tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102385812012-01-28T12:49:21.526-08:00Poetry, the imagination, and the creative life.Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.comBlogger17911100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-13487168399165864752012-01-24T12:22:00.000-08:002012-01-24T12:32:56.241-08:00

Jody Aliesan, poet, writer, and feminist, passed away on January 14, 2012, of ovarian cancer. She died in Vancouver, Canada, where she had received her citizenship last July. Jody lived a life dedicated to "telling the truth, and speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves. My community, my culture, is our common humanity. I aspire to speak for that." (see full obit here) Her many dear

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-20179918755919480152012-01-21T11:01:00.000-08:002012-01-21T11:10:29.214-08:00

Cheap Wine and PoetryFeeds the Hungry!Thursday January 26, 2012, 7:00 PMRichard Hugo House 1634 11th Avenue Seattle WA 98122(206) 322-7030Featuring Greg Bem & Amber FlameplusMartha Silano & Peter PereiraReading New WorkSupported by 4Culture/Individual Artist ProjectsRainier Valley Food Bank Benefit ReadingThe first 30 people to bring a donated food item receive a free drink! Donate Food: The food

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-41078550552531988662012-01-13T19:02:00.000-08:002012-01-13T19:11:30.369-08:00

Check this out. A really funny version of "My Favorite Things" in the voice of uber-rich, über-conceited Mitt Romney:White folks for neighbors because they're hard workersOther folks for caddies and legal yard workersMoney and all of the houses its bringsThese are a few of my favorite thingsCorporate people for my only friendsRon to stay in til the primary endsMore Touch of Gray so I only have "

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-53303514254263051602012-01-08T14:03:00.000-08:002012-01-09T10:33:48.059-08:00

Dean and I love Vietnamese pho noodle soup, especially on cold wintry days. I've heard it called Vietnamese penicillin, so many people swear by it to keep coughs and colds away.But on our low carb diet the noodles are just a killer. So, this weekend I invented a "faux pho" soup, using thinly julienned yellow squash and zucchini squash for the noodles. Terrific!Here is my general Faux Pho recipe:

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-82099058011612654222012-01-07T07:19:00.001-08:002012-01-07T07:21:32.677-08:00

From Huff Post Gay Voices:In searching for a way to give back to the LGBTQ community, Michael Volpatt and Patrick Wallace created a aNoteToMyKid.com, a grassroots movement that gives everyone -- parents, family, and friends -- the opportunity to express unconditional love for the LGBTQ people in their lives. The nonprofit's purpose is to remind people that there is a lot of love out there, to

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-11920082980842898252012-01-03T11:27:00.000-08:002012-01-03T16:43:32.310-08:00

Happy New Year! I thought I'd look back on 2011 and give a shout out to the ten or so books of poetry from the past year that I enjoyed the most, or found the most memorable. In no particular order:Woodnote, Christine Deavel: the long-poem pastiche "Economy" culled from her deceased aunt's diary entries was one of the most exhilarating poetry experiences of the year for me. Every Dress a Decision

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-35283039607097545112011-12-26T08:31:00.000-08:002011-12-26T09:03:52.514-08:00

I love this poem from today's American Life in Poetry:The Art of BeingThe fern in the rain breathes the silver message.Stay, lie low. Play your dark reedsand relearn the beauty of absorption.There is nothing beyond the rotten logcovered with leaves and needles.Forget the light emerging with its golden wick.Raise your face to the water-laden frond.A thousand blossoms will fall into your arms.  

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-31785306604133291982011-12-18T13:35:00.001-08:002011-12-18T13:48:37.720-08:00

Check out this terrific new collaborative poetry project. It is so cool to log on to Google Earth, and zoom in on a location (currently WA state is featured), and find a poem there! Some of the featured poets include Allen Braden, Kathleen Flenniken, Derrick Sheffield, Susan Rich, James Bertolino, and Kathryn Hunt. Visit Katharine Whitcomb's website for more details:The Center for Geospatial

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-90805130746768784192011-12-16T20:58:00.000-08:002011-12-18T08:28:39.477-08:00

Love this poem from today's Verse Daily:White Stork                                          —Ciconia ciconia Such jazzy arrhythmia,                                     the white storks'Plosive and gorgeous leave-takings suggestOracular utterance where the blurredDanube disperses its silts.                                         Then the red-Billed, red-legged creatures begin to spiral,To float

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-59581550770357968712011-12-13T15:05:00.000-08:002011-12-13T15:17:11.595-08:00

This poetry kerfuffle has sure generated a lot of hype. I wonder if the publisher (Penguin) set it all up as a way to sell more copies of the anthology? Doesn't it all seem like a bad episode of reality TV? All this calling names and pulling hair and scratching over number of pages and who is in and who is out -- or am I just being cynical? You decide.Poetry Knockdown: Harvard Prof Disses Poetry

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-79790097012589103092011-12-10T08:03:00.000-08:002011-12-10T08:20:36.458-08:00

Dean and I are back from a lovely week-plus in PV. So hard to come back to 30's and frost on the back porch, but it is good to be home. And, strangely enough, I really don't mind getting back to work, except that with call and admin duties I will be working the next 12 (yes twelve) days in a row. Yikes!I had somewhat of a news holiday while out on the beach, except what was available on line (

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-51541075661920586922011-11-27T12:45:00.000-08:002011-11-27T18:38:32.305-08:00

