Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Heroin Love Songs

But not love songs to Heroin. I have two new poems up at the above mentioned web site. The first one "Hot Summer Night," was about a dream I had a year ago. I sent somebody some money, and then regretted it. Anyways, check 'em out if y'interested.


Also happy birthday to my sister Anne. She is turning 16 today, in Australia. She was arrested for poaching on the lord's manor, in the lord's manner, and was sent there rather than endure oakum picking in the poorhouse for a fortnight of years! Hopefully she won't end up with Ned Kelly and his gang, or any other swagman.

Let's look at all the things that have changed since July 29,1992 so we can all feel older together.

1992: Clinton Elected President

1994: Mandela becomes president of South Africa

1995: Rwanda Genocide

1995: Rabin assassinated

1997: Dolly Cloned

1998: Suharto steps down in Indonesia

1999: Coup in Pakistan

2000: International Space Station up (also start of Willenium)

2001; 9/11 Attacks

2002: Euro adopted

2003: Start of Iraq war

2004: Bush re-elected

2005: Pope John Paul II dies

2006: Danish cartoons controversy

2007: Bhutto assassinated

2008: Obama wins Democratic nomination (something Anne is interested in)

Friday, July 25, 2008

Adventures on Google

Alright, so I am going to be doing a new thing here, and well, let's just "Fuck this duck" shall we? Basically I am going to be going on Google with a selected phrase and am going to see what I find, and if I agree with it.

Today's phrase is going to be "Overrated Poem" I would suspect that most of the top hits would be for the Waste Land, The Raven, The Cantos, something by Robert Frost, something by Shakespeare, after all, to be overrated, means to be held in high esteem, by someone, somewhere.

The first one is a review in Reason Magazine of Hitchen's review of the Waste Land. I should have figured. The reviewer makes light of Eliot's conversion to Anglicism when all the cool spiritually tormented people were moving into the Catholic camp. An interesting take on his life I suppose, seeing Eliot's religious movement as Prufrockian.

The next is from one "pixdogg" with a poem entitled, "Hell is overrated." Certainly this poem itself could not be considered overrated. Who would rate it so high? the only response is from ClericOffHis Light, who says, "And you say that my poems r deep! lol"

Here is a sample:

"Melting flesh off bone/No one has a home/Everyone feels alone/This is what everyone strives for/Not knowing what their in for"


Nice rhyming "for" and um..."for."

Then we have Poetry Snark's The 10 Most Overrated Poets, and although I agree with the names on there as being overestimated in their talent, I do think that since almost half of them are not known, even among poetry aficionados, then they don't count. "Boring?" Yes. But some degree of renown is required for being overrated. being British Poet Laureate would do it, but being American Poet Laureate does not, simply because people forget who they are, one is leaving it seems as soon as another one is coming in.

And there is the wonderful Dan Schneider, who of course would have to show up on any search of this nature. Here he "edits" Robert Frost's poem "Birches." I'm not really enough of a fan of Frost to be offended, or to appreciate the edits. In fact I'm not much of a fan, but I respect the man and Mr. Schneider's cause, even if at times it can seem obsessive.

There is an essay that briefly mentions Wordsworth's "Ode on the Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Earliest Childhood," as an overrated poem, no not just that, "much overrated." I agree with that. Wordsworth and the romantics never did much for me, perhaps because despite the emotion they wanted to put into the verse, for feeling's sake, the poetry becomes very repetitive and is usually too long. But the essay is a about teaching children morality without a grounding in religion, which I'm all for any day of the year.

Sherry Chandler brings up the Hitchen's quote, but talks about the story of Madison Cawein, a little known poet, who probably inspired the title of the Waste Land, and some of its lines and images, as well as parts of "Prufrock." One of his poems is even posted on the site.


Perhaps this is the most depressing site. I got onto it because it mentions William Carlos Williams as an overrated writer and his poem 'The Red Wheelbarrow." Personally I think Landscape with the Fall of Icarus is better. The mention is part of an outline for students at USF Health. I guess what gets me is how 1# there can be a way to so accurately play the system, so that it can be put up online, 2# how ethics is hardly taught in depth, 3# Generally how rote the whole college experience there seems. Structure is good, but predictability ruins an education like nothing else. It also lists places to eat and drink, including bars. I wonder if they card.


