"Let us not be ashamed to speak what we shame not to think."
-Michel de Montaigne

Friday, January 4, 2013

OF: Songs I'm Writing To These Days

THIS.



And this.



And this, for sure.





AND THISSS!




And I've put some serious mileage on this:



And this, even if 98% of the American intelligentsia claims to hate this woman. 




Beirut, Nina, Philip, Arcade Fire, Jack White, Lana...you've been the soundtrack to one of the hardest years of my life. Amen and amen. 




Wednesday, January 2, 2013

OF: Poetry

Here are some poems I've enjoyed lately, and maybe you will too.

1) Two selections from Memory of the Prose Machine, by Sandra Doller in Coconut Magazine: http://www.coconutpoetry.org/dollers1.html

"Where are my things? The
fossil of my watching?"


2) "N & K" by Gina Myers via Poetry.org: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/23248

"this is one
of them, one
of the best days."


3) "My Job" by Dolly Lemke in B O D Y: http://bodyliterature.com/2012/12/18/dolly-lemke/

"I definitely get the passion, Boss says
It’s like golf
Poetry = golf

Vomit"

4) These three poems by BJ Love in ILK Journal: http://ilkjournal.com/journal/issue-six/bj-love/

"but love is a tough fucking shell
to crack and yet, here I am, my arms
in that shape that lets you know I
want you, my heart, a million little
scurries scuttling right towards you."


5) "In Love with You," by Kenneth Koch via the Poetry Foundation: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/15850

"What glues our heads together? O midnight! O midnight!
Is love what we are,
Or has happiness come to me in a private car
That’s so very small I’m amazed to see it there?"


6) "The People Across the Street," by Ted Gilley in Rattle #38: http://www.rattle.com/poetry/print/30s/i38/


7) "They're There," by Frederick Seidel (one of my fave poets) in Boston Review: http://www.bostonreview.net/BR37.5/frederick_seidel_poem.php

"Everyone is wearing summer light.
They can't tell wrong from right."


8) "Suicide Is Painless," by Michael Robbins, also in Boston Review: http://www.bostonreview.net/BR37.2/michael_robbins_poem

"The child’s toy poses a choking hazard.
The child, too. Life’s a natural disaster."


9) "Toast" by Leonard Nathan via The Writer's Almanac: http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2004/02/10

"Love, whoever you are,
your courage was my companion
for many cold towns"


10) "Waiting for This Story to End Before I Begin Another," by Jan Heller Levi via the Poetry Foundation: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/245058

"All my stories are about being left,
all yours about leaving. So we should have known.
Should have known to leave well enough alone;"


And I probably violated some form of copyright there. But if I did, and you are one of the
poets/publications above, just know that I did it all for love. And I'll remove it if, you know,
(SIGH) it's a problem.