Had a great time with Dean and friends at the finale performance of Cafe Nordo's "To Savor Tomorrow." We had never been to one of their dinner shows before, and it was quite a delight. The setting was retro-futuristic, on an airliner traveling from Hawaii to Seattle for the 1962 World's Fair. The plot was all cold-war era spying and espionage, with agents and double agents from US, USSR, China

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-48462963028906817852011-11-21T07:06:00.000-08:002011-11-21T07:08:41.550-08:00

I love this poem from today's American Life in Poetry:Believe ThisAll morning, doing the hard, root-wrestlingwork of turning a yard from the wildto a gardener’s will, I heard a bird singingfrom a hidden, though not distant, perch;a song of swift, syncopated syllables soundinglike, Can you believe this, believe this, believe?Can you believe this, believe this, believe?And all morning, I did

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-44365521173096479082011-11-17T08:37:00.001-08:002011-11-17T08:40:00.471-08:00

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD: POETRY announced. I heard the story on NPR this morning, and loved the exerpt from Nikky Finney's acceptance speech. Log on to the NBA site to read/hear interviews and video and such.WINNER: Nikky Finney, Head Off & Split (TriQuarterly, an imprint of Northwestern University Press) - InterviewFINALISTS:Yusef Komunyakaa, The Chameleon Couch(Farrar, Straus and Giroux) -

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-20582841231375391312011-11-13T11:20:00.000-08:002011-11-13T11:25:10.495-08:00

Wonderful essay/review of the work of Charles Wright (one of my faves), by Mark Jarman, up on PD -- check it out:More than any other American poet writing today, perhaps more than any poet since Whitman and Dickinson, Charles Wright has recorded in his poems a lifetime of spiritual seeking. That pursuit has had more of Emily Dickinson's skepticism than Walt Whitman's affirmation, more of her

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-13056830348911491912011-11-05T08:30:00.000-07:002011-11-05T08:32:50.495-07:00

Oh Erika: we're so glad you are OK!Multiple rescue units were deployed Wednesday afternoon to rescue the passenger of a car that partially submerged in Lake Washington."I was coming down the street and I just lost control of the car," said Erika Goldstein. "And I kept going right into the water. And it was just like that."And just like that, Goldstein, found herself in her VW Bug in Lake

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-39576689653094373302011-11-03T07:43:00.000-07:002011-11-03T07:45:07.365-07:00

This is too sweet:The first Chinese space docking today (Nov. 2) inspired not just national and scientific pride, but some romantic sentiment as well.Several different Chinese newspapers and commentators have described the Tiangong 1 ("Heavenly Palace") and Shenzhou 8 ("Divine Vessel") spacecraft, which linked up in orbit today for the first time, as "lovers" making a "kiss in space," state

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-12423651839779195162011-10-24T07:33:00.000-07:002011-10-24T19:34:58.525-07:00

Dean and I went to the "Luminous" exhibit at SAM yesterday. What a great show! It was a selection of Seattle Art Museum's vast Asian Art collection, curated by Doh Ho Su (the artist who created the amazing "dog tag" suit of armor sculpture). It opens with a group of Buddha heads, from different cultures, such as Indonesian, Thai, Cambodian. Then a series of sculptural fragments, and the idea that

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-34927389434238841602011-10-13T08:07:00.000-07:002011-10-13T08:18:01.534-07:00

From Conservative FocusBy Paul BentleyMichele Bachmann ridiculed Cain's plan most successfully, saying that when scrutinised or 'turned upside down' the 999 principle became Satan's number, 666.'When you take the 999 plan and you turn it upside down, I think the devil is in the details,' she said.She added that the proposal was not a jobs plan, but rather a tax plan.The planned 999 policy has

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-72911577485975265172011-10-03T07:56:00.000-07:002011-10-03T07:58:08.241-07:00

A lovely poem from today's American Life in Poetry:OctoberI used to think the landhad something to say to us,back when wildflowerswould come right up to your handas if they were tame.Sooner or later, I thought,the wind would begin to make senseif I listened hardand took notes religiously.That was spring.Now I’m not so sure:the cloudless sky has a flat affectand the fields plowed down after

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-77963375362452827852011-09-28T20:04:00.001-07:002011-09-28T20:09:11.105-07:00

FOR MANY years, Rutherford native William Carlos Williams practiced medicine and wrote poetry. It is hard to say how much one may have influenced the other, but the historical record, at least as it speaks to us in the written word, shows that it was a productive collaboration.Fittingly, Williams' vast talents are being recognized next year, with nine other American poets, in a postage stamp

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-48599718097177667552011-09-25T13:09:00.000-07:002011-09-25T13:11:49.304-07:00

Kudos to Kay Ryan and AE Stallings. Such an impressive list! (via HuffPo)MacArthur Foundation 'Genius Grant' Recipients 2011 CHICAGO -- The following 22 fellows each will receive $500,000 over the next five years from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation:_Jad Abumrad, 38, New York. Radio co-host and producer of the nationally syndicated WNYC program "Radiolab."_Marie-Therese

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-88017236893513952422011-09-18T08:18:00.000-07:002011-09-18T18:39:29.544-07:00

From today's Poem a Day. I think this poem captures the change in season we have been experiencing the past few days. Not sure I care for the use of the "they" pronoun, though.Will be home saucing tomatoes, and blending up a few batches of pesto today. Ahhhh Autumn. I've learned to love it.Autumnby Amy Lowell They brought me a quilled, yellow dahlia,Opulent, flaunting.Round goldFlung out of a