Well, that's the end of our adventures. It seems I was fairly accurate in my predictions, though Shakespeare did not come up. I forgot about WCW bashing as well.


Here was the #1 image:




Thursday, July 24, 2008

Penetrating Certain Camouflages

Penetrating Certain Camouflages

Those who see with Dalton’s eyes
Are lucky, they avoid
The dictatorship of the red,
The conformity of the green.

It is easier to turn away a steak,
A roast, the rich red is nothing,
Only gray matter on a plate,
A salad looks the same,
But it was never killed,
Only harvested.

Crimes of the past are easier to avoid,
Bloodshed gathers no more attention
Than spilt wine or syrup,
Memories find nothing vivid to latch onto,
Trauma is left behind, relinquished,
Justice can wear robes then, not dangle
A knife or a sword by its side.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

A Gloomy Cupboard Makes me Happy

An nice English site has decided to post of a poem of mine, scroll down and you will see, or just look up "Nardolilli".

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Fun with Misheard Lyrics

Here is a poem composed of them:

Lady Mondegreen

And nobody was really sure
If he was from the house at all,
In a prior life, Fernando,
The whole line of bees crashed to the ground
What a nice surprise
When your rabbit dies,
I get scary eyes, I get scary eyes
Your smile is a big disguise

Can you help me?
Thought you were my friend,
All those tulips covered with oil
You're free to leave the key in my pie.
Stomp on your fingers
The blame is on me.
I get no clowns, when I get home again
Round the furniture, mother and child

Monday, July 14, 2008

A Case for a Running Mate: Jeff Bingaman

In a day and age where health care is able to save most from a heart attack or an assassin's bullet, the role of a vice president in an election has changed since it was envisioned in the 18th century. Yes, the vice president will succeed a president should the president die in office, be removed, or otherwise become incapacitated. However the goal in an election now is to balance a ticket. A Northerner takes a Southerner, a centrist takes an ideologue, an old one takes a younger running mate, an insider runs with an outsider. And vice versa. Also, it helps if the VP can secure victory in a decent sized state.

With this principle in mind, I would like to make a case for Jeff Bingaman as a potential running mate for Obama. He has not seemed to get as much consideration as other potential candidates. Especially Richardson. Even though I believe Richardson would be his ideal choice, Bingaman could be a boost to Obama's campaign.

A little background, Jeff Bingaman is the 64-year old senator from New Mexico. even though he is the junior senator from New Mexico, he has held the job since 1983. He has been re-elected with wide margins since then, and so his presence on a ticket with Obama would probably ensure New Mexico swinging into the Democratic column. Because he has been in the senate for so long, he gives an air of authority to the campaign.

Bingaman is the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which will be an important asset in terms of developing a comprehensive energy policy and being able to make oil prices and dependence on imported fuels a major campaign issue for once. He also has experience with immigration and has called for tougher enforcement on the borders, which probably will help with appeal to independents out West.

There are three drawbacks to him. First he is relatively unknown, second, he is also a senator, third, he is not a foreign policy and national security expert. This is where Bill Richardson beats Bingaman as a candidate. However being senator may not be as much of a liability in this election since Obama is a recent addition to the senate and choosing a non-senator is usually done to create the perception of a presidential candidate not being too much of a Beltway insider. Obama doe snot have this image problem and in fact has to convince voters he can attract experienced leadership to his campaign. Bingaman therefore can be seriously considered as a candidate for Vice-President.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

One Ghana, One Voice

I have a new poem published at One Ghana, One Voice, about the founder of modern Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah. I am also interviewed on the site as well. The poem was a product of my boredom at a Minetta Review party. Erica Shumener can attest to that. She has the original in her Ghana textbook. Hopefully it will be worth mad money someday. Or a couple of Cedis at least.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Welcome! Welcome to My Blog

This is crazy. Unfortunately she doesn't talk about the well known imitation of her.

One has to ask, who would want advice from Ms. Dickson if they were suicidal? And seeing what she writes, who would want to follow it? This should be the new way of one saying they are desperate.

"I'm so lonely/crazy/suicidal that I wrote to Brenda Dickson."

But we have to band together and write to Mark Bennett "FOR SOME ACTION ON THE ATTORNEY/JUDGE FRAUD AT THE HONOLULU COURTHOUSE." Because we live in the "United States of America," and we have to stop these miscarriages of justice!

His address is 425 Queen Street, Honolulu, HI 96813.