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 from the current war in Iraq. The film looks at the challenges faced by returning combat veterans and the battle many must fight for the benefits promised to them. Through the story of Herold Noel, an Iraq War veteran suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and living in his car in Brooklyn, WHEN I CAME HOME reveals a failing system and the veteran's struggle to survive after returning from the war.
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Monday, May 30, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
From today's Poem a Day. I love the magic realism of this.
The Aerodynamics
by Rick Bursky
The night she walked to the house
she held a string; on the other end,
fifty-three feet in the air, a kite.
Wind provided the aerodynamics.
Does every collaboration
need to be explained?
She tied the string to the mailbox
left the kite to float until morning.
Every night this happens.
She sleeps, I listen, darkness
slides through us both.
The next morning
the string still curved into the sky
but the kite was gone.
This was the morning
newspapers announced
the Mona Lisa was stolen.
This was the morning
it snowed in Los Angeles,
the morning I wore gloves
to pull from the sky
fifty-three feet of frozen string.
*
The Aerodynamics
by Rick Bursky
The night she walked to the house
she held a string; on the other end,
fifty-three feet in the air, a kite.
Wind provided the aerodynamics.
Does every collaboration
need to be explained?
She tied the string to the mailbox
left the kite to float until morning.
Every night this happens.
She sleeps, I listen, darkness
slides through us both.
The next morning
the string still curved into the sky
but the kite was gone.
This was the morning
newspapers announced
the Mona Lisa was stolen.
This was the morning
it snowed in Los Angeles,
the morning I wore gloves
to pull from the sky
fifty-three feet of frozen string.
*
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Born This Way, Special Edition, quick review
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 klezmer-Gypsy-like rhythms, about a possible LA-based, lesbian love affair?
"Hair" This has perhaps a little to do with the 60's hippie anthem, and being a free spirit. I could see it being done on Glee.
"Scheibe" Gaga sings in scary robotic German on this Euro-techno-disco masterpiece, about being a strong woman. (I think Schiebe might be a derogatory term for a woman in German?)
"Black Jesus+Amen Fashion" Jesus is the new black. HA!
"Heavy Metal Lover" I want your wiskey mouth/All over my blonde south. (oh my!)
"Electric Chapel" Smooth cruising love song, over a driving electric guitar riff.
"You and I" Wow. Almost a country twang going on here, a love song full of nostalgia for her ex-boyfriend, heavy metal drummer Luc Carl.
"The Edge of Glory" this song premiered on American Idol, and it was f**cking amazing. I think I have played it 20 times now on the CD. Dean thinks I am on the edge.
Highly recommended!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Bees Beeing
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 and snacks and chit chatted.
And today, the bees are coming! The bees are coming! There are several bee boxes being set up in the park, in their own little bee house, and I think today is when the queen arrives.
It makes me think of Sylvia Plath and her bee poems:
The Arrival of the Bee Box
I ordered this, clean wood box
Square as a chair and almost too heavy to lift.
I would say it was the coffin of a midget
Or a square baby
Were there not such a din in it.
The box is locked, it is dangerous.
I have to live with it overnight
And I can't keep away from it.
There are no windows, so I can't see what is in there.
There is only a little grid, no exit.
I put my eye to the grid.
It is dark, dark,
With the swarmy feeling of African hands
Minute and shrunk for export,
Black on black, angrily clambering.
How can I let them out?
It is the noise that appalls me most of all,
The unintelligible syllables.
It is like a Roman mob,
Small, taken one by one, but my god, together!
I lay my ear to furious Latin.
I am not a Caesar.
I have simply ordered a box of maniacs.
They can be sent back.
They can die, I need feed them nothing, I am the owner.
I wonder how hungry they are.
I wonder if they would forget me
If I just undid the locks and stood back and turned into a tree.
There is the laburnum, its blond colonnades,
And the petticoats of the cherry.
They might ignore me immediately
In my moon suit and funeral veil.
I am no source of honey
So why should they turn on me?
Tomorrow I will be sweet God, I will set them free.
The box is only temporary.
*****
And today, the bees are coming! The bees are coming! There are several bee boxes being set up in the park, in their own little bee house, and I think today is when the queen arrives.
It makes me think of Sylvia Plath and her bee poems:
The Arrival of the Bee Box
I ordered this, clean wood box
Square as a chair and almost too heavy to lift.