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-17279355941513993762011-09-14T18:55:00.000-07:002011-09-14T19:00:18.040-07:00

Another death "in the family." Ralph was such a great guy. Dean and I so appreciated his blending of art, spirituality and domestic gay life.The Rev. Ralph Carskadden dies at age 71 (full story here)If we are to grasp the message ofthe gospels;If we are to understand theteachings of Jesus;If we are to be faithful disciples,then we must realize whatwe are called to be:Called to act counter to

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-8858053114036590872011-09-11T09:40:00.000-07:002011-09-11T09:47:11.796-07:00

Seattle coffee scene loses beloved baristaBrian Fairbrother, longtime Espresso Vivace barista and manager, dies a week after bicycle accident.So sad, so sad. Dean and I remember Brian from when we were first together, and went for coffee at the old Vivace cart on Broadway. He was a kind and gentle and principled soul. full story from Seattle Times linked below: For thousands of Seattleites over

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-34629467279344525602011-09-04T15:57:00.000-07:002011-09-04T16:00:32.929-07:00

Ahh, this did my heart good. A physician-poet who writes a humorous parody of Dante -- make sure to follow the link and read the poem. It's pretty amazing, in terza rima, too! The scoop: Doctor wins national humor poetry contest Local physician John Harris never considered himself a poet, but he indulged his writerly side on a burst of inspiration and won national recognition in the process.

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-78203386648318026982011-09-03T07:41:00.000-07:002011-09-03T08:00:47.202-07:00

A really interesting passage from a long poem: "Outremer" by Fanny Howe, up on PoFo: * There has been a phenomenon, known only to a few, in certain high mountains, called the Brocken Specter. It shows the magnified form of a person woven into lower mists. This voluminous human figure takes on a trinitarian shape, and the head of it is surrounded by glory, a rain halo. The figure looms in the

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-8042954967517892972011-09-01T08:09:00.000-07:002011-09-01T08:15:59.979-07:00

From yesterday's Writer's Almanac: This poem captures the feeling so well . . . September by Linda Pastan it rained in my sleep and in the morning the fields were wet I dreamed of artillery of the thunder of horses in the morning the fields were strewn with twigs and leaves as if after a battle or a sudden journey I went to sleep in the summer I dreamed of rain in the morning the fields

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-58185305889047259452011-08-21T16:26:00.000-07:002011-08-21T16:30:19.981-07:00

Wow! Talk about a poetry grant! I am moving to Canada. Looks like they pay their poets quite well! $60,000 federal grant funds profesor's body-pollution poetry By Erica Bajer QMI Agency A Brock University professor has received $60,000 in federal funds to write poetry about the impact of environmental chemicals and other invaders on his body. Over the next three years, Adam Dickinson will find

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-46477353359351699032011-08-20T07:59:00.000-07:002011-08-20T08:06:25.633-07:00

And in other political news (from HuffPo:) As the economic recovery remains slow, many Americans have found that basic payments have suddenly become unaffordable. Those payments include medical bills, which increasingly are pushing Americans into personal bankruptcy, the New York Times reports. About a fifth of people seeking financial counseling this year and last said debt related to medical

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-36094785088714358052011-08-19T13:40:00.000-07:002011-08-19T15:53:34.503-07:00

Ahh, politics. Only in America can something as innocent as eating a corndog become fodder for so much good humor: Deep Throat: photo of Perry and a corn dog won't help with the gay rumors. Check out the full article. It includes links to Michelle Bachman going down on a corn dog of her own. It is just too funny!

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-18141400982622922242011-08-12T16:55:00.000-07:002011-08-12T16:56:36.800-07:00

I liked this poem from yesterday's Poetry Daily: Y Perhaps it's a thread that needs to be pulled, a single stitch caught in the crux. Whole word in French and Spanish, vertical axis of Cartesian three loaning its fragile branch to a boy in theory. On y va. Let's go There. What happens to unrepaired sequences in subsequent generations? Semivowel, blown umbrella, arrow reversed in wind,

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-57283202680965299432011-08-08T08:37:00.000-07:002011-08-08T09:00:04.891-07:00

I recently started a subscription to One Story. It's this cool literary magazine, where for one dollar per issue, you get one short story (in small, offset, saddle-stapled chapbook form), written by a new or established writer, mailed to you every 3-4 weeks. My first issue was "The Joy of Cooking" by Elissa Schappell, and it was a hoot, such a good read. I am thinking of doubling down and

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-50049895747500132232011-08-06T15:57:00.000-07:002011-08-06T16:01:32.218-07:00

from a brief article by Ray Waddle in The Tennessean:Poetry feeds the soul, people say. What on earth does that mean? Poetry offers what a soul hungers for in times of stress and bewilderment — precision, alertness to beauty and poverty, fury, honesty, renewal.Society now is networked, connected, stressed. We elect politicians to fix government, and Washington is now more impotent than ever.A

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-34694205378890923472011-08-02T18:41:00.001-07:002011-08-02T18:48:56.030-07:00

It's nice to know I am a classic case. But did they have to use the words "middle aged male tennis player?"Gastrocnemius strainsCalf strains are most commonly found in the medial head of the gastrocnemius [3]. This injury was first described in 1883 in association with tennis and is commonly called tennis leg [6]. The classic presentation is of a middle-aged male tennis player who suddenly

