First off, this:

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5165435

Yay. I’m getting psyched now — my friends’ wedding is in less than two weeks!

Better finish that poem, eh?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Went out to the Asylum last night — packed house. I had to go outside for big blocks of time because of heat, lightheadedness, and general unease in the crowd.

A good open. Heard some good stuff. Read “News Conferences” and “Political Art” — drew some disapproval from the crowd when I said I’ve become convinced that political poems don’t change the world. Oh well…

If only we’d stop preaching to the converted I might believe otherwise. But I see poetry readings as being so lefty-crunchy these days, it’s hard for me to see the utility of getting the approval from the already approving.

Oh well. I got to punch George Bush in the face, anyway.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Alixa and Naima were pretty good, in retrospect. I’ve always loved Alixa’s stuff and there were moments I thought were excellent — the poem about the shootings that included the Liberty Bell imagery was especially good, I thought.

I hadn’t heard Naima before. She was a good performer, but I felt less than enthused by her work — not sure why; I’ve heard a lot of it before, I think. Mayhap I’m just jaded.

One catty note I’ll probably regret: can someone please write a poem about a Nubian mechanic? Please? Someone’s got to keep all those princes and princesses moving.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
peragrin_fogin‘s post is up regarding John Kerry’s position on the Patriot Act. (Thanks for posting it, R.)

You know what? It is a perfect example of why so many people are pissed off about Kerry’s candidacy.

He promises to have a plan to adjust the Patriot Act within 100 days of assuming office.

How about offering the ideas NOW? How about showing us something more than a promise to think about it once he’s in? This isn’t rocket science. Civil Libertarians have all sorts of ideas for getting information on terrorism without compromising civil liberties. How about supporting some of them NOW?

This is the characteristic that will likely cost Kerry the Presidency: the unwillingess to commit. The perpetual belief that saying he’ll be better than Bush is enough to get folks to vote for him. You’ve got to give em a sense of how, John. Got to.

Otherwise, there’s no good reason for undecided voters to upset the applecart in a time of fear and indecision.

I hate George Bush, personally and deeply; I won’t be voting for him. But I have yet to find a compelling reason to vote for John Kerry.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

What this country needs is a few left wing gun nuts, just to break up the political logjam.

If there was a more visible radical left, it would go a long way toward mobilizing reasonable lefties to action…much as radical rightists have managed to swing agendas toward their end of the spectrum.

Where’s my copy of “Rules for Radicals?”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I need coffee. Good coffee.

This cafeteria at work just swung over to Starbucks.

To paraphrase the Martian Ambassador: “Ack. ACK ACK.”

First off, this:

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5165435

Yay. I’m getting psyched now — my friends’ wedding is in less than two weeks!

Better finish that poem, eh?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Went out to the Asylum last night — packed house. I had to go outside for big blocks of time because of heat, lightheadedness, and general unease in the crowd.

A good open. Heard some good stuff. Read “News Conferences” and “Political Art” — drew some disapproval from the crowd when I said I’ve become convinced that political poems don’t change the world. Oh well…

If only we’d stop preaching to the converted I might believe otherwise. But I see poetry readings as being so lefty-crunchy these days, it’s hard for me to see the utility of getting the approval from the already approving.

Oh well. I got to punch George Bush in the face, anyway.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Alixa and Naima were pretty good, in retrospect. I’ve always loved Alixa’s stuff and there were moments I thought were excellent — the poem about the shootings that included the Liberty Bell imagery was especially good, I thought.

I hadn’t heard Naima before. She was a good performer, but I felt less than enthused by her work — not sure why; I’ve heard a lot of it before, I think. Mayhap I’m just jaded.

One catty note I’ll probably regret: can someone please write a poem about a Nubian mechanic? Please? Someone’s got to keep all those princes and princesses moving.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
peragrin_fogin‘s post is up regarding John Kerry’s position on the Patriot Act. (Thanks for posting it, R.)

You know what? It is a perfect example of why so many people are pissed off about Kerry’s candidacy.

He promises to have a plan to adjust the Patriot Act within 100 days of assuming office.

How about offering the ideas NOW? How about showing us something more than a promise to think about it once he’s in? This isn’t rocket science. Civil Libertarians have all sorts of ideas for getting information on terrorism without compromising civil liberties. How about supporting some of them NOW?

