Seattle Blocks — Madison and 6th

Above all else.

It’s the ground floor
On the morning after
The year before
From the California desert
Of Palm Springs to
The Pacific Northwest
And Seattle rains.

On the Road in Seattle: Harvey Danger, Sean Nelson and War Buddies

Resistance is already forming.

Let's be war buddies
Waist deep in big muddies
side by side
I'd be the atheist in your foxhole anytime

On the Road in Seattle: Love and the Pongo Poetry Project

The courage of the poet's pen is expressed in Seattle public art.

At the Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle we came upon a booth for the Pongo Poetry Project. Pongo is a 25-year-old Seattle-based nonprofit that has helped more than 7000 teens inside jails, shelters and psychiatric hospitals heal through poetry. A flyer distributed at the booth had the following poem on love.

First Lines Second Thoughts — Philip Roth and Portnoy's Complaint

She was so deeply imbedded in my consciousness that for the first year of school I seem to have believed that each of my teachers was my mother in disguise.

First Lines Second Thoughts is an occasional look at the first lines of well known literary works. On second thought, do these opening words stand alone as poetry? Today, on the day of his passing, we look at the opening lines of Philip Roth's controversial novel, Portnoy's Complaint.

Published in 1969,  Portnoy's Complaint is a continuous monologue of Alex Portnoy to his psychoanalyst. The novel was considered scandalous at the time for its explicit language and vivid descriptions of of masturbation. It was banned from many libraries, and Australia too.

Stacy Rae Lake is Something Current for Now

Now I am a boat resting at a dock.

When I looked down at the beach

My toes were made of crumbling sand

Each grain of sand spoke to me

offering significant steps to unfoldment

Nora May French asks, How Ends The Day?

The end of day at the Mission in Carmel.

We wandered where the violets bloom,
    beside the sunlit stream.
We saw, where on the crystal waves,
    the water lilies dream.
Their gold hearts wreathed in leaves of
    pearl, all silvered by the sun,
We heard the brook laugh as it swayed
    their bright heads one by one;
Yet no smile dawned upon your face, to
    chase the tears away.
"The waters cease, the lilies fade, in
    darkness ends the day."

Bar None — Brenda Hawley and Passing a Hangover

Remnants of the night before.

My mind is numb today
Everyday play, play, play
Need to take a break today
I declare today a movie day

Charles Bane Jr.'s The Chapbook — Harry Truman as a Child

Born this day, 1884, Happy Birthday Harry!

The fields were boxed into sounds, weren’t they,
as carefully as books beside your bed,
and a necktie draped for the next day on a chair?

And you owned it all, didn’t you?
You owned the priceless fields
and start of day as warm as Mama’s voice.

Russell Rosander's Prayer for the Night

Goodnight moon...

Enter me into
The gentle darkness
Of the night,
Where sweet sleep awaits.

Where the Wild Things Sleep

The Rock House in Anza Borrego Desert is home to many an overnight hiker.

Desert silhouettes
Winter creosote
Dusk escapes
Through fissures
In rock walls
White contrails
Turn pink
Before dissipating