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-33747415895579908002011-07-31T12:50:00.000-07:002011-07-31T12:52:41.342-07:00

Enjoyed this article over at PoFo. Who knew Elizabethan sonnets could be so fun, and modern?An Elizabethan plays a Modernist language gameBY ANGE MLINKOSir Philip Sidney is a key figure of the Elizabethan era, the fountainhead of the modern poetic tradition. He was born in 1554 in Kent, England, around the same time that the first sonnets in English (by Sir Thomas Wyatt) were posthumously

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-34856304875120823592011-07-19T17:12:00.000-07:002011-07-19T17:14:43.597-07:00

The entire country is under a heat wave. But what do we have in Seattle? Cool, with showers. In July? Arrrrghhhh. Here is what they say we have coming the next few days, read it and weep . . .Tonight...Cloudy with light rain or drizzle at times...mainly north part. Lows in the 50s. Southwest wind 10 to 20 mph except becoming northwest 5 to 15 mph in the north part.Wednesday...Cloudy with a

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-48954507485697430792011-07-16T09:04:00.001-07:002011-07-16T09:07:10.315-07:00

Interesting NY Times Poetry Chronicle, with brief review by Jeff Gordinier of new books from Michael Dickman, C Dale Young, and others:Frank O’Hara once wrote this, in a poem called “Poetry”: “The only way to be quiet / is to be quick, so I scare / you clumsily, or surprise / you with a stab.” It’s an instructive passage, not just because it moves with that conversational,

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-80135428605024780442011-07-15T06:59:00.000-07:002011-07-15T07:01:00.234-07:00

Funny, dark poem from today's Poem a Day. It would do Brian Turner proud, I think:Trip Hopby Geoffrey Brock I'll pack my toothbrushand my cyanide molarthe iPhone the car-seatsand a tactical strollerI'll pack a snack-bagwith the Kraft food groupsand white flags for meand black for my troopsI'll pack a fresh packof Shark double-edge bladesmy boy's Razr scooterand my girl's blue shadesI'll pack

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-67804937043722448422011-07-10T14:07:00.000-07:002011-07-10T14:10:30.873-07:00

I really enjoyed this poem from today's RealPoetik. For the ongoing "mid-life" crisis in all of us.POEM CALLED NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD AND ZOMBIES  or Dawn of the Dead and Zombies—I don’t care.“Department of Redundancy Department,” I say in my most cheerful bitter phone voice,though I’m not at work and my Blackberry’s off. I lie—and it lays—on the couch, both of usoddly perfect, like a pinball

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-6146732361339307462011-07-09T10:20:00.000-07:002011-07-09T10:23:22.489-07:00

Shame on Michelle Bachman and her closet case husband:Truth Wins Out Infiltrates Marcus Bachmann's 'Ex-Gay' ClinicThere can no longer be any doubt that Marcus Bachmann’s state- and federally-funded clinic endorses and practices reparative therapy aimed at changing a gay person’s sexual orientation, despite the fact that such “therapy” is widely discredited by the scientific and medical

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-27161006216709447192011-07-05T07:19:00.000-07:002011-07-05T07:20:35.507-07:00

Be Drunk by Charles Baudelaire translated by Louis Simpson You have to be always drunk. That's all there is to it—it's the only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk.But on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be drunk.And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-49333958869152813502011-07-04T10:23:00.000-07:002011-07-04T10:36:01.178-07:00

Wow -- another amazing pared-down, voice-and-piano-only version of this great song, from the Taratata show in France. EOG is, I hear, on its way to becoming a country hit as well. Listen here to a few of the many country cover versions on you tube.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLpMkBN68rg&playnext=1&list=PLC0765EF28B1838A4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhAZn4W1Ztk

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-26879778967757930052011-06-25T08:34:00.000-07:002011-06-25T09:21:46.849-07:00

Yay for Marriage Equality in NY! It's another step in the long and winding road. Keep your eyes on the prize! I don't mind at all the waivers for religious groups, who are allowed to refuse to host gay nuptials, based on religious grounds. In fact, I think marriage should be completely separate from religion: it should be a secular civil ceremony and equal for all, with full legal rights and

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-30557838802809756602011-06-24T09:21:00.000-07:002011-06-25T09:24:53.408-07:00

Check out this poem from Lee Robinson's book Hearsay (Fordham 2004), lent to me by a poet friend at one of our "poetry lunches" the other day. I love how Robinson takes the common language of trial law (she was an attorney for 20 years) and turns it upside down and inside out, making it new again. It's really terrific. The Rules of Evidence What you want to say mostis inadmissible.Say it

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-10678936210213961812011-06-18T16:13:00.000-07:002011-06-18T16:22:08.087-07:00

What better way to mark the longest day of the year than with poetry?A Longing for the LightJune 21, 2011 Heather McHugh, Michael Dickman, Alberto Rios, and Sarah LindsayACT Theatre, Seattle $25 general; $10 student; $100 receptionThis event helps support Copper Canyon and all the fine work they do. Hope to see you there!*

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-50048760648379156972011-06-14T13:31:00.000-07:002011-06-14T16:10:22.101-07:00

