Thursday, February 28, 2013
all the worthless things in one place being bought
all the faces here hawk their wares
to the next
buyer, memories for pennies
nickle & dime you, at tables, in stalls
toys, cards, coats, stickers, some appliance
i can't guess where to put, pillows, clothes
a velvet Elvis or ten, movies, road signs,
clutter to shift one house to the next
flea-ing the market
& him,
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Library Walk: Longfellow
Born on this day in 1807, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote classic American poems; The Song of Hiawatha, Evangeline and most famously, Paul Revere’s Ride. The verse on Library Walk is from, The Day is Done, the proem to an 1844 anthology of poems collected by Longfellow in The Waif. In 1874, his poem, The Hanging of the Crane, was sold to the New York Ledger for $3000. At the time it was the highest price ever paid for a poem.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
PEN International Writers in Prison Caselist
PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee has released the latest edition of its Caselist detailing over 870 cases of attacks on writers, journalists, poets, publishers and editors. A key campaign resource for PEN International as well as other organisations, the WiPC Caselist details our most up to date information on writers who are detained or otherwise persecuted for their peaceful political activities or for the practice of their profession.
Labels:
caselist,
PEN,
PEN International,
press release,
prison,
writers
Monday, February 25, 2013
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
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Steinbrenner Field: Spring training home of the New York Yankees. |
Katie Casey was baseball mad,
Had the fever and had it bad.
Just to root for the home town crew,
Ev'ry sou
Katie blew.
On a Saturday her young beau
Called to see if she'd like to go
To see a show, but Miss Kate said "No,
I'll tell you what you can do:"
Friday, February 22, 2013
The Law of the Jungle
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Have you heard the one about the guy who went to a hockey game and a poem broke out? |
Now this is the Law of the Jungle — as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back —
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Death of a Sportsman
Give us something to believe in
We'll give you millions and praises
Your face will be splattered on covers
Fame will follow you everywhere you go
Run for us with non-flesh legs
Win seven tours, beat cancer!
Play that football game with a broken heart
We want a hero, you must be our hero
Labels:
Death of a Sportsman,
Limbi Pax,
poem,
Poems From an Open Heart,
sports
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Poetry Burrito
Thirty people chew
On catered trays of lunch
Before they even open their mouths
Polite closed mouths
Move from side to side
Move up and down
Labels:
lunch,
Mark Butkus,
poem,
Poetry Burrito
Friday, February 15, 2013
Picasso and Chicago
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Picasso's Mother and Child. The Picasso and Chicago exhibit runs February 20, 2013–Sunday, May 12, 2013 |
A century ago, in 1913, the Art Institute of Chicago became the first art museum in the country to present the work of a young Spaniard who would become the preeminent artist of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso. This February the museum celebrates the special 100-year relationship between Picasso and Chicago by bringing together over 250 of the finest examples of the artist's paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, and ceramics from private collections in the city, as well as from the museum's collection, for the first large-scale Picasso exhibition organized by the museum in almost 30 years.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Virginia Poe's Valentine Acrostic
Labels:
Acrostic,
Edgar Allan Poe,
poem,
Valentine,
Virginia Poe
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
The Beginning of the World: An Excerpt of Love
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
The Disappointment
One day the amorous Lysander,
By an impatient passion swayed,
Surprised fair Cloris, that loved maid,
Who could defend herself no longer.
All things did with his love conspire;
The gilded planet of the day,
In his gay chariot drawn by fire,
Was now descending to the sea,
And left no light to guide the world,
&But what from Cloris' brighter eyes was hurled.
Labels:
Aphra Behn,
Earl of Rochester,
poem,
poet,
The Disappointment,
Valentine's Day,
writing
Monday, February 11, 2013
She Walks In Beauty
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
Labels:
Hebrew Melodies,
Lord Byron,
poem,
She Walks In Beauty,
Valentine's Day
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Ghostly Apparitions
Terrified Innocents…. Departing indigenous lands,
Afraid to end with a sad Ulla-gone.
Merchandised as cargo, once money exchanges hands
All hope is gone… as they are herded onto ships in
The empty docks. United through a desire, a longing,
Everyone’s dreaming of peace, education, family and love.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Curbside Haiku of New York City
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Car stops near bike lane Cyclist entering raffle Unwanted door prize |
Aggressive driver.
Aggressive pedestrian.
Two crash test dummies.
Haiku for the urban masses. Who says that safety campaigns have to be boring? New York City's Department of Transportation (DOT) commissioned artist John Morse to build upon his bandit haiku campaign in Atlanta. The DOT's goal was to raise traffic safety awareness.
Imagine a world
Where your every move matters.
Welcome to that world.
In 2010, New York based artist and writer John Morse installed 500 haiku bandit signs at busy intersections in the ATL. What separated Morse's signage from other bandit signs that blight the country offering get-rich schemes, junk removal and dating sites was that his bandit signs were written in haiku.
Labels:
curbside haiku,
espanol,
haiku,
John Morse,
New York City,
traffic safety
Monday, February 4, 2013
The Life of a Fisherman
From dusk to dawn
is the life of the old salt,
the fisherman.
The gloomy mornings
wakening to the slow swell
of the sea.
A meager breakfast
before the long haul
for his livelihood.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Walks of Life
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Langston Hughes. Poet. (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) |
There is the poet from Joplin
who clears out the drunks at last call in Montreal
There is the artist from Cuba
that dives through dumpsters in Greenwich Village
There is the child prodigy from Kansas
stocking the shelves at the supermarket in Key West
Labels:
American Poets' Corner,
Langston Hughes,
poem,
Walks of Life
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