Monthly Archives: July 2008

Creation

no one can say
if this is exactly how it happens
but we know it is true:

you are born dumb
but you will learn someday
that something ancient exists
that is yours,
that was made
for you.

you may be a child upon its arrival,

or you may find it
later, stroking
your own child’s head
as he lies in a fever.
cooling his skin
with compresses
while you recognize
the presence standing by the door,
you may be moved to chant
the long story:

there is a dance
for it in every lost village.
there is an arrowhead somewhere,
a million years old,
that was chipped
by a tiny, tufted thing —
barely a human at all —
that stone
was its first home
and now, you hold the deed.

there is something ancient
that was made for you. in order
to preserve itself it chooses you
in the place you are most ready
to receive it. it lives because
you live, because we live…

we don’t know how it happens.
this is just the way it is.


Yes, the Who…

Watching the VH1 tribute again now…and no apologies for the tears in my eyes.


Let’s recap and move on:

— Last night: Poetry at the Ship, black metal at Ralph’s. Poetry very good, black metal fun but loud. Home again, home again, jiggity jig with the Big Ringing in the Ears.

— This morning: ears still ringing, but improving. Not helped, however, by continued presence of jackhammers on the street. Trapped in apartment because of equipment in road, so I can’t escape the noise by car. Grrr.

— Attempting to complete the 0.0 manuscript by next week…if the noise becomes less distracting, I might get it done earlier.

— Recording with Faro on Saturday night. Yay.

— Also realized last night that I am completely OK not attending NPS. Losing the chance to see good friends and hang out is exactly, completely mitigated by not having to do it in the context of NPS. See you in Charlotte, where the pleasure of camaraderie will be enhanced by the poetry and not hurt by it.


Too much metal and Tinnitus for one fist

After Sam Teitel’s excellent feature at the Ship reading tonight, I went to the local “Metal Thursdays” show at Ralph’s. It’s organized by a friend of mine who comes out to all the local Duende shows, so thought I’d return the favor…

Saw two black metal bands, “Burial” (from Western MA) and “Covenance” (from Maryland). Both were really good. I’m not a big black metal fan, but you can tell when a band is good, and these guys were. Covenance, especially, were tight as hell and heavy — although (and I hate to say it) the lead singer bore an uncanny resemblance to J. Edgar Hoover, which was kind of disconcerting.

Unfortunately, I still can’t hear…so I’m going to have to watch the rest of the Who show I’m watching right now tomorrow, when the ringing stops…seems kinda ironic, eh?

More in the morning light…


Question for folks

I’ve been running classes for two days at my old company and I had lunch yesterday with a couple of my old buddies, along with a co-worker of theirs I don’t know at all. During the lunch (where music was a central topic) I was asked how I’d describe my taste in music.

Now, I listen to artists from a WIDE variety of genres, but I’d say that trying to characterize or summarize the things that draw my interest is difficult. However, being a fan of the whole notion of “connectedness,” I thought I’d give it a try.

Then I thought, “Maybe outside eyes would help in this.” So I turn to you, O my Unusual Suspects.

On my way home, I stopped at Newbury Comics and picked up three used CDs by artists I like. It strikes me that it’s an unusual list, and I’m curious as to how YOU might characterize any connective tissues among them.

I have already got work from two of the artists in question in my collection; one is new to the collection but known to me already. All of them were folks I wanted to hear more from.

The CDs:

Against Me: New Wave

Common: One Day It’ll All Make Sense

John Fahey: The Legend of Blind Joe Death

I also hit Borders and picked up a collection of Tomas Transtromer’s poems (The Great Enigma) and the new issue of Parabola, whose theme is “God.” Not sure that’s relevant to the question, but there it is.

So, any thoughts? I have no preconceived notions here; really curious.


GOTPOETRY LIVE TONIGHT

No feature, but the usual open mike goodness will abound; I’ll toss some sort of a second round challenge out for the group too and we’ll have some fun with it.

Reflections Cafe, 8 Governor Street, Providence RI. Sign up list at 7:15 or so; reading will START AT 7:45 SHARP tonight, as I want to make sure we’ll have time for a second round of some sort.

You know you love it, baby. You know you want it. It’s so good…


Creed

When it comes down
to the question of religion,
I declare that I believe
in hair.

I believe paradise is founded
on how hair falls
over shoulders or stands up
in messy regimentation
upon rising.

I believe
the hairs that I find
on the couch cushions
and pluck and lint-roll
from the pillows
are relics worth venerating.

I believe that the hairbrush
is a bishop’s crook
and the act of cutting hair
is all about
transubstantiation.

I believe in mysteries, and
that any single hair
whose origin I may not recognize
may yet be the hair of a prophet
and while its presence may be unfathomable
in my life, it stands as testimony
to the pervasiveness of Truth.

I even go so far as to believe
that a once full and now empty scalp
is sacred in its sweaty gleaming glory
as the exposed and vulnerable
seat of Power.

Mostly, though, I believe
that hair created us in order to move
through the world, that it was meant
to wave and toss
and grow and grow back
no matter how many times it is cut,
and only tumbles from its roots
on its own once it has found its true place.

So when I see that soldiers
has shaved the head and beard
of an enemy combatant,
or that a boy’s locks have been cut
by a frightened teacher
to make him fit somewhere
he does not belong,

I run my hands through my own mop
and say to it,

forgive them,
they know not what they do,

and then I say

they know not what they do,
but hair grows back,
and hair lasts far longer
than the dead bodies of those
who would see it as ordinary
and not as divine.


Nostradamus

I finally can get out of here — they’ve finished destroying the street for the day — so I’m leaving for a bit.

