Monthly Archives: November 2008
Thanksgiving Eve
Yes,
I know,
the first official Thanksgiving Day
was ordered to celebrate
the massacre of
700 Pequots
in 1637;
yes,
I feel
accountable to the dead
for eating too much every November,
thus joining the rush to hide behind
the legend of the feast 16 years earlier
in Plymouth
that is used these days
to screen us from
an ocean of blood;
yes,
i must balance
gratitude and shame
when I sit with family and friends
and look at a bounty
built on theft and genocide;
if I say no
to every contradiction
I face every day,
I will sit alone in a hermit’s cave
barely breathing for fear of hurting another,
spend the rest of my life in mourning
for every cruel act done in my name
and never try to see the glad faces
of those I love
as anything more than a lie.
So yes,
yes
to making a temple anew
from sharing bread with others; and
yes, yes to holding tight to the memory
of death in the fields around villages
burning like candles on the shore
of Long Island Sound;
yes
to believing
that while the past is alive
in every bite of every dish,
all I have is the present
and the hope that the future will be born
in a revolution rising
from injustice I do not forget;
in the remaking of myths
through truth applied as lesson,
and not as bludgeon.
Jack Daniels, 7 AM
It’s 7 AM
and there’s frost on all the windshields,
thick enough to scrape for the first time all season.
Trash is all outside, the cat’s all balled up in his window,
all’s right with the immediate world —
so I shall consider having a shot of Jack Daniels
just because I want to sleep some more
and I’m too awake to do so,
just because I can…
People will think it alarming, and crazy.
It will cause concern among my closest friends.
Others will think I am more artistic for doing so
and others will think I am alcoholic simply for considering it
and I’m sure someone will suggest I try some tea I’ve never heard of
or some rare yogurt or perhaps some exercise or yoga
or quote me something about the drunkard’s soul
that they read in a fake shaman’s latest book
or maybe someone will say, "Right on!"
in a fake 60s libertine voice they don’t understand well enough to use
and someone will refrain from commenting but secretly agree with me
while reaching for the tumbler she didn’t empty before falling asleep
and another friend will send me a message asking, "Are you OK?"
I’m fine. I’m good.
In fact this morning
I can welcome the entire world
to my arms,
which is why I’m publicly considering
having a shot of Jack Daniels
on a Wednesday morning at 7 AM…
really, there’s no reason not to have one
beyond the reasons I choose to entertain —
no one’s waiting for me to be strong and corporate today,
and the thought of that
is enough to make me sleepy,
and laugh at myself,
and pet the cat,
and then head back to bed
to sleep like a drunk, like a baby,
only getting up when I’m damn good and ready,
in pure spite of all the judgment
in the freezing air.
Two readers in the open tonight at GotPoetry Live.
I expected a low turnout with the date and all, but considering I drove down from Worcester with a blistering headache to do it, it was discouraging.
Mostly for myself, notes for later work, but feel free to comment…
bumped to encourage further comments. i’m working on something; made these notes in a doze. somewhat prompted by a pair of videos talaam acey has on his myspace.
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Major problems with the current state of much of the poetry used in slams:
— influence of college forensic competitons
— too linear/progresses from A-Z without true surprise
— too general
— too polarized; too prone to reflecting the world through extremes
— the perceived need to teach/educate/exhort
— too immediate, too many topical references w/questionable long-term shelf life
— too influenced by pop culture
lasting value? unknown for most works but…not hopeful
reflective of larger culture’s concerns/standards without being truly revolutionary in any sense
minimal connection to world beyond the narrow lens
Tonight at GotPoetry LIVE…plus updated schedule!!!
Local poet, artist, editor Melissa Guillet presents readers published in Sacred Fools Press’ latest release, "Appleseeds." This excellent volume contains poems about the US and boasts some fine poets. Please come down and read, listen, enjoy.
GotPoetry Live
Every Tuesday night 8-10 PM (signup for the open at 7:30)
Blue State Coffee
300 Thayer Street
Providence RI
Pass the hat donation/1 food or drink item minimum
Below, the schedule of who’s coming up:
NOVEMBER
25 “APPLESEEDS” ANTHOLOGY BOOK RELEASE PARTY
DECEMBER
02 MICHAEL BROWN
09 SAM TEITEL & STEVE SUBRIZI
16 JACOB HALLER (of THE KILLDEVILS!)
23 HOLIDAY OPEN MIC
30 CHRISTIAN DRAKE
JANUARY
06 MORRIS STEGOSAURUS
13 “COWBOY” MATT HOPEWELL
20 THE REVEREND MIKE McGEE
27 SAM GRABELLE & G.W. MERCURE
FEBRUARY
03
10
17 DUENDE!
24 BLAIR
MARCH
03 LOUISE ROBERTSON
10
17
24
31 BILL CAMPANA
On The History Of Tolerance (revised)
In tenth-century Arab Andalusia
under Abd-ar-Rahman the Third,
poetry took the place
of newspapers and poets
sang of everything
from the faces of God
to the price of mutton.