The funniest headline today: "Boehner Reacts to Weiner Scandal" HAHAHAHA.But seriously, can we *please* return to talking about the issues?War is not Peace.The Stock Market is not the Economy.Insurance is not Health.Wealth is not Prosperity.Fundamentalism is not Liberty.Think about it.*

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-17998812801589619402011-06-09T11:53:00.000-07:002011-06-09T11:57:21.056-07:00

Wonderful, thoughtful, ironic, insightful essay-review by Joel Brouwer over at Po-Fo: it makes me want to read each of these books. Check it out--In Praise of Promiscuous ThinkingOn Charles Bernstein’s Attack of the Difficult Poems and David Orr’s Beautiful and Pointless.*

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-42107636777520466992011-06-05T16:10:00.000-07:002011-06-06T19:31:55.268-07:00

Thank you to friend and fellow poet-doc Ted McMahon for building this wonderful whimsical arty iron railing for our front steps! Dean and I helped install it over the weekend. I think it is just fabulous! Don't you?

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-81426820326037161112011-06-03T14:12:00.000-07:002011-06-03T14:32:10.485-07:00

Gay Poetry, Politics, Poetics. What does it all mean? Check out the new issue of Beloit Poetry Journal and the symposium/discussion featuring Jeff Crandall, Garth Greenwall, moi, and Brian Teare. There are also lots of cool poems in this issue, including "when your grandmother mistakes your girlfriend for a man" by Marty McConnell, and more. Then log on to the BPJ website and join the

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-68717401685278258942011-05-30T07:51:00.000-07:002011-05-30T21:01:04.530-07:00

Happy Memorial Day: please watch this short film about the plight of homeless vets. It made me wonder what it really means to "pay respects" to service men and women, and the long term consequences of these dumb wars our country is always getting tangled up in.WHEN I CAME HOME (70min)WHEN I CAME HOME is a film about homeless veterans in America: from those who served in Vietnam to those returning

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-49191929076386627752011-05-29T07:37:00.000-07:002011-05-29T07:38:33.506-07:00

From today's Poem a Day. I love the magic realism of this.The Aerodynamicsby Rick Bursky The night she walked to the houseshe held a string; on the other end,fifty-three feet in the air, a kite.Wind provided the aerodynamics.Does every collaborationneed to be explained?She tied the string to the mailboxleft the kite to float until morning.Every night this happens.She sleeps, I listen,

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-72730288179373746282011-05-28T14:45:00.000-07:002011-06-01T19:12:44.383-07:00

I bought the Special Edition (3 extra songs, plus 5 remixes) of Lady Gaga's new album Born This Way the other day, and have played it through a half dozen times now. It's really good! A bit less pop, a bit more rock/metal than I was expecting. Impressive amount of variety. Something here for everybody.Some favorites so far (that have not had wide radio play *yet*):"Americano" Great

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-57639004376669804212011-05-22T09:02:00.000-07:002011-05-22T13:25:49.707-07:00

Dean and I had a good time at the Bradner Plant sale yesterday. It was a cool and cloudy day, unseasonable even for Seattle. But it was good to see so many friends and neighbors there! We are so lucky to live next door to such a wonderful pea-patch garden. We picked out a few heirloom tomatoes -- Black Zebra, Green Zebra, Mr. Stripey -- and also a few perennials for the shade garden. Had coffee

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-22299884826225763052011-05-15T15:25:00.000-07:002011-05-15T15:26:37.247-07:00

Lady Gaga performing Judas and Born This Way on the Graham Norton shown. Wow. Just great.

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-14684838151001079252011-05-10T21:21:00.000-07:002011-05-10T21:23:41.413-07:00

There has to be a poem here . . .Cicadas, the loud yet harmless insects, have begun rearing their unattractive heads across the southern U.S. after a 13-year lull spent underground.States like Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia are reporting the insects emerging in droves, and are preparing for that incessant buzzing that will soon fill the atmosphere as the male cicadas seek out mates in a clamorous

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-77986803640536117012011-05-07T15:44:00.001-07:002011-05-07T15:57:46.948-07:00

Can hardly wait to read this new book!Michael Dickman’s second collection of poems Flies, just out from Copper Canyon Press, debuts at number 14 on this week’s contemporary best seller list. An auspicious start for the poet whose first book, The End of the West, is Copper Canyon’s best-selling debut ever. Dickman, who had a cameo roll opposite his twin brother in Minority Report, won the 2011

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-38446866142511888702011-05-06T21:02:00.000-07:002011-05-06T21:07:17.185-07:00

Flashback: McCain in the 2008 presidential debate, calling Obama naive for saying he would take out Bin Laden in Pakistan if given the chance. My oh my. Check it out here.*

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-83760489865214991332011-05-01T07:53:00.000-07:002011-05-01T07:55:38.649-07:00

I *heart* Obama. This is a seriously funny speech!

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-64077897829737754592011-04-28T08:18:00.000-07:002011-04-28T08:21:39.968-07:00

Check it out--generate your own version of "This is Just to Say" with this simple online tool. iphone/iPad app coming soon? William Carlos Williams generatorjoshmillard.com | ThinkStank | @joshmillard(example)This Is Just To SayI have condemnedthe tangerinesthat were besidethe shrineand whichyou were probablygrowingfor Eid-al-FitrForgive methey were tediousso flatand so massive*-

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-69538756792218544372011-04-26T16:31:00.000-07:002011-04-26T16:35:16.754-07:00

So sad, so sad. "Poetry Man" was one of my favorite songs back in the day.Phoebe Snow, the jazz-pop singer best known for her 1975 hit "Poetry Man," has died at age 60 of complications from a brain hemorrhage she suffered last year.Talk to me some moreYou don't have to goYou're the poetry manYou make things all right . . .*

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-34831408979859257082011-04-25T07:38:00.000-07:002011-04-25T20:56:52.282-07:00

I LOVE this show!It's my guilty pleasure. The wigs, the costumes, the challenges, the drama ("Untucked!). Can hardly wait to see the grand finale extravaganza eleganza tonight. I hope Raja wins. She is FIERCE, and that's the t.

