a call. Good times. Good times.
*
Last night Dean and I attended the Seattle Pro Musica Auction. What an entertaining evening! Good performances, tons of fun stuff up for bid, including gourmet dinners, trips, artwork, jewelry, books. They ply you with free drinks and wine to loosen your wallet. I ended up bidding on a trip to San Diego, of all places, and got a great deal. I guess that's where Dean and I are going next winter!
*
Rebecca has a concert today. I am hoping to attend. More about it here.
I remember the days when pagers used to just "beep." Now they can buzz, purr, tinkle, whistle, play the Marseilles, or anything else you want. They can also receive or send text messages, be linked to voicemail or mobile phone, search the news on the internet, do your laundry or pick up your dry cleaning. It's really kind of ridiculous.
I also remember being on-call in the days before cell phones (yes I really am *that old*). We used to tape a quarter to our pager, so that we always had one in case we needed to return a call. Good times. Good times.
Last night Dean and I attended the Seattle Pro Musica Auction. What an entertaining evening! Good performances, tons of fun stuff up for bid, including gourmet dinners, trips, artwork, jewelry, books. They ply you with free drinks and wine to loosen your wallet. I ended up bidding on a trip to San Diego, of all places, and got a great deal. I guess that's where Dean and I are going next winter!
Rebecca has a concert today. I am hoping to attend. More about it here.
Friday, April 13, 2007
His running buddies affectionately call him "the machine."
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Justice Prevails!
TUMWATER, Wash. - Druggists who think "morning-after" birth control pills are tantamount to abortion can't stand in the way of a patient's right to get a prescription, state regulators said Thursday.
In a unanimous vote, the state Board of Pharmacy ruled that drug stores have a duty to fill lawful prescriptions, regardless of an individual pharmacist's personal objections to any particular medication.
see full story here.
In a unanimous vote, the state Board of Pharmacy ruled that drug stores have a duty to fill lawful prescriptions, regardless of an individual pharmacist's personal objections to any particular medication.
see full story here.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Seattle Times Poetry Feature - Click on this
Yesterday, Susan Rich and I, as well as poets Mark Halperin, Judith Roche, and Richard Wakefield, were featured in the Seattle Times for National Poetry Month.
Check it out here.
You can also listen to recordings we made of poems by clicking on each of our names on the right of the article. I read "Anagrammer" and "Dream of the Cancer Cure." (The latter is for my sister, and for you, C Dale).
The Seattle Times is looking at the response to this, in deciding if they will do more poetry features. So every "click" counts, if you know what I mean (hint hint).
thx
Peter
Check it out here.
You can also listen to recordings we made of poems by clicking on each of our names on the right of the article. I read "Anagrammer" and "Dream of the Cancer Cure." (The latter is for my sister, and for you, C Dale).
The Seattle Times is looking at the response to this, in deciding if they will do more poetry features. So every "click" counts, if you know what I mean (hint hint).
thx
Peter
Sunday, April 08, 2007
April Showers
I have not written a single poem for NaPoMo. I'm just not in the mood for new writing. I have tinkered with a few revisions, but that's it. Still, I am enjoying what the NaPoMo-ers have been putting up on line. Keep it coming!
*
Call has been quiet so far. Just a couple babies and a patient with a new diagnosis of a tumor in her neck.
*
Easter yesterday was also my dad's yahrzeit (I know, I'm not Jewish, but I love that they have a word for this). It's been 23 years now. After all this time, I can't really say that I miss him anymore. I don't really even feel sad. More of just an "oh, yeah." It's hard to describe. And in just a few years, I'll be older than he was. OMG, now *that* gives me pause.
*
A patient of mine has spent his entire life designing gardens for other people. Now he has cancer and is dying. And he is finally designing a garden for himself.
Call has been quiet so far. Just a couple babies and a patient with a new diagnosis of a tumor in her neck.
Easter yesterday was also my dad's yahrzeit (I know, I'm not Jewish, but I love that they have a word for this). It's been 23 years now. After all this time, I can't really say that I miss him anymore. I don't really even feel sad. More of just an "oh, yeah." It's hard to describe. And in just a few years, I'll be older than he was. OMG, now *that* gives me pause.
A patient of mine has spent his entire life designing gardens for other people. Now he has cancer and is dying. And he is finally designing a garden for himself.
Happy Easter
Happy Easter everybody. Today I rounded on newborns, then came home to plant some brocoli, cauliflower, and Walla Walla sweet onions with Dean. I think they are about to have an Easter egg hunt in the park across the street. Someone is blowing a little bugle or something, and little kids are squealing and laughing and running around. I don't quite get it: why does the Easter Bunny deliver Easter eggs? Shouldn't it be the Easter Chicken?
