The return of "the grease of time"

I decided it might be kind of cool to tell a backstory about a particular photo--a story that doesn't relate to the poem. My first one will be about the photo accompanying "the grease of time". When I went to take this picture, there were three or four large, angry dogs sitting outside the hotel. The sun was setting and it was hard getting the sign into the perfect light. As I walked closer to the sign, the dogs ran up to me and barked a lot. I ran away, deciding that art wasn't worth it.

"Maybe I want to look cheap"

Greenpinga's back again with another delightful haiku! "Maybe I want to look cheap" is so irreverent! I love it! It's difficult to encapsulate a whole character into haiku, but this poem not onliy conveys a character, but a whole type of people. This poem is inspired by a photo in the book I Can't Be Good All the Time by Anne Taintor but the poem also is strong enough to stand alone.

Another photo by Christine Lebrasseur

I love this blog. Each photo is an apple for the eye--it nourishes as well as tastes good. Today I'm going to suggest looking at Saly's Beach because I love the light. Actually, I really like ocean pictures, but the way the light plays off the water giving both sky, sand and water amazingly different colors is very beautiful. My favorite part of this photo, though, is the small sillouette of a man sitting in the sand on the far right corner of the picture. He's a man I could write a poem about!

I like the title of this poem the best

The Poetry of the Corporeal

Very little poetry happens there
unless you count the interactions of college students--
humming back and forth
to their rhythmic swaying
of socializing, drinking, and learning.
One late night
on his way home from Cub Foods
someone will drop his case of Pepsi--
splattering it on the sidewalk
and sucking at the hole on a busted can
wasting as few drops of honey nectar
as he can manage.

cityscape with clouds

cityscape with clouds

your moist heavens
wait to pour miserable rain on me and mine
for the moment, though, electricity
sparks in the air
and gently caresses my bare
summer shoulders

(I don't have a poem to go with this photo. I just think it's a cool photo.)

bridge

a bridge is the perfect metaphor
it carries you
supports you
rarely crumbling under the extreme pressures

yet how unnatural this machine of human engineering
a beautiful monstrosity
lingering on the horizon

Churchill Downs

Drink with me, darling
sips of mint julep.

Glamorous funny hats
and opera glasses

and the sound of money
clinking in everyone's ears

and eyes watching
galloping horses

making money for fancy people
in ridiculous hats.

Haiku Blog

I love short poems. Love them. That's why I was really glad that my friend Greenpinga started a haiku blog. Her haikus are very good. I love haikus that either make me laugh or that break my heart--and she has plenty of both. She wrote a whole series of haikus based on The Book of Bunny Suicides, and since I've read this book, these poems make me laugh. "Bunny meets Aliens", "Acid Bunny", "Flood Bunnies", "Sitting Bunny", and "Helicopter Bunny" are my favorites of this series. The book is so perverse and the poems match it nicely.

Some of Greenpinga's poems are heartbreaking an mysterious. I don't know eactly what the poem "Swan" means, but I can see the swan lying broken and beautiful on a road. The poem "Gray Haired Woman" has so much personality to it. I know this lady--and sometimes I'm afraid of becoming this lady. Perhaps Greenpinga is too. But I know that my fear is one reason I respond to this poem.

Anyway, click some of the links. They are quick reads (unless you get involved in thinking about them.

the smell of new rain

a building viewed through a rainspattered window
stones heavy with dirt and time
and erosion

Beloit afternoon

Beloit afternoon

brief moment building in the blue-gray sky
i don't know if you are solid or a memory
and through the window of the car
i'm unable to tell for sure

"55"

This poem is amazing. I'm always amazed when an artist of any kind can portray love or desire without sounding sappy or without sounding dishonest. "55" does that for me. Joshua Dodson uses well chosen images to convey powerful emotions. Yet there's a vagueness to the images. What does it mean to have a tatoo that is "still provocative"? I've got an image in my head of a fresh tatoo with vibrant colors, but I'm not entirely certain that that's what the poet intended. But I still like the image immensely. Also, any poem with the word "library" in it usually wins with me. :)

don't bother reading this poem unless you really need to waste some time

(I don't have a photo to accompany this poem. I just feel like writing it.)


Red Bull night

eyes cemented open
a caffinated beverage coated
superglue on my eyelashes
there's nothing I can do anymore
except wait out the sleepless night

managing my music files
writing this poem
visiting my online communities
managing my music files
visiting my online communities
--I push the reload button

a sleepy drive prevented
as well as a sleepfilled night


(Argh! This is an aweful poem. But I feel like I need to post it since I wrote it. Sorry folks.)

"MERELY SO MANY FORMS OF TORTURE"

Okay, I know I've reviewed Zack's blog before, but I really like his poetry, so I'm going to comment on one of his new poems. "MERELY SO MANY FORMS OF TORTURE" is a poem that he recently wrote. One of the strongest aspects of this poem is the ambiguity of it. Because it's so simple and so brief, this poem still has unanswered questions. What's the point of reading a poem if it does all the work for you? I also feel that the line breaks are in the perfect spots. Sometimes poets can produce good poems, but the line breaks are in the wrong place--at least for me as a reader (perhaps I wouldn't agree if I heard it read out loud). "MERELY SO MANY FORMS OF TORTURE" doesn't make me think about the way the lines are broken up. It just makes me think.

Spring Break

I'm leaving for Spring Break. Posts will be infrequent. Check back next Thursday and I might have new posts.

Another analysis of a photoblog

My friend Jacob is a chemist. Yet even within his "conventional scientific thinking" (I poke fun), he's got an artistic side that he can't really hide. It's especially difficult to hide when he plasters it onto the internet in the form of his photoblog: 10, 60, 200. This photoblog contains the photos he's taken of things under the microscope. Many of these pictures are beautiful on their own without the intellect that is sparked by the science involved in them.

I like the explanation on this post. It's very sciency but also well written and interesting. There are some posts I like because the photos are very beautiful. Anyway, Jacob's blog is pretty cool, so you should check it out.

road trip wishes

road trip wishes

I want to drive------

freeedom of the road
dotted lines blurring behind me
each line is further
landmarks
the arch
the river
calling me
and I will respond

church poem

sunday school

dried, twisted ivy
sucks hungrily at the side of the church
but no nourishment is found

blankets

keep you warm during
cold winter nights
create homes in terrifying uncertainty

St. Helens Waterfront

docks in rainy winter
humid breeze
dew damp face
and swaying platforms
give me the power to walk on water