zombie government & other quotes

"Alberto Gonzales is now among the political undead -- not alive, but unvanquishable in his own liminal existence." -- Josh Marshall


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"It’s a Justice Department that is running amok." -- Tom DeLay on being investigated by the FBI

"We are very comfortable that the Justice Department is proceeding properly and expeditiously." -- DeLay's attorney

quotes from TPM muckraker


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“The fastest way to defeat al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) is probably for us to leave and let the Iraqis do it themselves.” – Kevin Drum at Washington Monthly


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“Within moments of handing a piece of paper with the words ‘Don't Discriminate’ to a person who asked me for it, I was grabbed, my wrists and arms twisted to near breaking behind my back. I was shoved down a hallway, banged against a wall and slammed to the ground.” -- Nadine Smith, the executive director of Equality Florida, describing her arrest for handing out fliers at the city council meeting where the city manager was fired for being transgender. When felony charges against her were dropped, Nadine said, I’m supposed to be “bathed in relief”?

doll

My sister Sevilla has begun crafting dolls. Something to do in her tiny Alaskan town, a small plane flight from anywhere? The doll looks happy. Nice toes.

blog

The new LoveSettlement! Somehow my archives had become inaccessible, so I knew I had to change something. Before I did that, though, I wanted to make sure I had everything saved. Yesterday I went through and copied to my computer what I hadn't as yet. Today I decided to see what I could do to resurrect the archive. New template seemed to be an answer. So here it is. New template. And now I find I'm able to change all sorts of stuff without having to troll through tiny print html coding to figure out where to effect the change. Does this mean LuvSet will be afflicted by all sorts of new snazziness?

exercise's completion

And love lasts past
thank you, she says, folding this
that you placed in her hands,
and fall, the time of year
someone left on a doorstop to wrinkle,
your shoe impressing its pattern on the face
stands startled in a tumble
your soft heart dimpled by a raindrop
landing hard as a period.

What, starved of home, compares
Now there, now here, to an hour
from both ends. A dry kiss, a
wet kiss, a kiss laid open, a kiss
that could settle into a pillow,
or, buried among papers, could
but hear what wants up.
Of pulling, she says, she’s had to
remind herself, she's done.
The soft is softer.

comments on exercise

Sunday night Alan Bern came over for our poetry group. The other member of the group had a bad ol' headache so missed out. After we workshopped a poem by Alan and a poem by me Alan admitted he hadn't come up with any clever writing exercises. As I'm rarely at a loss, really, I pushed my poem across the table to Alan and told him to fold it in half lengthwise. I did the same to his. What remained of his poem is what you see below. Now, I said, write a poem using the words/line fragments as you see them on your paper. Complete the lines. I used Alan's as beginnings.

exercise's beginning

And love

Thank you
that you
and fall

Someone l
your shoe
and start
your soft
landing h

What star
Now there
from both
wet kiss
that could
or buried
but hear
of pulli

Remind
The soft

comments on "snow on snow on snow"

I sent "a rest of six beats" off to Global City Review. It is unlike anything I read in the magazine. Thus I do not think they will choose to publish it. In my experience people seldom like something that is unlike what they have up to now liked. However, I sent it because I wrote it for Global City. The first version is more like what they publish, I think, but the first version is dead. The version 4, just below, is only slightly different from the version I mailed. Most significant change? Changed "corners rounded" to "figures rounded". The other poems I sent along with "a rest" are more conventional in their syntax & presentation. Maybe they'll like something. Who knows?

"snow on snow on snow" version 4

a rest of six beats



in cloud, in rest, in abyss

crystal caught crystal


white-limned white

six sides


tires

the snow sleeps


corners rounded

a softening, a baffling

"snow on snow on snow", version 3

crystal caught crystal

a wheel locked

the snow tires

the snow quits

sleeps

a drowse over, arrest of

a softening, a baffling

a rest of six beats

six sides

corners rounded

lines elide

white-limned white

comments on "snow on snow on snow"

I don't know about you, but I'm getting tired of this poem. Plus which if I'm writing it for a certain magazine I'd better wrap it up soon cuz the deadline for the theme issue is May 1 and I've gotta mail it so that means allowing for the neither-rain-nor-snow-nor-dark-of-night crowd to get it from this coast to that one. Besides, I can't send just one darn poem, right? Gotta find some others that are vaguely "knittish". Pheh. This little resolution is heading toward no-fun-ville. Let's say I have to print out and mail the batch by next Friday. That'd be the 20th. That will give the 'velope a whole week to plod across the nation (getting high on rocky mountains, oaring through the amber waves) and heave itself smelly & exhausted into the too-late pile. It's a plan.

"snow on snow on snow" version 2.9

crystal caught crystal

a wheel locked

the snow tires

the snow quits

sleeps

a drowse over, arrest of

a softening, a baffling

a rest of six beats

six sides

corners rounded

lines elide

"snow on snow on snow" version 2.8

crystal caught crystal

a wheel locked

the snow tires

the snow quits

sleeps

a drowse over, arrest of

a softening, a baffling

a rest of six beats

six sides

corners rounded

comments on "snow on snow on snow" in progress

November was declared National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) by a group in Oakland. I toyed with the November novel, but couldn't get it going. I completed the three-day novel a few years ago (there's a competition; I didn't win).

Some poets, feeling left out, or inspired (or both), decided since April was already National Poetry Month, why not make it NaPoWriMo? Write a poem a day! There are those who write a poem each day and post it to their blogs.

I've written a poem a day before. It's a useful exercise. It gets you past the feeling you don't have anything to say. Cuz you gotta put a few words down anyway.

But I think I've learned all I'm going to from the exercise. Plus I find that a pause in poetry writing actually recharges something. If several days have gone by since I wrote a poem the poem I write is often lively. Enforcing a silence is about as silly as forcing a noise, that is, one can learn from it, but hopefully one of the things you learn is you own best rhythm.

Rather than write a poem a day this month I decided to write one poem, each day one line. (Yes, I missed the first few days but things are going right along now.)

"snow on snow on snow" version 2.7

crystal caught crystal

a wheel locked

the snow tires

the snow quits

sleeps

a drowse over, arrest of

a softening, a baffling

a rest of six beats

six sides

"snow on snow on snow" version 2.6

crystal caught crystal

a wheel locked

the snow tires

the snow quits

sleeps

a drowse over, arrest of

a softening, a baffling

a rest of six beats

"snow on snow on snow" version 2.5

crystal caught crystal

a wheel locked

the snow tires

the snow quits

sleeps

a drowse over, arrest of

a softening, a baffling

"snow on snow on snow" version 2.4

crystal caught crystal

a wheel locked

the snow tires

the snow quits

sleeps

a drowse over, arrest of

"snow on snow on snow" version 2.3

crystal caught crystal

a wheel locked

the snow tires

the snow quits

sleeps

"snow on snow on snow" version 2.2

crystal caught crystal

a wheel locked

the snow tires, the snow quits

"snow on snow on snow" version 2.1

crystal to crystal, a wheel locks