*
Kahtleen Flenniken has a wonderful review of Famous in the lastest issue of Bloomsbury Review. You go girl!
*
Kahtleen Flenniken has a wonderful review of Famous in the lastest issue of Bloomsbury Review. You go girl!
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Friday, April 06, 2007
Breaking News
BYOB: State to hire poet laureate, but won’t pay for wine
OLYMPIA — Washington State will have a poet laureate, it seems, but without a butt.
After 12 years of unsuccessful attempts, state lawmakers have agreed to hire an official state poet laureate — salary to be determined — to promote poetry statewide and compose poems for government events.
Lawmakers stopped short, however, of Jacobsen’s suggestion that they fully embrace the medieval tradition of providing the poet with a 126-gallon barrel — known as a "butt" — of wine. Instead, Jacobsen said he'll see if the state wine commission would donate wine.
Full story here.
Nota bene: If they offer *me* the job, then I definitely want the wine. Perhaps a velvety Washington Merlot, or a spicy-sweet Italian Pinot Grigio, or a Southeast Australian Savingnon Blanc with hints of grass, pear and apricot. Really, it's not too much to ask. Hehehehe.
*
I'm about to start a ten-day stretch of on-call, covering part of a week for a colleague who had planned a trip to Alaska. I hope the nice weather here keeps it from being too crazy busy.
PS: It is almost 80 frigging degreees right now. Amazing. Like a summer day. I'm lovin' it. But it won't last for long. The forecast for the next 6 days: rainrainrainrainrainrain
*
OLYMPIA — Washington State will have a poet laureate, it seems, but without a butt.
After 12 years of unsuccessful attempts, state lawmakers have agreed to hire an official state poet laureate — salary to be determined — to promote poetry statewide and compose poems for government events.
Lawmakers stopped short, however, of Jacobsen’s suggestion that they fully embrace the medieval tradition of providing the poet with a 126-gallon barrel — known as a "butt" — of wine. Instead, Jacobsen said he'll see if the state wine commission would donate wine.
Full story here.
Nota bene: If they offer *me* the job, then I definitely want the wine. Perhaps a velvety Washington Merlot, or a spicy-sweet Italian Pinot Grigio, or a Southeast Australian Savingnon Blanc with hints of grass, pear and apricot. Really, it's not too much to ask. Hehehehe.
I'm about to start a ten-day stretch of on-call, covering part of a week for a colleague who had planned a trip to Alaska. I hope the nice weather here keeps it from being too crazy busy.
PS: It is almost 80 frigging degreees right now. Amazing. Like a summer day. I'm lovin' it. But it won't last for long. The forecast for the next 6 days: rainrainrainrainrainrain
Thursday, April 05, 2007
One doctor authorized all 11 prescription medications found in Anna Nicole Smith's hotel room the day the Playboy Playmate died of a drug overdose, according to documents released by the medical examiner's office Wednesday.
More than 600 pills — including about 450 muscle relaxants — were missing from prescriptions that were no more than five weeks old, according to information obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request.
Here is the list:
Under the name of Howard K. Stern:
Carisoprodol: Muscle relaxant, prescribed Jan. 2, 2007; 194 pills left out of 360.
Methocarbamol: Muscle relaxant, prescribed Jan. 2, 2007; 87 pills left out of 120.
Diazepam (Valium): Antianxiety medication, prescribed Jan. 26, 2007; 178 pills left out of 240.
Furosemide (Lasix): Diuretic, prescribed Jan. 8, 2007; seven pills left out of an unknown quantity.
Topamax: Migraine medication, prescribed Jan. 26, 2007. 82 pills left out of 120.
Clonazepam (Klonopin): Antianxiety medication, prescribed Jan. 26, 2007; 79 pills left out of 120.
Chloral Hydrate: Sedative, prescribed Jan. 2, 2007; 177 ml. left out of 480.
Carisoprodol: Muscle relaxant, prescribed Jan. 26, 2007; 111 pills left out of 360.
Under the name of Alex Katz:
Cipro: Antibiotic, prescribed Feb. 2, 2007; 15 pills left out of 20.
Tamiflu: Antiviral flu medication, prescribed Feb. 5, 2007; eight pills left out of 10.
Under the name of Khristine Eroshevich:
Klor-Con-M20: Potassium supplement, prescribed Jan. 8, 2007; 20 pills left out of 30
This is just so pathetic and sad.
*
More than 600 pills — including about 450 muscle relaxants — were missing from prescriptions that were no more than five weeks old, according to information obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request.
