A New Wing

Received this from Papaduck, and just had to pass it on:

When a panel of doctors was asked to vote on adding a new wing to their hospital, the Allergists voted to scratch it and the Dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves.

The Gastroenterologists had sort of a gut feeling about it, but the Neurologists thought the administration had a lot of nerve, and the Obstetricians felt they were all laboring under a misconception.

The Ophthalmologists considered the idea shortsighted; the Pathologists yelled, "Over my dead body", while the Pediatricians said, "Oh, Grow up!"

The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, the Radiologists could see right through it, and the Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing.

The Internists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow, and the Plastic Surgeons said, "This puts a whole new face on the matter."

The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but the Urologists felt the scheme wouldn't hold water.

The Anesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas and the Cardiologists didn't have the heart to say no.

In the end, the Proctologists left the decision up to some asshole in administration.

The Darjeeling Limited

Dean and I saw The Darjeeling Limited last night. I had just finished a week of on-call, and Dean was about to start a weekend of work, so it was a nice break to go to the movies after dinner.

The scenes in India are gorgeous, stunning, beautiful. Worth the price of admission alone. The train itself is a revelation (think Orient Express, but more basic, more colorful, more quirky, more surreal). The movie is a road-story about three American brothers (played by Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman) who are united on a "spiritual quest" to visit their long-estranged mother (Angelica Houston), who is now a Christian nun in Nepal(?). The plot is actually pretty lame and non-sensical, and the movie doesn't know whether it is honoring Indian spiritual traditions, spiritual quests in general, or just mocking them ironically (or both) for the sake of cheap laughs. Still, the climactic scene, which occurs along a river as three Indian boys are trying to cross with their load of provisions, is riveting and devastating and transforming. This scene, and what immediately follows, is the true heart of the movie, what in the end really mattered, and it is where the writer-director(s) should have focused.

An nice excerpt from a Richard Hugo AWP address over at Nothing to Say & Saying It.


Why are we writing? A silly question, granted. We write because we can’t stop, or as Bill Stafford says, for the same reason we talk. But there’s an even more serious answer, and it is one that has evolved in our time. We write to validate our lives, our relations with the world and with each other. Literature will have to take care of itself.

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And over at Reginald Sheperd's blog, Why I Write, revised.

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Did you hear Naomi Wolf's interview on NPR yesterday, for her book The End of America? It was chilling. Dean and I went out to Elliott Bay and bought the book (which oddly enough was shelved in an out-of-the-way "Activism" section in the back of the store, bottom row). Her thesis is that many of the things that fascist totalitarian regimes do to take control of their people (see Mussolini's Italy, Hitler and the Nazi's Germany, Russia under Stalin), are actually happening now, in America. Right under our noses. And it may be too late before we wake up and really start to protest the erosion of our civil liberties. She researched a lot of original historical documents, and comes up with Ten Steps.

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy (9/11 and "the terrorists")

2. Create a gulag (Git-mo and the secret prisons)

3. Develop a thug caste (Blackwater and other private security forces)

4. Set up an internal surveillance system (they are watching you right now)

5. Harass citizens' groups (Democratic voters in Florida harassed at polls by groups of khaki-and-white-shirt wearing republican campaign workers)

6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release (see the story of Maher Arar, the innocent Canadian who was held for three years)

7. Target key individuals (uh-huh)

8. Control the press (check)

9. Dissent equals treason (check)

10. Suspend the rule of law (this is coming with the next election. Bush will say that because of the new war with Iran we can't have elections for a while. Wolf doesn't say as much, but I think it is not out of the realm of what Bush and hos cronies are capable of doing.)


It's a fascinating read. All the stuff that is happening with Blackwater right now, she predicted in step three. They are the "Thug Caste" of paramilitary officers, answerable to no one, who will soon be operating in America. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Read her book. And take action, now.

We now return you till your regular programming. This post will probably get me put on some kind of list (if I'm not already on one).

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Putting the Garden to Rest

The vegetable beds covered with straw.