This is the characteristic that will likely cost Kerry the Presidency: the unwillingess to commit. The perpetual belief that saying he’ll be better than Bush is enough to get folks to vote for him. You’ve got to give em a sense of how, John. Got to.

Otherwise, there’s no good reason for undecided voters to upset the applecart in a time of fear and indecision.

I hate George Bush, personally and deeply; I won’t be voting for him. But I have yet to find a compelling reason to vote for John Kerry.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

What this country needs is a few left wing gun nuts, just to break up the political logjam.

If there was a more visible radical left, it would go a long way toward mobilizing reasonable lefties to action…much as radical rightists have managed to swing agendas toward their end of the spectrum.

Where’s my copy of “Rules for Radicals?”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I need coffee. Good coffee.

This cafeteria at work just swung over to Starbucks.

To paraphrase the Martian Ambassador: “Ack. ACK ACK.”

I had a really down night last night…not entirely sure why.

I did see “House of Sand and Fog” which might have had something to do with it. Suicides in movies or the news tend to depress me. Can’t imagine why.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Been reading and listening to people dissect the slams they’ve been in lately.

Not sure what to say about it, other than the obvious:

1. Slammers take themselves WAY too fucking seriously.
2. I think slam is becoming more and more like a Star Trek convention — of interest as a phenomonon only inasmuch as any subculture is, with very little relevance to anything outside, no matter how much the insiders strain to convince themselves and everyone else that it IS relevant.
3. If the majority of slammers who claim to be pissed off at PSI, the poor state of poetry in slams, Def Jam, etc., would simply leave/boycott the institutions, we’d see actual change pretty damn fast. Unfortunately, people get so hooked on “going to Nationals” they don’t see that.

Quick question for all the slammers out there: suppose you took the money you put into traveling to/from NPS, regional bouts, etc., and put it into developing greater outreach in your local communities. How would that be?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I feel better already.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In other news…there is no other news.

I’ll be at the Hut tonight for Alixa and Naima. Come say hi.

I had a really down night last night…not entirely sure why.

I did see “House of Sand and Fog” which might have had something to do with it. Suicides in movies or the news tend to depress me. Can’t imagine why.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Been reading and listening to people dissect the slams they’ve been in lately.

Not sure what to say about it, other than the obvious:

1. Slammers take themselves WAY too fucking seriously.
2. I think slam is becoming more and more like a Star Trek convention — of interest as a phenomonon only inasmuch as any subculture is, with very little relevance to anything outside, no matter how much the insiders strain to convince themselves and everyone else that it IS relevant.
3. If the majority of slammers who claim to be pissed off at PSI, the poor state of poetry in slams, Def Jam, etc., would simply leave/boycott the institutions, we’d see actual change pretty damn fast. Unfortunately, people get so hooked on “going to Nationals” they don’t see that.

Quick question for all the slammers out there: suppose you took the money you put into traveling to/from NPS, regional bouts, etc., and put it into developing greater outreach in your local communities. How would that be?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I feel better already.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In other news…there is no other news.

I’ll be at the Hut tonight for Alixa and Naima. Come say hi.

OK, then…

1.
Pretty awake right now. I like that. It’s different.

2.
News reports about the latest photos from Abu Ghraib are starting to leak out, and they are pretty disturbing … including a whole raft of talk about multiple sex acts being performed before the prisoners; Lynndie England’s frequent presence in these is being cited often.

Let’s step beyond the whole Islamic culture-fucking in the name of interrogation that seems to be the raison d’etre beyond this stuff.

Does anyone see any twisted stuff going on here regarding the way Lynndie England is being portrayed in the media?

And if she was working under orders…jeez louise — what does that say about the stuff that went on there?

Does anybody still believe that there WASN’T a plan built by Psy-ops types at work here?

3.
About a year ago, I started receiving e-mails from a guy named Marlow Peese Weaver, asking me to submit poems for his anthology series on the work of younger poets, born between 1960-1982. (Barely make it into this category, by the way.)

I ignored him at first, but got several more — and they weren’t form letters, the dude actually knew my stuff, much to my surprise. He’d actually heard someone cover “Tomatoes” at a reading — which shocked me. No one except folks around here knows that poem; I’ve never published it anywhere. (Who the hell covered it in North Carolina? I still don’t know.)