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-59529329831661486902011-04-19T14:24:00.000-07:002011-04-20T14:28:57.103-07:00

Tea party leader and Orange County GOP official Marilyn Davenport has apologized for sending out a racist image of President Obama as a baby chimp.From Huffington Post:According to KABC, Davenport issued a statement late Monday in which she apologized, but stopped short of addressing her future on the committee."I humbly apologize and ask for your forgiveness of my unwise behavior," the statement

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-22690454147602811962011-04-18T18:43:00.000-07:002011-04-19T09:04:34.623-07:00

I love this comment from today's Huffington Post, about the fascist budget Ryan and the Republicans have passed in the house, that essentially transfers TRILLIONS of dollars from the pockets of working people and the elderly, to the coffers of business tycoons. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Then get mad as hell and protest and make it stop!"When they came for the MediCare, I said nothing because I

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-55849990792577756332011-04-17T11:10:00.000-07:002011-04-18T18:55:45.500-07:00

Some great readings coming up the next few days in Seattle. Hope to see you there!SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY Seattle Reading: Kathleen Flenniken, Jourdan Imani Keith, Rebecca Loudon, Colleen J. McElroy, Susan RichApril 17, 20117:00 p.m. Barnes & Noble Booksellers, University Village2675 NE University Village Street*What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - 7:00pm

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-25053856639450837312011-04-16T07:24:00.001-07:002011-04-16T09:32:24.399-07:00

I love this poem from today's Poem-A-Day. What humor, and music! The title, of course, from Shakespeare. And the poem itself a wonderful modern commentary on the sonnet it references. Such good medicine. My love is as a fever, longing stillby Christopher Bursk It didn't take a Harvard Medical School degreeto detect you and I were not lovers destined to wedbut two viruses doing their best to

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-54369543991618411842011-04-09T16:32:00.000-07:002011-04-09T16:38:13.061-07:00

David Orr is the poetry critic for The New York Times, and he's on a mission to bring readers back to this under-appreciated art form. His new book is called Beautiful & Pointless: A Guide to Modern Poetry. It's a slender little volume divided into six chapters, each demystifying an aspect of poetry.The final chapter of Orr's book asks what might be the most important question: Why bother? Why

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-12097425275827823942011-04-05T12:15:00.000-07:002011-04-05T13:11:03.076-07:00

. . . amid campy posters and traffic noise. This was really fun to do. Check out the video on YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQeYJRz4jY0&feature=youtube_gdata_playerhttp://www.hugohouse.org/content/my-favorite-poem-peter-pereiraThank you to Joe Lambert, Brian MacGuigan, and the folks at Hugo House. You can see the whole series from the My Favorite Poem project here.

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-9163608762093108672011-04-01T07:32:00.000-07:002011-04-01T07:44:15.324-07:00

Happy April Fool's Day! Or is it Happy Poetry Month? Hmm, maybe they are one in the same?Here is a list of a few of the things going on in the Seattle area (from the Seattle Times):10 ways to celebrate National Poetry Month"Poetry & Hot Toddies": Some of the city's finest thespians — Clayton and Susan Corzatte, Richard Ziman, and the mother-daughter team of Mary Ewald and Elena Kazanjian — will

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-73105364514415832312011-03-31T18:07:00.000-07:002011-03-31T18:13:08.840-07:00

Five years ago, Wave Books, a Seattle-based poetry publisher, got its start. Launching a poetry-only publishing house was a leap of faith, says Wave Books editor Joshua Beckman, powered by a lot of untested ideas: "We had more ideas than we knew what to do with," he recalls.*Richard Hugo House has a whole lotta stuff going on for Poetry month. Including some YouTube videos of poems read aloud in

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-18040923371581416162011-03-27T16:44:00.001-07:002011-03-27T16:46:23.535-07:00

OMG: watching this video made my blood go cold. You think the rushing water has peaked in its rise, and then it keeps coming, it keeps coming. The stuff of nightmares.

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-17444362795113730222011-03-26T09:07:00.000-07:002011-03-26T09:12:41.535-07:00

from Seattle's The Stranger:Meanwhile, have you been paying attention to Obama's bracket? He correctly predicted 29 of the first round's 32 games, despite three major upsets. He called Morehead State beating Louisville. All the basketball analysts got that wrong in their brackets. All the ESPN commentators got that wrong in their brackets. Morehead State's coach probably got that one wrong in his

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-74722452300503949752011-03-23T13:01:00.000-07:002011-03-23T13:08:26.485-07:00

World Poetry Day was March 21. How did I miss this?THE United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1999, designated March 21 each year to be observed as World Poetry Day. The first World Poetry Day was held on March 21, 2000.Since 2000, World Poetry Day has provided the needed venue to express appreciation and support for poets and poetry around the globe.

