Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Hermku


I propose a new poetical form: The Hermku.
(It's 9-9-9 syllables instead of 5-7-5.)



Fast women get me into trouble.
I gotta keep my dick in my pants.
I'm taking the next bus to nowhere.




Re: Transportation chief Janette Sadik-Khan says city will use haiku to boost street safety

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thanks for . . .


Nerdy stuff and food enough.
Brian Greene and film's James Dean.
"Occupy" and asking "Why?"
Up with Chris* and YU's miss*.
Hawking's book* and Noble's NOOK.
Gaga songs, buff boys in thongs.
Krugman's blogs and chili dogs.
Google's cloud and Maureen Dowd.
Network friends and Hubble's lens.
iPod Touch. Thanks, Steve, so much.





placed in Poets United Poetry Pantry #76 and dVerse Poets Pub Giving Thanks

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Night Chant by Andrew Demcak — Review



First, an editorial issue, and then on to the poems.

I purchased (a month ago now) Night Chant by Andrew Demcak (ebook at Smashwords) to read on my NOOK and iPod Touch and noted a problem that is common with ebook versions of poetry books: Longer lines are not indented when they need to wrap (reflow) to the next line. When they are indented properly, the reader can easily distinguish one line from the next (as they obviously can in the print edition). But this is easily solved. All one has to do is to add two lines to the class selector that wraps lines in the source. (In this case, EPUB, and the class selector happened to be ".western8", and I added them after the ".margin-top: 0;" line):

padding-left: 1em;
text-indent: -1em;

What does this do? When lines are longer and they need to wrap, the line continues by being indented slightly rather than flushed margin left (and looking like they are the beginning of a new line, which they aren't). When you change the font size reading the poems on your device, you will see what I mean.

I did this and can now can pleasurably read these poems on my iPod Touch, which they are now perfectly fitted for.


And these poems are fun to read. Lines of gay-sexual intrigue abound. Like in the poem 'Hustler': "The tattling ripples of rolled-in sheets. / My limbs are golden accoutrements. // Persuasive, served like sashimi." These are the poet's memories of men and sex and becoming. "My first sex, spread-eagle on a tern's nest" ('Abalone Cove'). I like self-referential 'Font': "It is a merciless desert here, this page. / The nouns wince, jot by jot." Pop-cultural references, like in 'Death Portrait of Gene Kelly'. Sexy poems, like 'Eros'. Bringing in technology, like "My iPhone spits out nubile syllables, / his voice chattering back to the bones' receiver" ('Pulse'). At the end of Part 2 is the poem 'Night Chant' itself.

If you are a fan of gay poetry, this is a must-read. It has everything, I think.



Thursday, November 17, 2011

If Jesus had been executed in Texas



If Jesus had been executed in Texas, there would be figurines of a little Jesus on an execution table with a needle in his arm for Catholics, and just an empty execution table for Protestants.



Monday, November 14, 2011

Why I don't watch The Walking Dead (AMC)



I get this series on my teevee and have watched bits of episodes, but haven't gotten enough interest in watching more yet.

I realize the zombie apocalypse is a metaphor for a world following a Tea Party takeover, but I get enough of that watching the Republican debates.



Sunday, November 13, 2011

The grackle fill November sky



The grackle fill November sky —
I don't know why —
then stain the autumn field with black,
before their own crude yakety-yak
tells them to fly.

I don't know why.



Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Doxologies 2.0





play and sing along




Holy, holy, holy! Lord Net almighty!
Early in the morning our words shall post to Thee.
Holy, holy, holy, erudite and flighty!
Net in three Portals, bless-ed Trinity.



Praise Net, all creatures' daily posts;
Praise Net above, ye heav'nly hosts;
Praise Net, from where we make a fuss;
Praise Facebook, Twitt-er, Google Plus!




placed in the imaginary garden with real toads

Monday, November 7, 2011

Saint Philip Thrift





The Cathedral of Saint Philip Thrift House has been an important ministry of the Cathedral of Saint Philip since 1949. It sells a wide variety of donated items, including clothing, toys, furniture, kitchen and household items and books. All profits are distributed to benefit the needy. — BuckheadPatch


And I didn't know I was in the running!


Sunday, November 6, 2011

Weekend morning dialectics with your breakfast



Up w/Chris Hayes (Sat. 7am-9am ET, Sun. 8am-10am ET) on MSNBC stands apart in the medium of weekend TV news commentary. It actually does dialectics.

Pundits sit around a table with mostly-ignored continental breakfast fare (Is it supposed to suggest the show's continental flair?) and actually engage in constructive argument and analysis. This is unlike shows like NBC's Meet The Press or ABC's This Week, where their panel segment consists mainly of restrained participants saying their bit in their allotted time slots without the back-and-forth dialogs found on Up. This is orchestrated with fine skill by the host, Chris Hayes.

The Twitter hashtag for viewers is #uppers, and the show's profile is @upwithchris.

Good show.



Friday, November 4, 2011

I like the fall



There are places where the leaves don't dry
or color-patch the blue fall sky,
where 'autumn' seems like a foreign word,
though early morning light's deferred.
The air is lightened of its humid yoke,
but darkness sooner pulls its cloak
as welcome coolness rules the day.
All in all, I like the fall, I have to say.



placed in the Poets United Thursday Think Tank: The Waning Days of Fall

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Poets United: Interview



There's an interview of me at Poets United. Sherry did a wonderful job putting it together.



Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Hallowqueens



On Halloween — high holy day of gay —
the ids raid stores and closets for
the ego costumes that they hope will say,
"Tonight — this once — then nevermore."

The Mormons and some Christians say, "No-no,"
to guys who want to dress like girls,
"boys should dress like a Spider-Man" — who's so
more gay than wearing mink and pearls.

The night is done with costumes on the floor,
the day is brightening the sky.
The hallowqueens return to daily chore
of back-to-working shirt and tie.



LDS ward’s ban on ‘cross-gender’ costumes draws boos, The Salt Lake Tribune