I did some checking around and found that a handful of folks I knew were in some of the earlier volumes, including Marty McConnell and Ragan Fox. I also found copies of some of the anthologies in a local bookstore, and they were ok.

I think this is a labor of love for this guy. The contract specifies some remuneration, but of course, so many poets are in a volume that that’s not much. But it seems at least marginally better than Poetry.com, in that no money’s demanded of you, the book’s reasonably well put together, and you can actually buy it on the Web and in brick and mortar stores

So I finally said, oh, what the hell. And sent off a handful of poems, including, of course, “Tomatoes”.

Yesterday, I got a copy of the book — “In Our Own Words: a Generation Defining Itself” and there, indeed, one of mine was in there — but wouldn’t you know it? He didn’t pick “Tomatoes”, after all that! (“Political Art,” for those of you keeping score.)

I still can’t figure this out. I’m very leery of scams, and if this is one, he sure as hell can’t be making any money from it.

The only other name I recognized in the book this time around was Danika Dinsmore. There are lots of international authors as well.

I’ll keep you posted as I find out more.

OK, then…

1.
Pretty awake right now. I like that. It’s different.

2.
News reports about the latest photos from Abu Ghraib are starting to leak out, and they are pretty disturbing … including a whole raft of talk about multiple sex acts being performed before the prisoners; Lynndie England’s frequent presence in these is being cited often.

Let’s step beyond the whole Islamic culture-fucking in the name of interrogation that seems to be the raison d’etre beyond this stuff.

Does anyone see any twisted stuff going on here regarding the way Lynndie England is being portrayed in the media?

And if she was working under orders…jeez louise — what does that say about the stuff that went on there?

Does anybody still believe that there WASN’T a plan built by Psy-ops types at work here?

3.
About a year ago, I started receiving e-mails from a guy named Marlow Peese Weaver, asking me to submit poems for his anthology series on the work of younger poets, born between 1960-1982. (Barely make it into this category, by the way.)

I ignored him at first, but got several more — and they weren’t form letters, the dude actually knew my stuff, much to my surprise. He’d actually heard someone cover “Tomatoes” at a reading — which shocked me. No one except folks around here knows that poem; I’ve never published it anywhere. (Who the hell covered it in North Carolina? I still don’t know.)

I did some checking around and found that a handful of folks I knew were in some of the earlier volumes, including Marty McConnell and Ragan Fox. I also found copies of some of the anthologies in a local bookstore, and they were ok.

I think this is a labor of love for this guy. The contract specifies some remuneration, but of course, so many poets are in a volume that that’s not much. But it seems at least marginally better than Poetry.com, in that no money’s demanded of you, the book’s reasonably well put together, and you can actually buy it on the Web and in brick and mortar stores

So I finally said, oh, what the hell. And sent off a handful of poems, including, of course, “Tomatoes”.

Yesterday, I got a copy of the book — “In Our Own Words: a Generation Defining Itself” and there, indeed, one of mine was in there — but wouldn’t you know it? He didn’t pick “Tomatoes”, after all that! (“Political Art,” for those of you keeping score.)

I still can’t figure this out. I’m very leery of scams, and if this is one, he sure as hell can’t be making any money from it.

The only other name I recognized in the book this time around was Danika Dinsmore. There are lots of international authors as well.

I’ll keep you posted as I find out more.

The new Zero Point Zero is up early — forgot to change the programming date on it so it wouldn’t come out till tomorrow, and don’t feel like changing it for the sake of half an hour or so. Considering I sometimes put it up a day or two late, think of this as a bonus.

Too sleepy to continue tonight — more tomorrow.

Adios.

The new Zero Point Zero is up early — forgot to change the programming date on it so it wouldn’t come out till tomorrow, and don’t feel like changing it for the sake of half an hour or so. Considering I sometimes put it up a day or two late, think of this as a bonus.

Too sleepy to continue tonight — more tomorrow.

Adios.

I’ll get blunt this time:

I perceive that there’s a qualitative difference between the way the deaths of brown people are treated and the way the deaths of not so brown people are treated — both in the media and in the larger public consciousness.

