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(no subject) [Jun. 27th, 2009|01:15 am]
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8121528.stm

I'm more interested in the fact that the house of representatives passed a climate change bill than I am in the death of Michael Jackson.  Of course, i will never forget where I was when i heard that he died - sitting in a slowly filling auditorium in Amherst, reading Bruno Schulz, slightly sunburned.  The climate change bill  just seems, oh, i don't know, like it has an impact that stretches far beyond the confines of any individual's life. This is not to say that Jackson was not, is not, deeply interesting & strange, a genius, a type of monster and certainly, a figure that changed our culture. This is not to say that he wasn't a human who shouldn't be properly mourned. i guess global warming isn't as sudden as human death, and certainly, nobody besides maybe a few thousand scientists and Elizabeth Kolbert are keeping track of how many species are becoming extinct each day. it's been happening for YEARS! No biggie.

My insomnia is rampant. I have been given a biography of Hart Crane. Tomorrow's the last day of Mark Doty's workshop, which has been an incredible gift. Then sunday &  back to Pittsburgh, to Bridget to Tait to children to swimming to dance to song. To home to keep what I have learned & no longer comprimise the space that poetry wants within my life.


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YEAH ! [Jun. 3rd, 2009|08:53 am]


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(no subject) [Apr. 28th, 2009|09:50 pm]
A True Account of Talking to the Sun on Fire Island

The Sun woke me this morning loud
and clear, saying "Hey! I've been
trying to wake you up for fifteen
minutes. Don't be so rude, you are
only the second poet I've ever chosen
to speak to personally

so why
aren't you more attentive? If I could
burn you through the window I would
to wake you up. I can't hang around
here all day."

"Sorry, Sun, I stayed
up late last night talking to Hal."

"When I woke up Mayakovsky he was
a lot more prompt" the Sun said
petulantly. "Most people are up
already waiting to see if I'm going
to put in an appearance."

I tried
to apologize "I missed you yesterday."
"That's better" he said. "I didn't
know you'd come out." "You may be
wondering why I've come so close?"
"Yes" I said beginning to feel hot
wondering if maybe he wasn't burning me
anyway.

"Frankly I wanted to tell you
I like your poetry. I see a lot
on my rounds and you're okay. You may
not be the greatest thing on earth, but
you're different. Now, I've heard some
say you're crazy, they being excessively
calm themselves to my mind, and other
crazy poets think that you're a boring
reactionary. Not me.

Just keep on
like I do and pay no attention. You'll
find that people always will complain
about the atmosphere, either too hot
or too cold too bright or too dark, days
too short or too long.

If you don't appear
at all one day they think you're lazy
or dead. Just keep right on, I like it.

And don't worry about your lineage
poetic or natural. The Sun shines on
the jungle, you know, on the tundra
the sea, the ghetto. Wherever you were
I knew it and saw you moving. I was waiting
for you to get to work.

And now that you
are making your own days, so to speak,
even if no one reads you but me
you won't be depressed. Not
everyone can look up, even at me. It
hurts their eyes."
"Oh Sun, I'm so grateful to you!"

"Thanks and remember I'm watching. It's
easier for me to speak to you out
here. I don't have to slide down
between buildings to get your ear.
I know you love Manhattan, but
you ought to look up more often.

And
always embrace things, people earth
sky stars, as I do, freely and with
the appropriate sense of space. That
is your inclination, known in the heavens
and you should follow it to hell, if
necessary, which I doubt.

Maybe we'll
speak again in Africa, of which I too
am specially fond. Go back to sleep now
Frank, and I may leave a tiny poem
in that brain of yours as my farewell."

"Sun, don't go!" I was awake
at last. "No, go I must, they're calling
me."
"Who are they?"

Rising he said "Some
day you'll know. They're calling to you
too." Darkly he rose, and then I slept.