Dean and I drove out to Woodinville last Saturday, for our yearly straw bale purchase. The gardens beds look so cozy & tucked-in and ready for winter now. It's time to get out the winter duvet for the bedroom as well. It all makes me feel like I want to hibernate for a few months. Wake me up in March or April?

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Putting the Garden To Rest

Today you clipped long, thin verticals
from the espaliered pear and apple, laid them straight
in three bundles tied with twine.

I dug the vegetable beds under,
turning the heavy soil until it fell black
and loose from the spading fork.

I love this emptiness.
Bare branches making a net for the wind.
The garden tucked under a cover of straw.

We pull dry logs from the woodpile,
carry them in to the stove.
A finch lights on the fencepost,

then disappears into the white sky.


--from Saying the World

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The Upper Left Hand Corner

The National Poetry Series is pleased to announce...

The Winners of the 2007 Open Competition:

Joe Bonomo of DeKalb, Illinois, InstallationsChosen by Naomi Shihab Nye, to be published by Penguin Books

Oni Buchanan of Brighton, Massachusetts, SpringChosen by Mark Doty, to be published by University of Illinois Press

Sabra Loomis of New York, New York, House Held Together by WindsChosen by James Tate, to be published by HarperCollins Publishers

Donna Stonecipher of Seattle, Washington, The Cosmopolitan
Chosen by John Yau, to be published by Coffee House Press

Rodrigo Toscano of Brooklyn, New York, Collapsible Poetics Theater
Chosen by Marjorie Welish, to be published by Fence Books

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An in other recent news: Brian Culhane received the Emily Dickinson First Book Award, recognizing an American poet over the age of 50 who has yet to publish a first book of poetry. In addition to publication of his winning manuscript, Culhane received a prize of $10,000. Culhane, 53, was born in 1954 in New York City and earned a BA from the City University of New York and an MFA from Columbia University. He received a PhD from the University of Washington, studying epic literature and the history of criticism. He currently lives in Seattle with his wife and children, and teaches film and English at the Lakeside School. Through the Washington Commission for the Humanities, he has lectured on Frost and Thoreau throughout Washington state. His poetry has been published in such journals as The New Criterion, The Hudson Review, The New Republic, and The Paris Review.


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I'm glad to see two more Seattle poets getting recognition. There is a hotbed of poetry going on in the upper left hand corner of the country!

PS: Actually, looking outside at the weather this morning, it's a cold damp loamy fertile bed of poetry. Nothing hot about it.

I am enjoying the new issue of Seattle Review, which has a new look, and a new editor, Andrew Feld. He has updated the image of the journal, with a wider, oversize format, and a hipper design (though the shifting font sizes and spacing were a little distracting to this reader). And he writes a good opening essay about his philosppy as editor. He makes no apologies for Seattle Review being an "academic" journal, meaning "we embrace ideas and welcome the widest possible range of voices and aesthetics. The academy is, after all, that singular place in the world where ideas are taken seriously." Sounds good.

The current issue has some wonderful poems by Richard Howard, Susan Parr, Rick Barot, James Hoch, and more. Check it out!

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Also reading the latest issue of Poetry Northwest. Sharon Bryan has an amazing poem, "Bass Bass" about language, confusion, creation. It's a hoot. Here's an excerpt:

" . . .

the words make a little
sizzle in my brain,

which twin is it, does it
rhyme with ace or ass,

my tongue trips over
itself when I come to

either one, am I at
the opera, jazz club,

bait shop, is something
keeping time or sifting it . . ."

pg 12-13


enjoy!

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Trifecta

From the when-it-rains-it-pours file:
Looks like I will have a poem, "Heart Scan," in next week's JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association). And tomorrow Garrison Keillor is set to read my poem "Reconsidering the Seven" on The Writer's Almanac. (Scroll down to October 7th and you can listen to it on the archive). I am especially tickled with the Writer's Almanac date, because it is the 50th anniversary of Ginsberg reading "Howl." Along with the ALP appearance, I feel like I have won some kind of lottery. Hmmm. Maybe I should be buying tickets this week?