While the rest of Europe lay dark and stony
in thrall to iron Church singularity,
Cordoba rang with Jewish and Christian songs
as the muezzins roused others to prayer
with Arabic. Spain as we know it today
was being born,
someone was listening to all of this
while looking at an oud
and thinking about inventing the guitar,
everywhere the gardens were light
and filled with splashing water,
palaces were cool
and open,
the streets were tingling with ideas…
and now,
it’s all we can do
to look at one another.
Perfect (revised; was “Tuned”)
a guitar
socking into tune
each string matching its fretted neighbor’s tone when sounded together
the bell-throbbing of a not-quite-there pitch
disappearing into one clear note
shared between two
thrills me
like archery’s
pull and release
that sends an arrow
true
Variations
1.
You are my highway —
lines in the night, my destination
ahead, my home, safety, warmth.
2.
You are the highway —
the road that goes one, splits,
shifts from blacktop to gravel
and back again…
3.
You are highway. There —
path on sand, skein on rock:
binding a promised land.
4.
Highway: made by hand
and filthy machines. Black in rain,
slick as danger, the only way to go
these days…drive: we’ve got
miles left to cover, and we can talk anytime.
Right now,
I’m enjoying hearing ocvictor interview Robert Bly over on the Eclectic Word.
Although I’m not entirely sure who’s interviewing who. 😉
Bly just mentioned his visits to various schools in the Worcester area in the early 70s, hosted by former Worcester poet and old friend Fran Quinn. This is when I first met him, back when I was 14…taking me back….35 years, now.
My 100 albums list
It doesn’t meet the criteria in the albumchallenge community, but I had a request to repost it. Here it is.
1. John Coltrane — A Love Supreme (1965)
2. Beatles — Revolver (1966)
3. Keith Jarrett — The Koln Concert (1975)
4. Carl Orff — Carmina Burana (Eugene Ormandy/Philadelphia Symphony; remastered reissue, 2002 )
5. Patsy Cline — Greatest Hits (1967, the Decca Records release)
6. Sex Pistols — Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols (1977)
7. Elvis Presley — Elvis Presley (1956)
8. Hank Williams — 40 Greatest Hits (1978)
9. Robert Johnson — King of the Delta Blues Singers (originally recorded in 1936-37; repackaged in 1998)
10. Jimi Hendrix — Axis: Bold as Love (1967)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
11. Patti Smith — Horses (1975)
12. The Clash — London Calling (1979)
13. Ornette Coleman — The Shape of Jazz To Come (1959)
14. Various Artists — Stiffs Live Stiffs (1978)
15. Frank Sinatra — Trilogy (1980)
16. X — Los Angeles (1980)
17. Talking Heads — Fear Of Music (1979)
18. Beatles — Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
19. Brian Wilson — Smile (2004)
20. Beach Boys — Pet Sounds (1966)
21. Anthony Braxton — Six Compositions: Quartet (1984)
22. James Blood Ulmer — Tales of Captain Black (1978)
23. Tony Bennett — Forty Years of Artistry (1999)
24. Ella Fitzgerald — Ella and Basie! (1963)
25. Aaron Copeland — Appalachian Spring (recorded many times since 1944; I prefer the original scoring for chamber orchestra)
26. Richard and Linda Thompson — Shoot Out The Lights (1982)
27. Richard Thompson — Rumor and Sigh (1991)
28. Ray Charles — The Genius of Ray Charles (1959)
29. Albert Ayler — Holy Ghost (recorded 1960-72; issued, 2005)
30. Various Artists — 400 Years of Folk Music (1964)
31. Various Artists — The United States of Poetry (1996)
32. Pink Floyd — Wish You Were Here (1975)
33. Bob Dylan — Blonde On Blonde (1966)
34. Bob Dylan — Blood On the Tracks (1975)
35. Otis Redding/Jimi Hendrix — Live At Monterey Pop Festival (1968)
36. George Gershwin — Rhapsody in Blue (Paul Whiteman Orchestra recording from 1924, with Gershwin on piano, reissued 2000 )
37. Ludwig Van Beethoven — Ninth Symphony (again, many recordings exist)