I would say it was the coffin of a midget
Or a square baby
Were there not such a din in it.
The box is locked, it is dangerous.
I have to live with it overnight
And I can't keep away from it.
There are no windows, so I can't see what is in there.
There is only a little grid, no exit.
I put my eye to the grid.
It is dark, dark,
With the swarmy feeling of African hands
Minute and shrunk for export,
Black on black, angrily clambering.
How can I let them out?
It is the noise that appalls me most of all,
The unintelligible syllables.
It is like a Roman mob,
Small, taken one by one, but my god, together!
I lay my ear to furious Latin.
I am not a Caesar.
I have simply ordered a box of maniacs.
They can be sent back.
They can die, I need feed them nothing, I am the owner.
I wonder how hungry they are.
I wonder if they would forget me
If I just undid the locks and stood back and turned into a tree.
There is the laburnum, its blond colonnades,
And the petticoats of the cherry.
They might ignore me immediately
In my moon suit and funeral veil.
I am no source of honey
So why should they turn on me?
Tomorrow I will be sweet God, I will set them free.
The box is only temporary.
*****
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Saturday, May 07, 2011
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 Laughlin Award for this collection. He teaches at Princeton. (from Poetry Foundation)
*
PS: check out Copper Canyon's terrific new website.
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 Laughlin Award for this collection. He teaches at Princeton. (from Poetry Foundation)
*
PS: check out Copper Canyon's terrific new website.
Friday, May 06, 2011
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.
*
*
Sunday, May 01, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
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 generator
joshmillard.com | ThinkStank | @joshmillard
(example)
This Is Just To Say
I have condemned
the tangerines
that were beside
the shrine
and which
you were probably
growing
for Eid-al-Fitr
Forgive me
they were tedious
so flat
and so massive
*
-
William Carlos Williams generator
joshmillard.com | ThinkStank | @joshmillard
(example)
This Is Just To Say
I have condemned
the tangerines
that were beside
the shrine
and which
you were probably
growing
for Eid-al-Fitr
Forgive me
they were tedious
so flat
and so massive
*
-
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
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 more
You don't have to go
You're the poetry man
You make things all right . . .
*
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 more
You don't have to go
You're the poetry man
You make things all right . . .
*
Monday, April 25, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Moral hypocrisy?
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 said. "I say unwise because at the time I received and forwarded the email, I didn't stop to think about the historic implications and other examples of how this could be offensive."
In the statement, Davenport also quoted the Bible and said she was "an imperfect Christian" who tried to "live a Christ-like honoring life."
"I would never do anything to intentionally harm or berate others regardless of ethnicity," she said. "I will not repeat this error."
I am not going to repost the crappy picture. Basically it shows an ape mom and dad, holding their ape child, with Obama's face pasted over it, and the caption, "this is why there is no birth certificate." How could any public official ever think this was appropriate?
Hmmmm, and the Tea Party and Birthers say they are not racist? Hmmmmm. And her apology only sounds like she is sorry for being caught. She doesn't denounce the image. Christ-like? Hardly.
*
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 said. "I say unwise because at the time I received and forwarded the email, I didn't stop to think about the historic implications and other examples of how this could be offensive."
In the statement, Davenport also quoted the Bible and said she was "an imperfect Christian" who tried to "live a Christ-like honoring life."
"I would never do anything to intentionally harm or berate others regardless of ethnicity," she said. "I will not repeat this error."
I am not going to repost the crappy picture. Basically it shows an ape mom and dad, holding their ape child, with Obama's face pasted over it, and the caption, "this is why there is no birth certificate." How could any public official ever think this was appropriate?
Hmmmm, and the Tea Party and Birthers say they are not racist? Hmmmmm. And her apology only sounds like she is sorry for being caught. She doesn't denounce the image. Christ-like? Hardly.
*
Monday, April 18, 2011
Republican Fascists?