I think this may contribute to a difference in perception between brown skinned and not so brown skinned Americans about this war.

I think the long history of government involvement in/winking at the harrassment/deaths of brown activists and community leaders is part of the reason that some folks are so quick to see possible government involvement in the Berg killing — the timing being so suspiscious and all in its ability to pull critical spotlight off the Abu Ghraib situation.

Of course, I could be fulla shit. What do you think?

And please — a little more logic and less drama, folks?

I’ll get blunt this time:

I perceive that there’s a qualitative difference between the way the deaths of brown people are treated and the way the deaths of not so brown people are treated — both in the media and in the larger public consciousness.

I think this may contribute to a difference in perception between brown skinned and not so brown skinned Americans about this war.

I think the long history of government involvement in/winking at the harrassment/deaths of brown activists and community leaders is part of the reason that some folks are so quick to see possible government involvement in the Berg killing — the timing being so suspiscious and all in its ability to pull critical spotlight off the Abu Ghraib situation.

Of course, I could be fulla shit. What do you think?

And please — a little more logic and less drama, folks?

I deleted the journal entry that asked about the beheading.

I did this honestly because I was tired of the debate. We had reached a point of no return, and there was heat being generated but very little light.

For the record, there are too many dead people in the world for us to not pick and choose who we reserve our sorrow and outrage for; but we ought to recall that the difference between a terrorist and a soldier, an innocent victim and collateral damage, a righteous cause and an unjust one, frequently depends on where you stand in relation to the deaths you’ve chosen to mourn.

Enough. Enough. Enough.

I inadvertently deleted the subsequent one about race in relation to the issue. That was just dumb. I’ll try and recreate it, or y’all can just jump in…

I deleted the journal entry that asked about the beheading.

I did this honestly because I was tired of the debate. We had reached a point of no return, and there was heat being generated but very little light.

For the record, there are too many dead people in the world for us to not pick and choose who we reserve our sorrow and outrage for; but we ought to recall that the difference between a terrorist and a soldier, an innocent victim and collateral damage, a righteous cause and an unjust one, frequently depends on where you stand in relation to the deaths you’ve chosen to mourn.

Enough. Enough. Enough.

I inadvertently deleted the subsequent one about race in relation to the issue. That was just dumb. I’ll try and recreate it, or y’all can just jump in…

at lunch, then, back to work.

SPEAK is cancelled for this evening.

More later.

Please spread the word.

thanks.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

10:15 AM —

OK. Don’t worry; it’s not because of my condition. It’s because of a last minute conflict in schedules that’s going to make it impossible to get the key to anyone who can open up.

We could use a break anyway, I think.

We’ll be back with “electricity” on May 26th.

Have a good one.

Just reacting, y’all…

NEWS CONFERENCES

When the President says, “these pictures are not
the America I know,” I believe him in spite of
the crows that have slipped into the air above him,
that flew out of his mouth wanting
someplace cleaner to land. What America does he know,

they are thinking, circling Marion, circling Leavenworth,
Sand Creek, Vieques, Wounded Knee? What country does he know
that is free of hoods and electrodes, forced sodomy,
humiliation? That would be a great place to land,
they think, soaring out over the face of the flood.

When the President says, “These acts were perpetrated by
a few soldiers who will be prosecuted to…” , we know the rest:
the snakes drop from his lips and slide over his feet, tingling and venomous;
we’ll see small trials and big cameras
with someone bowing and scraping before them; and soon after, nothing

will happen. Somewhere a dove finds a tree
to land in, but something must have gotten there first;
there are big black feathers everywhere, shit covers the limbs,
bones in the droppings point to small violence repeated again and again;
there’s not a crow to be seen.

When the President says he knows he is right, I know he is telling
the truth. He can afford to be, in his world of crows and snakes
where no one is tortured who doesn’t deserve it, where he can shake his head
at people being people. “These are bad guys,” he says. He’s right.
War can do that: the love of country and home

makes bad guys of us all. The soldier smells Iowa in the fear-sweat of his charge
as he clips the wires onto the scrotum. The terrorist dreams of sheep and green pastures
in the light of burning towers. The crows steal the eyes from the bodies
that have been left behind. The snakes curl through ribcages and skulls. The waters are rising
higher all the time. The President is sure he’s got it right.