-- frank o'hara
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(no subject) [Mar. 28th, 2009|10:28 pm]
[music |QUEEN duh]



i love freddie mercury. freddie young, sans 70's porno mustache. i love his leather, his suspenders his body arching like a matador against the piano. i love that he's from zanzibar. i love the opera of him. if i ever get another little cat i'm going to name him Mister Farenheit (freddie for short) & sing to him CONSTANTLY.
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Don't-Touch-Me Day [Feb. 19th, 2009|03:25 pm]
[Current Location |hell ?]

 
Annaklahr: i just opened a bank account and the guy accidentally deposited 10K extra in my account
i could have waited until tomorrow and taken it all out and RUN AWAY
i mean, of course, not really, but the htought crossed my mind
 
the run-away thing
me: i would have done that.
me: i would haveAnnaklahr: yeah i thought of it
Annaklahr: but then i'd be on the run forever
me: if you were on the run in south america it would be great
in the jungle
super
Annaklahr: yeah w/10K you'd be loaded
me: fuck yeah
Annaklahr: could squat in some property in costa rica
if you stay for 6 months undiscovered you OWN it
but then who would walk spanky?
hee
me: that sounds great.
i will be undiscovered
in a hut
in a tree
tree hut
eat fruit
and bark
get thin
run lots
speak wolf
eat monkey
go crazy
be super
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaahahahahhhhhhhhhhhhhahahahahahhahahahahahahahaha
Annaklahr: you wrote a poem
and then lost your fucking mind
me: exactamundo

 
 
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(no subject) [Feb. 9th, 2009|09:28 am]
[mood | awake]

  I noticed the  
grass
n

I noticed the hills I noticed the highways I noticed the dirt road I noticed the car rows in the parking lot I noticed the ticket takers noticed the cash and the checks and credit cards I noticed the buses noticed mourners I noticed their children in red dresses I noticed the entrance sign noticed retreat houses noticed blue and yellow flags noticed the devotees, their trucks and buses, guards in khaki uniforms I noticed the crowds noticed misty skies noticed the all pervading smiles and empty eyes I noticed the pillows, coloured red and yellow, square pillows and roundI noticed the Tori gate, passers-through bowing, a parade of men and women in formal dress noticed the procession noticed the bagpipe, drums, horns noticed high silk head crowns and saffron robes noticed the three piece suits I noticed the palanquin, an umbrella, the stupa painted with jewels the colours of the four directions – amber for generosity, green for karmic works noticed the white for Buddha, red for the heart – thirteen worlds on the stupa hat noticed the bell handle and umbrella, the empty head of the cement bell noticed the corpse to be set in the head of the bell noticed the monks chanting, horn plaint in our ears, smoke rising from atop the firebrick empty bells noticed     the crowds quiet    noticed   the chilean poet noticed a rainbow I noticed the guru was dead I noticed his teacher bare breasted watching the corpse burn in the stupa noticed mourning students cross legged before their books, chanting devotional mantras, gesturing mysterious fingers, bells and brass thunderbolts in their hands I noticed flame rising above flags and wires and umbrellas and painted orange poles I noticed the sky noticed the sun, a rainbow around the sun, light misty clouds drifting over the sun I noticed my own heart beating, breath passing through my nostrils, my feet walking, eyes seeing noticing smoke above the corpse-fired monument I noticed the path downhill noticedthe crowd moving toward buses I noticed food, lettuce salad I noticed the teacher was absent I noticed my friends noticed our car the blue Volvo, a young boy held my hand, our key in the motel doornoticed a dark room noticed a dream and forgot noticed oranges lemons and caviar at breakfast I noticed the highway, sleepiness, homework, thoughts, the boy’s nippled chest in the breeze as the cars rolled down hillsides and past green woods to the water I noticedthe houses and the balconies overlooking the misted horizon shore, and old worn rocks and the sand I noticed the sea I noticed the music I wanted to dance

On The Cremation of Chogyam Trungpa Vidyadhara | Allen Ginsberg

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(no subject) [Feb. 3rd, 2009|11:50 am]
Six Degree Reading

featuring:
Michelle Stoner
Sophie Klahr
Jason Kirin
Jerome Crooks
Holly Coleman
Nikki Allen
Renée Alberts

