"The Most Exciting Thing To Do With Your Head"
A great essay "interview" by Sam Anderson with the amazing Anne Carson in the New York Times Magazine. I think you can check it out here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/magazine/the-inscrutable-brilliance-of-anne-carson.html?ref=magazine&_r=0

I'm really looking forward to her new book, Red Doc>


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Also -- I love this poem by Dana Levin from today's Poem a Day:

The Gods Are in the Valley by Dana Levin The mind sports god-extensions. It's the mountain from which the tributaries spring: self, self, self, self-- rivering up on curling plumes from his elaborate head-piece of smoke. His head's on fire. Like a paleolithic shaman working now in the realm of air, he folds his hands-- No more casting bones for the consulting seeker, this gesture seems to mean. Your business, his flaming head suggests, is with your thought-machine. How it churns and churns. Lord Should and Not-Enough, Mute the Gigantor, looming dumb with her stringy hair-- Deadalive Mom-n-Dad (in the sarcophagi of parentheses you've placed them)-- He's a yogi, your man with a hat of smoke. Serene, chugging out streams of constructed air... Mind's an accident of bio-wiring, is one line of thinking. We're animals that shit out consciousness, is another. The yogi says: you must understand yourself as projected vapor. Thus achieve your superpower.

Copyright © 2013 by Dana Levin. Used with permission of the author.

About this Poem: "The poem was sparked by a drawing accompanying an 8th Century Chinese alchemical text, The Secret of the Golden Flower. To me, the drawing makes an argument for the multiplicity of self, the projected self, the vaporous, ever-changing nature of self: self as smoke. Something of continuous interest to me." Dana Levin

I Just Want the World to See

Great article from Michael Moore, about Sandy Hook (and likening it to Emmett Till, the holocaust, Mai lai etc) and how we all really need to be made to see the horror of it, if we are going to change anything, and break the stranglehold the NRA has.

 Check it out here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-moore/newtown-gun-control_b_2866126.html

 a couple quotes:

 Emmett Till's body was found and returned to Chicago. To the shock of many, his mother insisted on an open casket at his funeral so that the public could see what happens to a little boy's body when bigots decide he is less than human. She wanted photographers to take pictures of her mutilated son and freely publish them. More than 10,000 mourners came to the funeral home, and the photo of Emmett Till appeared in newspapers and magazines across the nation.

"I just wanted the world to see," she said. "I just wanted the world to see."

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 Most of us continue to say we "support the Second Amendment" as if it were written by God (or we're just afraid of being seen as anti-American). But this amendment was written by the same white men who thought a Negro was only 3/5 human. We've done nothing to revise or repeal this – and that makes us responsible, and that is why we must look at the pictures of the 20 dead children laying with what's left of their bodies on the classroom floor in Newtown, Connecticut.

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Looks like another CCP poets wins the Kingsley Tufts. Congrats!! Poet Marianne Boruch (Claremont Graduate University) By Carolyn Kellogg March 4, 2013, 10:00 a.m. Claremont Graduate University announced Monday that the winner of its 2013 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award is Marianne Boruch. Boruch will be awarded $100,000 for her collection "The Book of Hours," published by Copper Canyon Press. The prize, one of the largest American awards for poetry, is given to a mid-career poet. Boruch's work includes two collections of poetry: "Grace, Fallen From" (Wesleyan, 2008) and "Poems: New and Selected" (Oberlin, 2004). She is also the author of two books of essays about poetry -- "In the Blue Pharmacy" (Trinity, 2005) and "Poetry's Old Air" (Michigan, 1993) -- and the memoir "The Glimpse Traveler" (Indiana, 2011). She teaches creative writing at Purdue University and in the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. *

Portraits by Mark Irwin : American Life in Poetry

Good poem from Mark Irwin.  I totally relate.  (Now, imagine the "visiting" mother in the poem has actually passed away years ago . . . and then re-read it . . .)


Portraits

Mother came to visit today. We

hadn’t seen each other in years. Why didn’t

you call? I asked. Your windows are filthy, she said. I know,

I know. It’s from the dust and rain. She stood outside.