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 was not on MediCare. When they came for the Social Security, I said nothing because I am over 55. When they came for the food stamps, I said nothing because I was not on food stamps. When they came for children's aid programs, I said nothing because my kids are grown. When they came for the unions, I said nothing because I was not in a union. When they came for Women's rights, I said nothing because I am not a Woman. When they came for education, I said nothing because I had already graduated. When they came to disenfranchise minority voters, I said nothing because I'm White. When they came for the "fracking" leases, I said nothing because I didn't live in the area. When they came for another war, I said nothing because I'm not in the military. When they came for Civil Rights, I said nothing because I didn't want to be called unpatriotic. OH NO! They're coming for me! Where is everybody? Oh...............right."
Representative Ryan Puts the Republicans on the Record
For years people have accused the Republican Party of being the servants of the rich and powerful at the expense of the broader public. In the past, they would deny this charge and claim that they just had a different view of how the economy works. But Paul Ryan has eliminated any confusion on this point. He proposed, and last week the Republican House approved, a budget bill that will transfer tens of trillions of dollars from ordinary working people to the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry and generic rich people from any industry.
*
"When they came for the MediCare, I said nothing because I was not on MediCare. When they came for the Social Security, I said nothing because I am over 55. When they came for the food stamps, I said nothing because I was not on food stamps. When they came for children's aid programs, I said nothing because my kids are grown. When they came for the unions, I said nothing because I was not in a union. When they came for Women's rights, I said nothing because I am not a Woman. When they came for education, I said nothing because I had already graduated. When they came to disenfranchise minority voters, I said nothing because I'm White. When they came for the "fracking" leases, I said nothing because I didn't live in the area. When they came for another war, I said nothing because I'm not in the military. When they came for Civil Rights, I said nothing because I didn't want to be called unpatriotic. OH NO! They're coming for me! Where is everybody? Oh...............right."
Representative Ryan Puts the Republicans on the Record
For years people have accused the Republican Party of being the servants of the rich and powerful at the expense of the broader public. In the past, they would deny this charge and claim that they just had a different view of how the economy works. But Paul Ryan has eliminated any confusion on this point. He proposed, and last week the Republican House approved, a budget bill that will transfer tens of trillions of dollars from ordinary working people to the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry and generic rich people from any industry.
*
Sunday, April 17, 2011
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 Rich
April 17, 2011
7:00 p.m.
Barnes & Noble Booksellers, University Village
2675 NE University Village Street
*
What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?
Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - 7:00pm Richard Hugo House
Nuclear disaster, oil spills, global warming—these are no longer plots of sci-fi films and apocalyptic literature, but real threats that our world faces as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation become more and more prevalent.
Doctor and Copper Canyon Press poet Peter Pereira; Kathleen Flenniken, a former civil engineer and author of "Plume," a collection of poetry about the Hanford Nuclear Site; Judith Roche, whose poetry about the life cycle of Pacific Northwest salmon can be heard at the Ballard Locks; and poet and beekeeper Bob Redmond talk and read poems about the destruction and healing of our natural world.
The reading is free. Books from the authors will be available for purchase, and the bar will be open.
*
Every Dress a Decision
Book release readings for Elizabeth Austen's new book! Don't you just love this cover! (FYI, the poems are great, too).
April 28th 7PM @ Cheap Wine and Poetry, Richard Hugo House
May 6th 7:30 PM @ Open Books
*
SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY Seattle Reading: Kathleen Flenniken, Jourdan Imani Keith, Rebecca Loudon, Colleen J. McElroy, Susan Rich
April 17, 2011
7:00 p.m.
Barnes & Noble Booksellers, University Village
2675 NE University Village Street
*
What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?
Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - 7:00pm Richard Hugo House
Nuclear disaster, oil spills, global warming—these are no longer plots of sci-fi films and apocalyptic literature, but real threats that our world faces as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation become more and more prevalent.
Doctor and Copper Canyon Press poet Peter Pereira; Kathleen Flenniken, a former civil engineer and author of "Plume," a collection of poetry about the Hanford Nuclear Site; Judith Roche, whose poetry about the life cycle of Pacific Northwest salmon can be heard at the Ballard Locks; and poet and beekeeper Bob Redmond talk and read poems about the destruction and healing of our natural world.
The reading is free. Books from the authors will be available for purchase, and the bar will be open.
*
Every Dress a Decision
Book release readings for Elizabeth Austen's new book! Don't you just love this cover! (FYI, the poems are great, too).
April 28th 7PM @ Cheap Wine and Poetry, Richard Hugo House
May 6th 7:30 PM @ Open Books
*
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