Audio Attempt
So here’s an upload of me reading “Walk With Me Awhile” with Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young” as a little mood music. I’m currently using zShare to host the file, so you have to go to their site and download it as part of their Terms of Service. If anyone has any recommendations as to other hosts that I could use that would work just as well, or allow me to hotlink direct from this page, that’d be awesome.
Oh, thank God…
I’ve written a lot of poetry that has not been so good lately. And I’m not sure why exactly, but I kept writing (and unfortunately posting) with the hope that I would have a return to grace of wit and form. “For the Girl in the Corner” was pretty much my way of expressing this frustration, and this piece may not be great or even good, but it makes me take a deep breath and slowly let it out like I feel something big happening.
“The Feeling”
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On Cartoons
Here’s my formal complaint about censoring old cartoons. I don’t condone racism, but I don’t condone excessiveness either.
“Matters of Faith”
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One for the weekend…
We talked about going into town
to see the clubs and the social scene,
but instead we just started drinkin’.
Boy, I Wanna Warn Ya
This is for someone whose poetry inspires me to go further and strive harder to make my ideas and images work together in ways that might at first seem impossible. This someone has reminded me of something in poetry and life about how we experience moments, and without that reminder it would have undoubtedly slipped my mind altogether. (Interestingly, I know that this person is often inspired by music, and this piece comes from “Ballroom Blitz” by The Sweet.)
“For the Girl in the Corner”
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A Reflection on Trout Fishing in America
Fishing with Brautigan: A Positive Reconciliation of Outdoor Life with Sprawling Society
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Sharks and Hammers
I’ve had a few images floating around in my head lately, and I wanted to get them out somewhere. I’m not sure that this poem is the place for them (I can think of a lot of things to do with sledgeheads.), but I thought this was a fun little ditty all the same. Enjoy!
“Not Entirely Autobiographical”
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On the Implications of “Found” Poetry
Here’s my first bit of critical work that I’m posting online. For a more personal reflection on found poetry and its issues, please visit the Lilacs and Landmines post on it: Lilacs and Landmines, “Found”.
Pillow Talk
I’ve had this one awhile, but I never put it up because I didn’t really like it. I guess I’m just going to put it up anyway.
“Pillow Talk”
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Grim
I’ve played around with the idea of doing a longer narrative set in poetic verse. This was an early idea that I was sort of tossing around.
Walk With Me
I don’t write love poems. But I did.
“Walk With Me Awhile”
Go melt back into the night,
like Bob Dylan said.
Melt back into the dark
because there’s a chasm between us
of clichés and a-b-a-b rhyme schemes—
themes of cherubim and heart-woven rhythms.
Go back to the theatre house,
to the cold streets with their deep pockets
and hat hangers where you can find my walking cap:
a mesh of patterns that were more
heart-woven than I could’ve hoped.
Remember?
That evening at the opera house
you whispered chilled words
and the fringe wrapped around my neck,
a Victorian frill of breath
that made me shiver and smile,
backlit by angels and arrows and a chandelier.
I suspect you’re too clever for me,
so I’ll hang my hat,
and you’ll know where to find me.
Thoughts I’m still thinking
A friend of mine over at Lilacs and Landmines (link on the right) occasionally posts her thoughts regarding her writing process or why she is writing the way she is currently. I thought I might steal the idea and post something along those lines.
For awhile my work struggled with the idea that life is, albeit extensive and elegant, a contrivance, and in some ways I still think it is. However, something in Malone Dies by Samuel Beckett struck me; it was the line, “To know he can do better next time, unrecognizably better, and that there is no next time, and that it is a blessing there is not, there is a thought to be going on with.” I have started to wonder if life is not one very elaborate lapse in judgment. I don’t think that this is a bad thing; in fact, it seems strangely optimistic to me now. It also explains both the good and the bad.
New Section Going Up!
I’m adding a new section to the blog for my critical writing. These are essays that focus on a variety of issues in different literature. Some of the essays are for class, some are not. This new section can be found under the Prose tab in the drop-down box on the right. Most of the essays will have had some light revision but are certainly not meant/ready for publication, so when commenting, focus on the issues addressed in the article rather than grammatical elements.
“Ophelia”
That’s right–I wrote a poem called “Ophelia”! But it’s not what you think. It’s actually kind of creepy…
“Ophelia”
I once made a character named Ophelia;
I promptly slit her throat and dumped her in the bay.
And when they found the body,
they claimed she was drowned.
A slit throat is a hard thing to overlook,
but I was writing their words and thoughts.
I’ve never laughed so hard in my life.
I think I may’ve been angry at the time.
Here She Be -- The Battlements 