I stood in, and we cleaned each one that way, staring into each other’s eyes,

rubbing the white towel over our faces, rubbing

away hours, years. This is what it was like

when you were inside me, she said. What? I asked,

though I understood. Afterwards, indoors, she smelled like snow

melting. Holding hands we stood by the picture window,

gazing into the December sun, watching the pines in flame.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2010 by Mark Irwin from his most recent book of poems, Large White House Speaking, New Issues, 2013

Love this poem from Writer's Almanac a few days ago.

The February Bee

 The bumblebee crept out on the stone steps.
No roses. Nothing to gather.
Nothing but itself, the cold air,
and the spring light.
It rubbed its legs together
as if it wished to start a fire
and wear its warmth.
Under its smart yellow bands
the black body shone like patent leather.
It groomed itself, like a pilot
ready for takeoff and yet not ready:
when my shadow fell over him
he flicked his wings, checking them,
and took off into the bare garden.



"The February Bee" by Nancy Willard, from The Sea At Truro. © Knopf, 2012. Reprinted with permission.

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And the new house is beginning to take shape!

Watch the roof trusses being delivered!

Bloom is Fresh!

Received my copy of Bloom in the mail the other day. I love the cover, with the flag-like red and white stripes (or are they prison bars?) separating the Mexican and American young men (very apropos of our current political scene). And I am really happy with how my poems turned out "The Closing of the Liberace Museum," and "Cosmic Forces Brought Us Together." Thank you Bloom! Other poets in this issue include DA Powel, Eloise Klein Healy, Jeanine Deibel, Joshua Charles, and others. But two of my favorite pieces from the issue are prose: Richard McCann's lovely memoir about his father's unfinished novel, and Terra Brigando's riveting short story, "Ash," about a girl who watches a boy set himself on fire. Check it out and buy the new issue at their website!

Richard Blanco Named Inaugural Poet

from Huff Post: "At 44, Blanco is also the youngest-ever Inaugural poet and the first Hispanic and LGBT person to recite a poem at the swearing-in ceremony. "I’m beside myself, bestowed with this great honor, brimming over with excitement, awe, and gratitude,” Blanco said in a press release. “In many ways, this is the very ‘stuff’ of the American Dream, which underlies so much of my work and my life’s story—America’s story, really.”" * full story here:

Bishop Boring?

Safer than Ambien? An interesting take on Bishop. I admire it when someone is willing to take on a sacred cow. Check it out here at poetry foundation. "Maybe there are arterial poets, who flush oxygen into the art, and venous poets who bear tired blood back to the heart. Bishop is a venous poet."

Some recent poetry

Dean and I had a lovely 3 wk break in sunny Mexico recently, and I was able to catch up on my reading. In addition to the latest Jo Nesbo "Harry Hole" crime thriller, The Phantom, several recent books of poetry caught my eye:

Touch, by Henri Cole.  The book has three sections, and the poems are mostly all loose sonnets (14 lines, but no rhyme scheme or strict meter). The first section's poems explore his mother's death, and are incredibly moving and poignant, without being maudlin. The second is a mishmash of poems, some regarding photographs, paintings, some regarding recent current events, wars, casualties, as well as observations of the natural world. The third section was the most memorable for me -- intense, erotic, painful, arresting, violent and sad poems about a failed relationship, with a lover who was a drug addict. Here is a taste:

Doll

Thrown on the carpet with your legs awry --
broken, scalped, microwaved -- a receptacle
of love, you make me think the soul is larger
than the body. He lay like that the last time
I saw him, inhaling powder through a straw.
Studies show monkeys prefer it to food
in their cages; this happens even when the monkeys
are starving. "You are all darkness," he used to say,
"and I am light." Though I understood this alertness
as compassion, it wasn't. // It's March now;
the light is brittle, hard, frozen.
Experience seems to come from a distance.
Waiting for spring thaw, I throw you
in a box with the others.