38. Woody Guthrie — Woody Guthrie : The Asch Recordings (released 1999)
39. Miles Davis — Kind Of Blue (1959)
40. Bruce Springsteen — Nebraska (1982)
41. John Fahey — Blind Joe Death (1959)
42. John Fahey — The New Possibility (1968)
43. Thelonius Monk — Live At The Jazz Workshop, San Francisco (1962)
44. The Who — Quadrophenia ( 1973)
45. The Rolling Stones — Exile on Main Street (1972)
46. Liz Phair — Exile in Guyville (1993) (NOTE: Can’t have #45 without adding this one!!! )
47. Benny Goodman — Carnegie Hall "From Spirituals to Swing" Concert (recorded 1938, released 1950)
48. Chuck Berry — Greatest Hits (this has been released and repackaged so many times it’s hard to pick a date)
49. Charlie Parker — Jazz at Massey Hall (2004 reissue of a 1947 concert — reissue is longer)
50. Weather Report — Live In Tokyo (1972)
51. Public Enemy — Fear of a Black Planet (1990)
52. Public Enemy — It Takes a Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back (1988)
53. Run-DMC — Run-DMC (1984)
54. BDP — By All Means Necessary (1988)
55. Van Morrison — Astral Weeks (1968)
56. Andres Segovia — Andres Segovia: Baroque Favorites (mid 70s)
57. Johann Sebastian Bach — The Brandenburg Concertos (the Deutschegrammaphon recording from the mid 70s)
58. Johann Sebastian Bach — The Goldberg Variations (as recorded by Glenn Gould, solo piano, mid sixties)
59. Parliament — Tear The Roof Off : 1974-1980 (1993)
60. Gal Costa — Gal Costa (1969)
61. D’Gary — Horombe (1996)
62. Various Artists — Duende! (no, not us; flamenco collection from the early 90s)
63. Paco de Lucia/John McLaughlin/Al DiMeola — Friday Night in San Francisco (1981)
64. David Bowie — The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1972)
65. Nirvana — Nevermind (1991)
66. Sleater-Kinney — All Hands On The Bad One (2000)
67. Various Artists — Left of the Dial: Dispatches From The 80s Underground (2004)
68. Sonic Youth — Daydream Nation (1988)
69. Joni Mitchell — Blue (1971)
70. Joni Mitchell — Hejira (1976)
71. Stan Getz — Getz/Gilberto (1965)
72. Herbie Hancock — Headhunters (1973)
73. Branford Marsalis — The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1992)
74. Velvet Underground — Velvet Underground and Nico (1968)
75. Sam Cooke — Portrait of a Legend (1951-64) (2003)
76. James Brown — Live At The Apollo (1963)
77. Buddy Guy — Can’t Quit the Blues (2006)
78. Muddy Waters — Hard Again (1978)
79. B.B. King — Indianola Mississippi Seeds (1970)
80. Howlin’ Wolf — The Chess Box (1992)
81. The Who — Who’s Next (1971)
82. Jefferson Airplane — Surrealistic Pillow (1967)
83. Black Sabbath — Paranoid (1970)
84. Metallica — Master Of Puppets (1986)
85. Ralph Stanley and The Stanley Brothers — Clinch Mountain Gospel (2001)
86. Django Reinhardt — In Paris (1939)
87. Various Artists — Township Jive (early 70s collection of South African Pop)
88. John Coltrane — Interstellar Space (1967)
89. John Coltrane — Ascension (1965)
90. Duke Ellington — Fantasy in Black and Tan (again, too many release dates to pick one)
91. Sister Rosetta Tharpe — Complete Recorded Works, Vol 1 (1996 — someone needs to collect ALL her stuff into one box!)
92. The Staple Singers — The Ultimate Staple Singers (2004)
93. James Brown — Sex Machine (1970)
94. Sly and The Family Stone — There’s a Riot Goin’ On (1971)
95. Jimi Hendrix Experience — Are You Experienced? (1967)
96. Madonna — Ray of Light (1998)
97. Pink Floyd — Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
98. Ella Fitzgerald w/Joe Pass — Take Love Easy (1973)
99. Bob Marley and the Wailers — Catch A Fire (1973)
100. The Master Musicians of Joujouka — Brian Jones Presents the Pipes of Pan at Joujouka (recorded 1968, released 1971)
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Notes:
— Placement and position in the top ten was easy, surprisingly enough.
