In Celebration of Poetry Month

I've read so many good poetry collections in the last couple days. Randall Horton's The Definition of Place (Main Street Rag Publishing 2006) was one of them. Here's one of my favorite poems from that collection:

The Ideology of the Lean

I'm thinking to myself Superfly the first time I see
Pocketknife bend the corner between history and
algebra class, almost hugging brick wall with his
right shoulder, the stringent sway of his left arm like
a well oiled piece of machinery in search of a brace
to propel his young-blood strut. Although his strides
are not long, each time he thrusts the bow of his legs,
drag pigeon-toed feet forward, the circular crack
of space revealed speaks of contempt, a trait that will
always keep him unchained. So I emulate his defiance,
practicing in front of full length mirrors anywhere I can;
perfect my own variation of the lean until it feels natural
and I can express my entire belief system in a walk.

(Copyright Randall Horton 2006)

R.I.P Dr. Dorothy Height

Photo from www.heinzawards.net

There are some people who do such good work for so long that you think they will live forever. Civil rights pioneer Dorothy Height was one such person. I will miss seeing Height in the news with her trademark hats. I'm also missing civil rights leader Benjamin Hooks who passed away five days before Height. Here's an interview of Height from six years ago on msnbc.com

On Resurrection

As a girl, the story of Jesus' crucifixion really bothered me. The brutal torture and killing of a nonviolent man was too much for me, especially if there were illustrations of the crucifixion in the Sunday school book. His disappearance from the tomb was unsettling too, even though in church we were told his disappearance was a happy ending. I spent countless Sundays hearing the resurrection story and at some point I stopped feeling creeped out by it and even became comforted by this narrative structure. Give me a character pushed to her limit, forced to redeem herself, and I’m happy. Give me a celebrity who falls from grace then reinvents himself and I’m reading the tabloid story online.

Then there is Martin Luther King, Jr. Yesterday, was the 42^nd anniversary of his assassination. King’s story, his vilification while living and our reading of his life as a sacrifice for our community, is eerie in its parallels with the story of Christ. Last week, PBS had two shows that focused on King that are worth catching if you missed them. One was a documentary with Tavis Smiley, and the other was Bill Moyer’s show last Friday.

And finally, dominoes. After Easter dinner at my uncle’s house, our family sat down to play the game. There was a lot of trash-talking as usual, but the best line came from the winner who’d been losing during the early rounds. “And because its Resurrection Sunday!” he said, slapping his bone on the table.

A Reason to Keep Going

My short story, "Secondhand Objects" was named a 2009 Notable Story by storySouth. The entire list is here. I'm just learning of this prize but the process appears pretty democratic. Journal editors or readers can nominate any story, of at least 1,000 words, that appeared in an online publication for the previous year. Judges then reduce this list to the Notable Stories of 2009. storySouth editor Jason Sanford will reduce the notable stories to ten. Then the public can vote for their favorite and the winner gets a cash prize. The objective of the prize is to showcase good fiction that appears on the web.

R.I.P.: David Mills

I was sorry to hear that David Mills, producer and writer of "The Wire" and many other really good television shows, has passed away. At the time of his death, he was working on a new HBO series, "Treme" that is set in New Orleans and which many fans of his are looking forward to.

Meanwhile, Slate has this article on all the college courses being taught about "The Wire."

It's National Poetry Month

Wipe That Simile Off Your Aphasia

by Harryette Mullen

as horses as for

as purple as we go

as heartbeat as if

as silverware as it were

as onion as I can

as cherries as feared

as combustion as want

as dog collar as expected

as oboes as anyone

as umbrella as catch can

as penmanship as it gets

as narcosis as could be

as hit parade as all that

as icebox as far as I know

as fax machine as one can imagine

as cyclones as hoped

as dictionary as you like

as shadow as promised

as drinking fountain as well

as grassfire as myself

as mirror as is

as never as this

Copyright Harryette Mullen, from Sleeping with the Dictionary (University of California Press, 2002)

Six Thousand?

This article about author Danielle Steele and her shoe collection will either inspire you...or make you stab yourself with a pen.