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Nocturnes of the Brothel of Ruin, Patrick Donnelly.  I loved Patrick's first book, The Charge, and this book seems a fitting next step in his work. It is a mix of translations of Japanese classical poems (done with his partner/husband Stephen Miller), as well as more narrative poems that expand on themes from The Charge. These are hard-earned poems about memory, confronting mortality, living with AIDS, dealing with the body's limits, and ultimately survival:

 . . . But because a bitter powder
burns my blood sweet every day,
the weird wages of sin in my case
has been life, unprepared-for life,
a stumbling-block for the makers
of sermons because the punishment
we expected never came. Instead

some harsh mercy
(cunning, intricate) emptied
my tomb, prolongs
my days, swells
my account, wreathes
my neck, anoints
my feet, fattens me
on sweetmeats, publishes
my words, magnifies
my bed and husbands it
into outrageous flower.

(from "Sentence.")

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Gin & Bleach, Catherine Wing.  Another wonderful second book. I especially admire the poems with medical themes, titles: "Vitreous Humor," "Self Medication" "Still Murmur." As well as the funny and playful Tom and Jerry poems.

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The Middle Ages, Roger Fanning.  The author's note states that this is "an unusual book in that the poems written before the author's break with reality are markedly different from those written after . . . see if you can tell which poems are which." And certainly, there are poems that are more sedate and formal, and then, wow-- poems that really are a roller coaster ride, much looser in form and content, and, frankly, more fun. I assume the later came after the break?  Who knows.

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Rough Honey, Melissa Stein.  I especially enjoyed the poem "Galileo."

The Selvage, Linda Gregerson.  Ekphrasis seems to be trending lately. I especially enjoyed the series "From the Life of St. Peter."

Theophobia, Bruce Beasley.  Dense, word-rich, musical poems exploring scripture and language and the idea of God (or fear of God, as the case may be). Even includes a bit of science, which I like ("Genomic Vanitas").
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Happy reading!!

Copper Canyon 40th Anniversary!

For You & Everything Alive Inside of You: Readings by Copper Canyon Press Poets James Arthur, Mattew Dickman, Ed Skoog and Friends

• [View]

Date:

Friday, December 14, 2012 - 7:00pm

Featuring: Holiday book sale! Poetry reading! Behind-the-scenes stories from the Copper Canyon Press! Silent auction! More!

Who am I writing for?
For you and everything alive inside of you.
-Vicente Aleixandre
Translated from the Spanish by Lewis Hyde

The right poem makes us feel alive and, as Vicente Aleixandre suggests, written-for. Join Copper Canyon Press and Richard Hugo House for a celebration of the gift that is given between the poem and the poetry reader.

Meet author James Arthur, who will be reading from his debut book of poetry. Hear him describe the path his poems took from his feet to your ears, as well as CCP poets Matthew Dickman and Ed Skoog. Listen to local poets and performers interpret great works by Copper Canyon poets including June Jordan, Hayden Carruth and Dean Young. Allow us to introduce you to books of poetry you may not have heard of, or reintroduce you to poets you'd at one time rejected as not your type. Let us play matchmaker as you search for the poem that will light you up, or the collection that will make the perfect gift for the reader on your list.

To commemorate the 40th Anniversary of Copper Canyon Press, the first 100 RSVPs will receive a complimentary book of poetry at the door, and all guests will receive a special gift.
About the event
7-8 p.m. Meet the press. Doors and bar open. Receive your special gift at the door, and join us and Copper Canyon Press poets and Richard Hugo House staff for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. Chat with Copper Canyon Press staff and friends, bid on poetry-related auction items, and browse our holiday book sale before the crowd arrives.
8-9 p.m. Meet the poems. Copper Canyon author James Arthur will read excerpts from his new book, "Charms Against Lightning." Local poets Ed Skoog, Matthew Dickman, and special guests including Amber Flame, Arlene Kim and Elissa Washuta will pay tribute to Copper Canyon authors past and present. After the reading, staff will play matchmaker, taking requests from those who seek a particular kind of poetry book; we'll pull just the right volume for your personal collection or for someone on your holiday list.
9-10 p.m. Everything alive inside of you: Copper Canyon celebrates 40 dynamic years, and you help us kick-start our shared future in publishing. Stick around to talk with each other about what poetry means to you and how it betters your life. Describe the poem you wish someone would write. Sit and read a while. Fill up on hope. Get a book signed. Get a book gift-wrapped. Raise your glass to another good year in poetry.

Southeast Seattle, We're Covered!

Southeast Seattle, We're Covered!