Had a fun time reading in Ballard last night with Susan Rich and Jourdan Keith. It's a lovely new building, with a garden of grasses on the roof. The reading room is oval shaped with a high ceiling and amazing acoustics. You can read without a mic and be heard quite clearly. I loved Susan's poem "The Men You Don't Get to Sleep With" and Jourdan's long poem/story about black seeds ("beautiful strange fruit with black seeds inside"). Thanks to everybody who came.

Susan and I had dinner at Thaiku beforehand. What a great name for a Thai restaurant for poets. ~grin~

Here is a pic of the little Buddha from my ALP poem.

Looks like I have a poem up on American Life in Poetry this week.
What a pleasant surprise!
Thank you, Ted K.

From the Borowitz Report

Ahmadinejad Invites U.N. Inspectors to Search for Homosexuals
Permits Use of Advanced Gaydar

Just days after asserting that there are no homosexuals in Iran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today invited United Nations inspectors into his country to search for homosexuals.

“We have nothing to hide,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly. “You can search the entire country – even the airport bathrooms.”

While some senior U.S. diplomats expressed skepticism about the Iranian president’s offer to allow U.N. inspectors to search his country for homosexuals, Mr. Ahmadinejad attempted to silence the skeptics by permitting the use of “advanced gaydar technology” as part of the proposed inspections.

“In Iran we have the most advanced gaydar in the world and we are prepared to share it with you,” he said.

In the immediate aftermath of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s speech, it was unclear as to who would lead the U.N.’s inspection efforts, but most diplomats assumed that the task would fall to Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

At a press conference at the United Nations, Mr. ElBaradei acknowledged that he had no previous experience searching for homosexuals, but said that if chosen to lead the inspection effort he would make sure that the inspections were “rigorous and thorough.”

“The possibility that Iran may possess homosexuals is a serious matter to the world community,” Mr. ElBaradei said. “There has been evidence for some time that Iran may be attempting to build a Broadway musical.”

Elsewhere, President Bush made his first official comment on the situation in Myanmar, telling reporters, “I will support whichever side is easier to pronounce.”

Take This Quiz!

Take this quiz. See which candidate you most agree with on the issues. You may be very, very surprised. My top three were Gravel, Kucinich, and Richardson.

How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg?
Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.
-- Abraham Lincoln

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Poetry reading: I'll be reading at the new Ballard Public Library, with Susan Rich and Jourdan Keith. 6:30 PM Thursday, October 4th. Come on down if you are in the area (or even if you are far away!)

Seattle Public Library - Ballard Branch
5614 22nd Ave NW,
Seattle, WA

Dylan is brilliant

This was too fun. I hope you like my little poem/movie for the president.




Q: Isn't that Allen Ginsburg and Peter Orlovsky walking off in the end?

PS: If the movie won't load, go to the link here.

Lie Soap

The President Speaks Out on the Issues

It's Sunday, and the president has finished his milk.
"Let out more line!" he hollers. A screen door bangs.

It is another day, and the president has three shoes.
He thinks the closet is like his mother, hiding in plain sight.

The president feeds on charred animals, chewing their little ears.
It's Tuesday twice in a row in the unemployment line.

"I'm the president," says the president.
"I'll break every mirror in the garsh darn place."

It is a time of trials, and the president is selling soap.
Lie soap. Carefully he washes out his mouth.

"War is our only road to peace," says the president
to his necktie and gloves. The wind smells of oily birds.

"Murderers should be excruciated," he tells his dog,
Spot, "so we can sleep safely in our boats."

It is Thursday again, and the president completes his favorite
Norman Rockwell puzzle on national television.

"See what can be done if we work together," says the president,
who evaporates below the waist and discusses the beauty of stumps.

"This is a great day, eh spot?" says Spot.
"We all love you for that."

-- Christopher Howell, appeared in Gettysburg Review