skip to main | skip to sidebar

The Virtual World

Poetry, the imagination, and the creative life.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Suicide by cellphone?

AUBURN -- A man talking on a cell phone while walking Wednesday on railroad tracks was hit by a train and killed. He was the second person in the area to be killed by a train while talking on a cell phone in the past two weeks.

Witnesses, including the train conductor, saw the man talking on the phone. The engineer sounded the horn, but the man apparently didn't hear it. The train was going about 80 mph and couldn't stop in time to avoid hitting the man. The Amtrak Cascades train was heading north from Eugene, Ore., to Seattle.


So sad. People! Please hang up your phones and be *present* in the world.

*

Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now?
Sheeesh.
Posted by Peter at 7:45 AM
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

2 comments:

newzoopoet said...

And if you absolutely can't, then at least give up walking on train tracks.

May 08, 2008 1:19 PM
Anonymous said...

And by ALL MEANS, turn off your choo-choo ringer before the reading starts!!!!

May 09, 2008 5:02 PM

Post a Comment

Newer Post Older Post Home
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • Prufrock: a decompostition
    you and I spread out against the sky half-deserted shells What is it? our visit. a talking angel yellow fog there will be time to prepare a ...
  • Question of the Week(end)
    If you were a gay man, would you wear capri pants? Please choose one: A: Definitely yes! They are the latest fashion statement. B: Maybe: it...
  • Poetry on NPR
    This morning there was an interesting story about Poetry magazine and its Ruth Lily endowment, on NPR's Weekend edition. One of the iss...
  • (no title)
    Fun "Mad Libs" poem from Ben Lerner, up at he PoFo website: Share on facebook   Share on twitter   Share on tumblr   Share on...
  • Genesis/Gin Sees
    More fun with anagrams: Genesis Gin Sees In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. In the benign gin, God the servant threate...
  • Hiccups
    Dean's food was so rich last night that he got a really bad case of the hiccups, and they wouldn't go away for almost two hours. Yi...
  • (no title)
    I love to eat cashews. This morning I found one shaped exactly like a high-heeled shoe. (A ca-shoe?) It's not quite like seeing the Virg...
  • God Hates Fangs
    Has anybody else been getting all hooked on the new Alan Ball HBO series "True Blood?" Dean and I having been watching it the past...
  • What the Skin Cutter Feels
    And now for something a little more serious . . . Some people, because of past trauma or abuse, turn to cutting on themselves. The wounds...
  • Home and Warm
    Dean passed all the tests with flying colors. They adjusted his blood pressure meds, and hopefully that'll do the trick. It's funn...

Some Poems Online

  • "Magnolia Blossom"
  • Body Talk
  • Crossing the Pear
  • "Wordsword" "Adagio"
  • "Twenty Years After His Passing, My Father Appears . . ."
  • "Think or Swim"
  • "The Cruciverbalist"
  • "Reconsidering the Seven"
  • "October Journal"
  • "Nursemaid's Elbow"
  • "Lost in Translation"
  • "Holy Shit"
  • "Her Name is Rose"
  • "Fugue"
  • "Anagrammer" (video)
  • "Anagrammer"
  • "After the Pillow Book"

Blog Archive

  • ►  2013 (15)
    • ►  June (1)
    • ►  May (2)
    • ►  April (3)
    • ►  March (4)
    • ►  February (2)
    • ►  January (3)
  • ►  2012 (44)
    • ►  December (4)
    • ►  November (3)
    • ►  October (4)
    • ►  September (3)
    • ►  August (4)
    • ►  July (3)
    • ►  June (1)
    • ►  April (3)
    • ►  March (7)
    • ►  February (6)
    • ►  January (6)
  • ►  2011 (96)
    • ►  December (5)
    • ►  November (6)
    • ►  October (3)
    • ►  September (8)
    • ►  August (7)
    • ►  July (8)
    • ►  June (7)
    • ►  May (9)
    • ►  April (10)
    • ►  March (10)
    • ►  February (13)
    • ►  January (10)
  • ►  2010 (121)
    • ►  December (12)
    • ►  November (7)
    • ►  October (11)
    • ►  September (9)
    • ►  August (8)
    • ►  July (10)
    • ►  June (9)
    • ►  May (14)
    • ►  April (10)
    • ►  March (11)
    • ►  February (8)
    • ►  January (12)
  • ►  2009 (147)
    • ►  December (8)
    • ►  November (8)
    • ►  October (11)
    • ►  September (5)
    • ►  August (5)
    • ►  July (10)
    • ►  June (9)
    • ►  May (20)
    • ►  April (20)
    • ►  March (14)
    • ►  February (19)
    • ►  January (18)
  • ▼  2008 (246)
    • ►  December (22)
    • ►  November (16)
    • ►  October (27)
    • ►  September (22)
    • ►  August (27)
    • ►  July (25)
    • ►  June (28)
    • ▼  May (23)
      • I'm on call for this week (Friday 5pm to Friday 5p...
      • From today's American Life in Poetry: Column 166. ...
      • Know a Poet Who Wants a Broadside?
      • From Double-Tongued Dictionary:"catch a falling kn...
      • I was googling to see how long it takes for robin'...
      • It's been a great Memorial Day Weekend (so far). S...
      • A pair of robins has built a nest in the honeysuck...
      • "Her Name is Rose" was live on Poetry Foundation a...
      • From Jilly:A Dickinson College professor denied te...
      • I went to poetry group last night, so missed the f...
      • Had a GREAT TIME at the Skagit River Poetry Fest....
      • Wish I Had a Camera
      • Obama or Clinton, David A. or David C., paper or p...
      • Chase Twitchell on Poetry Foundation: Who is gonna...
      • This is truly scary . . .
      • Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there. O...
      • 2008 Skagit River Poetry Fest
      • Suicide by cellphone?
      • Back home and back to the working week. I sometime...
      • Palm Springs is hot as hades. Dry. Desert. Cactus....
      • A Cautionary Tale for Flying
      • I present at the UW Human Face of Medicine class a...
      • NaPoMo is over! And I made it through without writ...
    • ►  April (21)
    • ►  March (21)
    • ►  February (12)
    • ►  January (2)
  • ►  2007 (340)
    • ►  December (20)
    • ►  November (26)
    • ►  October (38)
    • ►  September (24)
    • ►  August (24)
    • ►  July (35)
    • ►  June (31)
    • ►  May (27)
    • ►  April (30)
    • ►  March (30)
    • ►  February (25)
    • ►  January (30)
  • ►  2006 (421)
    • ►  December (30)
    • ►  November (28)
    • ►  October (38)
    • ►  September (34)
    • ►  August (41)
    • ►  July (37)
    • ►  June (35)
    • ►  May (27)
    • ►  April (47)
    • ►  March (34)
    • ►  February (34)
    • ►  January (36)
  • ►  2005 (414)
    • ►  December (41)
    • ►  November (36)
    • ►  October (45)
    • ►  September (32)
    • ►  August (42)
    • ►  July (37)
    • ►  June (33)
    • ►  May (39)
    • ►  April (30)
    • ►  March (35)
    • ►  February (25)
    • ►  January (19)
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetry can communicate before it is understood. ~T. S. Eliot

*


Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history. ~ Plato

*


A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep. ~ Salman Rushdie

*


Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason. ~ Novalis

*


Poetry is what maintains our capacity for contemplation and difficulty. — Carolyn Forche

*


Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild. — Denis Diderot

*


Sometimes something wants to be said, sometimes a way of saying wants to be used. — Paul ValĂ©ry

*