Saturday, February 7th
7:oo pm
Most Wanted Fine Art
5015 Penn Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15224
http://www.most-wantedfineart.com/
$5
BYOB


!!!!
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(no subject) [Jan. 25th, 2009|03:55 pm]
[music |final fantasy]


oh hell yes
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(no subject) [Jan. 2nd, 2009|03:37 pm]
SUMMARY 2008


broke my heart, but saved the pieces

learned to dance again
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(no subject) [Dec. 15th, 2008|01:19 pm]
tear it down



we find out the heart only by dismantling what the heart knows.

by redefining the morning, we find a morning that comes just after darkness.

we can break through marriage into marriage.

by insisting on love we spoil it, get beyond affection and wade mouth-deep into love.

we must unlearn the constellations to see the stars.

but going back toward childhood will not help.

the village is not better than pittsburgh.

only pittsburgh is more than pittsburgh.

rome is better than rome in the same way the sound of raccoon tongues licking the inside walls of the garbage tub is more than the stir of them in the muck of the garbage.

love is not enough.

we die and are put into the earth forever. we should insist while there is still time.

we must eat through the wildness of her sweet body already in our bed to reach the body within that body.

(jack gilbert)
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(no subject) [Dec. 9th, 2008|11:51 am]
gratitude list

+ bridget
+ dorothy
+ anna 1,2 & 3
+ melanie
+ tait
+ bunny
+ mama k
+ bean
+ carolyn
+ bagel
+ jason schwartzman
+ rufus wainwright
+ darling
+ amber
+ justin
+ brendan
+ the boy's club
+ precisely
+ michael
+ missy elliot
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(no subject) [Nov. 30th, 2008|05:34 pm]
[Current Location |katerbean]
[mood |liminal]

gratitude list

+ my family's sense of humor
+ the existence of incredible theatre (the brothers size at the city theatre is FANTASTIC & i can't wait to see it again)
+ quicksand by martha reeves & the vandellas
+ a functional car
+ the kindness of strangers
+ my sister-in-law being pregnant again!
+ sleeping better these days
+ november almost being over. thank god.
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(no subject) [Nov. 20th, 2008|11:10 pm]


in the morning getting dressed for work i stop to take a picture. a mouse hops from the trash, big flakes of snow down the yard. day old coffee nearly re-warmed. a doo-wop on loud, standing up to dim sky. my body in comma , , , , , , , , ,
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(no subject) [Nov. 16th, 2008|11:34 pm]
thank you dear writer friends!

you've given me marvelous calm (not to mention some much-needed perspective).
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Hey creative writers, can you help to quell my anxiety? [Nov. 12th, 2008|07:33 pm]
[Current Location |manuscript-land]

Have you taken the GREs?

How long did you take to study?

How difficult did you find the actual test?
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(no subject) [Oct. 6th, 2008|10:34 am]


how ridiculous is this medley? quite. how much do i want to be cher dancing with bowie? so much.
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(no subject) [Sep. 29th, 2008|11:17 pm]
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(no subject) [Sep. 20th, 2008|11:49 am]
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(no subject) [Sep. 9th, 2008|10:01 pm]
[music |school night - mizz difranco]

ANI DIFRANCO, I MISSED YOU.
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(no subject) [Sep. 3rd, 2008|08:02 pm]
[Current Location |highland park]
[music |the biggest lie - elliot smith]

Finale. The rise, flipped stomach at the end of a slide, a high bridge or country hill dip. Cried, crushed, subdued. Undid undoing, became bored; dis-tance, dis-prove, dis-member. Remember? Renew, reuse, recycle. Hike up a little whorishly. Break teeth for god. Goodness me. My goodness. Sleeping more soundly with sleeping more selfish. [....they were two superior eels at the bottom of the tank & they recognized each other like italics] keep your comfort, your leather jacket, your skin, your insubstantial dream. you're not the only one who dreams. you're not the only one who you're not. never the only one.

blah
blah
diddy-blah

watched a documentary on jelly-fish this afternoon. gabriel said, "they move like brEAthing," & lifted his arms to the sky.
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