— 11- 100 shouldn’t be taken as a measure of my appreciation for a specific album, except when there are multiple entries from one artist. Then, the ranking reflects my feeling about the merits of the albums compared to each other, e.g., Pink Floyd’s "Wish You Were Here" is a better album than "Dark Side of the Moon," in my opinion.
— This isn’t a list of my favorites, although there’s nothing on here I don’t love or at least like a lot. I tried to answer the request in the spirit in which it was asked: albums people should listen to before they die. The intent, as I saw it, was to expose a person who was dying to great moments in music. Hence, my effort to go far beyond the pop genre itself, to get a broad variety of music to share, and to reach beyond the modern, album based industry to get at stuff recorded pre-LP, from alternate ways of thinking about music releases, and to provide broad overviews of significant artistic careers.
If I’d had my druthers, for instance, there’d have been a lot more Richard Thompson and Bruce Springsteen on the list, but I chose to simply pick things I thought best represented who these artists are. I also left off a lot of stuff I personally love simply because I had to choose a broad spectrum of work — hence, nothing from the GY!BE world of music, from Captain Beefheart, from a variety of alternative noise/folk/jazz artists, and some other folks whose work I love a lot. It became a problem of limits with only 100 recordings to choose from.
— I also assigned myself another criterion: I have to have owned all these albums at one time or another. Many have been sold in the last few years, while others pass through my hands to other people who I thought would appreciate them or needed to hear them, and I never got them back. That’s life, and it’s cool with me. But if I’d owned stuff like Bollywood film music, a better selection of ragas, a Balinese monkey chant, gamelan recordings, rai, etc., they would have been considered and it’s likely some of it would have showed up here.
— Many of the artists I chose, especially those outside the rock and jazz arenas, either predate the advent of the LP or have released so many albums (B. B. King, for instance, has released over 100 albums, although I chose a single LP for him) that finding an "album" to represent them was difficult or impossible. in order to reflect my feeling that these artists were important, I included various greatest hits and compilations to get them out there for people to think about.
This is especially true of things like "Live Stiffs" and "Township Jive," which are more than just comps; they represent important moments in the history of modern popular music.
What Is Poetry?
1.
a hat in the middle of a quickly cleared dance floor
in a connecticut italian club
regie announces
“brenda’s purse got stolen
along with all the cash she needed to get home to arkansas
you know what to do”
and that hat is filled in five minutes
with more cash than brenda started with
2.
i don’t even remember your names
but there we were
in a dogs only downpour
strolling uncovered toward
an impromptu reading in the massachusetts woods
and not caring about the cold and wet
because everyone was together
3.
pat’s blurred vision
sucking down all the faces
for the last time
in a nyc high style lounge
because someone went and found him
in tompkins square park
huddled under newspapers
and said
“we’re all there
you need to be there”
and they got him past the bouncers
got him in for the last time
4.
ken talking incessantly
about sleater kinney and the wars against us all
for hours and hours on a bus
breaking the flow only when we sang
“uncle fucker” to reverend bill as loud as we could
over a cell phone
and none of us on that bus being embarrassed
to dance right down the steps
and into a baltimore club
to james brown
because we were going into share
words with friends
5.
high desert outside albuquerque
four of us fruitlessly watching
a clouded sky
for the perseid shower
and not feeling the need
to say a thing
6.
angela in a cheer costume
shaking pompoms and wheezing
“gimme a p-o-e-t-r-y”
at a crowd of people who never thought
of cheering for such a thing
7.
scowling at
“these kids these days”
with another guy named bill
in a seattle diner
while two crustpunks
drop poems of the road
on a microphone that hasn’t been silent
for a week
but both of us keeping our ears cocked
and noting every word
saying at the end
“that wasn’t bad”
8.
listening to you running lines
in an empty theater before a bout
putting an arm around you when you broke down
afraid that people had forgotten you were also a poet
assuring you that no one
had ever doubted that for a second
(when you first saw this poem
you loved it
and now, you are in it
what can I say except
we’re poets
and this is what poets do for each other)
9.
shadowing
the modern stars of all this twaddle
and all of us knowing there’s someone we don’t know
watching
out there
hearing this and saying
“i could do that better
if i ever get the nerve
if i ever get the chance”
and each of us praying that they do
and each of us looking for our role
in making it happen
10.
the mystery
of a blank screen
an open notebook
and wondering how it is
that all things are there before us
but we’re not capable
of bringing them forth
when we can see them right there
before us
plain as paradise
and trying anyway
11.
knowing i would never have known you
without this
and being more than grateful
that I have learned who I am
because of you
12.
holding your dear
shaking hands
unmercifully but with all the simple courage
i can give you
I say
you
you are this
you are one
alone
but not alone
This showed up on Facebook and on LJ (thanks, G) this AM:
"Dear Slam Family,
In October of last year Brenda Moossy, my beloved friend and partner in slam, was diagnosed with lung cancer. The doctors discovered it was inoperable—after they opened her up. Since then she’s done various trials of experimental chemo, with little success. Last week she completed her third week of radiation therapy. Tonight she told me she’s begun hospice care, while still living at home.