Here is the list:
Under the name of Howard K. Stern:
Carisoprodol: Muscle relaxant, prescribed Jan. 2, 2007; 194 pills left out of 360.
Methocarbamol: Muscle relaxant, prescribed Jan. 2, 2007; 87 pills left out of 120.
Diazepam (Valium): Antianxiety medication, prescribed Jan. 26, 2007; 178 pills left out of 240.
Furosemide (Lasix): Diuretic, prescribed Jan. 8, 2007; seven pills left out of an unknown quantity.
Topamax: Migraine medication, prescribed Jan. 26, 2007. 82 pills left out of 120.
Clonazepam (Klonopin): Antianxiety medication, prescribed Jan. 26, 2007; 79 pills left out of 120.
Chloral Hydrate: Sedative, prescribed Jan. 2, 2007; 177 ml. left out of 480.
Carisoprodol: Muscle relaxant, prescribed Jan. 26, 2007; 111 pills left out of 360.
Under the name of Alex Katz:
Cipro: Antibiotic, prescribed Feb. 2, 2007; 15 pills left out of 20.
Tamiflu: Antiviral flu medication, prescribed Feb. 5, 2007; eight pills left out of 10.
Under the name of Khristine Eroshevich:
Klor-Con-M20: Potassium supplement, prescribed Jan. 8, 2007; 20 pills left out of 30
This is just so pathetic and sad.
*
From Poetry Foundation:
Poetry Bestsellers
this week/last week, title, weeks on chart
1/1 The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems (paperback) by Billy Collins (Random House) 3
2/2 Thirst by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press) 30
3/4 Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins (Random House Trade Paperbacks) 60
4/-- New and Selected Poems, Volume Two (paperback) (Beacon Press) 1
5/19 Acolytes: Poems by Nikki Giovanni (William Morrow) 9
6/5 New and Selected Poems: Volume One by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press) 62
7/-- The Scarlet Ibis by Susan Hahn (Northwestern University Press) 1
8/13 The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1998 by Nikki Giovanni (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) 9
9/11 Refusing Heaven by Jack Gilbert (Knopf) 2
10/-- American Spikenard by Sarah Vap (University of Iowa Press) 1
11/3 Delights and Shadows by Ted Kooser (Copper Canyon Press) 61
12/8 Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press) 61
13/-- Dummy Fire by Sarah Vap (Saturnalia Books) 2
14/-- Glean by Joshua Kryah (Nightboat Books) 3
15/7 Averno by Louise Glück (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) 7
16/14 Ariel: The Restored Edition by Sylvia Plath (Harper Perennial) 60
17/-- The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1998 (hardcover) by Nikki Giovanni (William Morrow) 1
17/-- Blue Hour: Poems by Carolyn Forché (Harper Perennial) 2
18/21 New and Selected Poems: Volume Two by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press) 60
19/23 Nine Horses: Poems by Billy Collins (Random House) 61
19/18 Here, Bullet by Brian Turner (Alice James Books) 37
20/10 Blue Iris: Poems and Essays by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press) 27
20/-- Edgar Allan Poe & The Juke-Box: Uncollected Poems, Drafts, and Fragments by Elizabeth Bishop (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) 2
21/-- The Invention of the Kaleidoscope by Paisley Rekdal (University of Pittsburgh Press) 1
22/-- Given: Poems by Wendell Berry (Shoemaker & Hoard) 45
22/28 After by Jane Hirshfield (Harper Perennial) 5
23/9 A Worldly Country by John Ashbery (Ecco /HarperCollins) 7
24/-- Only the Senses Sleep by Wayne Miller (New Issues Poetry & Prose) 3
25/-- The Animal Gospels by Brian Barker (Tupelo Press) 1
26/-- Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: Poems and Not Quite Poems by Nikki Giovanni (William Morrow) 2
26/-- Owls and Other Fantasies: Poems and Essays by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press) 52
26/-- Echolalia by Deborah Bernhardt (Four Way Books) 1
27/-- Collected Poems 1947-1997 by Allen Ginsberg (HarperCollins) 23
27/17 Slouching Toward Nirvana: New Poems by Charles Bukowski (Ecco) 60
28/27 The Second Child by Deborah Garrison (Random House) 8
29/-- The Apple That Astonished Paris by Billy Collins (University of Arkansas Press) 39
30/-- The Flash of Lightning Behind the Mountain: New Poems by Charles Bukowski (Ecco) 11
Poetry Bestsellers
this week/last week, title, weeks on chart
1/1 The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems (paperback) by Billy Collins (Random House) 3
2/2 Thirst by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press) 30
3/4 Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins (Random House Trade Paperbacks) 60
4/-- New and Selected Poems, Volume Two (paperback) (Beacon Press) 1
5/19 Acolytes: Poems by Nikki Giovanni (William Morrow) 9
6/5 New and Selected Poems: Volume One by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press) 62