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-27803231391331334872011-03-19T07:16:00.000-07:002011-03-19T07:21:22.656-07:00

This sounds fun; I hear there are still some open spots:Study Poetry, Letterpress Printing and Binding with J.W. Marshall and Jules Remedios Faye (starts April 4, and meet Mondays from 6:30 to 9:30 pm; $495.)Join beloved local poet J.W. (John) Marshall of Open Books and legendary letterpress printer Jules Remedios Faye for an inspirational writing, printing, and book binding class in the School

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-89023384651130610982011-03-13T10:38:00.001-07:002011-03-13T10:39:25.520-07:00

PAC TEN CHAMPIONS! This was a great game. GO HUSKIES!

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-81138254194363990802011-03-12T07:48:00.000-08:002011-03-13T08:56:00.451-07:00

Thank you to Verse Daily for featuring my poem "Magnolia Blossom" yesterday. It was a delightful surprise! (And thanks again to the folks at Crab Creek Review for first publishing it).*The earthquake in Japan was so devastating. Thank god it seems not as many lives have been lost as in the Indonesia quake a few years ago. Now the Republicans want to defund the Pacific Tsunami Warning System?

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-17091528359254566222011-03-10T19:14:00.000-08:002011-03-10T19:26:02.570-08:00

This just in: CD Wright wins NBCC award in poetry for her book length poetry documentary One With Others. Yay for her! Yay for Copper Canyon!

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-1971987288568898742011-03-06T14:57:00.001-08:002011-03-06T19:06:42.280-08:00

The Gate of Horn, the third book by L. S. Asekoff is his first book in quite a while (his first two were published in 1994, and 1997), so I did not know much about this poet. But what a fascinating and bewildering read! These poems are jam-packed with original and wide-ranging language and ideas. Just take the poem "Farrago: an Aria." You can hear it read in its entirety on Penn Sound, where

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-7180045215682125612011-03-03T14:18:00.000-08:002011-03-03T14:28:10.767-08:00

Talk about wild joy. Watch this, and listen to the folks in the background re-winding it over and over again, it'll make you laugh till you cry:Memphis dance team member Marina Barrett is becoming an internet celebrity for her wild celebration after the Memphis Pom Squad won at the 2011 UDA College Nationals. (now imagine she's a poet, just getting a first poem, or book accepted)

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-11310875628743499572011-02-27T14:57:00.000-08:002011-02-27T15:01:57.128-08:00

An idea for your next book cover? if you ask me, this was a really creepy story . . .While binding books in human skin is not common, it is not unusual, says Mr Rouse. The practice is known as anthropodermic bibliopegy and seems to have been most popular during the 18th and 19th centuries. Many of the first books covered in human skin were medical books – the skins were primarily from amputated

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-91923780625145352212011-02-26T17:12:00.000-08:002011-02-26T17:16:14.584-08:00

Terrific brief talk from Claudia Mauro about how poems and stories change consciousness, change the world, and the need for independent publishers. Check it out!

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-80576646444702351582011-02-20T15:19:00.001-08:002011-02-21T10:44:31.791-08:00

Saw this over at Huffington Post:Watson's impressive debut on Jeopardy this past week got me wondering if there has ever been a serious attempt to program an artificial intelligence to write good poetry. I don't mean just throwing together a proper meter and rhyme scheme -- that seems easy enough. I'm talking about an attempt to create a machine that "understands" how to manipulate language to

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-82609780360336838752011-02-15T11:41:00.000-08:002011-02-16T17:43:09.047-08:00

This looks like an interesting movie. I have heard that it might be coming to Seattle after doing well on the film festival circuit? I hope so!The importance of seeing, seeing the world deeply, is at the heart of this quietly devastating, humanistic work from the South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong. Throughout the story, the teacher, a bespectacled man with an easy manner, will guide the

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-41854287061994805242011-02-13T08:15:00.000-08:002011-02-13T20:43:39.448-08:00

Fascinating article from Seattle's The Stranger. It looks like the real "welfare queens" in WA state are the "Republican" counties! The very ones who tend to vote to cut programs and lower taxes and demand "smaller government" are actually out of proportion in their use of tax dollars per-capita. Can anyone explain this to me? Or is it just another example of right-wing hypocrisy? I wonder if

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-310261134127323242011-02-10T07:03:00.001-08:002011-02-12T15:26:23.288-08:00

I thought this was a thoughtful post from Sandra Beasley about the Langston Hughes "Bus-Boy Poet" cardboard cut-out theft during AWP. check it out here When Busboys Become Poets (& When Poets Walk Off with Busboys).*And here is an interesting report about the Tony Hoagland-Claudia Rankine controversy at AWP. From Sara Jaffe's blog.*Back in town now, and having fun reading about people's AWP

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-64632492415518305362011-02-08T07:29:00.000-08:002011-02-08T07:33:07.201-08:00

Love this poem from today's Poem a Day. It gives new meaning to the idea that poets are all liars, embellishers, story-tellers, myth-makers. On The Origins Of Thingsby Troy Jollimore Everyone knows that the moon started outas a renegade fragment of the sun, a solarflare that fled that hellish furnaceand congealed into a flat frozen pond suspendedbetween the planets. But did you knowthat anger

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-22920006082141890482011-02-06T07:59:00.001-08:002011-02-06T12:31:46.923-08:00

