lunes, marzo 30, 2009

Literature by Immigrants

In a one-minute interview, the author Amara Lakhous offers a concise and insightful comment about literature by immigrants.

domingo, marzo 29, 2009

Bioluminescence

I recently watched this BBC edition of the Deep Sea. It's widely fascinating.

The Blue Planet, part 1

The Blue Planet, part 2

viernes, marzo 27, 2009

preserve and adventuring

During one week in Boston, I went to a poetry reading where Mary Ruefle stuck to reading the poems and one where Paul Muldoon tried to clarify all the allusions he could, and in transport to these readings I began an admiration for the musician Clem Snide.

At the end of the reading, when the students were asking Mary Ruefle questions for x-tra credit, she had a revelation: the time had come when when she was painting and/or making visual art for the public. To her, making erasures had been a private enterprise. She had always thought about visual art as her "bank account of joy"--something she could rely on if everything else failed. Her language reminded me of something David Lynch would say.

Before she left, she kissed one manuscript goodnight, whispering you will be home with me soon. Her name was signed on the bottom of the title page of an old book.

I walked away thinking that what we are willing to abandon affects our relation to what we make.

miércoles, marzo 11, 2009

At the Station

At the Station
To A

At the station I’m hungry
if my eyes are closed
or open. A man turns around
to see who just sighed.
I sigh again (completion
I want to offer a stranger)
but now through pursed lips
as if the world’s a balloon
I’ll fill, a long flight
tantamount to what can be
remade with hunger, a sadness.
I don’t want to begin.
Yet another man runs out
right before the door shuts.
Every middle gushes toward you

still on the plane funeral-bound.
Like a stack of books
I wait for you. This alone.

lunes, marzo 02, 2009

Olson Reading

As I sit inside on March 2 during a snowstorm, I drop deep inside the darkness that is winter, lingering here in Boston. I listen to Charles Olson step into this darkness in his reading of "In Cold Hell, In Thicket" found on Pennsound, #1 under Featured Resources.

Having no transition from Cold Hell, I congratulate Michelle Taransky who I see is working for Kelly's House. Cheers!

And, this post is for N, to whom I promised a weekly posting at least!!