7/-- The Scarlet Ibis by Susan Hahn (Northwestern University Press) 1
8/13 The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1998 by Nikki Giovanni (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) 9
9/11 Refusing Heaven by Jack Gilbert (Knopf) 2
10/-- American Spikenard by Sarah Vap (University of Iowa Press) 1
11/3 Delights and Shadows by Ted Kooser (Copper Canyon Press) 61
12/8 Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press) 61
13/-- Dummy Fire by Sarah Vap (Saturnalia Books) 2
14/-- Glean by Joshua Kryah (Nightboat Books) 3
15/7 Averno by Louise Glück (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) 7
16/14 Ariel: The Restored Edition by Sylvia Plath (Harper Perennial) 60
17/-- The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1998 (hardcover) by Nikki Giovanni (William Morrow) 1
17/-- Blue Hour: Poems by Carolyn Forché (Harper Perennial) 2
18/21 New and Selected Poems: Volume Two by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press) 60
19/23 Nine Horses: Poems by Billy Collins (Random House) 61
19/18 Here, Bullet by Brian Turner (Alice James Books) 37
20/10 Blue Iris: Poems and Essays by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press) 27
20/-- Edgar Allan Poe & The Juke-Box: Uncollected Poems, Drafts, and Fragments by Elizabeth Bishop (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) 2
21/-- The Invention of the Kaleidoscope by Paisley Rekdal (University of Pittsburgh Press) 1
22/-- Given: Poems by Wendell Berry (Shoemaker & Hoard) 45
22/28 After by Jane Hirshfield (Harper Perennial) 5
23/9 A Worldly Country by John Ashbery (Ecco /HarperCollins) 7
24/-- Only the Senses Sleep by Wayne Miller (New Issues Poetry & Prose) 3
25/-- The Animal Gospels by Brian Barker (Tupelo Press) 1
26/-- Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: Poems and Not Quite Poems by Nikki Giovanni (William Morrow) 2
26/-- Owls and Other Fantasies: Poems and Essays by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press) 52
26/-- Echolalia by Deborah Bernhardt (Four Way Books) 1
27/-- Collected Poems 1947-1997 by Allen Ginsberg (HarperCollins) 23
27/17 Slouching Toward Nirvana: New Poems by Charles Bukowski (Ecco) 60
28/27 The Second Child by Deborah Garrison (Random House) 8
29/-- The Apple That Astonished Paris by Billy Collins (University of Arkansas Press) 39
30/-- The Flash of Lightning Behind the Mountain: New Poems by Charles Bukowski (Ecco) 11
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Spring pics
Double Magnolia
The Garden Buddha
Dean with Pearblossoms and Daffodils
*
And congrats to Sally Van Doren who just won the Walt Whitman Award for her book-length collection of poems Sex at Noon Taxes (the title, of course, is a palindrome. *heart*). Finalists for the Award were Jasper Bernes for A Moving Grove, James Allen Hall for Now You're the Enemy, and Maya Pindyck for The Same Nile, the Same Charles. The judge was August Kleinzahler.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Have I Finally Arrived?
I now have a bio and poem archived at the Academy of American Poets website. Wheee!
*
And Jim Berhle's cartoons have been starting to appear not only in our local paper (The Stanger), but up at Poetry Foundation. What *has* the world come to?
*
And in other news: Keith Richards has acknowledged he snorted his father's ashes mixed with cocaine.
"I snorted my father," Richards was quoted as saying by British music magazine NME.
"He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared," he said. "... It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive." Full story here.
And Jim Berhle's cartoons have been starting to appear not only in our local paper (The Stanger), but up at Poetry Foundation. What *has* the world come to?
And in other news: Keith Richards has acknowledged he snorted his father's ashes mixed with cocaine.
"I snorted my father," Richards was quoted as saying by British music magazine NME.
"He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared," he said. "... It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive." Full story here.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
SMC, HTML, Potscrubber Lullabies
Dean and I went to the Seattle Men's Chorus last night, for a 1980's theme concert. What a hoot to hear all of that music again: Devo, B-52's, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Cindy Lauper, Culture Club, Madonna, Eurythmics, Tears for Fears, Pointer Sisters. And all those movie themes: Xanadu, Flash Dance, Ghostbusters etc. It was a really fun show. "It's Raining Men," complete with dancing guys in trenchcoats over speedos, made for a great encore. But where were the songs by Spandau Ballet, DePeche Mode, George Michael?