A Russian Ballet group is in town tonight, and will be performing Romeo and Juliet at the new Teatro Vallarta (completed since Dean and I were here last). We have tickets for the 7pm show -- fun fun!Here is a pic of Dean standing in front of the new teatro. It is right across the street from the supermarket. (They don't really do zoning so well in Mexico. A hovel can be next to a resort next to a

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-88092709542442009782011-02-05T07:10:00.000-08:002011-02-05T08:25:38.602-08:00

Dean and I went to the Dirty Bitches last night. What a fun show! It takes place on the top floor of the Blue Chairs Hotel/Resort in Amapas. It is amazing to sit up high above the ocean, with sea air wafting in, listening to a high powered drag performance. It was mostly in English, so we understood the jokes pretty well. And the "singing" (they all did lip sync) was great. My favorites were Cher

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-81576559312576647192011-02-03T19:00:00.000-08:002011-02-03T19:03:58.648-08:00

I've been watching the events unfolding In Egypt, and am feeling somewhat uneasy. I hope that peace and democracy will win out. Be careful everybody. Respect every human life.

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-47002750858619416112011-02-03T14:57:00.001-08:002011-02-03T15:00:56.535-08:00

Wow, great news for Chase, and Atsuro.Chase Twichell, a former teacher and publisher who has been writing for more than 30 years, has won the $100,000 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award from Claremont Graduate University.Twichell, who lives in Keene, N.Y., with her husband, the novelist Russell Banks, is being honored for "Horses Where the Answers Should Have Been," her seventh book of poetry, published

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-39237134797933686862011-02-01T14:59:00.000-08:002011-02-01T16:27:54.788-08:00

Interesting article I saw online. Medical schools encouraging the humanities is really not that new. Unfortunately, it is usually seen as an elective, rather than main course.The course list for medical students can be brutal, including old standbys like gross anatomy, cell biology and organic chemistry. Now, aspiring doctors can add to that poetry and painting.Medical schools are placing a

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-3215760608561716192011-02-01T07:15:00.001-08:002011-02-01T07:17:34.538-08:00

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-28171869777694447282011-01-30T06:46:00.000-08:002011-01-30T16:23:06.846-08:00

Weekend Healing I like my attitude at this altitude. The pool is open, but nobody is swimming. I want to be better, not bitter. I'm looking for my armchair shaman, my couch physician. Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow? After all, an aphorism keeps the dogma away.*First appeared in USA Today Weekend, and included in What's Written on the Body.

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-51756581945710587802011-01-29T06:37:00.000-08:002011-01-29T12:27:50.810-08:00

Took a day trip the other day out to Sayulita, about 30 miles north, on the Riviera Nayarit coast. It's an up and coming little town, a haven for hippie surfers and boutique-y boomers with money to build amazing homes up on the hills. I'll try to post a little video I took of the beach scene later: surfers waxing their boards, mild waves, row after row of palapa-ed tables, Daquiri Dick's, etc.

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-38160483085445782312011-01-27T08:45:00.000-08:002011-01-27T08:48:45.345-08:00

A lovely poem from today's poem of the day. It really resonates with where I am sitting right now:The Processby Joseph Massey Cross-stitchedoutside soundsdouble the day'sindoor confusion.How to untwinenoise, to see.There's the bay,highway slashedbeneath; watera weaker shadeof gray than thismomentary sky'swidening bruise.The page turnson the table, baredespite allI thought waswritten there.*

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-75726192497536651702011-01-22T12:07:00.000-08:002011-01-22T12:12:54.077-08:00

Dean and I are having a great time so far in PV. The condo is quite spacious, with a killer ocean view. It is a little older of a building, and kind of funky and in need of some updates, but otherwise very clean and comfortable. We are enjoying cooking our own food, having walks on the beach, and dips in the pool, and jaunts into town for supplies. Last night we sat on the balcony having homemade

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-31239901447774116412011-01-18T07:52:00.000-08:002011-01-20T06:41:45.878-08:00

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-44805963282654647512011-01-15T12:44:00.000-08:002011-01-16T16:39:36.435-08:00

Looking forward to the long MLK weekend. And hoping my Huskies can turn it around and beat Cal tomorrow.* The sweetbox out back is in bloom. The aroma is amazing. I love having winter blooming plants in the garden. I cut a sprig from the witch hazel out front, and it is opening now in a glass jar on the kitchen windowsill. Just lovely. Ahhhhh . . .*Top blog search terms for past 24 hrs.Plague

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-8802675106149628592011-01-13T07:07:00.000-08:002011-01-13T07:13:14.748-08:00

Check out these three poems from Carol Frost, up at Poetry Daily. I have always enjoyed her work:Three PoemsThe honeycomb is made from flowers and the materials for wax bees gather from the resinous gum of trees, while honey is distilled from dew. At the rising of the constellations or when a rainbow is in the sky, . . . *And if you are from WA State, and are looking for a place for your

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10238581.post-60305991743992582182011-01-09T10:35:00.000-08:002011-01-09T18:39:30.489-08:00

So sad, so sad, to hear about the shootings in Arizona. It's one thing to have a free country and allow people their nutty beliefs. It is another thing entirely to allow them to arm themselves. And why shoot a child? I just cannot fathom it. Christina Taylor Green, the 9-year-old girl killed in the attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, was born on another sad day for the nation, Sept. 11, 2001.

Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11435013887780629734noreply@blogger.com0