Before I go, I’d just like to say that I’m half-watching a show on Nostradamus. Does anyone really take this stuff seriously?


“Ein jeder Engel ist schrecklich”

I’m thinking of having that German phrase — translation, “Every angel is terrifying,” from Rilke’s first Duino Elegy — tattooed on my back. Thinking of using the original German because the English gets translated a couple of different ways and having the actual words that Rilke wrote seems more fitting.

Too weird? The Elegies are my favorite works of poetry, and the opening sequence where these words appear shakes me to my bones every time. But it feels a little strange (although I do have a Spanish word tattooed on my left shoulder). Any thoughts? Not that it will likely change my mind when I finally make it up to do it or not, but I’m curious.


Bleary eyed, early AM pointless crap…

They are back to tearing up our street after a two week layoff…hence the doorbell at 6AM to ask if I owned any of the cars on the street.

No, but thanks for asking.

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Staring at some tech news site this AM, I see a headline that startles me: “11 Cool New Apes For The iPhone.”

Needless to say, it was actually “Apps.” But I like the first one better. Imagine, for instance, the iGibbon.

Now, that would be cool.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Speaking of the iPhone…a few years ago, I got rid of the Blackberry I had for work pretty quickly, as even then I was becoming disenchanted with the idea of constant, permanent connection to the electronic ether. I’m even more disenchanted with it now, so I don’t think I’ll be picking one of these up anytime soon, no matter how cool it might be.

In general, I like having discrete items for discrete purposes. I like having a cell phone that is a cell phone and does nothing but cell phone stuff. I like using my Palm Pilot for PDA stuff, and my laptop for laptop stuff.

I especially like the idea of turning any and all of them off and ignoring them a lot of the time. I don’t know when we all started thinking that we all have a duty to be instantly available and totally connected to everyone and everything all the time, but I think it’s bad for us — especially as the majority of these devices now come with trackable GPS features. I don’t want people — especially governmental agencies — to be able to find me at all times, and anything I can do to stymie that, I do. I know it’s mostly futile, but I do it anyway on principle.

Not to mention that there’s an inherent narcissism in a lot of the culture that has grown up around it…like Twitter, which really ought to be called “Lookitme! Lookitme! Lookitme!!!” I tried it, decided it was silly, and haven’t tried it again. Most of what I think during the day seems pretty pointless anyway; why keep track of it?

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This has been your morning grouch…tune back in later for more. For now, I’m out.


Closer

Early, too early,
he awakens me.

Do you think it possible, he asks, that
by imagining that you’ve heard something,
you will it into being?

I do not know, I answer. I know
I have imagined that I did not hear something
and it changed nothing. The words
still stung, the gun still found its mark,
and sham declarations of loyalty
still hung others out to dry
even as they smiled to hear them.

That’s a comfort, he replies. Just now
I was sure that I heard vultures
longing for your hide, and I would hate to think
that I might have created them.

I think of all the lies
he has told me before,
and wrap myself so tightly
in the faux-down of the comforter
that no sliver of skin can be seen,
my head so deep beneath the pillow
I hear only rumors
of unfolding wings.


Leopard Slug

I blew up this morning
all over the front yard,

left my retinas
hanging off the French violets,

spots of lung on the tiger lilies,
my bones clean-splintered and lodged in the rock wall

where I saw a leopard slug, at least six inches long,
on a trash bag left there on Tuesday night.

I thought I’d seen everything there was to see
around here, and here was something unknown to me:

long and shiny and mottled in black and brown, so unlike
what I’d learned of familiar slugs, it curled into a C

as I shone the big light on it, and I was fascinated
by its spots and its slick shine, the clear trail

behind it that traced its path up the wall
and onto the bright yellow plastic.

I think that when I turned my back
it set a bomb in me,

and now I am in pieces, and glad of that too,
since the whole man I was had been so closed

to what might still be out there, right under my nose,
that this can only be an improvement

on the past. I haven’t seen one since
but I am looking now, under leaves, in crevices

I’d always passed by without thinking, hoping
the manticore is sleeping under the porch, or that

the gryphon is perched by the flower box —
or better still, that my tongue has landed close

to something from an unknown mythos,
and is learning to pronounce its marvelous name.

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For information on these:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_slug#Distribution


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TONIGHT!!!! AT GOTPOETRY LIVE!!!!

We’ve got no feature, we’ve got no theme…but we’ve got an open room, and all we need to have a great night of poetry is

YOU!!!!

It’s a Tuesday night, and you know you’re in deep need of poetry. So come get that need satisfied!

GOTPOETRY LIVE

at 7:30 PM

at Reflections Cafe

8 Governor Street, Providence, RI

2.00 donation requested

(Last week like, NOBODY showed up after several weeks of us being stuffed to the gills with readers and poets. DON’T let it happen two weeks in a row, people!)


Sacred (formerly T or F)

1.
It has been said that God is in the details.

Here, the details include
white pine needles,
toe bones from a badger,
dried red muscles
from a mink.

2.
Too fine a detail can fragment a God.

In the mink’s muscles
are ruminations on moon phases,
the badger’s toes tap starvation tales.
The needles still bear winter’s weight.

3.
Big Gods need big pictures.

To render big pictures one needs
a broad brush, preferably bristling
with badger or sable fur
mounted in a pine handle,
dipped liberally in thick carmine
and vermillion.

4.
There are Gods who care for nothing but truth and falsehood.

The red muscles pine for
something honest to do these days.
What is true can as well be false,
they scream. Contraction and extension
were their occupations once. As scarred
and withered as they are now, they still
remember that once, every motion
contained its opposite
and nothing was immutable.

5.
It has also been said that the devil is in the details.

It was a large God who declared that to be true.