*
I am helping to format some of the next issue of In Posse Review, and learning more than I ever thought possible about HTML code. Like an em dash is — and an indent space is and more. I found a nifty table on line to help me make special characters for café and belovèd. And to center text you just say "center" (inside <> of course). How simple! Soon kids will be learning HTML as part of the ABC's. (Maybe they probably already are?)
*
I'm reading Eric McHenry's Potscrubber Lullabies, and really enjoying it. He does a lot of clever wordplay, as in "You take the Elms from Elmhurst, you get hurt." ("Hypermart") and "Who's bringing/the allegation but the alligator?" ("How to Write Autobiography"). There are many references to popular music, including the songs of Badfinger, the Beatles, Bird, and even that disco hit "Brick House" (hmmm, all B words?), as well as a wonderful music to the poems themselves, in their use of rhythms and subtle rhymes. McHenry has great, funny tongue-in-cheek titles, such as "Me and My Epoch," "My Solipsism is Superior to Yours," "Hearing Myself Say the Name C. Klafter." But there is also a deeper, philosophical musing going on in these poems (see "McHenry Replies:" below). Potscrubber Lullabies was recently awarded the 2007 Kate Tufts Discovery Award, a $10,000 companion prize to the $100,000 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award.
Here are a couple poems:
"Brick House"
For booty we come at the world ass-backward,
asking to be taken not literally,
seeing ellipses, seeing nothing awkward
in casting them so quadrilaterally.
She is a brick house. I am not a car.
The difference is an idiom that relies
on other idioms that, likewise, are
idiom reliant, so it's no surprise
to hear some backseat frontman flub the line
we unequivocally call the refrain:
She's a freak, oww. And a freak, oww is fine—
a honey and a soothing sort of pain.
This one goes out to all you ladies, whether
you're stacked or built or simply put together.
(pg 61)
McHenry Replies:
In January, Foday Sankoh's band
fled Freetown, amputating each third hand—
left,right,left—with machetes as they fled,
so when I think of the 6,000 dead
I try to think of someone who could carry
a shovel by the haft but not bury.
Connecticut will upset Duke tonight,
and Edgar Winter sells us Miller Lite.
Whether we act or not, we intervene.
When you say nothing I know what you mean.
(pg 52)
*
I am helping to format some of the next issue of In Posse Review, and learning more than I ever thought possible about HTML code. Like an em dash is — and an indent space is and more. I found a nifty table on line to help me make special characters for café and belovèd. And to center text you just say "center" (inside <> of course). How simple! Soon kids will be learning HTML as part of the ABC's. (Maybe they probably already are?)
I'm reading Eric McHenry's Potscrubber Lullabies, and really enjoying it. He does a lot of clever wordplay, as in "You take the Elms from Elmhurst, you get hurt." ("Hypermart") and "Who's bringing/the allegation but the alligator?" ("How to Write Autobiography"). There are many references to popular music, including the songs of Badfinger, the Beatles, Bird, and even that disco hit "Brick House" (hmmm, all B words?), as well as a wonderful music to the poems themselves, in their use of rhythms and subtle rhymes. McHenry has great, funny tongue-in-cheek titles, such as "Me and My Epoch," "My Solipsism is Superior to Yours," "Hearing Myself Say the Name C. Klafter." But there is also a deeper, philosophical musing going on in these poems (see "McHenry Replies:" below). Potscrubber Lullabies was recently awarded the 2007 Kate Tufts Discovery Award, a $10,000 companion prize to the $100,000 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award.
Here are a couple poems:
"Brick House"
For booty we come at the world ass-backward,
asking to be taken not literally,
seeing ellipses, seeing nothing awkward
in casting them so quadrilaterally.
She is a brick house. I am not a car.
The difference is an idiom that relies
on other idioms that, likewise, are
idiom reliant, so it's no surprise
to hear some backseat frontman flub the line
we unequivocally call the refrain:
She's a freak, oww. And a freak, oww is fine—
a honey and a soothing sort of pain.
This one goes out to all you ladies, whether
you're stacked or built or simply put together.
(pg 61)
McHenry Replies:
In January, Foday Sankoh's band
fled Freetown, amputating each third hand—
left,right,left—with machetes as they fled,
so when I think of the 6,000 dead
I try to think of someone who could carry
a shovel by the haft but not bury.
Connecticut will upset Duke tonight,
and Edgar Winter sells us Miller Lite.
Whether we act or not, we intervene.
When you say nothing I know what you mean.
(pg 52)
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