She would love to hear from her friends in the slam community and asks y’all to say prayers for her, or send healing energy, or whatever else feels right. If you want to write something that reflects what Brenda and/or her poetry has meant to you it would be a huge gift for her and, she says, for her son and two young grandchildren. Short or long, prose or verse, something serious or just an anecdote about a silly shared memory—anything you are moved to communicate would be deeply felt and appreciated at this time.
Brenda’s email is habibi1@swbellnet. She’s quite weak and in constant pain despite pain meds, so she may not be able to reply.
The odds are long, dear ones, but if we send all our collective love and healing energy her way she’s got a better chance of beating them.
Love,
Lisa"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Absolutely her own voice, utterly unlike anyone in Slam before or since; that big voice, that drawl….those words that came from the ground up and yes, Brenda, you made me want to see the stars too…one of the voices in my head that is a permanent touchstone for where I want to be as a person and a poet. I recall doing shots of tequila with her as we watched the famous naked pool party of NPS 1997, hanging on every word of every performance I ever saw her do, watching her go places no one expected when she stepped up on stage, seeing people who’d never heard her fall in love with her as she read…
Send what ever you’ve got — love, prayers, strength — to this woman. Even if you don’t know her. Even if you don’t usually do this. Please.
Here’s a taste….
Anaconda, Largest Snake in the World, Kills by Constriction
a kaddish
I.
It might have been you
in that dream
in that car
piloting the white convertible
like a land-locked plane
over the Austin hills…
you, straddling the white line
at 3AM, screaming "DO YOU LOVE ME?"
The wind sending your words
like a banner behind you.
Itmust have been me sitting
buck naked on the rolled up top
my arms flung out
my legs spread wide
feet looped behind the seat
Safety from flying
in the face of the sky
each time there was a dip
in the Bee Caves Road.
Anaconda rolls like water, boiling…
II.
I used to wonder why you liked to roll
with me in the boneyard.
Why the scent of pine and rose
and honeysuckle sent you coring
deep thru my flesh like a burrowing mole
looking for the sweetest root.
How you never noticed that I shivered
in the heat of summer when you parted my legs,
that the scent of decay preceded you
pushing to my womb before you
leaving a layer of death, salting the soil.
I used to wonder how the sight of me,
rocking into cold marble,
arms grasping the monuments
bleeding on red granite,
could make you weep…
could make you cradle me,
rock me, singing,
"Baby…Baby…Baby"
Anaconda rolls like water, boiling
coils loop around ankles
living tattoo
III.
I have opened like a bowl for you
I have split my skin like a wet, ripe husk
muskmelon orange
tomato red
sweet warm pulp, blood purple
I have moved aside,
leaving you room to crawl
inside
my skin
a shell
I have said, in jagged whisper,
"Do you love me?"
My words falling down my mouth
like pebbles down a well.
there is no peace
there is no peace
there is no peace
Anaconda rolls like water, boiling
coils loop around the ankles
living tattoo
slipping ‘tween the thighs
curling up the spine
squeezing fat from tissue
marrow from the bone.
A stealthy thief ….Anaconda
steals my sleep like thunder.
Don’t forget:
Victor Infante at GotPoetry Live tonight!!!
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And don’t get all freaked out over the LJ outage tomorrow, k? Life’s too short.
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Question for y’all:
How much does the personal life and/or belief system of an artist affect your appreciation of that artist? Will you not listen to artists who are conservative Christians, Republicans, radical leftists, whatever, because you see your fandom as an endorsement of their views?
I’m especially curious about when there’s a dichotomy between the work and the person — for instance, Daddy Yankee endorsed McCain in the election; I’m not sure his work is all that political one way or another. (I could be wrong, as I don’t know the full scope of the guy’s work.)
Did you stop listening to Neil Young because he endorsed Reagan? Are you pissed at Prince because he’s come down as homophobic, so you’ll never hear his work again?
Serious question — no judgement.
Dark Matter 