I love living in Southeast Seattle -- diversity, community, eclectic restaurants, light rail -- It's getting better all the time.

Going to the Chapel?

Today, December 6th, is the first day same sex marriage licenses can be granted in Washington state! By coincidence, it also happens to be Dean's and my 26th anniversary.  We are in Mexico at the moment, so will have to celebrate from afar this very big step (one of many to come) in the expansion of human rights and social justice. Plus it is just so romantic, isn't it.

see article and pics at link below (I love what Dow Constantine had to say):

Dozens Receive Gay Marriage Licenses as WA State Legalizes Same Sex Unions

SEATTLE (AP) — Two by two, dozens of same-sex couples obtained their marriage licenses in Washington state early Thursday, just hours after Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a law legalizing gay marriage.

King County, the state’s biggest county, opened the doors to its auditor’s office in Seattle just after midnight PST to start distributing marriage licenses. But hundreds of people had lined up hours earlier, snaking around the downtown Seattle building on a chilly December night.

“We knew it was going to happen, but it’s still surreal,” said Amanda Dollente, who along with her partner, Kelly Middleton, began standing in line at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

 

Asked whether the middle-of-the-night marriage license roll-out was necessary, King County Executive Dow Constantine said, “People who have been waiting all these years to have their rights recognized should not have to wait one minute longer.”

In Seattle, the mood was festive. Volunteers distributed roses, coffee and fruit. Couples canoodled to keep warm. Champagne was poured. Different groups of men and women serenaded the waiting line, one to the tune of “Going to the Chapel.”

“We waited a long time. We’ve been together 35 years, never thinking we’d get a legal marriage. Now I feel so joyous I can’t hardly stand it,” said 85-year-old Pete-e Petersen, who with her partner, 77-year-old Jane Abbott Lighty, were the first to get a license.

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What fiscal cliff?

from the wonderful folks at MoveOn:

5-Point Guide To The Fiscal Showdown

1. The "Fiscal Cliff" Is A Myth. As Paul Krugman put it, "The looming prospect of spending cuts and tax increases isn't a fiscal crisis. It is, instead, a political crisis brought on by the G.O.P.'s attempt to take the economy hostage."¹ Republicans are manufacturing this crisis to pressure Democrats to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and accept painful cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. 


2. The Bush Tax Cuts Finally End December 31. If Congress does nothing, the ax will fall onall the Bush tax cuts on New Year's Eve.² Then, on January 1, the public pressure on John Boehner and House Republicans to extend the middle-class tax cuts (already passed by the Senate and waiting to be signed by President Obama) will become irresistible.³ So the middle-class tax cut will eventually get renewed, and we'll have $823 billion more revenue from the top 2% to do great things with.⁴


3. The Sequester. The sequester is another political creation, forced on Democrats by Republicans in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling last year to avoid crashing our economy.⁵ It's a set of cuts (50% to a bloated military budget and 50% to important domestic programs) designed to make both Republicans and Democrats hate it so much that they'd never let it happen.⁶ And the cuts can be reversed weeks or months into 2013 without causing damage.⁷ 


4. The Big Three. Nothing happens to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits on January 1—unless Republicans force painful cuts to beneficiaries in exchange for tax increases on the wealthy, which are going to happen anyway if Congress does NOTHING.⁸So, there's literally no reason benefits cuts should be part of the discussion right now.


5. We Should Be Talking About Jobs. The real crisis Americans want Congress to fix is getting people back to work. And with just a fraction of that $823 billion from the wealthiest 2%, we could create jobs for more than 20,000 veterans and pay for the 300,000 teachers and 52,000 first responders, which our communities so desperately need.⁹ That's not to mention jobs from investing in clean energy and our national infrastructure. 

Please share this with your friends and family—and talk about it at the dinner table next week. The first step to winning this showdown is making sure we're all armed with the facts.

Thanks for all you do.

–Ilya, Emily, Mark, Tate, and the rest of the team

Gay Marriage and Pot pass in WA

I love this cartoon. It really says it all.

4 More Days, 4 More Years!

This election is so important. It's all about moving FORWARD, not backward.

And in WA State, can you believe we will probably legalize pot, approve gay marriage, pass charter school, and elect a Republican governor. Go figure!